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Episode details

Radio 3,21 Oct 2013,45 mins

Series2013 Festival

Derry-Londonderry's Cultural History

Free Thinking

Available for over a year

Free Thinking is BBC Radio 3's hugely popular festival of ideas and provocative debate which this year has been taking events across the UK. In the first of 2 programmes from Derry Londonderry Radio 3's Matthew Sweet will be celebrating the city's status as City of Culture 2013 and exploring its cultural past and present with a series of discussions, events and interviews recorded at The Playhouse From its world-famous walls to its history of 'no surrender', Derry is a city in which history and politics exert real power. But what is the city like for its citizens, as a place to live and work? Radio 3's Matthew Sweet invites writer Owen Hatherley, Derry-based architect Mary Kerrigan and local crime writer Brian McGilloway to reflect on the architecture and landscape of Derry, on its multiple identities, from Londonderry to Stroke City to LegenDerry, and on how its political and religious history has shaped not only its buildings, but also the lives of its citizens This event is chaired by Matthew Sweet and was recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in Derry-Londonderry, this year's UK City of Culture Free Thinking has been festivals throughout the summer including HowTheLightGetsIn at Hay, the Institute Français Philosophy Night in London, York Festival of Ideas and the Daily Mail Chalke Valley History Festival in Wiltshire. These events lead the way towards Free Thinking's annual weekend of debate at the Sage, Gateshead on October 25th to 27th. Producer Laura Thomas.

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