John Everett Millais
Tuesday 25 September 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Kenan Malik visits a major new exhibition of the work of John Everett Millais, the Victorian artist who was a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite group. His paintings such as Shakespeare's Ophelia floating in the water have become some of the best known images of mid-19th century Britain. Kenan explores Millais' famous, and at the time controversial, life and work. Plus an interview with influential writer Karen Armstrong, who talks about her new book The Bible: A Biography.
Playlist
The Bible
Karen Armstrong, the writer and former nun, is best known for her study of Islam and other major religious traditions. She has turned her attention to the most widely distributed text in the world - the Bible. She reveals it to be a complex document, created over hundreds of years and explains why it is a far more paradoxical and contradictory work than we often believe.
The Bible: The Biography by Karen Armstrong is published by Atlantic Books.
Music and the brain
Are there pieces of music you just cannot get out of your head? Why are we drawn to certain kinds of music depending on certain moods? Kenan talks to the author of a new book on the relationship between our brains and music, Canadian neuroscientist, Daniel Levitin, and the leader of the Medici Quartet and Visiting Professor at the Copenhagen Business School, Paul Robertson,.
This is Your Brain on Music: Understanding a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin is published by Atlantic Books.
Anthropology on television
An examination of the vogue for anthropology on television. Anthropologist Jeremy MacClancey casts an eye over a new reality series in which South Pacific tribesmen live in the United Kingdom. He also looks at programmes such as Tribe and Last Man Standing. How much do we really learn about other cultures from such offerings?
Meet the Natives begins on Channel 4 on Thursday 27 September at 9pm.
Millais
A re-assessment of the significance of the great Pre-Raphaelite painter, Millais, with art critic Lynda Nead and Millais expert Paul Barlow.
Millais begins at the Tate Britain on 26 September until 13 January 2008.
