

Arts & Ideas
BBC Radio 4
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 1, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - Policing
Matthew Sweet explores the idea of the police with the playwright Roy Williams, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton, the historian Kate Colquhoun and the film maker and criminologist Roger Graef.

Mar 28, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - Contemporary Curating
Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic and curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Victoria Walsh join Anne McElvoy to discuss the display of art and design. As Prospect magazine launches the long list for its poll of World Thinkers for 2014, Serena Kutchinsky, Digital Editor of Prospect, joins Anne to debate what makes a leading intellectual. And lawyer and political activist Raja Shehadeh outlines the arguments he will be putting forward in this year's Edward Said London Lecture: Is there a Language of Peace? The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Mar 27, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - EM Forster
Damon Galgut's new book Arctic Summer evokes EM Forster's experiences in India and the inspiration Forster found there. Galgut joins Rana Mitter and a panel of guests including Tariq Ali and Alex Clark to explore the writing and career of EM Forster in a programme live from Radio 3's pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre.

Mar 26, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - Landmarks: Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai traces the story of a group of Samurai who are hired to prevent thieves stealing the crops from a farming village in 1587. It regularly appears on polls of the greatest films of world cinema. Matthew Sweet is joined for a discussion of this Landmark of culture by Professor Ian Christie, critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, writer SF Said and Dr Alexander Jacoby. The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Mar 20, 2014 • 47min
Free Thinking - Charm
Author and design consultant Stephen Bayley has written an e-book called Charm: A Victim's Guide. He joins Philip Dodd for a discussion on the pros and cons of charm with Rachel Johnson, novelist AL Kennedy and PR expert Mark Borkowski - from Castiglione's The Book of The Courtier to its role in politics, public life and modern middle management techniques. The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Mar 20, 2014 • 46min
Free Thinking - Childhood
Frank Field MP, child psychiarist Dickon Bevington and authors Meg Rosoff and Philip Ridley join Philip Dodd for a discussion about different aspects of childhood. The programme was broadcasted live from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre space in the Royal Festival Hall Riverside Café area.

Mar 19, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - Leadership and Military Intervention
Historian Archie Brown and military expert Frank Ledwidge join Samira Ahmed to discuss whether strong leaders undermine rather than enhance the possibility of good leadership. Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh talks about making life-or-death decisions in the operating theatre. And Susannah Clapp and novelist Nicola Upson review Blithe Spirit, which sees Angela Lansbury return to the London stage. Broadcast from the pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live all day every day for the last two weeks of March.

Mar 13, 2014 • 44min
Free Thinking - Jonathan Lethem & Gary Shteyngart
American authors Jonathan Lethem and Gary Shteyngart discuss radicalism, belonging and why being 'American' is no longer enough.

Mar 12, 2014 • 45min
Free Thinking - The Brits Who Built the Modern World
Philip Dodd chairs a discussion between Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael and Patty Hopkins and Richard Rogers recorded at RIBA. These architects have come together to share a public platform as part of the Brits Who Built The Modern World Season of events which has included the opening of a new gallery at RIBA, an exhibition at the V and A and a BBC Four TV series.

Mar 11, 2014 • 44min
Free Thinking - David Grossman
David Grossman's new book Falling Out of Time mixes poetry, drama and fiction to explore grief and loss. His own son died in 2006. Matthew Sweet spoke to him when he was in London during Jewish Book Week.


