William Hague
Philip Dodd talks to William Hague. The Shadow Foreign Secretary and former Conservative Party leader has just published a biography of William Wilberforce, the MP and campaigner who succeeded in effecting the abolition of the slave trade. Hague's previous book was a biography of another great eighteenth-century politician, Pitt the Younger, and he talks about his fascination for this period of history, and explains why he believes he was born two hundred years too late.
William Wilberforce, by William Hague, is published by HarperCollins
Atul Gawande
Philip is also joined by the surgeon and writer Atul Gawande, whose latest book, Better, a collection of stories from the front line of surgery explores how doctors strive to close the gap between best intentions and best performance in the face of huge obstacles.
Atul Gawande's book Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance is out now, published by Profile.
The Vatican and Astronomy
Night Waves looks at the history of the Vatican's relationship with the science of astronomy. In the seventeenth century a confrontation with Galileo seemed to draw up battle lines between advocates of religion and science, but in truth the papacy has been an enthusiastic patron of astronomers for hundreds of years and continues to fund one of the longest-established observatories. Philip talks to the Vice Director of the Vatican Observatory, Father Chris Corbally, and to the historian of astronomy Dr Simon Mitton.
William Hague
William Hague 
