Main content

Being Human: What the Archives Reveal

Matthew Sweet visits little-known locations in London to meet researchers working on the London Survey, the National Archives at Kew, a cemetery and a hut used by Anzac soldiers.

Matthew Sweet visits little known locations in London to meet researchers drawing on archives of the past to cast new light on the present.
The Cross Bones Graveyard in Southwark was used in the Middle Ages to bury sex workers and others living on the fringes of respectable society. We visit the site with Sondra Hausner, an anthropologist of religion who's studied modern practices for memorializing the women buried at the site.
Vicky Iglikowski and Rowena Hillel are researchers at the National Archives at Kew investigating records that shed light on LGBT history in the Capital. We'll leaf through the records to see what they've uncovered.
New Generation Thinker Naomi Paxton and her colleague Ailsa Grant Ferguson have identified a moment when Shakespeare, radical politics, and the roots of the National Theatre all converged, in a building in Bloomsbury used to house Anzac soldiers during the First World War.
And we join Peter Guillery, an editor of the Survey of London, to investigate the work of this ongoing project to document the streets of London in all their complexity.
Part of a week of programmes on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 focusing on new research. The Being Human Festival which takes place at universities across the UK from November 17th - 25th will feature events linked to these research projects. Both this and the New Generation Thinkers scheme are supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Producer Luke Mulhall.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Thu 17 Nov 2016 22:00

Being Human Festival: 17 – 25 November 2016

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matthew Sweet
Interviewed Guest Vicky Iglikowski
Interviewed Guest Rowena Hillel
Interviewed Guest Naomi Paxton
Interviewed Guest Ailsa Grant Ferguson
Interviewed Guest Peter Guillery
Producer Luke Mulhall

Broadcast

  • Thu 17 Nov 2016 22:00

Featured in...

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

You can download all the past episodes of Radio 3's Free Thinking

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd

CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival

Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life