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Way off the Beaten Track
Stephen Smith asks if it matters if travel writing is unreliable.
On Napoleon
Tolstoy and Napoleon
Rosamund Bartlett explores the truth and the fiction of Tolstoy's War and Peace.
Stendhal and Napoleon
Andy Martin on how Stendahl followed Napoleon across Europe in 1812 and changed fiction.
British Romanticism and Napoleon
Simon Bainbridge explores how Napoleon shaped poetry in Britain, especially the Romantics.
Reader Meet Author
Exploring unexpected literary influences on Byron, Tennessee Williams and Virginia Woolf.
Stop Calling Me 'Doctor Sex'
Matthew Sweet uncovers the extraordinary career of Alex Comfort, author of The Joy of Sex.
Verdi 200: Viva Verdi
Roger Parker explores Verdi's status as an Italian national figure.
A Brief History of Being Cold
Alexandra Harris presents a cultural history of the cold from the Anglo-Saxons to today.
Margaret Are You Grieving? A Cultural History of Weeping
Thomas Dixon explores the history of weeping as an aesthetic response to works of art.
Modernism Redux
Will Self rebroadcasts an imaginary archive of modernist radio.
The Idea of Sin
In the Beginning Was Sinning
The Rev Richard Coles explores what is meant by sin and its origins.
Lead Me Not into Temptation
Richard Coles on temptation and the practical challenges of sin in the contemporary world.
The Road to Redemption
The Rev Richard Coles focuses on the idea of redemption in sacred and secular societies.
The Ideas that Shaped the Baroque
Professor Tim Blanning explores the shifting ideas that nurtured and shaped the Baroque.
RS Thomas - Always Seeking Greater Silence
Jon Gower explores poet RS Thomas's life and work through the prism of birdwatching.
50 Years of the Traverse Theatre
Joyce McMillan on the past, present and future of Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre, now 50.
Along the Highland River
Poet Kenneth Steven goes to the source of Neil Gunn's novel Highland River.
Renzo Piano's Music Boxes
Tom Service investigates how architect Renzo Piano uses music to inspire his buildings.
Jan Morris - Travels Round My House
Jan Morris, who first reported the conquest of Everest, looks back on her adventures.
Wagner - Making a National Hero
Stephen Johnson explores Wagner's heroes and charts how Wagner became a national hero.
A Cultural History of Syphilis
Writer Sarah Dunant explores the social, cultural and human histories of syphilis.
Stirring Up a Revolution
Tarek Osman explores the significance of the café and how it has shaped the Middle East.
The Gospels Come Home
Author David Almond explores what the Lindisfarne Gospels mean to people in the North East
Significant Others - Jewish Life in Poland
Episode 1
Writer Eva Hoffman charts the rise of a Jewish civilisation in eastern Europe.
Episode 2
Eva Hoffman explores the Jewish presence in Poland in its terrible 20th century and beyond
Living and Present: Laurie Anderson on Performance Art
Pioneering artist Laurie Anderson traces the roots of contemporary performance art.
Fear and Trembling in Copenhagen - In Search of Soren Kierkegaard
Nigel Warburton explores the life and work of Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.
The Devastation of British Art
Diarmaid MacCulloch tells the story of iconoclasm during the English Reformation.
Production-Line Living
AL Kennedy explores the impact and idea of Henry Ford's introduction of the assembly line.
Albert Camus: Inside the Outsider
Andrew Hussey celebrates the life and work of French writer and philosopher Albert Camus.
Britten 100: Cultural Conchies
Exploring the background to the pacifism which was central to Britten's creative vision.
