The Essay - Free Thinking 2010 - New Histories of the North East - Inheritance Tracks

Five essays with new perspectives on the history of the North East. TV writer Michael Chaplin, creator of Monarch of the Glen and Grafters, was born in a County Durham house backed onto a railway line that served as his playground, dumping ground and soundtrack. Michael looks back at the glorious part that trains have played in the life of the North East - from George and Robert Stephenson and the great railway engineers to the present day. And he asks: could greater understanding of the lyricism and character of railways allow us to better use this amazing invention today? Recorded in front of an audience at the Sage Gateshead, as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival of ideas 2010. Producer: Dymphna Flynn.