The Essay Episodes Episode guide
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Dear Marianne Moore
Ian Sansom writes to poet Marianne Moore and asks her about that tricorn hat
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Dear George Eliot...
Novelist Ian Sansom pens a missive to George Eliot...
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Dear Geoffrey Chaucer...
Novelist Ian Sansom fires off a letter to Geoffrey Chaucer...
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Dear Dante
Ian Sansom drops a quick line to Dante
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Dear Agatha Christie...
Novelist Ian Sansom has a theory to put to Queen of crime, Agatha Christie.
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Dance Till You Bleed: The World According to Hans Christian Andersen - Episode 5
The Wicked Prince. Thing. Toby Jones stars in five fairy-tale adaptations. 5/5
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Dance Till You Bleed: The World According to Hans Christian Andersen - Episode 4
The Ice Maiden. Toby Jones stars as in five fairy-tale adaptations by Lucy Catherine. 4/5
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Dance Till You Bleed: The World According to Hans Christian Andersen - Episode 3
Anne Lisbeth. Toby Jones stars in five fairy-tale adaptations by Lucy Catherine. 3/5
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Dance Till You Bleed: The World According to Hans Christian Andersen - Episode 2
The Red Shoes. Toby Jones stars in five fairy-tale adaptations by Lucy Catherine. 2/5
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Dance Till You Bleed: The World According to Hans Christian Andersen - Episode 1
The Most Incredible Thing. Toby Jones stars in five fairy-tale adaptations. 1/5
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Cuthbert
Historian Tony Morris explores the life of Cuthbert, the popular saint of the Northeast/
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Cornerstones:Millstone
Derbyshire poet and climber Helen Mort visits Stanage Edge, famed for its millstone grit.
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Cornerstones:Coal
Writer Paul Evans traces a family line back through Shropshire's seams of coal.
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Cornerstones: Quartz
Linda Cracknell reflects on the appeal of the quartz on Ben Lawers, her local Munro.
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Cornerstones: Fire Rocks
Novelist Sarah Moss discusses basalt and dolerite, the fire rocks that underpin castles.
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Cornerstones: Chalk
Poet Alyson Hallett is drawn to chalk landscapes and the large horse at Westbury in Wilts
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Cooking and Eating God in Medieval Drama
Daisy Black conjures up images of breaking bread and cannibalism in mystery plays
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Children of the Waters
Sabina Dosani looks at the ritual of Mizuko Kuyo and modern ceremonies marking miscarriage
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Call Me Mother
How the shape of words for mother helps babies eat their food. Rebecca Woods explains
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Byrd: Mass for Four Voices
Stephen Johnson considers how Byrd's Mass for 4 voices was received by its first audience
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Books to Make Space For on the Bookshelf: There's No Story There
Lisa Mullen looks at depictions of war-time factory workers in the novel by Inez Holden
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Books to Make Space For on the Bookshelf: Sindhubala
Preti Taneja on the writing and politics of Bengali author and activist Mahasweta Devi
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Books to Make Space For On The Bookshelf: Closer
4/5 New Generation Thinker Diarmuid Hester on the transgressive writing of Dennis Cooper
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Black and White: Yin and Yang
Xiaolu Guo remembers lessons learned from her father growing up in China.
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Black and White: Words on the Page
Writer Glyn Maxwell on whether we have become too black and white, and too binary.
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Black and White: Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics
Farrah Jarral talks about what it means to be fluent in something one doesn't understand
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Black and White: Messrs Smith and Carlos and Norman
Lindsay Johns explains the inspiration he draws from a black and white photo on his desk.
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Bettany Hughes on Helen of Troy
Bettany Hughes on her favourite fictional female. Recorded at the Hay Festival 2018.
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Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4
Stephen Johnson considers how Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 thrilled the first audience
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Bede, the Father of English History
Scholar of the Anglo Saxons Lilian Groves explores the life and times of St Bede.
