Arts & Ideas Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives 鈥� looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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Free Thinking: Churchill, Pocahontas and The Idiot
Thu 15 Jun 2017
Anne McElvoy considers Churchill on the big screen and the legacy of Pocahontas.
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Free Thinking: Narcissism
Wed 14 Jun 2017
Shahidha Bari and Laurence Scott explore our obsession with the self.
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Free Thinking: Will Self, R. D. Laing and Mandy.
Tue 13 Jun 2017
Matthew Sweet talks to Will Self about the mind, consciousness and R. D. Laing.
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Free Thinking: Political Sketch Writing. Enclosure Acts. 2017. Branwell Bronte. Pushkin House Book Prize 2017
Thu 8 Jun 2017
Anne McElvoy and guests look at the style of the election and the job of sketch writers.
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Free Thinking - Revenge: My Cousin Rachel, Natalie Haynes, 2017 New Generation Thinker Islam Issa.
Wed 7 Jun 2017
Matthew Sweet sees a film version of Daphne Du Maurier's novel, and revenge in Shakespeare
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Free Thinking - Arundhati Roy
Tue 6 Jun 2017
The Man Booker prize winning author and campaigner is in conversation with Philip Dodd.
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Free Thinking - Hay 2017: Writing History with Sebastian Barry, Jake Arnott, Madeleine Thien.
Thu 1 Jun 2017
New Generation Thinker Sarah Dillon chairs a discussion recorded at the Hay Festival.
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Free Thinking: Ecstasy. Carpe Diem. 2017 New Generation Thinker Hetta Howes on medieval ecstasy.
Thu 1 Jun 2017
Jules Evans and Roman Krznaric discuss living in the moment and trances with Rana Mitter.
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Free Thinking: Hay 2017: Women's Voices in the Classical World.
Tue 30 May 2017
Writers and historians join Catherine Fletcher for a discussion recorded at Hay.
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Free Thinking: Artist Tom Phillips at 80; How do we save our plants?
Thu 25 May 2017
Artist Tom Phillips talks to Philip Dodd about his career as he marks his 80th birthday.
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Free Thinking - Japan and Korea. Hokusai
Wed 24 May 2017
Chris Harding discusses the work of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai
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Free Thinking - Bella Bathurst. Mike Figgis. Birds in British literature. 2017 New Generation Thinker Daisy Fancourt.
Tue 23 May 2017
Matthew Sweet explores deafness, plot twists, birds in books & how music is good for you
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Free Thinking: Fiona Shaw and Mark Ravenhill on Brecht, John Knox, 2017 New Generation Thinker Joanne Paul.
Thu 18 May 2017
Philip Dodd looks at speaking truth to power and the beliefs of John Knox and Galileo.
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Free Thinking: Rachel Seiffert. James Hawes,Richard Nelson. 2017 New Gen Thinker Alistair Fraser on gangs
Wed 17 May 2017
Anne McElvoy explores German Russian history, US electioneering and crime with her guests
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Free Thinking - Artist Taryn Simon. Deglobalisation. 2017 New Generation Thinker Eleanor Lybeck on the circus.
Tue 16 May 2017
Photo London's Master of Photography Taryn Simon on her new exhibition Image Atlas
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Free Thinking: Laurent Binet; the rise of blockchain tech.
Thu 11 May 2017
Anne McElvoy talks to the French novelist about Roland Barthes.
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Free Thinking: Salom茅, Angels in America, Queer British Art
Wed 10 May 2017
Philip Dodd looks at desire & politics as Angels in America runs at the National Theatre
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Free Thinking: The Wolfson Prize
Tue 9 May 2017
Rana Mitter is joined by the 6 shortlisted authors and an audience at the British Academy
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Free Thinking: Breaking Free: Landmark - Paradise Lost
Fri 5 May 2017
John Carey, Islam Issa, Mandy Green and Joe Moshenska with Philip Dodd.
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Free Thinking: Breaking Free - Martin Luther鈥檚 Revolution. New Research into the Reformation
Wed 3 May 2017
Alec Ryrie, Tom Charlton, Elizabeth Goodwin and Tara Hamling join Rana Mitter.
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Free Thinking - Breaking Free: Martin Luther's Revolution
Tue 2 May 2017
Peter Stanford Ulinka Rublack and Diarmaid MacCulloch discuss Martin Luther.
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Free Thinking - Wellcome Book Prize, Civil Wars: Susan Buck-Morss and A.C. Grayling, Louisa Egbunike and Akachi Ezeigbo.
Thu 27 Apr 2017
Anne McElvoy discusses nation states and war with A.C. Grayling and Susan Buck-Morss.
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Free Thinking - What now for environmentalism? With Paul Kingsnorth, James Thornton and Martin Goodman
Wed 26 Apr 2017
Writer Paul Kingsnorth talks about his changing attitude to the environmental movement.
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Free Thinking - Smell: Michele Roberts, A history of dentistry
Tue 25 Apr 2017
Matthew Sweet is joined by writer Michele Roberts, who talks about her latest novel.
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Free Thinking - Landmark: Leaves of Grass
Sun 23 Apr 2017
Poets Mark Doty and Andrew McMillan and Professor Sarah Churchwell on Walt Whitman's poem
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Free Thinking 鈥� John Irving
Sat 22 Apr 2017
The author of The Cider House Rules on religion, Mexico and the USA. With Philip Dodd.
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Free Thinking - Writers Writing about Love
Fri 21 Apr 2017
Alain de Botton, Tahmima Anam and AL Kennedy talk to Anne McElvoy about love in prose.
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Free Thinking - Taking the Long View with the Animal Kingdom
Thu 13 Apr 2017
Tim Birkhead and Phyllis Lee on long-lived animal species and their survival strategies.
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Free Thinking - My Body Clock is Broken
Wed 12 Apr 2017
Jay Griffiths, Vincent Deary, Louise Robinson and Matthew Smith discuss our mental health
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Free Thinking Festival: Time, Space and Science
Tue 11 Apr 2017
Carlos Frenk, Eugenia Cheng, Jim Al-Khalili and Louisa Preston debate time and space.
