Programme Details

The biographer of the great French painter Henri Matisse, Hilary Spurling, is about to publish the second and final part of her biography: Matisse: the Master. Her research for the two volumes took her to Matisse's birthplace in industrial northern France which once had a fine reputation for textiles, and in particular its bold designs and colours. In this evening's Night Waves, Robert Hanks talks to Hilary Spurling about the extent to which these colours and materials influenced the painter throughout his life, and how this background lies at the heart of a new exhibition Matisse, His Art and His Textiles: The Fabric of Dreams, which opens this week at the Royal Academy in London.

Matthew Kneale finally brings us his long-awaited follow-up to his 2000 Whitbread Book of the Year, English Passengers. Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance is a collection of short stories, each of which takes these 'small crimes' as its theme. Robert Hanks asks Matthew Kneale why he chose to turn to the short story after being so garlanded for his last novel.

No new urban development, it seems, is complete these days without a sparkling eye-grabbing new public library. In Brighton this week, the new Jubilee Library opens to the public, the focal point in a major regeneration of a central area of the historic part of the seaside town. The two principle architects, Rab Bennetts and Nick Lomax, discuss what influenced them in the design of this £14m project.

The controversial diarist, theatre critic, and former literary manager of the fledgling National Theatre, Kenneth Tynan, has been under the spotlight recently. Corin Redgrave's new one-man show Tynan opened in London last week, and this week BBC4 will be screening Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore, a drama which focuses on Tynan at his most notorious - covering his use of the 'f-word' on live television in the '60s, and his provocative nude show Oh! Calcutta!. This is followed by a documentary Critical Condition which looks at the life of one of the most influential theatre critics of all time. Theatre critic Michael Billington reflects on Tynan's legacy in the theatre and in critical appraisal today.

And as the BBC continues its year-long celebration of African music and culture, the focus this evening turns to Ethiopia, in the company of the British Museum curator, Christopher Spring.

That's all in Night Waves with Robert Hanks 9.30pm.



Presenter: Robert Hanks
Producer: Jerome Weatherald



Additional Information:

Matisse: The Master by Hilary Spurling is published by Hamish Hamilton
Matisse: His Art and His Textiles is at the Royal Academy in London from 5th March - 30th May
www.royalacademy.org.uk

Small Crimes in an Age of Abundance by Matthew Kneale is published by Picador

Brighton Library opens to the public on 3rd March 2005

For details of the year-long celebration of African music and culture, visit www.bbc.co.uk/bbcafrica/africa05/

Kenneth Tynan: In Praise of Hardcore is on BBC4 at 2100 on Wednesday 2nd March, followed by Kenneth Tynan: Critical Condition at 2215 (both repeated next Sunday)
Tynan, starring Corin Redgrave, is at the Arts Theatre in London until 26th March