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Available for over a year

Andy Zaltzman, the comedian, cricket fanatic and lapsed classics student will be spending a week living by the teachings of three ancient schools of philosophy. This week he'll mostly be being stoic. Stoicism is being hailed as the new Mindfulness in their quest for a modern day answer to the eternal question of how to live a good life. The trouble is centuries of misunderstanding have left us with glaring misconceptions about what these philosophies really are: Stoicism is nothing about keeping a stiff upper lip and suppressing my emotions. The great attraction of stoicism is what it tells us about resilience and how to deal with life's vicissitudes. Founded by Zeno of Citium in the 3rd century BC, Premiership rugby club Saracens hold weekly classes in it, special forces recruits are taught its insights - the value of virtue for its own sake and how to make the best of what is in our power, and take the rest as it naturally happens - and politicians and business leaders are attracted by the works of famous Stoics like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. Every week Andy will be given a set of tasks to confront to teach him a philosophical lesson. His guide and task master is Jules Evans, author of "Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations." Andy will also meet the famous mentalist and illusionist Derren Brown who's also a follower of Stoicism. Producer: Phil Pegum.