Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,03 Sep 2013,30 mins

Stephen Fry; Liz Lochhead on The Great Tapestry of Scotland; The Great Beauty

Front Row

Available for over a year

With Mark Lawson The Italian film The Great Beauty was acclaimed at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and now arrives in British cinemas. Set in contemporary Rome, it's the story of an ageing writer looking back with bitterness on his passionate youth. Sarah Crompton reviews. Stephen Fry is curating the Deloitte Ignite Festival at the Royal Opera House, London. Events focus on Verdi and Wagner, to mark the bicentenaries of their births. Stephen Fry discusses his ideas for the Festival, which include taking QI panellist Alan Davies to his first opera for a scientific experiment. He also talks about the political situation in Russia, and not wanting to make a career out of his personal life. The Great Tapestry of Scotland, thought to be the longest in the world, is being unveiled today in Edinburgh. It is more than 140 metres long and depicts the history of Scotland from pre-history to the present. The work was conceived by author Alexander McCall Smith, and the panels were designed by artist Andrew Crummy, with input from the historian Alistair Moffat. More than 1000 stitchers from every corner of Scotland have been working on the project for a year. Poet and dramatist Liz Lochhead discusses one of Scotland's biggest community arts projects. Producer Claire Bartleet.

Programme Website
More episodes