The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium—I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte
Tue 23 Feb 2016
2/5 Claire Harman on the two years Charlotte Bronte spent as a mature student in Belgium.
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Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte, Governess—I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte
Mon 22 Feb 2016
1/5 Biographer Claire Harman discusses Charlotte Bronte's experience as a governess.
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Friends—Other People (Hell Is...)
Wed 27 Jan 2016
3/5 AL Kennedy ponders friendship, which, as an only child, she put off as long as possible.
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My Generation—Other People (Hell Is...)
Tue 26 Jan 2016
2/5 AL Kennedy contemplates the pitfalls of being old, young or something in between.
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Strangers—Other People (Hell Is...)
Mon 25 Jan 2016
1/5 AL Kennedy reveals why, despite her fear of them, she hugs strangers in the street.
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Petroc Trelawny on Lennox Berkeley—Secret Admirers (Series 2)
Fri 22 Jan 2016
Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny celebrates English composer Lennox Berkeley.
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John Toal on Maurice Ravel—Secret Admirers (Series 2)
Thu 21 Jan 2016
Radio 3 presenter John Toal celebrates French composer Maurice Ravel.
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Clemency Burton-Hill on George Enescu—Secret Admirers (Series 2)
Wed 20 Jan 2016
Clemency Burton-Hill celebrates Romanian composer George Enescu
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Ian McMillan on Ralph Vaughan Williams—Secret Admirers (Series 2)
Tue 19 Jan 2016
Radio 3 presenter and poet Ian McMillan celebrates the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
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Fiona Talkington on Joseph Canteloube—Secret Admirers (Series 2)
Mon 18 Jan 2016
Radio 3 presenter Fiona Talkington celebrates French composer Joseph Canteloube.
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Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit—Listener, They Wore It
Fri 15 Jan 2016
5/5 Journalist John Walsh recalls a pristine white suit in a short story by Ray Bradbury.
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F Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night—Listener, They Wore It
Thu 14 Jan 2016
4/5 Justine Picardie, editor of Harper's Bazaar, celebrates Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night.
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Federico Fellini's 8 1/2—Listener, They Wore It
Wed 13 Jan 2016
3/5 Stephen Bayley celebrates some timeless eyewear, carried off brilliantly in a famous film.
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Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse—Listener, They Wore It
Tue 12 Jan 2016
2/5 Rachel Cooke on a famous pair of 'peddle pushers' in the novel Bonjour Tristesse.
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James Whistler's Symphony in White, No 1—Listener, They Wore It
Mon 11 Jan 2016
1/5 Art historian James Fox describes an intriguing 1860s painting of a girl in a white dress.
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Tom Service - Where Have All the Seismic Moments Gone?—Five Seismic Moments in New Music
Fri 8 Jan 2016
5/5 Tom Service reflects on the lack of any seismic shocks in 21st-century music.
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Sarah Walker on Steve Reich's Four Organs—Five Seismic Moments in New Music
Thu 7 Jan 2016
4/5 Sarah Walker reflects on Steve Reich's radically minimalist Four Organs.
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Ivan Hewett on Brian Eno's Music for Airports—Five Seismic Moments in New Music
Wed 6 Jan 2016
3/5 Ivan Hewett reflects on Brian Eno's creation of a new genre, which he named ambient music.
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Sara Mohr Pietsch on the Fall of the Berlin Wall—Five Seismic Moments in New Music
Tue 5 Jan 2016
2/5 Sara Mohr-Pietsch on the appetite in the west for eastern European music after 1989.
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Robert Worby on John Cage's 4'33"—Five Seismic Moments in New Music
Mon 4 Jan 2016
1/5 Robert Worby reflects on the first performance of John Cage's 4'33".
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Art in a Cold Climate: Thomas Hylland Eriksen on the Holmenkollen Ski-Jumping Hill—Art in a Cold Climate
Fri 18 Dec 2015
5/5 Thomas Hylland Eriksen on Oslo's now-demolished Holmenkollen ski-jumping hill and Norway.
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Art in a Cold Climate: Ray Hudson on Touching Fire by Carolyn Reed—Art in a Cold Climate
Thu 17 Dec 2015
4/5 Ray Hudson on Carolyn Reed's Touching Fire and the US state of Alaska.
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Art in a Cold Climate: Mette Moestrup on Pia Arke's Camera Obscura—Art in a Cold Climate
Wed 16 Dec 2015
3/5 Mette Moestrup on Pia Arke's Camera Obscura and Denmark and Greenland.
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Art in a Cold Climate: Hallgrimur Helgason on Fish Processing in Eyjafjord by Kristin Jonsdottir—Art in a Cold Climate
Tue 15 Dec 2015
2/5 Hallgrimur Helgason on Kristin Jonsdottir's Fish Processing in Eyjafjord and Iceland.
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Art in a Cold Climate: Elizabeth Hay on Painting Place III by David Milne—Art in a Cold Climate
Mon 14 Dec 2015
1/5 Novelist Elizabeth Hay on David Milne's Painting Place III and Canada.
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Northern Lights - Cornerstones: Alaska—Cornerstones
Fri 11 Dec 2015
5/5 Jason Mark visits northern Alaska and reflects on the impact of our lust for hydrocarbons.
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Cornerstones: Siberia—Cornerstones
Thu 10 Dec 2015
4/5 Daniel Kalder conjures the vast landscapes east of the Urals, where taiga becomes tundra.
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Cornerstones: Greenland Caves—Cornerstones
Wed 9 Dec 2015
3/5 Gina Moseley describes leading a team of cavers into an unknown cavern system in Greenland
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
