Ian McMillan presents the weekly magazine about language.
Playlist
Ian McMillan hosts another edition of the literary cabaret, The Verb.
Joining him in the studio this week is a dazzling panoply of language-obsessed guests, including the poet John Hegley, who discusses his French heritage and its impact on his work, ahead of French language week.
Also in the studio will be the screenwriter turned novelist Jed Mercurio, author of the gritty medical drama Bodies. Mercurio discusses his foray into heavyweight literary fiction with his new novel Ascent, a haunting tale about a Russian cosmonaut.
There's also the classicist turned literary detective Stuart Lyons, who argues that the Latin poet Horace was actually a songwriter. Ian finds out why there's evidence to suggest that Horacean odes were sung, not spoken aloud, and that Horace was in fact the inventor of the modern musical scale.
In honour of Horace's song-writing skills, there'll be an exploration of those great craftsmen of song and poetry, the troubadours, and examples sung live in the studio by the acclaimed chansonnier Barb Jungr.
Plus, a dizzying and witty new piece, written especially for The Verb, by up-and-coming writer James Hopkin.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Ascent by Jed Mercurio is published by Jonathan Cape.
Horace's Odes and the Mystery of Do-Re-Mi is published by Aris & Phillips.
Poetry and Music in Medieval France by Ardis Butterfield is published by Cambridge University Press.
Barb Jungr: http://www.barbjungr.co.uk/
Winter Under Water by James Hopkin is published by Picador.
James Hopkin: www.jameshopkin.org
The Sound of Paint Drying and Uncut Confetti by John Hegley are published by Methuen.
