Mary Beard

Classicist Mary Beard is castaway by Kirsty Young.

A professor at Cambridge, Mary is that rare thing: a university academic who writes for the masses.

Her popular books, blog, articles and reviews have led to her being called 'Britain's best-known classicist'.

But while her research is steeped in the ancient world, her commentary is all about the here and now.

The classical world speaks to us, she says, and makes us see our own world differently.

DISC ONE: Bob Dylan - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
DISC TWO: Janet Baker and the English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Lewis - Henry Purcell’s “When I am laid in earth” (Dido's Lament from Dido and Aeneas)
DISC THREE: Elizabeth Kenny - John Dowland’s Lachrimae
DISC FOUR: Eurythmics & Aretha Franklin - Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves
DISC FIVE: Roy Harris & the Pump and Pluck Band - The Man that Waters the Worker's Beer
DISC SIX: Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee
DISC SEVEN: Ralph Kirkpatrick - Johann Sebastian Bach’s Aria (from Goldberg Variations)
DISC EIGHT: Kathleen Battle - George Frideric Handel’s Endless Pleasure, Endless Love

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Bob Dylan - It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
BOOK CHOICE: Treasures of the British Museum - Marjorie Caygill
LUXURY CHOICE: The Elgin Marbles

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2010.