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 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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The Free Thinking Festival Lecture: Claudia Rankine
Mon 9 Nov 2015
Prize-winning poet Claudia Rankine explores language and racism past and present.
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Free Thinking - Peggy Seeger
Thu 5 Nov 2015
Peggy Seeger talks to Philip Dodd about her life. Tomorrow she performs in World on 3.
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Free Thinking - Edna O'Brien
Wed 4 Nov 2015
Irish novelist Edna O'Brien in conversation with Philip Dodd.
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Free Thinking – Putin & Putinism. Salford Lads Club. ‘No Platforming’. Tribute to Philip French.
Tue 3 Nov 2015
Matthew Sweet talks to Garry Kasparov, Stuart Maconie and Julie Bindel.
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Free Thinking - Feature: Bamburgh Castle
Thu 29 Oct 2015
Dr Alun Withey researches an 18th C healthcare scheme at Bamburg Castle in Northumberland
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Free Thinking - Medical Surgery Past and Present
Thu 29 Oct 2015
Anne McElvoy looks at healthcare past & present with New Generation Thinker Alun Withey
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Free Thinking - Erica Jong. Richard Jones. Ben Bernanke
Thu 29 Oct 2015
Erica Jong on her book "Fear of Dying". Richard Jones on staging The Hairy Ape
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Free Thinking - Witch finding. Marina Warner.
Tue 27 Oct 2015
Matthew Sweet and guests including Marina Warner consider the season of the witch.
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Free Thinking - James Bond in Spectre. Nawal El Saadawi; Lord Browne.
Fri 23 Oct 2015
The Egyptian feminist author Nawal El Saadawi on protest. Lord Browne on business.
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Free Thinking - 91Èȱ¬. Marilynne Robinson. Edwin Heathcote. Thomas Harding. Imtiaz Dharker
Wed 21 Oct 2015
Marilynne Robinson, Edwin Heathcote, Thomas Harding, Imtiaz Dharker talk ideas of home
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Free Thinking - Richard Mabey; Andrea Wulf on Humboldt; Stanley Nelson on The Black Panthers
Wed 21 Oct 2015
Matthew Sweet with The Invention of Nature, The Cabaret of Plants, and The Black Panthers
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Free Thinking - Meera Syal & Tanika Gupta In Conversation at Birmingham Rep
Thu 15 Oct 2015
Meera Syal and Tanika Gupta discuss with Rana Mitter turning Anita and Me into a play.
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Free Thinking - Salman Rushdie. Niall Ferguson on Henry Kissinger.
Wed 14 Oct 2015
Salman Rushdie talks to Philip Dodd. Also historian Niall Ferguson on Henry Kissinger.
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Free Thinking - Man Booker Winner. Weather and Twilight. The Kibbo Kift.
Tue 13 Oct 2015
Matthew Sweet on how weather and twilight can make the world strange.
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Free Thinking - Landmark: Leaves of Grass
Thu 8 Oct 2015
For National Poetry Day, Matthew Sweet explores Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
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Free Thinking - Free Speech on Campus. Acting Arthur Miller
Wed 7 Oct 2015
Zoë Wanamaker, Antony Sher and David Suchet discuss acting Arthur Miller with Philip Dodd
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Free Thinking - Suffragette. Thatcherism and Conservatism now. James Fenton.
Tue 6 Oct 2015
James Fenton on his poetic career. Suffragette reviewed. Mrs Thatcher's legacy discussed.
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Free Thinking - James Shapiro, Macbeth on Film, Barrie Keeffe, East End museum
Thu 1 Oct 2015
Matthew Sweet looks at Macbeth on film and talks to Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro.
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Free Thinking - Populism. Romola Garai on Measure for Measure.
Wed 30 Sep 2015
Philip Dodd presents a discussion about populism in politics and culture.
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Free Thinking - Margaret Atwood, Yuval Harari, Celts
Fri 25 Sep 2015
Rana Mitter interviews novelist Margaret Atwood, Professor Yuval Harari and reviews Celts
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Free Thinking - Edmund de Waal, Orhan Pamuk
Thu 24 Sep 2015
Ceramicist Edmund de Waal and author Orhan Pamuk are in conversation with Philip Dodd.
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Free Thinking - Autism, The Financial Crisis, The Fallen Woman: 22 September 15
Wed 23 Sep 2015
Steve Silberman on attitudes to autism, Gillian Tett on silos, Lynda Nead on fallen woman
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Free Thinking - Everything That You Never Knew About Indian History
Thu 17 Sep 2015
Rana Mitter explores new research into India in the second world war and the British Raj
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Free Thinking - Emotion in Art - Frederick Forsyth: 15 September 15
Wed 16 Sep 2015
Frederick Forsyth discusses spy fiction and fact and Matthew Sweet explores our emotions.
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William Kentridge and William Boyd
Tue 15 Sep 2015
South African artist William Kentridge and novelist William Boyd talk to Philip Dodd
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Proms Poetry Competition - 08 September 15
Tue 8 Sep 2015
The winning entries in this year's Proms Poetry Competition
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PROMS EXTRA - Arabian Nights - 7 Sep 15
Mon 7 Sep 2015
Shahidha Bari and Houda Echouafni on this powerful islamic folk-cycle - Arabian Nights
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Proms Extra: David Hare's memoir 'The Blue Touch Paper' - 04 Sep 15
Fri 4 Sep 2015
The playwright David Hare discusses his new memoir, 'The Blue Touch Paper'.
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PROMS EXTRA - 120 years of London School of Economics: 2 Sep 15
Wed 2 Sep 2015
Michael Cox explores the history of the London School of Economics with Stephanie Flanders
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Proms Extra: Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark - 31 August 15
Mon 31 Aug 2015
Hermione Lee on the American writer Willa Cather's 1915 novel 'The Song of the Lark'.