麻豆社

Gardening writer Anna Pavord visits the Royal Academy exhibition Painting the Modern Garden and talks to Anne McElvoy about her new book Landskipping. New Generation Thinker Peter Mackay joins the conversation about landscapes and - as Radio 3 marks the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow with a focus on folk - he explores the way folk traditions have fed into Scottish poetry.

As arguments about whether the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford should be allowed to remain in place continue to divide students and alumni, journalist Nick Cohen and former Rector of Exeter College, Oxford Dame Frances Cairncross discuss how present day funding of colleges and universities can also be a contentious issue.

New Generation Thinker Peter Mackay explores the contrasting folk traditions in Irish and Scottish poetry as Radio 3 begins a weekend exploring folk connections.

Anna Pavord's Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places is out now.
Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse runs at the Royal Academy in London from January 30th to April 20th.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Main Image: Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, c1880 - the gardens were designed by Capability Brown. Taken from: A Series of Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland, edited by Reverend FO Morris, Volume I, William Mackenzie, London, c1880. Wood-engraved plates after paintings by Benjamin Fawcett and Alexander Francis Lydon.