Night Waves - 1492/Mo Mowlam/The Germans/Atul Gawande

On Night Waves on Wednesday Rana Mitter talks to the eminent international historian Felipe Fernandez Armesto. He talks about his new book 1492, in which he argues that that fact that that year is universally known for the voyage of Columbus has obscured the greater significance of those 12 months. According to Armesto, this was the year that our modern world really began. We also review a new documentary-drama about Mo Mowlam. The former Northern Ireland Secretary is played by Julie Walters, who is backed up by an all star cast as the film moves through her rise through the cabinet, the Good Friday Agreement and her battle with cancer. Richard Coles and Mowlam's biographer Julia Langdon join Rana to review the programme. What is the problem with Britain's relationship the Germans? Writer Simon Winder has written a love letter to Germany - to its strangeness, its cuisine, its histories both invented and real and to the landscapes which he claims is as beautiful as any in Europe. We ask Simon Winder and the philosopher Robert Rowland Smith why it is that we Britons have a problem appreciating the Germans. Finally, we talk to the writer and surgeon Atul Gawande about his new book The Checklist Manifesto, which offers in his view a solution to the everyday mistakes that continue to prevent success in all areas, from health care to government.