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Radio 3 celebrates Wilfred Owen including readings of complete war poems
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During the week following Remembrance Day, 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 celebrates the life and
writings of Wilfred Owen - the first time the station has featured special
programming around a single literary artist.
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Highlights of the week include:
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 readings of the complete war poems;
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a new choral work by Judith Bingham, commissioned by Radio 3, based upon Owen's letters;
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current serving soldiers reciting Owen's poems and
speaking of their impact on people who have served in Northern Ireland and Iraq.
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Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) was killed in action on 4 November 1918 aged 25.
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Seven days later the war officially ended and it was on Armistice Day that his
mother received news of his death by telegram.
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At the time of his death, only
five of his poems had been published.
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His works depict his experiences as a
solider and the reality of the trenches and gas warfare.
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The complete war poems
have been recorded for Radio 3 by actor Ben Whishaw and will be featured
across the schedule throughout the week (12-19 November
2006).
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Poet Paul Farley will guide listeners through the War Poems, exploring his own
responses to Owen's poetry.
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He visits many of the places that were significant
to Owen throughout the duration of his short life and this journey is re-
created in the Sunday Feature, Strange Meetings: Owen's Half-Known Roads.
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Other
contributors across the week include poets Lavinia Greenlaw and Alison
Brackenbury and two of Owen's biographers, Jon Stallworthy and, more recently,
Dominic Hibberd.
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Radio 3 has invited current serving soldiers to recite Owen's poems and
speak of their impact on people who have served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia,
Sierra Leone and Iraq.
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Some contributors will also read some of their own poems
exploring their responses to conflict.
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Radio 3 has commissioned a new work from Judith Bingham as part of this
season.
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Performed by the 91Èȱ¬ Singers, An Ancient Music takes two points of
view from letters by Owen and poems by Guillaume Apollinaire. Both poets died
within days of each other.
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Apollinaire seems to exult in the poetic imagery of
the war in contrast with Owen's graphic descriptions of the horrors he
experienced in letters to his mother.
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Abigail Appleton, Head of Speech Programmes, Radio 3, said: "Listeners have
responded enthusiastically to our recent composer-led seasons and we hope they
will find Wilfred Owen Week both insightful and reflective.
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"This exemplifies
the breadth of 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3's cultural programming and the season is an integral
part of wider celebrations around the station's 60th anniversary this autumn."
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Notes to Editors
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Broadcast information
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Sunday 12 November
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6.30pm: The Choir
Aled Jones introduces a performance of Britten's War Requiem which the composer
dedicated to four friends who died in the First World War and poetry by Owen figure
in the text. The programme launches Wilfred Owen Week and includes Ben
Whishaw's first reading of Owen's War poems.
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8.00pm: Sunday Feature - Strange Meetings: Owen's Half-Known Roads
Poet Paul Farley presents a biographical feature about Wilfred Owen through the
places that were significant throughout his life. As one young poet seeks
another a lifetime away, Farley's journey takes him from houses in Birkenhead
where Owen spent much of his childhood, to Craiglockhart, the hospital for
shell-shocked soldiers in Edinburgh where he met Siegfreid Sassoon, the attic
room in Ripon where he wrote some of his most powerful poems, and finally the
Sambre-Oise canal, where Owen died and his grave in Ors.
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8.45pm: Drama on 3 - In Parenthesis by David Jones
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Monday 13 November
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Ben Whishaw's readings of the War Poems will be broadcast throughout the week.
Single poems will be included in Morning on 3 (7.00-10.00am) and In Tune (5.00
-7.30).
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Paul Farley will introduce War Poems featured in the following slots:
Monday-Friday, 2.00 and 11.55pm (Friday, 11.25pm).
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8.20pm: Twenty Minutes
Jon Stallworthy discusses the drafts of Anthem for Doomed Youth.
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Tuesday 14 November
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Twenty Minutes
The poet Alison Brackenbury looks at "the other Owen" exploring the poems not
directly about war.
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Thursday 16 November
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7.30pm: Performance on 3 - A Farewell to Arms
The programme includes the world premiere of a new 91Èȱ¬ commission by Judith
Bingham, An Ancient Music, based upon Owen's letters and the poetry of his
contemporary Guillaume Apollinaire. Music will be interspersed with readings of
war poems by Owen and his contemporaries.
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8.15pm: Twenty Minutes
Dominic Hibberd, author of the most recent Owen biography, discusses Owen's
letters.
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Friday 17 November
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8.10pm: Twenty Minutes
Lavinia Greenlaw explores Landscapes and Englishness in Owen's poetry.
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Saturday 18 November
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9.30pm: The Verb
Radio 3's showcase of new writing, literature and performance explores
Owen's legacy and discusses contemporary war poetry.
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10.15pm: Between the Ears
Current serving soldiers discuss their impact on people who have served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Sierra Leone and Iraq. The programme will also
include some of the soldier's own poetry. Ìý
Radio 3 Publicity
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