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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The Legacy of the Trojan War
Thu 21 Nov 2019
Why do the legendary walls of a Bronze Age city still cast such a long shadow?
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The Changing Image of Masculinity.
Thu 14 Nov 2019
Writers Ben Lerner, JJ Bola & Derek Owusu on images of masculinity in fiction and life
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Weimar and the Subversion of Cabaret Culture
Tue 12 Nov 2019
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome... Cabaret and club culture, recorded at the Barbican.
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The 2019 Free Thinking Imperial War Museum Remembrance Debate
Thu 7 Nov 2019
Who decides what’s worth saving and what is culturally significant to protect in wartime?
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Quatermass
Tue 5 Nov 2019
Matthew Sweet celebrates the classic TV sci-fi series with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat
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Halloween. Ghost Stories
Fri 1 Nov 2019
Haunting stories with Kirsty Logan, Jeremy Dyson & host Shahidha Bari
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Cars, Parking and Motorways
Wed 30 Oct 2019
A discussion reflecting on automobiles, AI and the 60th anniversary of the M1 motorway.
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Writing Real Life from Brexit to Grenfell
Wed 30 Oct 2019
Ali Smith, Jay Bernard and James Graham at the British Library with Matthew Sweet
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Landmark: The Yorkshire Feminist Winifred Holtby
Thu 24 Oct 2019
Matthew Sweet is joined by Rachel Reeves MP, Jane Thomas and Katie Cooper in Hull.
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What to Believe
Wed 23 Oct 2019
Rana Mitter and guests have a look at the history of faith, doubt, economics and art.
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New Thinking: First Encounters
Wed 23 Oct 2019
Why we need to rethink the stories we tell of Columbus, Pocahontas & the English in India
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Frieze Free Thinking Museums Debate
Tue 22 Oct 2019
Museum directors from Asia and France join Anne McElvoy and an audience at RIBA.
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2019 Booker Prize, The Power of Ancient Artefacts
Wed 16 Oct 2019
Prehistory with Mike Pitts & Renee So, plus Alex Clark & Tinuke Craig
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East Meets West
Thu 10 Oct 2019
Orientalism now with Fatima Bhutto, Ziauddin Sardar, Tom Holland, and artist Inci Eviner.
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Myth making, satire and Caryl Churchill
Thu 10 Oct 2019
Monsters and myths in the art of Gerald Scarfe and Kiki Smith + Caryl Churchill's plays.
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Modern Dutch Writing
Wed 9 Oct 2019
Laurence Scott looks at the way Dutch writers are addressing history & contemporary life
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The Frieze Masters Free Thinking Conversation about Art
Tue 8 Oct 2019
Michael Govan Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art talks art with Philip Dodd
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Rebecca Solnit, Truth, National Poetry Day.
Thu 3 Oct 2019
Who holds the power? The US activist and author Rebecca Solnit talks to Shahidha Bari.
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From The Spains to LatinX
Wed 2 Oct 2019
Rana Mitter talks to Jason Webster, Ed Morales, Iain Sinclair and Iwona Blazwick.
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Surveillance, Conspiracy, and Secrets from the Archives
Sun 29 Sep 2019
Matthew Sweet on surveillance capitalism, The Third Man, and Stieg Larsson's obsessions
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Anxiety
Thu 26 Sep 2019
Comedian Sofie Hagen, Colombian novelist Héctor Abad & Isabel Hardman join Shahidha Bari.
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Back to the '80s
Fri 20 Sep 2019
Alexei Sayle and Adam Mars Jones join Matthew Sweet to revisit '80s film, tv and music
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Landmark: Susan Sontag's Against Interpretation
Wed 18 Sep 2019
Lauren Elkin, Lisa Appignanesi and Ben Moser on Susan Sontag's 1966 essay collection.
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Tolerance, censorship and free speech.
Tue 17 Sep 2019
Susan Neiman, Ursula Owen & Christopher Hampton join Anne McElvoy.
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Revisit Anxiety, Teenagers, University and Leaving Home
Thu 12 Sep 2019
Psychologist Stephen Briers, student Ceyda Uzun and Durham Univeristy's Caroline Dower
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Revisit Slavery Stories, William Melvyn Kelley & Esi Edugyan
Sun 18 Aug 2019
Laurence Scott meets the family of a rediscovered African American writer & 3 historians
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Revisit Napoleon in Fact and Fiction
Thu 15 Aug 2019
Anne McElvoy looks at Napoleon's biography, caricatures and professional impersonators.
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
