Main content

Brett Westwood looks into the heart of a rose. Its power lies in its infinite mutability - the rose symbolises everything from sex to socialism, romance to religious belief.

Brett Westwood looks into the heart of a rose. Its power lies in its infinite mutability - the rose symbolises everything from sex to socialism, romance to religious belief. It's not English, and it inspired the first punk single, as well as much of Persian poetry. David Austin Jr shows Brett around their rose garden, and cultural historian Jennifer Potter whizzes through roses from Sappho to Shakespeare.

Contributors:
Narguess Farzad, Senior Fellow in Persian at SOAS, University of London
Jennifer Potter, author of The Rose: A True History
David Austin Jr, Managing Director, David Austin Roses

Original producer : Beth O'Dea
Archive producer for 大象传媒 Audio in Bristol : Andrew Dawes

Revised repeat - first broadcast in a longer form on August 9th 2016

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 Jun 2022 06:35
大象传媒 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Leech

Next

Great Auk

See all episodes from Natural Histories

  • How to decode floriography, the language of flowers.

  • Rose

    Professor Fiona Stafford discusses our millennia-long understanding of roses.

David JC Austin

David JC Austin
David Austin studied Business at聽Salford University in Manchester and was聽persuaded by his father, the renowned rose breeder David Austin, to join the company. During this time, he helped his father to create the first David Austin Roses Chelsea Flower Show displays.

Together with his father, he has helped to develop the very successful direct mail order business so that English Roses could be sold direct to gardeners throughout Europe and the US.聽He also set up a retail operation in Japan and in May 2012 he officially opened the David Austin rose gardens and Plant Centre in Sennan City, near Osaka.

Narguess Farzad

Narguess Farzad
Narguess Farzad teaches modern and classical Persian poetry; the grammar of modern Persian; and the translation of Persian poetry聽at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

She is a Trustee of the in London, serves on the Advisory Committee of SOAS鈥� Centre for Iranian Studies, and is a longstanding Member of the , where she also Chairs the Education Committee.

Jennifer Potter

Jennifer Potter
Hailed as a cultural historian of flowers, Jennifer Potter is the author of four novels and five works of non-fiction.

She spent five years researching and writing , which she followed with Seven Flowers and How They Shaped Our World, both published by Atlantic Books.

Broadcasts

  • Tue 9 Aug 2016 11:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Mon 15 Aug 2016 21:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Sun 12 Jun 2022 06:35
    大象传媒 Radio 4

Natural History Heroes

Natural History Heroes

Scientists celebrate the pioneers who inspired their work and lives.

Natural Histories Comedy

Humorous perspectives on life from the plants and animals in the series.

10 things we got wrong about dinosaurs

Dinosaur myths, misconceptions and mysteries.