Free Thinking Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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George Bernard Shaw
Wed 16 Nov 2022
Anne McElvoy and guests look at the arguments explored in the plays of Shaw (1856-1950)
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The Imperial War Museum Remembrance Discussion 2022
Tue 8 Nov 2022
How video games interpret stories about war and conflict and help to train troops.
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John Knox
Thu 3 Nov 2022
A life of great drama and religious controversy explored by Matthew Sweet and guests.
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Goethe, Schiller and the first Romantics
Wed 2 Nov 2022
Andrea Wulf, author of a new group biography set in 1790s Jena joins Anne McElvoy
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Alexander the Great
Tue 1 Nov 2022
Military leader, city founder, underwater explorer?! Rana Mitter on images of Alexander
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Orhan Pamuk and the Ottoman Empire
Wed 26 Oct 2022
The Nobel Prize winning novelist is joined by academics Michael Talbot and Keya Anjaria
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New Thinking: Dead Languages
Wed 26 Oct 2022
John Gallagher says hello in Oscan, the language of Ancient Pompeii
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Oliver Postgate
Fri 21 Oct 2022
Matthew Sweet and guests on the creator of children's TV classics including The Clangers.
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British Academy Book Prize 2022
Tue 18 Oct 2022
Rana Mitter meets six authors shortlisted for the prize for Global Cultural Understanding.
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Romanticism Revisited
Thu 13 Oct 2022
Coleridge, Fuseli and Emily Bronte under the spotlight as a new film and exhibition open
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The Frieze/Radio 3 Museum Directors Debate 2022
Wed 12 Oct 2022
Anne McElvoy is joined by the directors of three institutions from around the world.
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Miles Davis and On The Corner
Tue 11 Oct 2022
Matthew Sweet and guests explore this genre-stretching album released on 11th Oct 1972
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How We Read
Fri 7 Oct 2022
Our surprisingly complex and mysterious relationship with text explored by Matthew Sweet.
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Female power and influence past and present
Wed 5 Oct 2022
Anne McElvoy talks to novelist Kamila Shamsie and playwright Rona Munro
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My Neighbour Totoro
Tue 4 Oct 2022
Christopher Harding looks at the background and influence of Studio Ghibli's 1988 film
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John Cowper Powys
Thu 29 Sep 2022
John Gray, Iain Sinclair, Margaret Drabble and Kevan Manwaring on 'the Dorset Proust'
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Claude McKay and the Harlem Renaissance
Wed 28 Sep 2022
Authors Nadifa Mohamed, Johny Pitts and Pearl Cleage join Shahidha Bari.
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Ibsen
Mon 26 Sep 2022
New interpretations of the Norwegian dramatist's plays from Lucinda Coxon & Steve Waters.
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The Black Country - past and present
Fri 23 Sep 2022
Matthew Sweet and guests explore the roots and resonance of "the Black Country" region
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The Black Country - past and present
Thu 22 Sep 2022
Matthew Sweet and guests explore the roots and resonance of "The Black Country" region
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The Normans
Wed 21 Sep 2022
Rana Mitter and guests look at Norman history, misconceptions and echoes heard today
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Cuba, cold war and RAF Fylingdales
Tue 20 Sep 2022
Novelist Ian McEwan and researchers into early warning system archives join Anne McElvoy
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Immortality
Fri 16 Sep 2022
Matthew Sweet & guests explore ideas about never ending life in literature, film and myth
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The Lindisfarne Gospels and new discoveries
Wed 14 Sep 2022
An archaeologist, a historian and a poet join Shahidha Bari as the gospels return North.
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New Thinking: What language did Columbus speak?
Tue 13 Sep 2022
John Gallagher and guests explore language in the 15th century age of exploration
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Touki Bouki
Tue 26 Jul 2022
The Journey of the Hyena mixes West African oral tradition with New Wave and Soviet style
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Filming Sunday Bloody Sunday
Mon 25 Jul 2022
Glenda Jackson talks to Matthew Sweet about John Schlesinger's 1971 love triangle drama
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Futurism
Fri 22 Jul 2022
Matthew Sweet and guests look at the manifesto celebrating youth, technology and violence
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life
