Free Thinking Episodes Episode guide
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Theodore Zeldin, Mona Eltahawy
Philip Dodd is joined by scholar Theodore Zeldin and journalist Mona Eltahawy.
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Fulfilment, Beowulf, The Beaux' Stratagem
Including a debate about fulfilment, actor Julian Glover and the play The Beaux' Stratagem
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Alain Mabanckou, Joseph Stiglitz
With novelist Alain Mabanckou on growing up in the Republic of Congo. Plus Joseph Stiglitz
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Colm Toibin on Elizabeth Bishop, Mammoth Cloning, Fareed Zakaria
Colm Toibin on the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and Beth Shapiro on cloning mammoths.
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High Society, Xinran and China's One-Child Policy, Decisive UK Elections
Anne McElvoy presents a review of High Society at the Old Vic. Plus Chinese writer Xinran.
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Landmark: Dante's The Divine Comedy
Prue Shaw, Sean O'Brien, Nick Havely and Kevin Jackson discuss Dante's The Divine Comedy.
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Agnes Varda, Gut Instinct, Scientific Research into the Gut
Matthew Sweet on the idea of 'gut instinct'. Plus the ballet Woolf Works and Agnes Varda.
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Anne Enright, The Economics of Psychological Therapy, Christopher Hampton
Anne McElvoy is joined by novelist Anne Enright and playwright Christopher Hampton.
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Antony Sher
Philip Dodd is in extended conversation with actor Antony Sher.
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Sir Thomas Browne and Adventures in Human Beings
Matthew Sweet and guests talk about the doctors in the 17th and the 21st centuries.
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Julian Barnes, Bapsi Sidhwa, light-inspired poetry
With Booker Prize-winning writer Julian Barnes and Pakistani novelist Bapsi Sidhwa.
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Carol Ann Duffy's Everyman, Clive James
Philip Dodd reports on the first night of Carol Ann Duffy's new adaptation of Everyman.
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Alberto Manguel, Alice in Wonderland, Fashionable Victorian Writers
Alberto Manguel talks to Matthew Sweet about curiosity and a lifetime of reading.
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English Civil War, Indigenous Australia
Anne McElvoy hears how a mid-1970s play might cast light on today's political landscape.
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What does Global Shakespeare Mean?
Philip Dodd asks what we understand Shakespeare to mean around the world.
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Caryl Phillips, Stanley Wells, Ah, Wilderness!
Including Caryl Phillips, Shakespearean actors, South African protests and Ah, Wilderness!
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Landmark: The Tin Drum
Anne McElvoy and guests discuss Gunter Grass's 1959 novel The Tin Drum.
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Violence in Culture
Frances Fyfield, Richard Bessel, Peter Stanford and Mayura Deshpande join Philip Dodd.
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Process: Mexico in Words, Carmen Disruption, Christopher Doyle
Matthew Sweet with Francisco Goldman, Valeria Luiselli, Simon Stephens, Christopher Doyle.
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Developments in Neuroscience, Krzysztof Zanussi, Peaceful Resistance
Rana Mitter discusses new developments in neuroscience.
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Landmark: Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now
Philip Dodd with a special edition devoted to Anthony Trollope's novel The Way We Live Now
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Sex and Numbers, Nick Broomfield, The History of the Audiobook
Including a new sex survey, a Nick Broomfield documentary and the history of the audiobook
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Patricia Duncker, Adrienne Mayor on the Amazons, Harriet Walter and Guy Paul
Patricia Duncker talks about George Eliot, and Adrienne Mayor discusses Amazonian women.
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Public v Private Art
Philip Dodd considers the idea of public and private art.
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New Media Culture and Blade Runner
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss new media culture and the film Blade Runner.
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Culture Wars: Cosmopolitanism v the Nation State
Philip Dodd investigates the tension between cosmopolitanism and the nation state.
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Peggy Seeger
Philip Dodd is joined by folk singer Peggy Seeger, who talks about her music and politics.
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Culture Wars: Secularism v Religion
Philip Dodd and guests discuss secularism and religion.
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School Report - A Sense of Home, Beauty in Ancient Greece
Anne McElvoy hears from young people involved in the 大象传媒's School Report Day.
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Sociology in the 21st Century
Philip Dodd debates whether sociology still has a role to play in the 21st century.