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The Essay

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

Minds at War: "O' Connell Street"

13 mins; April 13, 2016

Minds at War: "The Last September"

13 mins; April 12, 2016

Minds at War: "Ulysses"

13 mins; April 11, 2016

Lucy Hughes Hallett

15 mins; March 25, 2016

Ian Sansom

16 mins; March 24, 2016

Kamila Shamsie

15 mins; March 23, 2016

Nicola Barker

15 mins; March 22, 2016

Nicholas Shakespeare

15 mins; March 21, 2016

Inspiring Women in Music: Zoe Martlew

14 mins; March 09, 2016

Inspiring Women in Music: Alice Farnham

13 mins; March 09, 2016

Inspiring Women in Music: Kathryn McAdam

14 mins; March 08, 2016

Inspiring Women in Music: Nicola LeFanu

14 mins; March 07, 2016

Inspiring Women in Music: Sarah Connolly

14 mins; March 06, 2016

Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks

13 mins; March 04, 2016

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4

13 mins; March 03, 2016

Shostakovich: Symphony No 5

13 mins; March 02, 2016

Byrd: Mass for Four Voices

13 mins; March 01, 2016

Mahler's Symphony No 8

13 mins; February 29, 2016

Rachel Joyce on Bronte as a Literary Star

13 mins; February 26, 2016

Jane Shilling on I Shall Soon Be Thirty

13 mins; February 26, 2016

I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte: Lyndall Gordon on Charlotte Bronte and Robert Southey

13 mins; February 24, 2016

Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium

13 mins; February 23, 2016

Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte, Governess

13 mins; February 18, 2016

Lovers

13 mins; January 29, 2016

Family

13 mins; January 28, 2016

Friends

13 mins; January 27, 2016

My Generation

13 mins; January 26, 2016

Strangers

13 mins; January 25, 2016

Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit

14 mins; January 15, 2016

F Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night

15 mins; January 14, 2016

Federico Fellini's 8 1/2

15 mins; January 13, 2016

Francoise Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse

14 mins; January 12, 2016

James Whistler's Symphony in White, No 1

14 mins; January 11, 2016

Tom Service - Where Have All the Seismic Moments Gone?

13 mins; January 07, 2016

Sarah Walker on Steve Reich's Four Organs

12 mins; January 06, 2016

Ivan Hewett on Brian Eno's Music for Airports

13 mins; January 06, 2016

Sara Mohr Pietsch on the Fall of the Berlin Wall

13 mins; January 05, 2016

Robert Worby on John Cage's 4'33"

13 mins; January 05, 2016

Art in a Cold Climate: Thomas Hylland Eriksen on the Holmenkollen Ski-Jumping Hill

13 mins; December 18, 2015

Art in a Cold Climate: Ray Hudson on Touching Fire by Carolyn Reed

13 mins; December 17, 2015

Art in a Cold Climate: Elizabeth Hay on Painting Place III by David Milne

13 mins; December 17, 2015

Art in a Cold Climate: Hallgrimur Helgason on Fish Processing in Eyjafjord by Kristin Jonsdottir

13 mins; December 17, 2015

Art in a Cold Climate: Mette Moestrup on Pia Arke's Camera Obscura

13 mins; December 17, 2015

Northern Lights - Cornerstones: Alaska

13 mins; December 11, 2015

Cornerstones: Siberia

13 mins; December 10, 2015

Cornerstones: Greenland Caves

15 mins; December 09, 2015

Cornerstones - The Canadian Arctic

13 mins; December 08, 2015

Northern Lights - Cornerstones: Scandinavia's Samiland

13 mins; December 07, 2015

Homage to Caledonia: Hidden Identities

13 mins; October 23, 2015

Homage to Caledonia: The Language of the Scots

13 mins; October 23, 2015

Homage to Caledonia: Morality and Misery

13 mins; October 23, 2015

Homage to Caledonia: GSOH

13 mins; October 23, 2015

Homage to Caledonia: Scots Abroad

13 mins; October 23, 2015

Middletown

14 mins; October 02, 2015

Mr Average

13 mins; October 01, 2015

Working 9 to 5

13 mins; September 30, 2015

Small, Medium and Large

14 mins; September 29, 2015

On the Average

13 mins; September 28, 2015

Dar es Salaam - Ubhuche, Invisible Histories of the First World War

14 mins; July 02, 2015

Delhi - Parting Words

14 mins; July 02, 2015

Amman - Jordan, a Country of Nationalists

14 mins; July 02, 2015

Washington - Safe for Democracy

14 mins; July 02, 2015

Sydney - Stories that Bind

14 mins; July 02, 2015

Akhmatova's July 1914

13 mins; June 26, 2015

Parade

13 mins; June 25, 2015

Woolf's Mrs Dalloway

14 mins; June 24, 2015

Tzara's Dada Manifesto

13 mins; June 23, 2015

Tagore's Nobel Lectures

13 mins; June 23, 2015

Kirsteen McCue

13 mins; June 19, 2015

Adam Nicolson

14 mins; June 19, 2015

Andrea Stuart

13 mins; June 19, 2015

Julia Blackburn

14 mins; June 18, 2015

Of Miracle, of Magic

13 mins; June 12, 2015

The View from the Tower

13 mins; June 11, 2015

The Second Coming of the Second Coming

13 mins; June 10, 2015

Not Liking Yeats

13 mins; June 09, 2015

Yeats by Heart

13 mins; June 08, 2015

Brigadoon

14 mins; June 05, 2015

Unthank

14 mins; June 04, 2015

Duncairn

14 mins; June 03, 2015

Thrums

14 mins; June 02, 2015

Show Me the Way to Tillietudlem

14 mins; June 01, 2015

Hay Festival: Gillian Clarke

14 mins; May 29, 2015

Hay Festival: Frank Cottrell Boyce

12 mins; May 28, 2015

Hay Festival: Horatio Clare

12 mins; May 27, 2015

Hay Festival: Alex Clark

14 mins; May 26, 2015

Hay Festival: Daniel Hahn

14 mins; May 25, 2015

Some Kind of Genius

13 mins; May 01, 2015

F for Fake

13 mins; April 30, 2015

Why Citizen Kane Matters

13 mins; April 29, 2015

He that Plays the King

13 mins; April 28, 2015

Boy Wonder

13 mins; April 27, 2015

Je suis un table

13 mins; April 24, 2015

Sid James

13 mins; April 17, 2015

Tony Hancock

13 mins; April 16, 2015

Terry-Thomas

13 mins; April 15, 2015

Alastair Sim

13 mins; April 15, 2015

Will Hay

13 mins; April 15, 2015

Lead Us Not into Temptation

13 mins; April 03, 2015

Forgive Us Our Trespasses

13 mins; April 02, 2015

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The Essay

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