Silent Witness - John Cage, Zen and Japan

How American experimental composer John Cage came to write his infamous silent 4’33”.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Sloe Time

Nature's barbed wire - and giver of a fruit that creates a delicious warming tipple.

• 14 mins

Cave Life For Beginners

Down down, deeper and down - Ben Cottam overnights in a cave in search of inspiration.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: Short Feature - COVID and the Black Death; the imperfect fit

Dr Seb Falk challenges the repeated pandemic comparison of Covid-19 with the Black Death.

• 14 mins

Tate Modern - Exploding the Canon

For Director Frances Morris, there is an urgency to make Tate Modern fit for the future.

• 44 mins

Curves and Concrete

How did a maverick Scottish architect revolutionise the design of UK skateparks?

• 44 mins

The Silence of My Pain

Hannah French explores an often hidden disability for many musicians: chronic pain.

• 44 mins

Our Birmingham Fathers

Three people meet to share experiences of grieving for their musician fathers.

• 44 mins

The Myth and Mystery of Anja Thauer

Uncovering the tragic story of a lost cellist, once known as Germany’s Jacqueline du Pré.

• 44 mins

The Fake Poet

Why does the image of the forlorn and abandoned poet Thomas Chatterton haunt us today?

• 44 mins

Dissecting Beethoven

Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh and Georgia Mann dissect Beethoven.

• 44 mins

New Generation Thinkers: A Passion for Annotations

Dr Kylie Murray explains her fascination for annotation.

• 14 mins

The Robots Are Us

Ken Hollings explores a century of R.U.R., Karel Capek's staged robot revolution.

• 44 mins

The Apple and the Tree

Carlo Gébler, son of Edna O’Brien, asks why the children of writers often become writers.

• 44 mins

Margaret Fay Shaw's Hebridean Odyssey

An exploration of the life and work of the remarkable American Gaelic folk song collector.

• 44 mins

The Aphorism Now - Failing with Style

New Generation Thinker Dr Noreen Masud examines the 21st-century health of the aphorism.

• 14 mins

John Foulds - Life, Death and Resurrection

Simon Heffer explores the innovative world of John Foulds, a forgotten genius.

• 44 mins

Classical Commonwealth, Part 1

Errollyn Wallen unravels the story of classical music across the British Commonwealth.

• 44 mins

The Balcony

Dr Islam Issa contemplates the social and cultural significance of the Balcony.

• 14 mins

The Tidal Sense

Signe Lidén reflects on ancient and emerging knowledge about what the tide might mean.

• 44 mins

Hilltop Histories

Archaeologist Seren Griffiths tells the multiple stories of a Sandstone ridge in Cheshire.

• 14 mins

Male Grooming - Past and Present

New Generation Thinkers test their theories in the real world.

• 14 mins

Should Feminists Read Baudelaire?

Michèle Roberts assesses the reputation of the French poet 200 years after his birth.

• 44 mins

Silent Spaces

Soumik Datta explores what’s become of the country's empty music venues.

• 44 mins

Fluxus - 60 Years and Not Counting

Paul Morley celebrates an irreverent art movement.

• 44 mins

Riding the Waves

Artists dive deep beneath the waves of Virginia Woolf's inspirational novel.

• 44 mins

Repeating Patterns in the Street Harassment of Women

Dr Rachel Hewitt explores repeating patterns in the street harassment of women.

• 14 mins

The Kershaw Tapes

The Kershaw Tapes - Andy's Kitchen and On the Road in Africa

Andy Kershaw introduces rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

The Kershaw Tapes

The Kershaw Tapes - Andy's Kitchen and On the Road in the Americas

Andy Kershaw introduces rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

The Kershaw Tapes

More Kershaw Tapes

Andy Kershaw introduces more rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

Even more Kershaw Tapes

Andy Kershaw introduces more rare recordings from his personal archive.

• 44 mins

Clubbing after Lockdown

New Generation Thinker Tom Smith explores post-lockdown club culture and what's changed.

• 14 mins

Regarding the Pain of Others

Allan Little addresses the gulf between the reality of war and our means to comprehend it.

• 44 mins

Archives in the Culture Wars

Tom Charlton explores how his academic career as a historian fits into the ‘culture wars’.

• 14 mins

The Puppet's Gaze

Noreen Masud reflects on what the puppet's gaze can give that the human gaze cannot.

• 14 mins

Unmouthed

Revelations, new poems and music from composer Ivor Gurney’s lost years in an asylum

• 44 mins

Tranquility Inc - The Great New Ambient Wave

Elizabeth Alker traces the hidden history of Japan’s environmental music scene.

• 44 mins

Reclaiming the Bridgetower Sonata

Chi-chi Nwanoku's journey to restore Beethoven's dedication to George Bridgetower

• 44 mins

Then there was Light - Stockhausen, LICHT and his opera for the seven days of the week

How German avant-garde composer Stockhausen wrote an opera for each day of the week.

• 44 mins

Staycationing in the style of abroad

Dr Seán Williams explores Little Switzerlands — a long way from the Alps.

• 14 mins

Great Scott

A fresh perspective on Sir Walter Scott, 250 years on from his birth.

• 44 mins

Studio in the Sky

How 9/11 influenced the work of artists who were part of a residency in the Twin Towers.

• 44 mins

The Many Diagnoses of Robert Schumann

Phil Hebblethwaite traces the explanations for Schumann‘s illness and death.

• 44 mins

How to Rebuild a City

Dr Lisa Mullen tells the story of how postwar Coventry became the City of Tomorrow.

• 44 mins

Dear Phillis

The legacy of Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet.

• 44 mins

The Gorbals - Past and Present

A New Generation Thinker brings their research into the modern mainstream.

• 14 mins

Malcolm Arnold, the Tortured Composer

Simon Heffer champions one of Britain’s greatest symphonists, composer Malcolm Arnold.

• 44 mins

A Trip to My Grave

Sophie Coulombeau reflects on the contemporary reluctance to face death.

• 14 mins

Nuit Blanche

What is it about the night? Artists and writers reveal their nocturnal creative processes.

• 44 mins

A Tree Story

Martin Handley traces the journey of a violin, from forest to concert hall via its builder

• 44 mins

Afterwords: Simone de Beauvoir

A portrait of Simone de Beauvoir through her own words and those of critics and admirers.

• 44 mins

Afterwords: Mary Oliver

A dive into the world of American writer Mary Oliver, with recordings of the poet herself.

• 44 mins

Afterwords: Stuart Hall

The writer and academic Stuart Hall in his own words and those of admirers of his work.

• 44 mins

In Search of the Sublime

In Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, artist Emma Stibbon RA explores the idea of the sublime.

• 44 mins

This Land of Words and Water

A journey into the Ireland of Louis MacNeice’s poetic imagination.

• 44 mins

Aida at 150

Flora Willson tells the story of Verdi's operatic masterpiece from an Egyptian lens.

• 44 mins

Tchaikovsky's Island of Inspiration

How a trip to a remote island monastery inspired Pyotr Tchaikovsky's First Symphony.

• 44 mins

Breaking the Ice

Seán Williams glides through a brief history of lake skating.

• 14 mins

The Pigeons at the British Museum

Will Abberley reconsiders Richard Jefferies's essay The Pigeons at the British Museum.

• 14 mins

Hidden Women and Silenced Scores

Leah Broad uncovers the sometimes shocking stories of three marginalised female composers.

• 44 mins

The Primitivism of Primitivism

Alastair Sooke reassesses the origins and relevance of primitivism in art history.

• 44 mins

The Art of a Day

Why do writers and audiences keep coming back to one day artworks like Joyce's Ulysses?

• 44 mins

A Chinese Odyssey: Artists, Poets and Exiles in Interwar London

Paul French explores a unique moment in British-Chinese solidarity between 1937 to 1945.

• 44 mins

Nixon in China

Exploring John Adams' opera on the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's visit to China.

• 44 mins

Marian Anderson - Of Thee We Sing

The life and legacy of pioneering contralto Marian Anderson presented by Linton Stephens.

• 44 mins

Florence Price’s Chicago and the Black Female Fellowship

How a unique Chicago musical sisterhood helped the music of Florence Price to thrive.

• 44 mins

Forbidden Fruit

Why the forbidden fruit is not an apple.

• 14 mins

Krishnamurti in England

Paul Purgas reflects on the legacy of spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti.

• 44 mins

I Arrive without Leaving - The Story of Women Surrealist Poets

Alexandra Reza on the early women surrealist poets and writers who shaped the movement.

• 44 mins

The Ancient Algorithm

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough delves into the history of runes, the ancient alphabet.

• 44 mins

Here Be Mermaids

Why are mermaids an ideal tool for describing things that our society does not understand?

• 14 mins

Dylan And The Ferry

Dafydd Mills Daniel investigates the story behind an iconic image of Bob Dylan.

• 14 mins

Afterwords: Muriel Spark

Reflections on the work of Muriel Spark, through archive of the author and new interviews.

• 44 mins

Afterwords: Chinua Achebe

The work of Chinua Achebe, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew him.

• 44 mins