大象传媒

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Get Playing: Alexander McCall Smith on the saxophone and the Really Terrible Orchestra

Writer Alexander McCall Smith on playing saxophone and the Really Terrible Orchestra.

• 15 mins

The Shopping News

Rome

Joanna Robertson argues that when Romans go shopping they buy into a local identity.

• 15 mins

The Shopping News

New York

Joanna Robertson on how book-shopping in New York can be about intellectual validation.

• 15 mins

The Shopping News

Berlin

How shopping for toys in Berlin reveals an attitude to childhood that is unique to Germany

• 15 mins

The Shopping News

Tirana

Joanna Robertson on buying dreams of wealth in Tirana in the aftermath of communism.

• 15 mins

The Shopping News

The Shopping News: Paris

How buying food in Paris is not just for the tastebuds, but also a serious part of culture

• 15 mins

A Reflection on Worrying

A Reflection on Worrying: Worry and Communication

Emma Jane Unsworth explores modern communication and its scope to fuel personal anxiety.

• 15 mins

A Reflection on Worrying

A Reflection on Worrying: The Rituals of Worry

Professor Francis O'Gorman examines rituals and ceremonies that often accompany worry.

• 15 mins

A Reflection on Worrying

A Reflection on Worrying: Parental Worries

Historian Emma Griffin explores how parental worries have changed throughout the centuries

• 15 mins

A Reflection on Worrying

A Reflection on Worrying: Worry and Music

Musician Tom McKinney on how his own worry runs much deeper than that of stage fright.

• 15 mins

A Reflection on Worrying

A Reflection on Worrying: The Comedy of Worry

Comedian Steve Punt explores how worry has always been a bedfellow of comedy.

• 15 mins

The Earl Grey Whistle Test

The Earl Grey Whistle Test: The Indivisible Men

David Hepworth and Mark Ellen discuss other double acts and their own relationship.

• 15 mins

The Earl Grey Whistle Test

The Earl Grey Whistle Test: Dancing About Architecture

Mark Ellen explores the difficulties of describing music to people who have not heard it.

• 15 mins

The Earl Grey Whistle Test

The Earl Grey Whistle Test: The Writer's Wardrobe

Music journalist David Hepworth discusses the dress code for the creative homeworker.

• 15 mins

The Earl Grey Whistle Test

The Earl Grey Whistle Test: It's All About the Drummer, Stupid

Music journalist David Hepworth discusses the only band member who matters: the drummer.

• 15 mins

The Earl Grey Whistle Test

The Earl Grey Whistle Test: Hope I Die Before I Get Old

David Hepworth reflects on what keeps rock stars playing into old age.

• 15 mins

The Somme

Paul Muldoon - July 1st 1916, with the Ulster Division

Paul Muldoon reads his new poem July 1st 1916, with the Ulster Division.

• 15 mins

The Somme

Yrsa Daley-Ward - When your mother calls you, come

Yrsa Daley-Ward reads her new poem When your mother calls you, come.

• 15 mins

The Somme

Bill Manhire - Known unto God

Bill Manhire reads his poem Known unto God, written in response to the Battle of the Somme

• 15 mins

The Somme

Jackie Kay - Private Joseph Kay

Jackie Kay reads her poem Private Joseph Kay, in response to the Battle of the Somme.

• 15 mins

The Somme

Daljit Nagra - On your 'A 1940 Memory'

Daljit Nagra with his poem On your 'A 1940 Memory', in response to the Battle of the Somme

• 15 mins

Roald Dahl at 100

Frank Cottrell Boyce on flying and myth-making

Frank Cottrell Boyce on the myth Dahl built around his plane crash during World War II.

• 15 mins

Roald Dahl at 100

Jeremy Dyson on the delicious lure of Dahl's adult fiction

Jeremy Dyson remembers his 10-year-old self's discovery of Dahl's short stories for adults

• 15 mins

Roald Dahl at 100

Laura Dockrill on Dahl's heroine Matilda

Performance poet Laura Dockrill remembers growing up with Dahl's heroine Matilda.

• 15 mins

Roald Dahl at 100

Michael Rosen on the exuberance of Dahl's poetry

Michael Rosen celebrates the dazzling language and clever observation of Dahl's poetry.

• 15 mins

Roald Dahl at 100

Donald Sturrock on the events that made the man and writer

Dahl's biographer Donald Sturrock recalls meeting the storyteller in his writing hut.

• 13 mins

The Meaning of Flowers

Sunflower

Fiona Stafford explores the meanings and importance to us of the sunflower.

• 15 mins

The Meaning of Flowers

Lily

Professor Fiona Stafford explores our contradictory relationship with the lily.

• 15 mins

The Meaning of Flowers

Rose

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

• 15 mins

The Meaning of Flowers

Magnolia

Fiona Stafford discusses magnolias, which are among the oldest plants in the world.

• 15 mins