The Essay

by BBC · · · · 36 subscribers

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

Five writers go on five reflective, restorative and often playful journeys in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes. Today, Diana Souhami steps into the tomb of Radclyffe Hall in London’s Highgate Cemetery, where The Well of Loneliness author resides with her lover, her lover’s husband and their dog Tulip – an aptly unconventional set-up in death as in life. Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

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Tags: arts, classical, society & culture, science, philosophy, bbc, radio 3, religion, history

Older Episodes

Paul Muldoon on WB Yeats June 14, 2022
Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
Five writers go in search of the final resting places of their literary heroes.
Pause for Thought May 5, 2022
Florence Hazrat looks at the history of punctuation marks (such as brackets) and emojis.
Adjoa Osei celebrates Elsie Houston, who mixed Afro-Brazilian folk with European opera.
Sarah Jilani on the lessons about power in films by Ousmane Sembene and Souleymane Cissé.
Opium Tales April 25, 2022
Fariha Shaikh reads accounts from Thomas de Quincey (1821) to Timothy Mo and Amitav Ghosh.
Julia Hartley asks why we call Alexander the Great.
Vid Simoniti considers eco-art from Olafur Eliasson to videos by Bo Zheng.
Jake Subryan Richards reads the letter sent by a captured man who arrived in Cuba in 1854.
Ruffs in Jamestown April 25, 2022
Lauren Working on what fashion reveals about life for C16 English settlers in America.
Contesting an Alphabet April 25, 2022
Mirela Ivanova on the countries claiming to be the birthplace of the Cyrillic script.
Jake Morris-Campbell carries the ashes of poet Bill Martin from Sunderland to Durham.
Boy with a Pearl Earring March 7, 2022
Lauren Working explores the cavalier look from Charles I to Harry Styles.
Tom Smith links school blazers and clothes worn by East German soldiers to clubbing.
Jade Halbert looks at the designs inspired by English history created by Angela Holmes.
In a Handbag March 7, 2022
Shahidha Bari looks at what the contents of a handbag can tell us.
Body Armour March 7, 2022
Sophie Oliver looks at a Mina Loy corselet and the history of reshaping bodies.
Nuala O'Connor explores a passage from the novel's final episode, Molly Bloom's soliloquy.
Mary Costello chooses a passage from an episode towards the end of Ulysses, Ithaca.