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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Gambling, good leadership and economic history
Fri 3 Jul 2020
Anne McElvoy looks at betting, economics and the leadership of US presidents
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Wed 1 Jul 2020
The screenwriter and novelist talks to Matthew Sweet about depicting Britain in his work.
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Ian Rankin and Tahmima Anam
Fri 26 Jun 2020
A pair of authors due to be at the Bradford Literature Festival compare notes on writing.
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Revisit: Arundhati Roy
Thu 25 Jun 2020
The Man Booker prize winning author and campaigner is in conversation with Philip Dodd.
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Rethinking the Curriculum
Mon 22 Jun 2020
Sandeep Parmar, Jade Cuttle, Edith Hall, Seb Falk talk to Rana Mitter about what we teach
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Irenosen Okojie and Nadifa Mohamed. Midsummer archaeology
Mon 22 Jun 2020
A virtual Bare Lit Festival talk, Nadifa Mohammed & Irenosen Okojie with Shahidha Bari
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Queer Bloomsbury and stillness in art and dance
Wed 17 Jun 2020
Paul Mendez and Francesca Wade on Virginia Woolf, walking, identity and Dalloway Day
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Revisit: Antarctica - testing ground for the human species
Tue 16 Jun 2020
An author, scientist, architect and explorer compare notes on this polar region.
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New Thinking: Refugees
Tue 16 Jun 2020
What are the best shelters? the right language? what do we learn from self help in camps?
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The future of theatre debate
Fri 12 Jun 2020
Bertie Carvel, Amit Lahav, Eleanor Loyd, Roy Alexander Weise, Caroline Dinenage MP & more
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Failure and female friendship
Wed 10 Jun 2020
Lara Feigel, Michèle Roberts & New Generation Thinker Alexandra Reza with Shahidha Bari
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Dickens
Tue 9 Jun 2020
Mathew Sweet, Linda Grant, Laurence Scott & Lucy Whitehead 150 years since Dickens' death
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New Thinking: Tackling Modern Slavery
Thu 4 Jun 2020
Naomi Paxton looks at new research into the effectiveness of the UK Act passed in 2015
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Robin Askwith
Wed 3 Jun 2020
The actor talks to Matthew Sweet about a childhood affected by polio and his career.
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Revisit: Tokyo Story
Tue 2 Jun 2020
Actor Richard Wilson & Prof Naoko Shimazu discuss Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 film of family life
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Revisit: Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage
Thu 28 May 2020
Landscape in poetry discussed by Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage at Hay.
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Sarah Perry
Wed 27 May 2020
In a conversation with Mathew Sweet, the gothic author explores writing past and present.
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Revisit: My Body Clock is Broken
Thu 21 May 2020
Jay Griffiths, Vincent Deary, Louise Robinson and Matthew Smith discuss our mental health
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Anne Fine and Romesh Gunesekera. Jarman's Garden
Thu 21 May 2020
Shahidha Bari talks to a pair of writers about routines & knowing how to start and stop.
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Kindness
Wed 20 May 2020
Rutger Bregman tells Anne McElvoy why survival of the fittest needs rethinking as an idea
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The 2020 Wolfson History Prize: David Abulafia, Hallie Rubenhold, Prashant Kidambi
Mon 18 May 2020
From Indian cricket, a survey of the oceans to Jack the Ripper: 3 shortlisted historians.
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Revisit: 2019 Wolfson History Prize Discussion
Thu 14 May 2020
Rana Mitter with the 6 shortlisted historians and an audience at the British Academy
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The 2020 Wolfson History Prize: Toby Green, Marion Turner, John Barton
Wed 13 May 2020
New takes on Chaucer, the Bible and African trading from 3 of the historians shortlisted.
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WW II radio propaganda & French relations
Wed 6 May 2020
From a gratitude train to the sinister broadcasts to US soldiers. Matthew Sweet presents.
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Revisit: Encylopedias and Knowledge from Diderot to Wikipedia
Mon 4 May 2020
Jimmy Wales talks Diderot & collecting knowledge + Tariq Godard on Mark Fisher aka k-punk
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Revisit: Mark Haddon
Wed 29 Apr 2020
As it comes out in paperback, Mark Haddon talks to Anne McElvoy about The Porpoise.
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Cary Grant
Wed 29 Apr 2020
Matthew Sweet talks to Pamela Hutchinson, Charlotte Crofts & Mark Glancy.
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Revisit: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Wed 22 Apr 2020
Tony Juniper, Emily Shuckburgh, Dieter Helm and Kapka Kassabova join Rana Mitter at Hay
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Alternative Realities
Tue 21 Apr 2020
Shahidha Bari explores the impact of life changing experiences & the fourth dimension
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Deep Time and the Earth
Thu 9 Apr 2020
Lewis Dartnell, Gaia Vince and David Farrier join Rana Mitter to look at deep ecology.
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
