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Last broadcast on Sun, 19 Jul 2009, 23:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Mark Tully explores the nature of genius. Are geniuses born or made, what sets them above the merely excellent, what conditions do they need to reach their full potential and what are they like to live with?

Something Understood: Genius
This programme was presented by Mark Tully, and the readers were David Westhead and Frank Stirling.
Music
Music 1: ‘Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine’ performed by the University of Pretoria Camerata & Johann van der Sandt. Available on An International Collection of Choral Music.
Music 2: ‘Main Title’ from the Searching for Bobby Fischer OST composed by James Horner. Released by Big Screen Records.
Music 3: ‘Allegro’ from Exsultate Jubilate composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and performed by Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Available on the CD, Requiem Exsultate, Jubilate Laudate Dominum, released by Deutsche Grammophon.
Music 4: ‘Byron Op. 39’ composed by Joseph Holbrooke and performed by the Slovak Philharmonic Choir and the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Available on the CD, Holbrooke: Orchestral Works released by Marco Polo.
Music 5: ‘Charlie’ performed by Chumbawumba. Available on the album, The Boy Bands Have Won.
Music 6: ‘Let us now praise famous men’ composed by Gerald Finzi and performed by The Finzi Singers. Available on the CD, Finzi: Choral Works, released by Chandos.
Readings
Reading 1: Visiting Mrs Nabokov and Other Excursions written by Martin Amis. Published by Jonathan Cape.
Reading 2: ‘Tobacconists’ from Selected Poems by Fernando Pessoa, translated by Jonathan Griffin. Published by Penguin.
Reading 3: Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. Published by Allen Lane.
Reading 4: Renoir, My Father by Jean Renoir. Published by Harper Collins.
Reading 5: ‘On Not Being Paul Durcan’ by Sean O’Brien from Cousin Coat. Published by Picador.
Reading 6: ‘The Truly Great’ by Sir Stephen Spender from The School Boy. Published by Faber.
Broadcasts
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Sun 19 Jul 200906:05
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Sun 19 Jul 200923:30

