Night Waves

Gabriel Gbadamosi discusses a major new exhibition at Tate Britain featuring the work of William Hogarth, whose satirical pictures, from Gin Lane to The Rake's Progress, constitute some of the most famous and captivating records of 18th-century British society.

William Hogarth: 'The Painter and His Pug' 1745 c:Tate

William Hogarth. 'The Painter and His Pug. 1745

Playlist

The first major retrospective of the eighteenth-century artist, William Hogarth, opens in London this week, introducing him to a new generation. We know Hogarth as the satirical painter of The Rake's Progress and A Harlot's progress and for his depictions of the bawdy sub cultures of London of the period, but how much more is there to this controversial artist and does he have any meaning for us today? Hogarth's biographer Jenny Uglow and the writer and chair of the British cartoonist association, Martin Rowson, discuss the life and times of William Hogarth on tonight's Night Waves.

Another one time famous London resident of the early eighteenth-century was Georg Friedrich Handel, whose work has inspired some of English National Opera's greatest achievements. ENO are now putting on Handel's rarely performed opera Agrippina, indeed this is its first full outing in Britain. Tess Knightly, editor of Early Music Magazine, reviews Handel's early tale of political ambition and sexual treachery.

Author Patrick Cartwright in the studio to talk about his new book The Song before it is Sung. It tells the story of Axel von Gottberg who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944 and was garrotted in revenge. The story is told through the eyes of Conrad Senior who becomes obsessed with Axel after his ex-tutor at Oxford leaves him a pile of Axel's letters and tells him a video of the execution might still exist.


The 'Hogarth' exhibition is on at Tate Britain from 7th February - 29th April 2007

'Aggripina' is in repertory until 3rd March 2007. For further information visit www.eno.org

''The Song Before It Is Sung' by Justin Cartwright' is published by Bloomsbury

Night Waves

Episode and Playlist Information

• 21 Feb 07 the car bomb
• 20 Feb 07 Tariq Ramadan
• 19 Feb 07 Jacques Herzog
• 9 Feb 07 Surrealism in cinema
• 8 Feb 07 Sir Robert Walpole
• 7 Feb 07 Alaa Al Aswany
• 6 Feb 07 William Hogarth
• 5 February 2007
• 2 February 2007
• 1 Feb 07 Picasso