Free Thinking

Latest Episodes:

Free Thinking: La La Land and Hollywood - past and present Jan 11, 2017

Show notes

Agent to stars including Humphrey Bogart, Clancy Sigal looks back at the absurdities of the 1950s movie business. Catherine Wheatley and Larushka Ivan Zadeh discuss the new musical La La Land starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling which is picking up many of the prizes in the film awards season and look at Hollywood's preoccupation with its own back yard. Authors Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph lift the lid on the bizarre world of obsessive film collectors.

Clancy Sigal's autobiography, Black Sunset is out now.

A Thousand Cuts: The Bizarre Underground World of Collectors and Dealers Who Saved the Movies by Dennis Bartok and Jeff Joseph is out now. La La Land is out in cinemas across Britain from January 13th certificate 12A

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Free Thinking - Breaking Free: Karl Kraus - Jonathan Franzen. Jan 02, 2017

Show notes

American author Jonathan Franzen's interest in the Austrian satirist and journalist resulted in him publishing The Kraus Project. He joins Philip Dodd, novelist Lawrence Norfolk and literary historian, Heide Kunzelmann for a programme exploring the writing and politics of Karl Kraus (1874–1936) - whose artistic achievements include 700 one man performances of works by Brecht, Goethe, Shakespeare and others - plus performances of Offenbach's operettas, accompanied by piano and singing all the roles himself; whose magazine Die Fackel published Oskar Kokoschka, Adolf Loos, Heinrich Mann, Arnold Schönberg, August Strindberg and Oscar Wilde and whose support for other artists included assisting Frank Wedekind in staging his controversial play Pandora's Box. In 1915 Kraus began writing a satirical play about World War One called The Last Days of Mankind which mixes dialogue drawn from contemporary documents with fantasical expressionist scenes of apocalypse. A dramatisation featuring actors Giles Havergal and Paul Schofield was broadcast by BBC Radio 3.

Part of Radio 3's Breaking Free series of programmes exploring music and culture in Vienna.

Producer: Zahid Warley

Free Thinking: Patriotism: The Union Jack Dec 23, 2016

Show notes

Anne McElvoy explores the history and possible future of the Union Jack or Union flag in a year which has seen the Brexit Vote. With: Graham Bartram - chief vexillologist at the Flag Institute, who grew up in Scotland, Northern Ireland and West Africa John Bew – professor of history and foreign policy at Kings Afua Hirsch – Sky News correspondent, writing a book called Brit(ish) which will be published next year Ash Sarkar - a senior editor for Novara Media and who hosts an online video series #OMFGSarkar Andrew Rosindell - Conservative MP for Romford and chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Flags and Heraldry Committee With contributions on the design from Jonathan Meades and Amber Butchart.

At the Conservative Party Conference Theresa May's speech argued that the establishment must stop sneering at the patriotism of ordinary Britons. With renewed discussions about Scottish independence in the wake of the Brexit vote, what might this mean for the idea of patriotism in Britain - and for the flag which was created in 1606 as ‘the flag of Britain’, and which gained the name ‘Union’ in 1625.

Part of a week-long focus on Free Thinking on the idea of patriotism and why politicians of all stripes are claiming that their parties are the most patriotic.

Producer: Eliane Glaser.

Free Thinking - Patriotism: China, Russia, Japan, Latin America. Dec 21, 2016

Show notes

Rana Mitter debates the meaning of patriotism in Russia, China, Japan and Latin America with guests including historian and policy analyst Michael Auslin, David Priestland who is Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, Chinese-British novelist and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo (whose autobiography is published in January) and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, lawyer and author of What If Latin America Ruled the World?

Part of a week of programmes on Free Thinking exploring the way patriotism has become a subject of intense debate amongst politicians and thinkers in countries across the world.

Definition of patriotic. : having or showing great love and support for your country/ being proud of it

This summer saw Russia opening a “patriotic” summer camp for hundreds of veterans' children and President Putin talked about patriotism being the only possible unifying national idea. In China a directive, issued earlier this year by the Communist Party organization of the Ministry of Education, called for “patriotic education” to thread through the curriculum in schools and tensions in the South China Sea have seen a rise in political rhetoric talking about patriotism.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Free Thinking - Patriotism: Alain Finkielkraut, Karim Miské Dec 20, 2016

Show notes

At the end of a year which has seen Britain vote for Brexit, the rise of political parties claiming patriotism in other European countries and a sense of national pride being invoked by politicians in Russia and China - Free Thinking hears from some of the key thinkers exploring these current debates.

Our week long focus begins in France where Philip Dodd talks to the public intellectual, Alain Finkielkraut and the novelist and film-maker Karim Miské. Alain Finkielkraut is a member of the Académie française, a council of 40 greats elected for life. In France his books are best-sellers but his views about integration and French identity have led to clashes. Finkielkraut's father survived deportation to Auschwitz. In his own career he has taught at universities in USA and France and his books have explored topics including French colonialism, Jewish identity, the internet and the decline of French culture.

Karim Miské is the author of the award winning novel, Arab Jazz, and of an essay, N'Appartenir which charts his search for a sense of belonging in contemporary France.

Producer: Zahid Warley.

Free Thinking: Calling to Account: Bronwen Maddox, Margaret Hodge, Matthew Parris. Dec 16, 2016

Show notes

Are public enquiries good government? At the end of a year where we have seen the Hillsborough and Chilcot reports are these the best way of calling to account? Margaret Hodge and Bronwen Maddox join Anne McElvoy to discuss. Plus, Matthew Parris considers the concept of scorn and those who are best at pouring it.

Matthew Parris has written an updated version of Scorn: The Wittiest and Wickedest Insults in Human History Margaret Hodge has written Called To Account: How Corporate Bad Behaviour and Government Waste Combine to Cost Us Millions. Bronwen Maddox is Director of the Institute for Government

Producer: Craig Smith.

Free Thinking: John Simpson on the death of the war correspondent. Dec 14, 2016

Show notes

John Simpson joins Philip Dodd to discuss fifty years of reporting from around the world for the BBC and what the future holds for foreign correspondents.

Once our news came from three primary sources: newspapers, radio and TV. But in a digital world which offers a proliferation of 'news' how do we separate fact from opinion or even fakery? Former director general of the BBC and current CEO of The New York Times Company, Mark Thompson, journalist Susie Boniface (aka Fleet Street Fox), author and TV producer, Peter Pomerantsev, and academic, Martin Moore, consider what we mean by news in 2016.

We Chose to Speak of War and Strife: The World of the Foreign Correspondent is by John Simpson.

Nothing Is True and Everything Is Possible: The Surreal Heart of the New Russia is by Peter Pomerantsev

Enough Said: What's gone wrong with the language of politics? is by Mark Thompson.

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Free Thinking - A Brexit reading list. Dec 13, 2016

Show notes

Classicist Professor Edith Hall, New Generation Thinker Chris Kissane, novelist Elif Shafak, and Dr Alan Mendoza from the Henry Jackson Society join Matthew Sweet to consider what might be on a reading list to prepare for a post Brexit world.

Reading List: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Moniza Alvi, Europa Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Voltaire, Candide Sun Tzu, The Art Of War Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, Barbarians At The Gate Ali Smith, Autumn Hannah Arendt, Men In Dark Times

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Our Relationship with Animals: Will Abberley, Chris Packham, Helen Pilcher, Alan Hook Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

Shahidha Bari and guests look at our relationship with animals. Chris Packham discusses his 'animal symphony' composed with musician Nitin Sawhney for a new documentary exploring animal reactions to music. Darwin expert and New Generation Thinker Will Abberley reviews an exhibition considering our relationship with the rest of the living world. Science writer Helen Pilcher explains the new science behind 'De-extinction'. Alan Hook describes his research into playfulness and computer games for cats. Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-extinction by Helen Pilcher is out now. Making Nature at the Wellcome Collection in London runs until the 21st of May. The Animal Symphony is on Sky Arts on the 9th December at 6pm, then on demand. Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Maths: Alex Bellos, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Serafina Cuomo, Vicky Neale Dec 08, 2016

Show notes

Anne McElvoy meets David Rooney curator of the Winton Mathematics gallery at the Science Museum which has been redesigned by Zaha Hadid architects and explores the way maths skills are increasingly needed for jobs. She discusses the changing attitudes to mathematics in history and the present day with Alex Bellos, writer on maths puzzles, maths historian Serafina Cuomo and maths lecturer Vicky Neale. They are joined by astro-physicist Neil de Grasse Tyson who is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

Alex Bellos is the author of Alex Through The Looking Glass and his latest book called Can You Solve My Problems. Neil de Grasse Tyson is the author of many books including Welcome to the Universe co-written with J Richard Gott and Michael A Strauss. Vicky Neale is Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at Oxford University. Serafina Cuomo is Reader in Roman History at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Producer: Harry Parker.

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