The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Clark Gable—Five Screen Gods
Mon 11 Feb 2019
1/5 Sarah Churchwell celebrates various stars of the silver screen from the 1930s and 1940s.
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Make Some Noise—Voices On, Voices Off
Fri 8 Feb 2019
5/5 Writer AL Kennedy concludes her exploration of voice.
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Your Master's Voice—Voices On, Voices Off
Thu 7 Feb 2019
4/5 Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy explores voice.
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Words, Words, Words—Voices On, Voices Off
Wed 6 Feb 2019
3/5 Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy continues her exploration of voice.
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Not Killing Conversation—Voices On, Voices Off
Tue 5 Feb 2019
2/5 Writer and broadcaster AL Kennedy on voice and the importance of being heard.
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Voices, Voices, Everywhere—Voices On, Voices Off
Mon 4 Feb 2019
1/5 AL Kennedy on the power of voice.
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25/01/2019—Yorkshire
Fri 25 Jan 2019
5/5 Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
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24/01/2019—Yorkshire
Thu 24 Jan 2019
4/5 Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
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23/01/2019—Yorkshire
Wed 23 Jan 2019
3/5 Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
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22/01/2019—Yorkshire
Tue 22 Jan 2019
2/5 Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
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21/01/2019—Yorkshire
Mon 21 Jan 2019
1/5 Andrew Martin's five essays that muse on the county of his birth and upbringing.
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Paul Batchelor on Ode to Psyche—An Ode to John Keats
Fri 11 Jan 2019
5/5 Paul Batchelor explores possibly the least familiar of the great Keats odes of 1819.
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Sasha Dugdale on Ode to a Nightingale—An Ode to John Keats
Thu 10 Jan 2019
4/5 John Keats's stunningly fertile year - 1819 - celebrated by five contemporary poets
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Frances Leviston on Ode to Autumn—An Ode to John Keats
Wed 9 Jan 2019
3/5 Frances Leviston celebrates perhaps Keats's Ode to Autumn.
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Sean O'Brien on Ode on Melancholy—An Ode to John Keats
Tue 8 Jan 2019
2/5 Sean O'Brien explores the depth and meaning of Keats's Ode on Melancholy,
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Alice Oswald on Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn—An Ode to John Keats
Mon 7 Jan 2019
1/5 Alice Oswald explores Keats's great poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn.
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Harold Godwinson
Fri 4 Jan 2019
Clive Anderson discusses the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Harold Godwinson.
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Edward the Confessor
Thu 3 Jan 2019
Stephen Baxter creates a portrait of Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor.
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Aethelred the Unready
Wed 2 Jan 2019
Simon Keynes discusses the life of the Anglo-Saxon monarch Aethelred.
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The Smith - Gold and Black
New Year's Day 2019
Leslie Webster on the life of the smith and his ambivalent status in Anglo-Saxon society.
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Alfred the Great
Mon 31 Dec 2018
Michael Wood discusses Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and king of the Anglo-Saxons.
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Bede, the Father of English History
Fri 28 Dec 2018
Scholar of the Anglo Saxons Lilian Groves explores the life and times of St Bede.
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The Beowulf Bard
Thu 27 Dec 2018
The late Seamus Heaney's exploration of the great bard of the Anglo-Saxon epic, Beowulf.
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Eadfrith the Scribe
Boxing Day 2018
Richard Gameson explores the literary, historical and artistic legacy of scribes..
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Cuthbert
Christmas Day 2018
Historian Tony Morris explores the life of Cuthbert, the popular saint of the Northeast/
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King Raedwald
Christmas Eve 2018
Martin Carver on the inhabitant of the magnificent Sutton Hoo ship burial
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Dear Caravaggio—Letters to Artists
Fri 16 Nov 2018
Ian Sansom corresponds with Caravaggio on the links between fine art and violence.
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Dear Frida Kahlo—Letters to Artists
Thu 15 Nov 2018
Ian Sansom wonders how Frida Kahlo feels about her merchandise.
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Dear Julia Margaret Cameron—Letters to Artists
Wed 14 Nov 2018
Ian Sansom pens a missive to Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.
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Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
Download The Essay
Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.
