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Free Thinking Episodes

  1.

    Bloomsday, Dalloway Day and 1922

    Shahidha Bari looks at the writing of Woolf and Joyce and what was really popular in 1922.

  2. South African writing

    Damon Galgut discusses his Booker Prize-winning novel, The Promise, with Anne McElvoy

  3. Victorian Streets

    Is that strong, inescapable image of 19th-century city streets in our heads the right one?

  4. John McGrath's Scottish Drama

    Anne McElvoy revisits the 1973 play The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil

  5. The Wolfson Prize 2022

    Rana Mitter interviews the shortlisted authors for the Wolfson Prize for history writing.

  6. Amia Srinivasan and Philosophical Genealogy

    The Right to Sex is the title of Amia Srinivasan's new book. Christopher Harding hosts.

  7. Oceans and the Sea

    Abdulrazak Gurnah, Emily Shuckburgh and Joan Passey join Rana Mitter at Hay Festival.

  8. Tudor families

    Tangled bloodlines, executions and a big, gold inflatable thing belonging to Henry VIII.

  9. The Tudor Mind

    Donne, Hamlet, mathematics and the Tudor portraits composed by Vaughan Williams.

  10. Tattoos

    Shahidha Bari traces the move from markings on convicts and aristos to today's body art.

  11. Goddesses

    Christopher Harding investigates the feminine divine with Ronald Hutton and others.

  12. Gandhi, Indian architecture

    Rana Mitter looks at a new play at the National Theatre about the man who murdered Gandhi.

  13. Soho

    Matthew Sweet is joined by Jingan Young, Benjamin Halligan and David McGillivray.

  14. Soil

    John Gallagher and guests dig deep into the significance of soil.

  15. Mental Health

    Anne McElvoy looks at ASMR, clean air, loneliness and a memoir exploring mental health.

  16. Odessa Stories

    Linda Grant and Boris Dralyuk discuss the writer Isaac Babel with Matthew Sweet.

  17. Windows

    From Rear Window to stained glass, TB to paintings at Dulwich. Shahidha Bari hosts.

  18. Kawanabe Ky艒sai and Yukio Mishima

    Japanese cultural experimentation: painter Ky艒sai 1831-1889 and writer Mishima 1925-1970.

  19. May Day Rituals

    Matthew Sweet and guests explore ideas about community, collective action and May revels.

  20. Rainer Maria Rilke

    Anne McElvoy discusses the visionary poet with a composer and two literature experts.

  21. Speaking Welsh

    Catherine Fletcher explores the relationship between Cymru and Cymraeg - Wales and Welsh.

  22. Teaching and Inspiration

    Novelist Julian Barnes, historian Daisy Hay and New Generation Thinker Louise Creechan.

  23. Shakespeare, history, pathology and dissonant sound

    Shahidha Bari on a new staging of Shakespeare's Henry VI. Why is Warwick a key figure?

  24. Preserving our heritage

    From knitting patterns to greetings cards: Naomi Paxton looks at a series of UK archives

  25. Housework

    Gender, class and domestic tasks. Matthew pulls on his rubber gloves and gets stuck in.

  26. Ships and History

    Artist Hew Locke plus historians Sarah Caputo, Jake Subryan Richards and Tom Nancollas.

  27. Grief

    Matthew Sweet and guests look at the role of ritual, laments and how we express grief.

  28. China: World Politics, Ink Art and Insomnia

    Kevin Rudd talks about avoiding catastrophic conflict between China and the USA.

  29. Bridgerton and Georgian Entertainment

    Shahidha Bari with Ian Kelly, Hannah Greig, Sophie Coulombeau, Brianna Kirkland-Robertson.

  30. New Generation Thinkers 2022

    Laurence Scott introduces the ten academics chosen to share their research on radio.

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