The Essay Episodes Available now
North Sea Oil and Gas—Cornerstones
3/5 Esther Woolfson contrasts Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', with its oil and gas industry.
Lewisian Gneiss—Cornerstones
2/5 Writer Sara Maitland conjures with Lewisian gneiss, two-thirds the age of the earth.
Flint—Cornerstones
1/5 Alan Garner sparks with flint, the stone that has enabled human civilisation.
Watershed—Brick, Stone, Steel, Glass
Nikesh Shukla on Watershed in Bristol and how it helped him fall in love with the city.
Hafod Eryri—Brick, Stone, Steel, Glass
Travel writer Phoebe Smith on Hafod Eryri and the chutzpah of building on mountains.
Chingle Hall—Brick, Stone, Steel, Glass
Andrew Hurley on the haunting qualities of a 17th-century manor house near Preston.
Gladstone's Library—Brick, Stone, Steel, Glass
Novelist Melissa Harrison on the joy of 'sleeping with books' at Gladstone's Library.
Wigmore Hall—Brick, Stone, Steel, Glass
Pianist Stephen Hough on Wigmore Hall and how its 'shoebox' design catches the ear.
The rock'n'roll funeral—Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity
5/5 David Hepworth asks if pop music has any place in the great ceremonies of life and death.
Are DJs doomed?—Nothing Is Real - Pop's Struggle with Authenticity
4/5 Writer David Hepworth asks, 'Are DJs doomed?'
