Arts & Ideas Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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Night Waves - Landmark: Oh What a Lovely War
Wed 16 Oct 2013
Fifty years since Oh What a Lovely War was first performed, Night Waves pays tribute...
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Night Waves - Man Booker Prize
Tue 15 Oct 2013
Philip Dodd discusses the announcement of the winner of this year's Man Booker Prize...
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Night Waves - Captain Phillips, David Thomson, The Events
Mon 14 Oct 2013
Tom Hanks stars as Captain Phillips in the new film from Paul Greengrass; writer Kevin...
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Night Waves - ZSL London Zoo Ep.3
Thu 10 Oct 2013
In the last of Matthew Sweet's visits to ZSL London Zoo we consider our relations with...
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Night Waves - Verdi 200, Dayanita Singh, 2000 years of social media
Wed 9 Oct 2013
Social media, as old as Cicero and as revolutionary as Christianity? Tom Standage and...
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Night Waves - Masters of Sex
Tue 8 Oct 2013
Catholic theologian Hans Küng in his new work asks 'Can We Save The Catholic Church?'.
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Night Waves - Miliband, Slavoj Zizek, Ghosts, Melissa Benn
Thu 3 Oct 2013
Jonathan Derbyshire, the Managing Editor of Prospect magazine, and Observer columnist...
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Night Waves - Landmark: The Old Men at the Zoo
Wed 2 Oct 2013
In Night Waves’ second outing to London Zoo, Matthew Sweet and guests discuss Angus...
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Night Waves - Jung Chang & Allende
Tue 1 Oct 2013
With Rana Mitter. Bestselling author of Wild Swans, Jung Chang discusses her new of in...
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Night Waves - The Clash of Civilisations?, George Grosz, Simon Heffer
Mon 30 Sep 2013
Samuel Huntington’s essay ‘The Clash of Civilisations?’ was published twenty and...
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Night Waves - Cate Blanchett, The Ugly Renaissance
Thu 26 Sep 2013
Actress Cate Blanchett joins Samira Ahmed to discuss her role in Woody Allen's latest...
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Sound of Cinema - James Horner
Wed 25 Sep 2013
As part of the BBC's Sound of Cinema season, Tom Service talks to ten-time Academy...
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Sound of Cinema - Baz Luhrmann & Craig Armstrong
Wed 25 Sep 2013
Australian director Baz Luhrmann shot to fame in 1992 with Strictly Ballroom and was...
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Sound of Cinema - Carter Burwell
Wed 25 Sep 2013
Carter Burwell is famed for scoring the films of the iconic Coen Brothers, from 1984's...
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Night Waves - Zaha Hadid, French Cinema Music, Cynicism
Wed 25 Sep 2013
Architect Zaha Hadid joins Rana Mitter to reflect on her designs for the Serpentine's...
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Sound of Cinema - Ken Loach and George Fenton
Wed 25 Sep 2013
Acclaimed director Ken Loach and composer George Fenton have collaborated on fourteen...
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Night Waves - Loyalty & Shunga
Tue 24 Sep 2013
In the light of recent revelations about feuding in the Labour party does it make to...
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Night Waves - ZSL London Zoo
Mon 23 Sep 2013
In the first of three special programmes from ZSL London Zoo, Matthew Sweet examines...
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Night Waves - Rory Kinnear
Wed 18 Sep 2013
Actor Rory Kinnear, currently playing Iago at the National Theatre, discusses the of...
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Night Waves - The Innocents
Wed 18 Sep 2013
A Landmark edition recorded in front of an audience at the British Film Institute as...
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Night Waves - Margaret Atwood
Tue 17 Sep 2013
Anne McElvoy talks to celebrated Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood whose latest novel...
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Night Waves - Simon Schama, Beeban Kidron, End of Human Rights
Mon 16 Sep 2013
Historian Simon Schama joins Philip Dodd to discuss his book and TV series The Story...
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Night Waves - John le Carre special
Thu 12 Sep 2013
In a special event recorded in front of an audience at London's Royal College of Music...
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Night Waves - Richard Dawkins & Tacita Dean
Wed 11 Sep 2013
Philip Dodd is joined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins speaking about his new...
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Night Waves - Women on stage, Wilkie Collins, A.I.
Tue 10 Sep 2013
Actor Diana Quick, playwright Jessica Swale and critic Susannah Clapp join Matthew to...
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Night Waves - Booker Prize 2013 & Patrick Leigh Fermor
Tue 10 Sep 2013
Rana Mitter assesses the shortlist for this year's Booker prize and speaks to nominee...
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Proms Plus Literary - Proms Poetry Competition
Fri 6 Sep 2013
Ian McMillan, Judith Palmer and Don Paterson introduce the winning entries in this -...
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Proms Plus Literary - Louis MacNeice
Mon 2 Sep 2013
Former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and poet Paul Farley on the work of one of the most...
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Proms Plus Literary - The Sound of Outer Space
Sat 31 Aug 2013
Capturing the sound of dark matter, comets and distant planets is one of the toughest...
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Proms Plus Literary - Billy Budd
Tue 27 Aug 2013
D.H. Lawrence hailed Herman Melville's novella, Billy Budd, a masterpiece when it was...
