Cracks in France’s fifth Republic….is it a revolt or a revolution? Isabel Hilton investigates.
Programme details
The civil disturbances in France have entered their thirteenth day. So far, one man has died, more than a hundred people from the police force and the fire brigade have been hurt, nearly 6,000 cars have been torched, and something like 1,500 people have been arrested. Comparisons are being made with the protests provoked by the struggle for Algerian independence and the events of 1968, but do these hold water?
In Night Waves this evening, Isabel Hilton talks to the historian Rod Kedward and the journalist Patrice de Beer about the troubles and the cultural differences which have given rise to them.
Also in the programme there'll be a tribute from the poet, Paul Farley, to one of his friends and contemporaries, Michael Donaghy, whose posthumous collection, Safest, is being published this month. The film critic, Jeffrey Richards, will be paying another sort of homage to one of Billy Wilder's best loved movies, Double Indemnity, which is being released on DVD for the first time. And the historians Gillian Darley and Christopher Woodward will be discussing the concept of the 'Grand Tour', savouring the art critic Brian Sewell's television version, which will soon be appearing on Channel 5.
That's all in Night Waves with Isabel Hilton, here on BBC Radio 3 at 21:30 this evening.
Additional information:
1. Michael Donaghy’s collection, Safest, is published by Picador
2. Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is being released on DVD by Universal. It is also being screened by the National Film Theatre on Friday as part of a Billy Wilder season, which lasts until the end of December.
3. The first episode of Brian Sewell’s Grand Tour will be screened on Channel 5 on Tuesday 15 November at 1915.
4. Professor Julian Jackson is the author of France: The Dark Years 1940-1944, The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940, and De Gaulle, all published by Oxford University Press.
5. Rod Kedward's La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900 is published by Penguin / Allen Lane.
