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Last broadcast on Mon, 30 May 2011, 21:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Andrew Marr wanders the globe with Paul Theroux, as he celebrates the pleasures and pains of travel, and discovers what makes the best travel writing. The General Secretary of Amnesty International Salil Shetty looks back at 50 years of the organisation, and argues that Amnesty has had to change from a small letter-writing charity aimed at freeing dissidents, to a global multi-national focused on poverty and gender issues. At 50 you're generally considered middle-aged and heading towards retirement, but the journalist Catherine Mayer rejects the traditional patterns of aging, arguing that more and more people are starting to live agelessly. And the landscape artist Charles Jencks explains how science and the patterns inherent in nature have influenced his designs.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
CHARLES JENCKS
“To see a World in a Grain of Sand/ And a Heaven in a Wild Flower” – these words by William Blake encapsulate the work of landform artist Charles Jencks and he quotes them in his new book, The Universe in the Landscape – Landforms. Inspired by the prehistoric earthworks of Britain, his land art typically uses vast swirling curves of earth to turn scientific discoveries and the patterns of nature into landscape. In his work he has played with the ideas of black holes, the extraordinary way cells divide and unite, and the universal aspects of DNA. While his work is sometimes on a grand scale – his piece Scot Loch is possibly the heaviest work of art in the world – he is also interested in the connections between the large and small, and says the interrelationships between things are as important as the things themselves.
The Universe in the Landscape – Landforms is published by Frances Lincoln.
PAUL THEROUX
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac, On The Road. The travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux celebrates life on the road in his new book, The Tao of Travel. He explains how travel writing is the oldest form of narrative in the world, and despite there being few unexplored places, it’s a form that will never be in decline. In this personal collection of his favourite and most memorable examples of the art of travel writing, Theroux shows how it’s not always essential to visit a place to write about it, and his penchant for those tales of terror, death, cannibalism and bravery.
The Tao of Travel is published by Hamish Hamilton.
SALIL SHETTY
It started with an article criticising the imprisoning of two Portuguese students who had raised a toast for freedom, and has became one of the most influential campaigning organisations. Fifty years ago, Amnesty International began as a letter-writing campaign which brought to light the false imprisonment of hundreds of people all over the world. Since then it has campaigned against political killings, disappearances and child soldiers. The Secretary General, Salil Shetty, explains why it’s vital to broaden the remit of Amnesty International, to make it relevant for the next fifty years, by concentrating on wider campaigns around poverty and gender/sexual issues.
Amnesty! When They Are All Free will be broadcast on Tuesday 31 May at 9.00pm on BBC Four.
CATHERINE MAYER
When Shakespeare wrote about the seven ages of man, life expectancy was just 40 years. Now with three decades more to play with, instead of using the extra time to fit in a few additional stages of life, Catherine Mayer argues that the barriers are becoming blurred. She’s coined the term 'amortality' to describe the increasing number of people choosing to live agelessly. ‘Amortals’ continue to chase aspirations, marry, have children, work, start new businesses and assume all options are open, throughout their life. Life choices and expectations have little to do with the idea of what’s age appropriate. In her new book, Amortality: The Pleasures and Perils of Living Agelessly, Mayer analyses why this phenomenon is happening and what the consequences are for careers, families, health and society.
Amortality: The Pleasures and Perils of Living Agelessly is published by Vermilion.
Broadcasts
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Mon 30 May 201109:00
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Mon 30 May 201121:30
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