Start The Week sets the cultural agenda for the week ahead, with high-profile guests discussing the ideas behind their work in the fields of art, literature, film, science, history, society and politics.
Episodes available:
Indefinitely 
Mon, 20 May 13
Duration:
42 mins
Anne McElvoy explores movements and people that have changed the political landscape with the MP Jesse Norman; the historian Lady Antonia Fraser; and one of the co-founders of the Occupy movement, David Graeber.
Mon, 13 May 13
Duration:
42 mins
Jonathan Freedland talks to director Carrie Cracknell; the pianist Jonathan Biss; the psychiatrist Tom Burns; and the psychologist Richard Bentall.
Mon, 6 May 13
Duration:
42 mins
Start the Week is at the Brighton Festival. Stephanie Flanders talks to the writer and Guest Festival Director this year, Michael Rosen; the writer and traveller Jay Griffiths; co-founder of interactive theatre group Blast Theory, Matt Adams; and the artist Mariele Neudecker.
Mon, 29 Apr 13
Duration:
42 mins
Lisa Jardine talks to the artist Gavin Turk; the rare book dealer & author Rick Gekoski; the curator of the Pompeii & Herculaneum exhibition at the British Museum, Paul Roberts; and the playwright Tanya Ronder.
Fri, 19 Apr 13
Duration:
43 mins
Tom Sutcliffe looks at the cultural history of Italy with the world renowned film director, Bernardo Bertolucci; the journalist and film-maker Annalisa Piras; the English born conductor with Italian roots, Antonio Pappano; and the Italophile Tim Parks.
Mon, 15 Apr 13
Duration:
42 mins
Jonathan Freedland talks to Adam Rutherford, Barbara Sahakian, Steve Jones and Susan Aldworth about life, decision-making and our sense of self.
Mon, 8 Apr 13
Duration:
42 mins
Stephanie Flanders discusses the notion of 'home' and cultural identity with the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, director Indhu Rubasingham, journalist David Goodhart and poet Michael Symmons Roberts.
Mon, 1 Apr 13
Duration:
43 mins
Tom Sutcliffe discusses the 'myth' of progress with the poet and novelist James Lasdun; the classicist Mary Beard; playwright Mark Ravenhill; and the philosopher John Gray.
Mon, 25 Mar 13
Duration:
39 mins
Allan Little talks to Pakistani novelist, Mohsin Hamid about 'how to get filthy rich in rising Asia'; the playwright, Bruce Norris on his new play, 'The Low Road'; author Katherine Boo on life in the Mumbai slums; and the turbulent times of an English village throughout the 20th century is the subject of Peter Moffat's latest television series.
Fri, 15 Mar 13
Duration:
42 mins
Lisa Jardine asks whether the writing of history has been dominated by conflict and difference. With historian Sir David Cannadine; journalist and author Ed Vulliamy; writer Aleksandar Hemon; and historian and writer Professor Margaret MacMillan.
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This podcast features Open Book and A Good Read. In Open Book, Mariella Frostrup talks to leading authors about their work. A Good Read features Harriett Gilbert discussing a range of favourite titles…
Tue, 21 May 13
27 minutes
Melvyn Bragg explores the history of the idea of culture, and its value today.
Fri, 4 Jan 13
41 minutes
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