9 October 2004
Saturday 9 October 2004 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Ian McMillan presents the weekly magazine about language.
Programme Details
Poet and critic Tom Paulin joins Ian McMillan to read from his latest collection and talk about the public role of the poet, and Alfred Lord Tennyson's relationship with his position as Poet Laureate - especially his political poem 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'. Tom has been familiar to fans of poetry and literature for over 30 years and is known for his precision, seriousness and intellectual rigour. He's also a biographer and translator, and his latest collection, 'The Road to Inver' (published by Faber), is a tour of European poetry in the form of his own translations or versions of his favourite writers.
Terry Brighton, the historian and author of 'Hell Riders: The Truth About the Charge of the Light Brigade' (Viking), joins Ian and Tom Paulin to explore the accuracy of Tennyson's poetic response to a report in The Times on the Charge, and the morphing from journalism to verse.
Kat Francois, winner of BBC Three's inaugural poetry slam which was broadcast on National Poetry Day, 7th October 2004, tells Ian what makes Slam Poetry distinctive, and gives us some poetry with attitude.
Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was a surprise to many, though one notable exception is Martin Chalmers, who translated her work, and who joined us on The Verb to champion her. Elfriede Jelinek's work, including her most famous novel 'The Piano Teacher', is published by Serpent's Tail
Dr Liz Rogers works for West Doncaster Primary Care Trust. She's found herself in the unusual position of accidentally becoming author of a new dictionary. Well, almost. When her Austrian colleagues began reporting that they were finding it hard to understand specific South Yorkshire colloquialisms, she decided to write them a glossary to help out, explaining what it might mean if a patient refers to their snez, or says that Rotherham are playing at home...
And our eartoonist Peter Blegvad this week explores the art and beauty of the psychometric test, with his divided other half, in a new edition of Static in the Attic.
