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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Steve Earle on In Cold Blood—The Book that Changed Me
Mon 19 Jan 2015
1/5 Musician and singer Steve Earle discusses the book In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
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So Near to Venice—Venice Unravelled
Thu 15 Jan 2015
4/5 Focusing on the residents of Venice who serve the many tourists who arrive each year.
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The Writing on the Wall—Venice Unravelled
Wed 14 Jan 2015
3/5 On the recent Biennale fashion of rigging-up neon strips of random text around Venice.
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Tinseltown—Venice Unravelled
Tue 13 Jan 2015
2/5 Writer Polly Coles focuses on the impact of celebrity on Venice.
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At 蜜芽传媒—Venice Unravelled
Mon 12 Jan 2015
1/5 Polly Coles on what 'home' and 'house' mean to various types of residents in Venice today.
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Lucy Jones: Crawling to Glory—The Genius of Disability
Fri 9 Jan 2015
5/5 Tom Shakespeare celebrates painter Lucy Jones, who was born with cerebral palsy.
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Goya, Klee, Matisse: Leaving the Best till Last?—The Genius of Disability
Thu 8 Jan 2015
4/5 Tom Shakespeare discusses the lives and works of a selection of disabled artists.
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Arturo Bispo do Rosario: The Sculptor Who Saved the World—The Genius of Disability
Wed 7 Jan 2015
3/5 Tom Shakespeare discusses sculptor Arturo Bispo do Rosario, who had schizophrenia.
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The Genius of Disability: Bryan Pearce - What Would I Do If I Didn't Paint?—The Genius of Disability
Tue 6 Jan 2015
2/5 Tom Shakespeare on painter Bryan Pearce, born with the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria.
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The Genius of Disability: Al-Ma'arri - Visionary Free Thinker—The Genius of Disability
Mon 5 Jan 2015
1/5 Tom Shakespeare discusses the blind tenth-century Arabian poet Al-Ma'arri.
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St Petersburg - White Flowers and Revolution—World War One Round the World
Tue 30 Dec 2014
Novelist Tatyana Tolstaya tells a St Petersburg audience how World War I changed Russia.
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Paris: The Christmas Truce—World War One Round the World, Series 1
Mon 29 Dec 2014
1/5 Christian Carion asks what the mud and degradation of WWI did to the idea of heroism.
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Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio: Fi Glover—Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio
Fri 28 Nov 2014
5/5 Broadcaster Fi Glover on how radio voices 'make the global local and the local global'.
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Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio: Roger Phillips—Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio
Thu 27 Nov 2014
4/5 Roger Phillips describes his job as the listening anchorman of a daily phone-in programme.
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Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio: David Hendy—Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio
Wed 26 Nov 2014
3/5 Media professor and historian David Hendy on early anxieties about radio's power.
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Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio: Olivia O'Leary—Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio
Tue 25 Nov 2014
2/5 Journalist and broadcaster Olivia O'Leary describes the influence of radio on her.
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Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio: Samuel West—Shaping the Air - Writers and Radio
Mon 24 Nov 2014
1/5 Actor Samuel West explores the art of performance and declarative language.
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Dresden - Targets—World War One Round the World
Fri 31 Oct 2014
Herlinde Koebl discusses World War One, targets and killing.
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Sarajevo - Divine Uncertainty—World War One Round the World
Thu 30 Oct 2014
Haris Pasovic explores WWI's effect on the long history of nationalism in the Balkans.
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London - Shell Shock and the Shock of Shells—World War One Round the World
Wed 29 Oct 2014
Joanna Bourke on the emotional, cultural and physical impact of WWI shelling on soldiers.
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Brahms and the Future—Brahms Experience
Fri 10 Oct 2014
5/5 Pianist and writer Natasha Loges discusses Brahms's views on the future of music.
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Brahms and Freud—Brahms Experience
Thu 9 Oct 2014
4/5 Lesley Chamberlain asks what can be learnt by comparing the work of Brahms and Freud.
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Brahms and Germany—Brahms Experience
Wed 8 Oct 2014
3/5 Natasha Loges explores Brahms's complex political relationship with his homeland.
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Brahms and Nature—Brahms Experience
Tue 7 Oct 2014
2/5 Writer Lesley Chamberlain investigates how Brahms was influenced by the natural world.
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Public Brahms, Private Brahms—Brahms Experience
Mon 6 Oct 2014
1/5 Pianist Natasha Loges considers what lay behind Brahms's famously gruff public persona.
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The Firebird—Music in Its Time
Fri 26 Sep 2014
5/10 Stephen Johnson on the reactions of the first audiences to Stravinsky's The Firebird.
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Bach: St Matthew Passion—Music in Its Time
Thu 25 Sep 2014
4/10 Exploring the impact of Bach's St Matthew Passion on its first audiences in Leipzig.
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Scenes from Childhood—Music in Its Time
Wed 24 Sep 2014
3/10 Exploring how Schumann's Scenes from Childhood were listened to by their first audiences.
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Victoria: Lamentations—Music in Its Time
Tue 23 Sep 2014
2/10 Exploring the impact of Victoria's Lamentations on listeners in Counter-Reformation Rome.
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Haydn: Symphony No 100 (Military)—Music in Its Time
Mon 22 Sep 2014
1/10 Exploring the impact of Haydn's Military Symphony on its first audiences in 1790s London.
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.
