Antarctica - from Shackleton to Happy Feet
Jessica Turner and John Lightbody are the readers for this celebration of Antarctica marking the 150 anniversary of Shackleton's birth.
If you call to mind an image of Antarctica, it is likely you will come up with something informed by the heroic but ultimately unsuccessful Endurance Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. That鈥檚 because the extraordinary photographs and film from that trip planted the so-called White Continent in our imaginations for ever. Shackleton, who was born in Ireland in February 1874 before moving to London as a boy, might be best known for that failed trip but the fact that his crew survived, when so many did not, is now seen as a credit to his exceptional leadership skills.
Today鈥檚 Words and Music is a tribute to the frozen landscape that inspired the heroic age of exploration. It is not just remote - it contains the world's highest, driest, coldest and windiest places. And these days it鈥檚 a hub of scientific discovery, international diplomacy and environmental change too. We鈥檒l hear fiction from Beryl Bainbridge to Edgar Allan Poe, poetry from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Derek Mahon, memoir from Jenny Diski and Sara Wheeler as well David Attenborough, Maori scientists and other Polar Explorers. Alongside you鈥檒l hear hugely varied music inspired by Antarctica from Vaughan Williams to Tanya Ekanayaka, from The Muppets to Nigel Westlake and Cab Calloway. Our readers are Jessica Turner and John Lightbody.
Produced in Salford by Olive Clancy
Last on
Music Played
Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes
-
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00:01骋濒氓蝉产颈谤诲
Overwinter
Performer: 骋濒氓蝉产颈谤诲.- Whitelabrecs.
- Tr 3.
-
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner read by John Lightbody
Ranulph Fiennes
Shackleton: a biography read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:05Jabra Latham
Antarctic Triptych II: The Hut
Performer: Andew Seymor.- ABC Classic.
- Tr 2.
Ranulph Fiennes
Shackleton: a biography read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:06Jabra Latham
Antarctic Triptych II: The Hut
Performer: Andew Seymor.- ABC Classic.
- Tr 2.
![]()
00:07Ezio Bosso
Symphony No 1 Oceans (Antarctic)
Performer: Ezio Bosso.- Sony Classical.
- Tr 4.
Sir Ernest Shackleton
Race to the Pole
![]()
00:08Ezio Bosso
Symphony No 1 Oceans (Antarctic)
Performer: Ezio Bosso.- Sony Classical.
- Tr 4.
![]()
00:09Ernest Shackleton
The Dash to the South Pole
- Parlophone UK.
- Tr 22.
![]()
00:09Ralph Vaughan Williams
Symphony No 7 Sinfonia Antarctica
Performer: Halle Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder.- Halle Concerts Society.
- Tr 22.
Sara Wheeler
Terra Incognita read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:15Drecker/Jenssen/Johansen
White Out Conditions
Performer: Bel Canto.- WM Norway.
- Tr 12.
Derek Mahon
Antarctica read by John Lightbody The Poems: 1961-2020 (The Gallery Press, 2021)
![]()
00:18Nigel Westlake
Antarctica Suite 鈥� Penguin ballet
Performer: John Williams.- Sony Classical.
- Tr 4.
Beryl Bainbridge
Birthday Boys read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:23Ludovico Einaudi
Temple White
Performer: Ludovico Einaudi.- Decca Classics.
- Tr 10.
Sinfonia antartica: I. Prelude. 'to suffer woes鈥�
David Timson
![]()
00:26Henry Mancini
Arctic Whale Hunt
Conductor: Erich Kunzel.- Telarc.
- Tr 13.
Sir Ernest Shackleton and Crew
Parody of Kipling鈥檚 If read by John Lightbody
![]()
00:26Henry Mancini
Arctic Whale Hunt
Conductor: Erich Kunzel.![]()
00:28Ralph Vaughan Williams
Scott of the Antarctic, Distant Glacier
Performer: 麻豆社 Philharmonic.- Chandos.
- Tr 11.
![]()
00:29Men Without Hats
Antarctica
- Demon.
- 3.
Doris Lessing
Afterward to The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:31Howard Goodall
Shackleton鈥檚 Cross
Performer: Howard Goodall.- Decca.
- Tr 5.
Caroline Alexander
Mrs Chippy鈥檚 last Expedition: the remarkable journal of Shackleton鈥檚 Polar-Bound Cat read by John Lightbody
![]()
00:35Brian Setzer
Stray Cat Strut
Performer: Stray Cats.- RCA camden.
- 1.
![]()
00:36Franz Schubert
Winter Journey - Frozen Tears
Performer: Roderick Williams.- Signum Records.
- n/a.
Emily Dickinson
Our Journey Had Advanced, read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:39George Fenton
Antarctic Mystery
Performer: 麻豆社 Concert Orchestra.- Silva Screen.
- 5.
Edgar Allan Poe
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
![]()
00:41George Fenton
Antarctic Mystery
Performer: 麻豆社 Concert Orchestra.- Silva Screen.
- Tr 5.
Bernadette Mayer
The Way to keep going in Antarctica read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:44John Grant
Glacier
Performer: John Grant.- Bella Union.
- Tr 1.
Jenny Diski
A feeling for Ice read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:47Evangelos Papathanassiou
Antarctica Echoes
Performer: Vangelis.- UMC.
- Tr 2.
![]()
00:48Vangelis
Antarctica Echoes
Elizabeth Bishop
The Imaginary Iceberg read by Jessica Turner
![]()
00:51Evangelos Papathanassiou
Antarctica Echoes
Performer: Vangelis.- UMC.
- Tr 2.
![]()
00:53The Muppets
Antarctica!
- Sesame Workshop Catalog.
- Tr 7.
Graham Billing
Forbush and the Penguins read by John Lightbody
![]()
00:56Cab Calloway
Penguin Swing
Performer: Cab Calloway and Orchestra.- JSP records.
- Tr 7.
MaoriAntarctica.org
Maori Antarctica read by Jessica Turner
![]()
01:00Gillian Whitehead
Lullaby for Matthew
Performer: Dan Poynton.- Rattle.
- Tr 10.
David Attenborough
Forward from Frozen Planet read by John Lightbody
![]()
01:05Einojuhani Rautavaara
Cantus Arcticus: Melancholy
Performer: Max Pommer.- Ondine.
- Tr 7.
Ailbhe Ni Ghearbhuigh
Return from Antarctica read by Jessica Turner
![]()
01:09Tanya Ekanayaka
Antarctica with Mercury
Performer: Tanya Ekanayaka.- Grand Piano.
- Tr 2.
Broadcast
- Sun 18 Feb 2024 17:30麻豆社 Radio 3
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