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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Antonia Quirke—Swimming Stories
Tue 10 Mar 2015
2/5 Antonia Quirke describes a dip in the south Pacific that reminded her of darker waters.
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Christopher Hope—Swimming Stories
Mon 9 Mar 2015
1/5 Christopher Hope describes swimming in outdoor pools in Pretoria during his youth.
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Betty Freeman—Classical Music's Unsung Heroines
Fri 6 Mar 2015
5/5 Helen Wallace on Betty Freeman, perhaps the greatest patron of modern classical music.
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Mary Gladstone—Classical Music's Unsung Heroines
Thu 5 Mar 2015
4/5 Discussing Mary Gladstone, daughter of William, who brought music to Downing Street.
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Leopoldine Wittgenstein—Classical Music's Unsung Heroines
Wed 4 Mar 2015
3/5 Bethany Bell on the life of Leopoldine Wittgenstein, host of a Viennese musical salon.
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Lady Maud Warrender—Classical Music's Unsung Heroines
Tue 3 Mar 2015
2/5 Kate Kennedy tells the story of Lady Maud Warrender, an aristocrat and patron of music.
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Nadezhda von Meck—Classical Music's Unsung Heroines
Mon 2 Mar 2015
1/5 Vanora Bennett on Tchaikovsky's generous benefactor, who refused to ever meet the composer
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Raymond Tallis—Fear Itself
Fri 27 Feb 2015
5/5 Raymond Tallis explains how human fear is often led by thought and imagination.
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Temple Grandin—Fear Itself
Thu 26 Feb 2015
4/5 Temple Grandin considers the role fear and anxiety plays in autistic people's lives.
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Quentin Skinner—Fear Itself
Wed 25 Feb 2015
3/5 How Thomas Hobbes came to argue that fear underpinned all human motivation and action.
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Kier-La Janisse—Fear Itself
Tue 24 Feb 2015
2/5 Kier-La Janisse on how educational films scared more children than any horror movie.
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Matthew Sweet—Fear Itself
Mon 23 Feb 2015
1/5 Matthew Sweet reflects on an experiment designed to induce fear in a toddler.
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The Tichborne Claimant—The Five Photographs that (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Fri 20 Feb 2015
5/5 Exploring how an 1866 photograph of a butcher taken in Australia changed British law.
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The Broom Cottages—The Five Photographs that (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Thu 19 Feb 2015
4/5 Elizabeth Edwards on W Jerome Harrison's photo of the Broom cottages in Warwickshire.
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The Dogon—The Five Photographs that (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Wed 18 Feb 2015
3/5 Jeanne Haffner discusses how aerial photography changed the spaces we live in.
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The Nebula in Orion—The Five Photographs that (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Tue 17 Feb 2015
2/5 Omar Nasim discusses the very first pictures of a nebula, taken by Henry Draper in 1880.
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Anna Bertha's Hand—The Five Photographs that (You Didn't Know) Changed Everything
Mon 16 Feb 2015
1/5 Kelley Wilder discusses how the 1896 x-ray photograph of a hand changed medicine.
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Just Juvenilia: Roger Michell—Just Juvenilia
Fri 13 Feb 2015
5/5 Director Roger Michell describes working on his first television drama, Downtown Lagos.
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Just Juvenilia: Stephen Coates—Just Juvenilia
Thu 12 Feb 2015
4/5 Stephen Coates of the band the Real Tuesday Weld recalls writing an early song in London.
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Just Juvenilia: Janet Suzman—Just Juvenilia
Wed 11 Feb 2015
3/5 Actress Janet Suzman recalls working on the film Nicholas and Alexandra.
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Just Juvenilia: Harland Miller—Just Juvenilia
Tue 10 Feb 2015
2/5 Writer and painter Harland Miller on how a sign in his local eatery came to inspire him.
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Just Juvenilia: Deborah Moggach—Just Juvenilia
Mon 9 Feb 2015
1/5 Novelist Deborah Moggach revisits her first book, written in Pakistan.
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Castles in Concrete—The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Fri 30 Jan 2015
5/5 Writer Ken Worpole reflects on the grim forts and defences of the east coast of Britain.
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The British Castle: A Woman's Place—The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Thu 29 Jan 2015
4/5 Prof Roberta Gilchrist discusses the place of women in the history of British castles.
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The Siege of Kenilworth—The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Wed 28 Jan 2015
3/5 Benjamin Wild recounts the siege of Kenilworth castle - the longest in English history.
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Castle Builders—The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Tue 27 Jan 2015
2/5 Nicola Coldstream explores the careers of two master masons.
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Power and Control—The Fall and Rise of the British Castle
Mon 26 Jan 2015
1/5 Professor Jeremy Black considers the primary military function of castles.
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Lolita Chakrabarti on A Tale of Two Cities—The Book that Changed Me
Thu 22 Jan 2015
4/5 Actress and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti on Charles Dickens's book A Tale of Two Cities.
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Jon Ronson on What a Carve Up!—The Book that Changed Me
Wed 21 Jan 2015
3/5 Journalist and writer Jon Ronson discusses Jonathan Coe's book What a Carve Up!
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Jude Kelly on Little Women—The Book that Changed Me
Tue 20 Jan 2015
2/5 Jude Kelly of London's Southbank Centre discusses Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
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.
