3 October 2005
Monday 3 October 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
The international QC Geoffrey Robertson reveals the life of 17 th century barrister John Cooke who sent Charles 1 to the scaffold; More please! why everyone wants a bit of Oliver Twist; and Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec - absinthe and the birth of modern painting.
Programme Details
The life and turbulent times of a secret hero are revealed tonight, when the international human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson, talks about the Tyrannicide brief - the story of the man who sent Charles 1 to the scaffold. The 17th century barrister, John Cooke, conducted the first trial of a head of state for waging war on his own people - a forerunner of the prosecutions of General Pinochet for example whose case Geoffrey Robertson was involved in prosecuting. So where do the parallels between a 21st century human rights barrister and a 17th century one begin and end? Do their lives and passions mirror or differ from one another? Isabel Hilton will probe and find out. You will be the judge.
In the mid 1870s, the most significant collection of Edgar Degas's work was in Britain - in the home of one Captain Henry Hill of Brighton. The largest exhibition of the work of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was held during his lifetime in London; and during the 1900s, the British painter Walter Sickert made his name as a modern artist in Paris . The cultural exchange between Britain and Paris is framed with a major new exhibition of these artists at Tate Britain . The art critic James Malpas and the photographer Catherine Yass give their first impressions of this show of British and French impressionism to Isabel Hilton.
More Please! With the release of Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist this week, and the publication of a book claiming to have discovered the real person behind Charles Dicken's heart-rending hero, the critic DJ Taylor reveals that ever since Dicken's wrote the book, everyone, but everyone, has wanted a piece of Oliver Twist.
And we get a preview of - Israel and The Arabs - Elusive Peace - the title of a major 3 part BBC 2 documentary series on the Middle East Peace process. The series producer Norma Percy reveals that inside story of the seven years crises - and more too. Conventional wisdom - and Bill Clinton - blame Yasser Arafat for turning down Clinton's final peace proposals. But it wasn't as simple as that. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak reveals that he phoned Clinton to say: "We can't accept them," the day before Arafat gave his verdict.
That's all in this evening's Night Waves at 9.30 presented by Isabel Hilton here on BBC Radio 3.
Presenter: Isabel Hilton
Producer: Ariane Koek
Further details:
Degas, Sickert, and Toulouse-Lautrec opens at Tate Britain Thursday October 6 th 2005-09-29
The Tyrannicide Brief - The Story of the man who sent Charles I to the Scaffold by Geoffrey Robertson (Chatto and Windus - £20.00)
Israel and the Arabs - Elusive Peace begins next Monday 10 th on BBC 2 at 9om
Romans Polanski's Oliver Twist opens nationwide from Friday October 7 th 2005.
