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 4,12 Dec 2014,15 mins

Vision of the Future

Manchester: Alchemical City

Available for over a year

Jeanette Winterson presents her personal exploration of the city of Manchester, from its Celtic roots to the present day and beyond. She takes to the streets of the city to tell the stories of the disparate groups and events which formed this combative and insubordinate urban centre. Jeanette grew up in Accrington in Lancashire and regards the city of Manchester as always influencing, always transforming - an alchemical place. The sounds of Manchester, past and present, are woven between her words and thoughts. Episode 5: Vision of the Future. A computer called BABY, Alan Turing, 25 Nobel prize winners and the wonders of graphene. An ice age boulder connects Manchester with its own long history back through time. Written and Presented by Jeanette Winterson Produced by Kevin Dawson A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Programme Website
More episodes