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Physician Gavin Francis leads us round a cultural map of the body: arms - part of our body, and weapons of war. From 2015.

Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.

A serious motorbike crash brings a young soldier to A&E with a badly injured shoulder. His arm is paralysed, and may not recover.

Since Homer wrote the Iliad almost three thousand years ago, military strategists have understood the power of wounds to the brachial plexus, the network of nerves behind our collarbones. Our ‘arms’ are both parts of our body, and weapons of war.

Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs

Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on Â鶹Éç Radio 4 in 2015.

15 minutes

Last on

Thu 16 Apr 2020 02:45

Credits

Role Contributor
Reader Bill Paterson
Writer Gavin Francis
Abridger Jo Coombs
Producer Hannah Marshall

Broadcasts

  • Wed 10 Jun 2015 09:45
  • Thu 11 Jun 2015 00:30
  • Wed 15 Apr 2020 14:45
  • Thu 16 Apr 2020 02:45