The Anglo-American special relationship
Tuesday 16 October 2007 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Isabel Hilton and guests discuss the past, present and future of what people on this side of the Atlantic like to call 'the special relationship' between Britain and America. But is it really that special? And how much does it owe to decisions of politicians in Westminster and the White House, and how much simply to the unchangeable common ground of a shared language and history?
Playlist
On Night Waves Isabel Hilton discusses the historic and ongoing relationship between Britain and America. Isabel examines exactly what the nature of this relationship is--famously described as "two nations separated by a common language"--how much it is dictated by politics and how much by shared culture or pathology - and where it might head in the future.
And the American film critic David Thomson will be in the studio to discuss Rendition, the new film starring Meryl Streep which examines the issues around the US government's policy of 'extraordinary rendition', the abducting of foreign nationals considered a threat to national security to interrogate them abroad.
Also on the programme Isabel talks to the creators of the National Theatre's show for older children, War Horse. Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris discuss how they have turned the novel by Michael Morpurgo into a piece of C21st theatre using life-sized puppets by the South African company Handspring.
