Twenty Minutes
Eclectic arts magazine programme, exploring a range of fascinating people, places and events
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Series & Episodes
186 items available
Fantasia on a Theme
Roy Palmer explores the songs Vaughan Williams collected, and how they inspired him
My Summer Job
Five writers talk about the temporary jobs they took before taking up writing full time
On Life and Picnics
A short series on that most British institution - the picnic
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Simon Halsey joins Penny Gore to discuss why singing matters.
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Peter Hill Nigel Simeone and Pierre Audi discuss Messiaen's opera Saint Francis of Assisi.
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Catherine Bott looks at what 2009 has in store for the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
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Susan Hitch is joined by playwright Stephen Poliakoff to discuss Russian literature.
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Jan Smaczny on Martinu's symphonies. Plus the BBC Symphony Orchestra 2009-10 season.
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From St David's Hall, Cardiff, Petroc Trelawny chairs a discussion on Messiaen.
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Musical contributions from N Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Salford and Hyde Park in London.
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Artist Akram Zaatari explores the photographic archives of Studio Shehrazade in Lebanon.
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Andrew Brown explores the slave-raiding culture of the Viking-era British isles.
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A story by the author Deborah Moggach, centring on a Last Night of the Proms reminiscence.
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Igor Toronyi-Lalic explores Rossini's role in the salons of mid-19th century Paris.
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Stephen Johnson explores the parallel worlds of Rachmaninov and Stravinsky.
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Conductor Pierre Boulez discusses Janacek's works with 2008 Proms director Roger Wright.
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With BBC Singers chief conductor David Hill and associate composer Judith Bingham.
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Petroc Trelawny discusses 'period performance' on modern instruments.
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Ivan Hewett looks at the work of Edgar Varese, one of the musical world's great outsiders.
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Petroc Trelawny and guests discuss the portrayal of conductors in BBC TV's Maestro series.
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Historian Juliet Gardiner analyses the political, social and cultural events of 1934.
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Richard Foster takes a light-hearted look at energy saving and the great British summer.
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The legacy of the Gurzenich Orchestra, one of Germany's leading symphony orchestras.
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Fred D'Aguiar reflects on the room in which Emily Dickinson wrote her poetry.
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Mary Ann Kennedy talks to Son de la frontera about their particular style of flamenco.
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Lucy Duran presents a tribute to Radio 3 World Music Americas Award winner Andy Palacio.
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Story about a weary doctor called out at midnight in a blizzard to attend to a young boy.
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By Katherine Mansfield. An excerpt from the story of two former lovers meeting again.
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Historian Justin Champion scours the marginalia of books in the British Library.
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A profile of the New York Philharmonic, one of the world's oldest orchestras.
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Donald Macleod presents a profile of Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott.
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Andrew McGregor explores the intricate craft of making a violin bow.
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By Leonard Woolf. An English novelist visiting Ceylon falls in love with a prostitute.
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John Cheever's story about a young American woman who graces Europe's glamour spots.
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A talk by Robert Hanks on good books that are not literature.
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Rober Chandler introduces the work of Russian writer Andrey Platonov.
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Sean Street and Eamon Duffy go to Walsingham, a place of pilgrimage for almost 1,000 years
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Philip Hammond explores the friendship between Howard Ferguson Gerald Finzi.
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Richard Coles investigates the power of the riff, looking at Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
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Cinema historian Professor Ian Christie explores the impact of Bach's music on film.
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Polly Samson's new short story about a pianist whose career was cut short by stage fright.
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Robbie Meredith marks the 200th anniversary of Irish poet Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies.
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Meg Rosoff celebrates a Hungarian children's classic novel by a contemporary of Bartok.
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Petroc Trelawny talks about the Bath Festival with Artistic Director Joanna MacGregor.
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Richard Foster learns about the exotic animals found in London in Darwin's time.
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How Beethoven's Choral Symphony was inspired by double bass player Domenico Dragonetti.
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Exploring the work of Bernardo Buontalenti, who produced the first European porcelain.
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Writer Anna Reid explores the influence of the Taras Bulba story on modern Ukraine.
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Martin Handley explores the themes of Candide.
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Louise Fryer uncovers the story behind Britten's cantata St Nicolas.
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John Sessions reads Chance Would be a Fine Thing, an unpublished story by Anthony Burgess.
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Lesley Chamberlain tells the stories of children displaced by the Russian Revolution.
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Julian May on Lord Franklin's voyage to the Northwest Passage and the song about it.
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Matthew Sweet investigates the weird and wonderful incidental music of Doctor Who.
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Deborah Bull explores the relationship between music and dance, from Tchaikovsky to today.
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Sara Mohr-Pietsch on music from across the centuries inspired by the Dies Irae chant.
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Thomas Franke on the growth of English language being used today in German.
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The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams discusses Dosotoevsky, his literary hero.
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Novelist Michele Roberts takes to the streets of Kiev to observe the city at dusk.
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Liz Lochhead presents a tribute to the late Morgan, regarded as Scotland's national poet.
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Domhnall Uilleam Stiubhart explores the High Pasture Cave on the island of Skye.
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Travelling conductor Gheorghe Iliu receives curious family telegrams.
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Poet Alison Brackenbury responds to John de Critz's portrait of Sir Francis Walsingham.
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An extract from Toby Faber's book about the inspiration behind the famous Faberge eggs.
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Paul Allen on the fascination of composers and writers with the figure of Falstaff.
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Richard Briers plays Haydn in a short play about the last days of the composer's life.
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A portait of the Fiesta del Pilar, a celebration held in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.
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Christine Finn explores the private world of British landscape photographer Fay Godwin.
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A discussion about the real meaning of the text Handel set in Messiah.
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Paul Allen explores happy endings, looking at Prokofiev's original Romeo and Juliet.
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Dermot Clinch looks at the influence of Freemasonry and the Enlightenment on Haydn.
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Dermot Clinch explores the influence of Enlightenment ideas and Freemansonry on Haydn.
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Novelist Louise Doughty investigates the influence of left-handedness on creativity.
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Petroc Trelawny visits St Paul's Girls School in West London, where Holst taught.
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Linguist Eva Ogiermann considers how different cultures apologise and what this means.
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David Owen Norris the response to the deaths of Elgar, Holst and Delius in 1934.
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Horn player and humourist Ian Fisher reveals what really happens off the concert platform.
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BBC correspondent Nick Thorpe reads from his book '89: The Unfinished Revolution.
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Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the work of IRCAM, the musical research and production house.
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Judith Weir talks to Iain Burnside about her songs and the texts she likes to use.
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A self-portrait of Judith Weir in words and music.
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Bidisha on Carl Jung's Red Book, where the psychiatrist recorded experiments on himself.
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Following musician and writer Kenny Taylor as he contemplates the Northern Lights.
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Iain Glen reads Bruce Chatwin's story of his trip to see the architect Konstantin Melnikov
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Fergus McWilliam discovers just why music-making is so rich and so revered in Germany.
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Writer Ian Sansom reflects on the role of swimming in life and literature.
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Science-fiction writer Justina Robson explores the many meanings of Doctor Who.
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Martin Handley talks to Barry Wordsworth about light music. Plus the Roger Roger revival.
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Behind the scenes at the New Year's Day Concert, presented from Vienna by Brian Kay.
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Stephen Critchlow reads Solzhenitsyn's short story about an impoverished peasant woman.
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Pierre Boulez, Tristan Murail and George Benjamin, recall their studies with Messiaen.
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Louise Fryer and guests discuss the life and works of Felix Mendelssohn.
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Sean Rafferty finds out about Mendelssohn's visits to Buckingham Palace.
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The renowned Belfast poet and professor of poetry for Ireland celebrates his 70th birthday
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Mario Petrucci considers the much-neglected poetry of Michelangelo.
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Actress and writer Mia Nadasi discusses the life and work of Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti
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Irene Nemirovsky's story about a dislocated Parisian at the onset of the Second World War.
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Two playful stories by award-winning writer Michael Kruger about eccentric grandfathers.
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Bill Nighy reads a summery tale of love and friendship by Guy de Maupassant.
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Sarah Walker reveals the world of the piano duo, where music and friendships collide.
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A behind-the-scenes peek at the process of moving pianos onto the stage during the Proms.
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Historian Sarah Lenton explores the influence of England and the English on Mozart.
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Sarah Walker explores the world of multiple pianos and talks with performers from Prom 33.
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Matthew Sweet investigates the musical legacy of the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts.
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A first-timer attends his first ever Prom concert.
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Rana Mitter hosts a discussion about the myth and reality of Queen Elizabeth I.
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Mark Bazeley reads Kurt Vonnegut's cautionary tale about eavesdropping.
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A discussion about Ivan Goncharov's novel Oblomov.
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Rainer Hersch reviews Gerard Hoffnung's contribution to the comic side of classical music.
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Michael Rosen, AS Byatt and Richard Mabey explore the world of fairy tales.
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Daniyal Mueenuddin's story focusing on the cultural divide between two people in love.
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Poet Anjum Malik reflects on the historic and beautiful Buile Park in Salford.
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John Rowe reads Evening by Boris Pasternak - a prose poem about a young poet.
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An extract from Jean Echenoz's best-selling French novel about a boozy concert pianist.
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David Horovitch reads from Jean Echenoz's novel celebrating the life of a concert pianist.
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Gabriel Prokofiev looks at arrangements of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
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John Rogan reads from John Banville's book on Prague.
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John Banville's lyrical account of his first visit to this great city in the early 1980s.
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By Istvan Orkeny. A story told by a mother who must identify the body of her dead son.
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Catherine Bott talks to critic Roderick Swanston about the creation of Handel's Belshazzar
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Louise Fryer hosts a discussion to mark Cambridge University's 800th anniversary.
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Suzy Klein discusses Puccini's opera Il tabarro with Roger Parker and Alexandra Wilson.
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Tom Service talks to French organist Olivier Latry about his role at Notre Dame Cathedral.
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Martin Handley talks to Roger Norrington.
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Poet and archaeologist Peter Didsbury extols the joys of rain.
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Barbara Kelly goes in search of composer Maurice Ravel in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.
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Tom Goodman-Hill reads from Joseph Roth's novel Rebellion, set in Berlin after World War I
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Janet Todd's requiem for an abandoned Venetian garden with a magical literary past.
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Programme about the last London home of poet lovers Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.
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James Woodhall discusses his own and various literary figures' responses to Rome.
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A man confronts the former policeman who had a hand in his own father's fate years before.
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Jane Darke reflects on the objects washed up at the bottom of her garden in Cornwall.
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Paul Farley explores Shelley's Invocation, the inspiration behind Elgar's Second Symphony.
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Robin Thompson discusses the sho, a Japanese wind instrument.
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In 1826, publisher John Murray II infamously tried to create a rival to The Times.
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Tom Service talks to Stockhausen's associates to find out what marked him out as a pioneer
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Nigel Forde presents an evocation of summer, drawn from recordings in the BBC archive.
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Writer Christopher Somerville watches the dawn migration of 25,000 geese in Aberlady Bay.
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A look at the organ as a musical instrument, with contributions from players and makers.
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Christopher Cook tells the story of a 19th-century maverick and wine-lover.
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Specially-commissioned memoir by Alexei Sayle, recalling archetypal British bank holidays.
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Martin Handley discusses the art of light music with Claire Martin and the BBC CO.
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By Truman Capote. An old friend is due for lunch at the apartment of New Yorker Mrs Chase.
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Richard Mabey reflects on a bird that has inspired poets and musicians - the nightingale.
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A thought-provoking story about identity by award-winning writer Jeremy Dyson.
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Liz Sutherland reads an extract from Iris Murdoch's famous novel.
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Nicholas Shakespeare's story recalls the stange influence of Tasmania's famous fog.
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Angela Carter's retelling of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast.
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An excerpt from the diaries of Leo Tolstoy's wife Sofia.
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A story set on a ferry, where a traveller encounters the intriguing teenager Sophie.
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Author and playwright Lucy Caldwell delves into the fantasy world of fairy tales.
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A short story by emigre Russian satirist Nadezhda Teffi. Read by Lindsay Duncan.
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A secret rendezvous onboard a Volga steamboat has unexpected consequences.
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Tim Healey explores the Goliards, composers of the original songs of Carmina Burana.
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JG Ballard's story in which a dangerous rabble comes close as Mozart rings out from villa.
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Zinovy Zinik uncovers the stories behind an area of London once known as 'Little Russia'.
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William Crawley looks at the story of Hugh Lane's 39 French impressionist paintings.
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A charming tale about friendship and old age by acclaimed Finnish writer, Tove Jansson.
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Andrew Brown on astronomer Johannes Kepler's science fiction novella Somnium: The Dream.
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By Istvan Orkeny. A story told by a mother who must identify the body of her dead son.
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Jeremy Dibble visits Co Kerry and retraces the footsteps of English composer EJ Moeran.
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James Jolly explores the history of the ophicleide, an unusual brass instrument.
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Edward Jones reflects on caring for his wife through dementia and the new love they found.
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Helen Dunmore's atmospheric Cornish short story written to accompany 2009's Family Prom.
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An exploration of the ancient heart of the Parisian Latin Quarter. With Gillian Tindall.
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Pushkin's short story about a postmaster's daughter who elopes with a hussar.
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Thomas Bloch discusses the ondes martenot with ex-Pogues member David Coulter.
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Geoff Dyer explores changing ideas of privacy, personal space and good manners on trains.
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Doc Rowe explores how in Britain we mark the onset of of autumn.
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Novelist Louise Doughty looks at the poor image and status of Romanies across Europe today
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Claire Tomalin discusses the recently re-discovered songs by Muriel Herbert.
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Writer Ian Sansom reflects on dress, class and the philosophical life.
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Kate Clanchy on the importance of the summer house to people in Scandinavia and Russia.
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Katherine recalls the contents of an old volume when walking home in the fading light.
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Kathleen Jamie tries to discover why there are remains of whales all around the UK coast.
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Tom Service profiles the World Orchestra for Peace, founded in 1995 by Georg Solti.
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Paul Bailey Romanian Jewish playwright, novelist and music lover Mihail Sebastian.
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Louise Walsh asks if the first British envoy to Tibet had two children with a local woman.
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A unique, first-hand portrait of Anton Chekhov. Read by Ben Whishaw.
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Simon Heighes discovers the story of the English doctor who blinded both Bach and Handel.
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The Visitors' Book, by Sophie Hannah.
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Artist Jonathon Brown give his personal thoughts on the shape of melody over the centuries
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Steven Johnson visits the Royal College of Music to look at Vaughan Williams's time there.
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William Ward investigates the effects of Fascism on Italian musical life.
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Carson McCullers's story about the troubled life of the child prodigy.
Two Welsh Hills
Two specially-written programmes, recorded on location, exploring Welsh hills