Episodes
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
John Craxton: A Life of Gifts
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
Wednesday Aug 04, 2021
Craxton, that wonderful painter and funny, lovely man, could be in no better hands than Ian Collins’s… This biography is all that might be hoped for – thorough, loving, full of Craxton’s vitality and wit, with never a dull paragraph.
Music: Manos Hadjidakis, To Waltz Ton Hamenon Oneiron
Edited by Magnus Rena
Monday Jul 26, 2021
James Marriott: Crude Britannia
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Monday Jul 26, 2021
James Marriott and his co-author Terry Macalister have spent decades researching and writing about the oil industry. Their new book plunges us into the murky world of Britain's crude oil corporations. They frame the industry as a new kind of imperialism, with hidden pipelines as its polluting engine and anonymous firms as its operators. It has the pace and intrigue of a well-plotted thriller.
Edited by Magnus Rena.
Music: PJ Harvey, Last Living Rose
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Charles Saumarez Smith: The Art Museum in Modern Times
Monday Jul 26, 2021
Monday Jul 26, 2021
The former head of the National Gallery, NPG and Royal Academy talks openly about the art museum's place in society today.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: David Bowie, Andy Warhol
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Olivia Laing: Everybody
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Friday Jun 11, 2021
OL talks to Magnus Rena about her new book, Everybody: A Book about Freedom. It's a sweeping, collective biography of a dozen glamorous but stifled figures: Susan Sontag, Christopher Isherwood, Nina Simone, Wilhelm Reich, Malcom X, Marquis de Sade, Ana Mendieta, etc. What they all share is an urge to break through various inherited constraints and seek out that strange and slippery thing called freedom.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: Nina Simone, Mood Indigo
Cover image: Ana Mendieta, Imágen de Yágul, 1973
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Emily Mayhew: The Four Horsemen
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
The horsemen of the title are those of the Apocalypse, the terrifying outriders of war, pestilence, famine and death. Dr Mayhew considers developments in several fields to argue that we are pushing back successfully these dreadful tides. It's a gripping, lively narrative that is surprisingly uplifting. We wish we could take credit for the inspired choice of introductory music for this podcast but, in this case, those laurels must go to Emily herself.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: Denis King, Black Beauty Theme (Galloping Home)
Thursday May 06, 2021
Helena Attlee: Lev's Violin
Thursday May 06, 2021
Thursday May 06, 2021
Helena's citrusy history of Italy, The Land Where Lemons Grow, sold by the armful when it came out in 2014. Her new book tells the story of one fragile instrument and its journey across Europe, from Wales to Cremona to Russia. We still have some signed copies (at the time of uploading); please get in touch by email or telephone to reserve a copy.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: Broen Ensemble with Greg Lawson, Shaloka (trad. Armenian)
Thursday May 06, 2021
Ross King: The Bookseller of Florence
Thursday May 06, 2021
Thursday May 06, 2021
In medieval Europe, literacy rates among adult males was only 25% in cities, dwindling to 1% in villages. At the same time in Florence it was 70%. So what made this city the literary hub of Renaissance Europe? After his bestselling Brunelleschi's Dome, Ross King returns to Florence to follow the life of Vespasiano da Bisticci, the first bookseller of modern Europe.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Edmund de Waal: Letters to Camondo
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Tuesday Apr 20, 2021
Not so much a sequel to ‘The Hare with Amber Eyes’, this short, superb and immensely powerful book is nevertheless complementary to his earlier book. Read it, give it, think about it; read it again.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: Claude Debussy, Deux Arabesques, performed by Alain Planès
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
Roland Philipps: Victoire
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
Wednesday Apr 14, 2021
Roland Philipps' new book, Victoire, is a gripping story of espionage, seduction and double-crossing. It follows Mathilde Carré, a spy in the intelligence networks of Occupied France. To discuss the book, Roland is joined by Daniel Lee, author of The SS Officer's Armchair which came out last year.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: Le Quartette Swing Émile Carrara, Le Charmeur des Serpents
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
Horatio Clare: Heavy Light
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
Saturday Mar 06, 2021
... A Journey through Madness, Mania and Healing. Horatio talks to Arabella von Friesen about what he refers to as "one of the stranger journeys of a travelling life". Please email, telephone or order online to reserve a copy.
Edited by Magnus Rena
Music: John Martyn, Go Down Easy