The Essay Episodes Available now
Taking Aim - Renaissance-style
Catherine Fletcher unveils handguns' explosive Renaissance origin
Cornerstones: Chalk
Poet Alyson Hallett is drawn to chalk landscapes and the large horse at Westbury in Wilts
Cornerstones: Fire Rocks
Novelist Sarah Moss discusses basalt and dolerite, the fire rocks that underpin castles.
Cornerstones:Coal
Writer Paul Evans traces a family line back through Shropshire's seams of coal.
Cornerstones:Millstone
Derbyshire poet and climber Helen Mort visits Stanage Edge, famed for its millstone grit.
Cornerstones: Quartz
Linda Cracknell reflects on the appeal of the quartz on Ben Lawers, her local Munro.
Poet Kenneth Steven on the Scottish islands
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on the remote islands of St Kilda.
Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on Scottish island life
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on Raasay, an island close to Skye.
Poet Kenneth Steven reflects on Scottish island life
Kenneth Steven looks at Rum, a wild and windswept Hebridean island.
Poet Kenneth Steven on Scottish island life
Poet Kenneth Steven writes on Hoy in the archipelago of the Orkney islands
