Rose
Brett Westwood looks into the heart of a rose. Its power lies in its infinite mutability - the rose symbolises everything from sex to socialism, romance to religious belief.
Brett Westwood looks into the heart of a rose. Its power lies in its infinite mutability - the rose symbolises everything from sex to socialism, romance to religious belief. It's not English, and it inspired the first punk single, as well as much of Persian poetry. David Austin Jr shows Brett around their rose garden, and cultural historian Jennifer Potter whizzes through roses from Sappho to Shakespeare.
Contributors:
Narguess Farzad, Senior Fellow in Persian at SOAS, University of London
Jennifer Potter, author of The Rose: A True History
David Austin Jr, Managing Director, David Austin Roses
Original producer : Beth O'Dea
Archive producer for Â鶹Éç Audio in Bristol : Andrew Dawes
Revised repeat - first broadcast in a longer form on August 9th 2016
Last on
How to decode floriography, the language of flowers.
Rose
Professor Fiona Stafford discusses our millennia-long understanding of roses.
David JC Austin
Together with his father, he has helped to develop the very successful direct mail order business so that English Roses could be sold direct to gardeners throughout Europe and the US. He also set up a retail operation in Japan and in May 2012 he officially opened the David Austin rose gardens and Plant Centre in Sennan City, near Osaka.
Narguess Farzad
She is a Trustee of the in London, serves on the Advisory Committee of SOAS’ Centre for Iranian Studies, and is a longstanding Member of the , where she also Chairs the Education Committee.
Jennifer Potter
She spent five years researching and writing , which she followed with Seven Flowers and How They Shaped Our World, both published by Atlantic Books.
Broadcasts
- Tue 9 Aug 2016 11:00Â鶹Éç Radio 4
- Mon 15 Aug 2016 21:00Â鶹Éç Radio 4
- Sun 12 Jun 2022 06:35Â鶹Éç Radio 4