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Words and Music Episodes

  1. A Tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II

    A sequence of music and readings reflecting on the life and reign of HM Queen Elizabeth II

  2. All Fingers and Thumbs

    Trilling, sucking, spinning, plucking 鈥� fingers, and thumbs, do the talking.

  3. Butterflies and Moths

    Readings from Nabokov, Sebald, Tagore, Poppy Adams, David Henry Hwang and Emily Dickinson.

  4. Electricity

    Frankenstein, lightning, the national grid, Bob Dylan, electronic orchestral instruments.

  5. Birmingham

    With the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, hear literature and music linked to the city.

  6. Courtroom Drama

    Readings from Kafka, Cyril Hare, Dorothy L Sayers, Carol Ann Duffy in this legal episode.

  7. The Ledbury Poets

    Prose and verse from Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds inspired by Ledbury Poetry Festival

  8. Keep Calm and Carry On

    From disastrous concert performances to shark attacks: how do we cope with challenges?

  9. Cats

    Felines in works by Chaucer, Aaron Copland, Stevie Smith, SF Said, Ravel and Hauschka.

  10. Swimming

    From deep ocean fish to Hampstead ponds and EM Forster's pool party in Room with a View.

  11. May Day

    Robert Glenister and Norah Lopez Holden are the readers in a celebration of May customs.

  12. April

    The cruellest month, when sweet showers fall, or the time to be in England?

  13. Movies

    Robert Powell and Amanda Donohoe with readings celebrating cinema set alongside music.

  14. Vikings

    The seafaring Norse warriors and their gods and mythology.

  15. Sisters

    Dorothy Wordsworth, Fanny Mendelssohn, Hildegard of Bingen, the Labeques and Unthanks.

  16. Sand and Deserts

    Seroca Davis and Tommy Sim'aan with readings from Robyn Davidson to Alex Garland.

  17. Two

    Famous couples and pairs, present in nature and in cultures, inspired by the number two.

  18. Modernism in the 1920s

    Lisa Dwan and Anthony Howell with readings from the age of Joyce, Eliot and jazz.

  19. 惭辞濒颈猫谤别

    With speeches about hypochondria miserliness and self deception from the French playwright

  20. Seven Ages of Christmas

    Robert Webb and Nina Sosanya present a mix of festive music, poetry and prose.

  21. Madame Bovary and independent women

    Emma Fielding and Alex Jennings read from Flaubert's novel about a frustrated wife.

  22. Dungeons and Dragons

    From George and the Dragon to Puff the Magic Dragon to dungeons in The Pilgrim's Progress.

  23. Twilight

    With music by Bernard Herrman, Frank Bridge, Simon Holt and Sally Beamish.

  24. Mushrooms

    With extracts written by John Cage, Merlin Sheldrake, Margaret Atwood and Emily Dickinson. (R)

  25. Keats

    The Romantic poet's writings on beauty, the seasons, his own health woven with music.

  26. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

    Actors Martins Imhangbe and Ruth Bradley at Contains Strong Language in Coventry.

  27. Translation

    From the idea of the interpreter and language differences to translating emotions in music

  28. Light and Shade

    Today's theme is prompted by contrasts in the work of Renaissance artist Caravaggio.

  29. Dante

    Visions of heaven and hell from the writings of Dante, set alongside musical evocations.

  30. Red

    The red-headed Tom Goodman-Hill and Bettrys Jones bring us red shoes, paint, love, death.

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