The Essay Podcast
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Episodes to download
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Digging for Words—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Fri 4 Apr 2025
Jade Cuttle explores new words in nature writing
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Workplace performance—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Thu 3 Apr 2025
Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal looks at “service with a smile”
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The crime of creation—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Wed 2 Apr 2025
Jack Symes considers how we value life and face death
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Mothers on trial—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Tue 1 Apr 2025
Shona Minson explores the pardoxical thinking around sending mothers to prison
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Land Cinema—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Mon 31 Mar 2025
Becca Voelcker describes experiments in filmmaking in China, Japan and the Philippines
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The intimacy of radio—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Fri 28 Mar 2025
Jacob Downs considers what it means to listen closely to the radio.
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Birth Stories—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Thu 27 Mar 2025
From 'lying in' to bedside cots: Emily Baughan traces childbirth changes.
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Losing Yourself in Books—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Wed 26 Mar 2025
Janine Bradbury questions our motivation when choosing what to read.
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A Philosophical Forgery?—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Tue 25 Mar 2025
Jonathan Egid tells the story of a mysterious Ethiopian thinker named Zera Yacob.
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Technicolor Wars—New Generation Thinkers 2024
Mon 24 Mar 2025
Kirsty Sinclair Dootson on the dark side of colour film.
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Indonesia's Tin Pan Alley - Tihingan in Bali—Tin Pan Alleys
Fri 29 Nov 2024
Ade Mardiyati visits the master gamelan makers of Tihingan village in Bali.
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Spain's Tin Pan Alley - Centro, Madrid—Tin Pan Alleys
Thu 28 Nov 2024
Guy Hedgecoe visits the luthiers of Madrid.
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Japan's Tin Pan Alley - Ochanomizu in Tokyo—Tin Pan Alleys
Wed 27 Nov 2024
Phoebe Amoroso reports from Ochanomizu in Tokyo, famous for shops selling electric guitars
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Türkiye's Tin Pan Alley - Galip Dede Street in Istanbul—Tin Pan Alleys
Tue 26 Nov 2024
BBC Türkçe journalist Esra Yalcinalp visits Galip Dede Street, Istanbul's Tin Pan Alley.
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China's Tin Pan Alley - Xinjiekou Street in Beijing—Tin Pan Alleys
Mon 25 Nov 2024
BBC Beijing Correspondent Stephen McDonell visits the music shops of Xinjiekou Street.
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Amber—Scotland Rocks
Fri 22 Nov 2024
5/5Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Serpentine—Scotland Rocks
Thu 21 Nov 2024
4/5Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Aquamarine—Scotland Rocks
Wed 20 Nov 2024
3/5Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Agate—Scotland Rocks
Tue 19 Nov 2024
2/5Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Gold—Scotland Rocks
Mon 18 Nov 2024
1/5Kenneth Steven combines Scottish landscape and geological history with his own poetry.
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Mamoru Samuragochi—Classical Deceptions
Fri 1 Nov 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Joyce Hatto—Classical Deceptions
Thu 31 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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The Lost Haydn Sonatas—Classical Deceptions
Wed 30 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Albinoni's Adagio—Classical Deceptions
Tue 29 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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Fritz Kreisler—Classical Deceptions
Mon 28 Oct 2024
Phil Hebblethwaite explores hoaxes and controversies in classical music.
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5. Rebecca Toal and Hattie Butterworth—Healing Musicians
Fri 18 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their careers after injury or illness.
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4. Ludwig Quandt—Healing Musicians
Thu 17 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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3. Robin Graham—Healing Musicians
Wed 16 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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2. Stephen Marquiss—Healing Musicians
Tue 15 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy shares stories with musicians who had to rethink their lives after injury.
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1. Julian Lloyd Webber—Healing Musicians
Mon 14 Oct 2024
Kate Kennedy talks to musicians who had to rethink their lives and careers after injury.
Death in Trieste
A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.
Watch: My Deaf World
Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.
The Book that Changed Me
Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.
