Arts and Ideas: Episodes
Since her death on the 8th April, Baroness Thatcher has been lauded as the greatest peace-time Prime Minister of the 20th century, but also criticised as the most divisive politician of a generation. With such a wide range of views, how can we make sense of the 'Iron Lady'? Samira Ahmed is joined by ...
Samira Ahmed talks to American film director Oliver Stone about his documentary miniseries which uses new archive material and little known documents to explore an unconventional account of events that took place during the twentieth century that have shaped America's history. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ...
Matthew Sweet visits Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which reopens to the public this month, following a decade of restoration.
Philip Dodd explores one of the classics of social history, The Making of the English Working Class by E P Thompson. Ground breaking and passionately engaged it changed the way we thought about the Industrial Revolution and the men, women and children whose hard labour drove it. Even fifty years after ...
Church Historian Diarmaid Macculloch joins Anne McElvoy to discuss the role that silence has played in the development of Christianity. David Dewing, director of The Geffrye Museum, argues that the museum sector neglects a focus on the middle classes; historian Selina Todd joins him to debate this idea. ...
Is nostalgia for an idea of the NHS is inhibiting clear-eyed debate? Samira Ahmed is joined by columnist Ian Birrell and campaigning GP Jonathon Tomlinson to discuss. Alexandra Harris reviews an exhibition of Paul Nash's work at the Pallant House Gallery. Geneticist and writer Adam Rutherford discusses ...
What history should children learn and be able to contextualise? And what do they know? Rana Mitter enters the Great British History debate with the historian David Cannadine, Tristram Hunt MP, Sheila Lawlor of the think tank Politeia, Stephen Drew, headmaster of Brentwood County High School in Essex ...
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner looks back at his time as the head of the National Theatre in London which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Professor Rosi Braidotti discusses her new book The Posthuman with Professor Joanna Bourke. And Award-winning film maker Penny Woolcock reveals her unique involvement ...
Samira Ahmed talks to international best selling author Mohsin Hamid about his new novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Susan Aldworth and the editor of the magazine RawVision, John Maizels explore the Wellcome Collection's show of Outsider Art from Japan. Peter Moffat discusses his television ...
Matthew Sweet talks to acclaimed literary critic James Wood, visits an exhibition on Pompeii & Herculeneum and discusses the legacy of documentary maker Michael Grigsby. Plus the latest film by Francois Ozon, In the House, is reviewed.
As Zimbabwe votes in favour of a new constitution, Anne McElvoy is joined by Albie Sachs, journalist Simon Jenkins human rights lawyer Chibli Mallat to examine whether national constitutions aid or impede democracy. In light of this week’s cross-party deal on press regulation established by Royal Charter, ...
Rana Mitter hosts a special edition of Night Waves as part of Radio 3’s Baroque Spring season, including a visit to Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland. Joined by artists and designers, Rana explores the legacy of baroque and its influence today.
Philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky joins Philip Dodd for an extended conversation on American individualism, the role of reason, and a life spent holding authority to account. And Philip meet the Master of Wellington College, Anthony Seldon, to get a very different perspective on how power operates in society.
Matthew Sweet talks to the Spanish novelist Javier Marias about his new book 'The Infatuations'. Night Waves takes stock of the man who sold the world as a new exhibition 'David Bowie is....' gets set to open at the Victoria and Albert Museum. And In another new book 'The Undivided Past' David Cannadine ...
Anne McElvoy talks to Aleksandar Hemon, the Bosnian-born writer who some have been comparing to Nabokov and Conrad, about his newest book which is his first venture into non-fiction. Jonathan Jones reviews the new show of work by the British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare's. Emma Griffin, Jane Humphries ...
Ken Loach talks to Philip Dodd about his new documentary Spirit of '45, which celebrates the hopes of democratic socialism in post-war Britain. As the first UK retrospective of works by George Bellows opens, Night Waves sends the American poet Eva Salzman to take a look. Geoff Mulgan lays out his vision ...
What does a nineteenth century Swedish play have to say about post-apartheid South Africa? Samira Ahmed talks to director Yael Farber about her re-working of Strindberg's Miss Julie. Why are we compelled to explore our physical and physiological limits and how may that benefit us - doctor of medicine ...
Matthew Sweet talks to Booker-nominated novelist Julia O’Faolain about her new memoir and growing up with her father, a celebrated writer and a radical dissident. Helen Wallace reviews George Benjamin’s and Martin Crimp’s new opera, ‘Written on Skin’. Professor Nora Crook explains how she discovered ...
Anne McElvoy meets Hilary Mantel, the winner of the David Cohen Prize for literature. Mantel also defends her comments about the Duchess of Cambridge. The writer and former priest Mark Vernon discusses his latest book on love with the philosopher and economist Jamie Whyte, and the novelist and academic ...
The Olympics ceremony master Danny Boyle joins Rana Mitter to discuss the British film industry and what he thinks is the role of creativity in boosting the economy. As we approach the 200th anniversary of Dr David Livingstone's birth, Rana discusses the man and reassesses his legacy in today's Africa, ...