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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Tom McKinney on Olivier Messiaen—Secret Admirers
Tue 17 Apr 2018
Radio 3 presenter Tom McKinney celebrates French composer Olivier Messiaen.
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Secret Admirers: Tom McKinney on Olivier Messiaen
Tue 17 Apr 2018
Celebrating the birdsong-inspired music of the 20th-century French composer, Messiaen.
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Penny Gore on Leo拧 Jan谩膷ek—Secret Admirers
Mon 16 Apr 2018
1/5 Radio 3 presenter Penny Gore celebrates the Czech composer Leo拧 Jan谩膷ek.
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Secret Admirers: Penny Gore on Leo拧 Jan谩膷ek
Mon 16 Apr 2018
Celebrating a composer whose music is shot through with the uncertainties of life.
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Episode 3—One Bar Electric Memoir
Wed 11 Apr 2018
Artist and writer Harland Miller reveals how an eventful past has fed into his work..
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Episode 2—One Bar Electric Memoir
Tue 10 Apr 2018
2/5 Artist and writer Harland Miller reveals how an eventful past has fed into his work.
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Episode 1—One Bar Electric Memoir
Mon 9 Apr 2018
1/5 Artist and writer Harland Miller reveals how an eventful past has fed into his work.
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Inua Ellams on Terry Pratchett—The Book that Changed Me
Fri 6 Apr 2018
5/5 The poet and playwright on the fantasy comedy 'Pyramids'.
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Alastair Campbell on 'Madame Bovary'—The Book that Changed Me
Thu 5 Apr 2018
4/5 Tony Blair's former spokesman on how Flaubert inspired his love of French culture.
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Zarah Hussain on The Arabian Nights—The Book that Changed Me
Wed 4 Apr 2018
3/5 The artist describes the inspiration of these legendary tales.
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Henry Marsh on 'War and Peace'—The Book that Changed Me
Tue 3 Apr 2018
2/5 Neurosurgeon and writer Henry Marsh on the influence of Tolstoy's epic novel.
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Afua Hirsch on 'Wide Sargasso Sea'—The Book that Changed Me
Mon 2 Apr 2018
1/5 How journalist and writer Hirsch changed her view of Jean Rhys's novel.
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Paul Morley—Is Music a Civilising Force?
Fri 30 Mar 2018
5/5 Paul Morley concludes the series of essays debating music as a civilising force.
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Jameela Siddiqi—Is Music a Civilising Force?
Thu 29 Mar 2018
4/5 Jameela Siddiqi explores the civilising force of music from an Indian perspective.
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Professor Kofi Agawu—Is Music a Civilising Force?
Wed 28 Mar 2018
3/5 Professor Kofi Agawu examines the civilising force of music from an African perspective.
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Professor Alice Roberts—Is Music a Civilising Force?
Tue 27 Mar 2018
2/5 Anatomist and osteoarchaeologist Alice Roberts looks at music's humananising force.
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Sir Roger Scruton—Is Music a Civilising Force?
Mon 26 Mar 2018
1/5 Sir Roger Scruton explores the civilising force of music.
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What Do You Do If You Are a Manically Depressed Robot?—The Free Thinking Essay
Fri 23 Mar 2018
10/10 Simon Beard, from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, on AI and Douglas Adams.
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Kids With Guns—The Free Thinking Essay
Thu 22 Mar 2018
9/10 Emma Butcher looks at the view of war in the childhood writings of the Bronte family.
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Speaking Truth to Power in the Past and Present—The Free Thinking Essay
Wed 21 Mar 2018
8/10 Joanne Paul on satire, flattery and document leaks in the C16 and C17 centuries and now.
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When Shakespeare Travelled with Me—New Generation Thinkers at 10
Tue 20 Mar 2018
5/5 New Generation Thinker Islam Issa looks at Shakespeare in 1916 Egypt to Arabic pop songs.
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A War of Words—The Free Thinking Essay
Mon 19 Mar 2018
6/10 Christopher Bannister on the way a fashion show in Buenos Aires helped win World War II.
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Doing Nothing—The Free Thinking Essay
Fri 16 Mar 2018
5/10 Alistair Fraser on teenagers, gangs and filling time.
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Educating Ida—The Free Thinking Essay
Thu 15 Mar 2018
4/10 Eleanor Lybeck on the women campaigners satirised in an operetta by Gilbert and Sullivan.
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Does Trusting People Need a Leap of Faith?—The Free Thinking Essay
Wed 14 Mar 2018
3/10 Tom Simpson on a study of suspicion in a 1950s Italian village and community relations now
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Art for Health's Sake—The Free Thinking Essay
Tue 13 Mar 2018
2/10 Daisy Fancourt's research shows the arts can improve health so should we prescribe them?
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Welling Up: Women and Water in the Middle Ages—The Free Thinking Essay
Mon 12 Mar 2018
1/10 Hetta Howes looks at male fears + why Margery Kempe was criticised for crying and bleeding
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The Last Wolf—New Ways through the Glens
Fri 23 Feb 2018
5/5 Kenneth Steven sees the new routes opening the Highlands to tourists for the first time.
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The Great Glen—New Ways through the Glens
Thu 22 Feb 2018
4/5 Kenneth Steven looks at the project to build a canal through the heart of the Highlands.
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The Moss Lairds—New Ways through the Glens
Tue 20 Feb 2018
2/5 Kenneth Steven reveals how the central belt of Scotland was transformed by land clearance.
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.
