Chameleon

Available for over a year

Brett Westwood spots a chameleon and investigates how this master of disguise has led us to ask big questions about how we adapt to the environments we find ourselves in. John Keats coined the term "the camelion poet" to describe a curiosity to explore situations and settings outside of usual experience, which may be at odds with expected morals and personality. He argued that to be chameleon was to take on poetic guises separate from the self. Meanwhile Shakespeare was said to embody his characters to the extent that it was hard to know his own personality. David Bowie was described as a "musical chameleon" but was frustrated at the description, while the poet Jack Mapanje embraced the chameleon's ability to camouflage itself and used it as a way of voicing his political views under a cloak of ambiguity in his collection 'Of Chameleons and Gods'. Brett talks to reptile expert Rob Pilley, poet Jack Mapanje, English lecturer Stacey McDowell, sociologist Eoin Devereux and folklore expert Marty Crump. First broadcast in a longer form : 11th October 2016 Original Producer: Tom Bonnett Archive Producer : Andrew Dawes for BBC Audio in Bristol