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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Free Thinking: Landmark Jaws: 7 July 15
Tue 7 Jul 2015
Matthew Sweet on Jaws 40 years on with Gareth Fraser, Ian Hunter, Will Self and Fiona Tan.
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Free Thinking - Pather Panchali: Sunjeev Sahota; Neil Bartlett: 6 July 15
Mon 6 Jul 2015
Tariq Ali discusses Satyajit Ray's 1955 film Pather Panchali.
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Free Thinking - Museum of the Year 2015: 02 July 15
Thu 2 Jul 2015
Anne McElvoy at Tate Modern with the Museum of the Year finalists.
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The power of dance and the meaning of 'public'.
Wed 1 Jul 2015
The links between dance, art and the brain and the meaning of "the public"
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Free Thinking - Worrying - Joseph Cornell - Spy Fiction - First film: 30 June 15
Tue 30 Jun 2015
Matthew Sweet on worrying - Joseph Cornell - Spy Fiction and the First film.
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Free Thinking - Tales of Scotland: A Nation and its Literature: 25 June 15
Thu 25 Jun 2015
Anne McElvoy discusses the ways Scottish writers negotiate what it means to be Scottish.
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Free Thinking - Community. The Amber Collective. Poet Claudia Rankine: 24 June 15
Wed 24 Jun 2015
Philip Dodd discusses community and talks a poet Claudia Rankine.
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Free Thinking - Political and Bardic Traditions in Wales: 23 June 15
Tue 23 Jun 2015
Matthew Sweet examines Welsh politics and poetry with Gwyneth Lewis and Iain Sinclair.
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Free Thinking - Muriel Spark, Digital Life, Diversity in British Poetry: 18 June 15
Thu 18 Jun 2015
Laurence Scott talks to Rana Mitter about living in a digital world.
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Free Thinking - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: 17 June 15
Wed 17 Jun 2015
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks talks to Philip Dodd about confronting religious violence
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Free Thinking - John Boorman; 16 June 2015
Tue 16 Jun 2015
Director John Boorman looks at his film-making career with Matthew Sweet
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Free Thinking - Othello, Hans Magnus Enzensberger
Thu 11 Jun 2015
Poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger reflects on his writing, and German history
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Free Thinking - Saul Bellow
Wed 10 Jun 2015
Martin Amis, Zachary Leader and Sarah Churchwell join Matthew Sweet
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Free Thinking - Carsten Höller, freaks and fairground
Tue 9 Jun 2015
Matthew Sweet has a go on Carsten Höller's slide at the Hayward Gallery
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Susan Abulhawa - Gregory Tate - Eugenia Cheng
Thu 4 Jun 2015
Anne McElvoy discusses maths and music with Mathematician Eugenia Cheng.
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Free Thinking - Kate Grenville
Wed 3 Jun 2015
Rana Mitter talks to Kate Grenville, one of Australia's leading novelists, about the...
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Free Thinking - Male Friendship
Tue 2 Jun 2015
'One Man, Two Guvnors' playwright Richard Bean and novelists Steve Tolz and AD Miller...
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Free Thinking - Hay Festival
Thu 28 May 2015
BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council run a scheme to find the best...
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Free Thinking - Hay Festival: David Brooks, Azar Nafisi and Tom Holland
Wed 27 May 2015
Rana Mitter and guests New York Times journalist David Brooks, the Iranian novelist of...
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Free Thinking - Theodore Zeldin, Mona Mona Eltahawy
Tue 26 May 2015
Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy argues the Middle East Needs a Sexual...
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Free Thinking - Steve Hilton; Beowulf; The Beaux' Stratagem
Thu 21 May 2015
Are work and progress making us inhuman? Anne McElvoy is joined by Steve Hilton, a to...
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Free Thinking - Jospeh Stiglitz and Alain Mabanckou
Wed 20 May 2015
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz discusses income inequality. Novelist Alain Mabanckou...
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Free Thinking - Colm Toibin; Mammoth Cloning; Fareed Zakaria
Tue 19 May 2015
Matthew Sweet is joined by Colm Toibin to discuss the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop; Beth...
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Free Thinking - High Society; Xinran; UK elections
Thu 14 May 2015
A week on from the election, Anne McElvoy turns to three historians - Tim Bale, Krista...
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Free Thinking - Dante's Divine Comedy
Wed 13 May 2015
To mark Dante's birth 750 years ago, Philip Dodd chairs a Landmark discussion about of...
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Free Thinking - Gut Instinct
Tue 12 May 2015
Matthew Sweet is joined by former Labour strategist Alastair Campbell, epidemiologist...
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Free Thinking - Anne Enright, Christopher Hampton 07May15
Thu 7 May 2015
Anne Enright, Ireland's first Laureate for Fiction, talks to Anne McElvoy about her...
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Free Thinking - Antony Sher
Wed 6 May 2015
Philip Dodd in extended conversation with the actor Antony Sher whose recent roles and...
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Free Thinking - Sir Thomas Browne
Tue 5 May 2015
Matthew Sweet talks to Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Claire Preston and Gavin Francis about...
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Free Thinking - Julian Barnes
Thu 30 Apr 2015
Anne McElvoy is joined by the Booker Prize-winning writer Julian Barnes to discuss the...
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
