Front Row - 20/10/2009

Antonia Fraser reviews a new exhibition of Spanish religious art and sculpture at the National Gallery. This reappraisal of religious art from the Spanish Golden Age includes paintings by masters such as Velázquez displayed alongside polychrome wooden sculptures not seen before in the UK. As the world's first historical thesaurus is published, after more than 40 years in the making, authors Tibor Fischer and Lawrence Norfolk discuss whether or not writers should use a thesaurus. Architect David Chipperfield has recently completed perhaps his most complex project to date - the ten-year reconstruction of the Neues Museum in Berlin, destroyed by bombs during the Second World War and subjected to decades of neglect. As the Design Museum opens a major new overview of his work, he talks to Mark Lawson about his career and the future of architecture. Based on the story by Roald Dahl, new animated film Fantastic Mr Fox features the voices of George Clooney as Mr Fox and Meryl Streep as his wife. Directed by Wes Anderson and using old-fashioned stop-motion animation, the film also features the voices of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Michael Gambon and Willem Dafoe. Front Row delivers its verdict.