This week Andrew Marr is joined by James Martin, Jonathan Franzen, Amanda Roocroft and Craig Brown.
JAMES MARTIN made his name as a technology guru after predicting the rise of the internet and cellular phones as early as the 1970s. Now he is focusing on finding a solution to the many problems facing the world in the 21st century. He has funded a new institute at Oxford University, The 21st Century School, whose fellows will be expected to tackle the biggest problems facing humanity and identify the key opportunities of the 21st century. The Meaning of the 21st Century: A Vital Blueprint for Ensuring our Future is published by Transworld.
Following the extraordinary success of his novel, The Corrections, JONATHAN FRANZEN has now published his memoirs, The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History, published by Fourth Estate. It tells the tale of his formative years and how his current preoccupations, from his attitude to Hurricane Katrina to the bad name of bird watching, were formed in his youth. He talks about the importance of confessing things about oneself that are not necessarily that attractive, and what it feels like to be a citizen of a country you feel is both brilliant and hateful.
It has all you can want in a story: love, loss, redemption and sacrifice. AMANDA ROOCROFT, the internationally renowned soprano, discusses her role in the new realisation of Jenufa at the English National Opera, the work that launched the Czech composer Janacek's operatic career. Jenufa is at the London Coliseum and runs for seven performances between 9 and 28 October. It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 6.30pm on 28 October.
It was May 1997 and Things Could Only Get Better. It was the new era of Tony's Vision of Britain. But then, things started to go wrong. For the writer and humorist CRAIG BROWN, the Tony Blair years can be summed up by the growth of, amongst other things, celebrity, binge drinking and spin. His new book is a collection of articles from that time and he talks about the power of parody, which, for many, captures the essence of life under New Labour. The Tony Years is published by Ebury Press.
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