Enjoying a 51% attendance increase over last year*,thousands of people turned out to hear 50 of Britain’s most prominent thinkers last weekend at BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead, addressing the subject of ‘Change’.
The Festival’s Thinker-in-Residence, the former Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, Rev Dr Giles Fraser, attracted a great deal of attention, speaking in public for the first time since his recent resignation. Describing that decision as “distressing”, he said he had felt fully supported by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, telling the audience “Je ne regrette rien”.
- Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales argued that the internet is set to cause a ‘Chinese Spring’, in the same way it helped to bring about the Arab Spring, saying “it is not a question of if, but when.”
- In a lecture that questioned the pursuit of freedom, Germaine Greer predicted a grim future for women in the Arab Spring countries of the Middle East. She also claimed that the UK riots were a response to dissatisfaction with a life of 'surveillance'.
- The Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke about Britain’s changing role in the world, and the current crisis in Europe. When asked about the EU he said: “I do think it has too much power and I think we have to reduce that, and I think we have to repatriate certain powers from the EU to the UK. And I think the Conservative Party will unite around that position.” He talked about his admiration for Hilary Clinton, and when reminded about her reported crush on his predecessor David Miliband, said: “Well I can say she soon forgot about him!”
Taking place over three days, the Free Thinking Festival included over 30 events comprising poetry, prose, live drama, music, discussion, debate, interviews and performance art, featuring a host of new names including BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Thinkers.
Jack Thorne (Skins, BBC Three’s The Fades) was commissioned by Radio 3 to produce a new play, entitled A Summer Night, set during the London riots, which was performed and broadcast live from The Baltic, Gateshead on Sunday 6th November, starring Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Daniel Kaluuya (Skins, The Fades).
Jackie Kay, Sean O’Brien and W N Herbert combined their talents to produce a new poem especially for The Verb. Northumbrian poet Katrina Porteous and composer and synthesizer pioneer Peter Zinovieff also created a new work for the festival entitled Horse, inspired by the 3,000-year-old Uffington chalk figure that leaps across the Oxfordshire landscape.
BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 5 live joined up for a live debate from the festival entitled What Is News Now? with senior journalists from the former News of the World, ITN and the Guardian.
Other speakers taking part in the Festival included pyschotherapist Susie Orbach, novelist Margaret Drabble, leading heart-surgeon Francis Wells, historian Linda Colley, film-maker Molly Dineen, space scientist Kevin Fong, children’s author David Almond, and best-selling Turkish author Elif Shafak – all tackling new and pressing topics in front of live audiences.
Matthew Dodd, Head of Speech for Radio 3, said: "The range of ideas audiences heard at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead was breath-taking and that's reflected in the increased audience figures for the events too.
"From the future of freedom in China, through to the future of psychotherapy and the prospect of improving human morality by compulsory bio-medical enhancement – these were events to keep you on the edge of your seat.
"I hope that listeners around the country will be just as stimulated by the Radio 3 broadcasts which are transmitting over the next few weeks and will take advantage of the free downloads, both of which demonstrate the full breadth and range of Radio 3's speech programming."
Broadcast Information
The Free Thinking events are being broadcast on Radio 3 throughout November. Broadcasts still to come:
Fri 11 Nov,10.00pm - The Verb New Gen Thinker David Petts
Mon 14 Nov, 10.00pm - Linda Colley
Tues 15 Nov, 10.00pm - Julian Savulescu
Weds 16 Nov, 10.00pm - Can We Stop the Mania for Change?
Thurs 17 Nov, 10.00pm - What is the Future of Civilisation as the Oil runs out?
Fri 18 Nov, 10.00pm - Aditya Chakrabortty
Mon 21 Nov, 10.00pm - Susie Orbach
Tues 22 Nov, 10.00pm - Were the Luddites Right?
Weds 23 Nov, 10.00pm - Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Thurs 24 Nov, 10.00pm - Charles Jencks
Sat 26 Nov, 9.00pm - Between The Ears: Horse
All broadcasts will be accessible via iPlayer for 7 days. Editions of Night Waves will remain on iPlayer in perpetuity. Many broadcasts will also become available in due course as free downloads from bbc.co.uk/freethinking.
* Clicker figures from The Sage Gateshead: 4729 in 2011 against 3124 in 2010.
Radio 3 Publicity
The range of ideas audiences heard at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead was breath-taking and that's reflected in the increased audience figures for the events too."
