Category: History

St Ives & Me

 

St Ives and MEWriter and performer Anna Chen presents an intimate look at the rich cultural life of St Ives, past and present. Writers and artists from JMW Turner to Barbara Hepworth have been coming to this famous Cornish fishing village for the past 200 years, attracted by its special light and bohemian spirit. Anna has been holidaying there since she was a child and has a passionate connection to the place. She recalls long afternoons as a teenager watching artist Patrick Heron working in his studio, and meeting freespirits such as Molly Parkin. She visits her favourite haunts and performs at the annual St Ives Festival. (1 x 28′)

First broadcast  December 2011 BBC Radio 4

Producer Chris Eldon Lee

A lovely evocation of the town and what makes it special  – Clare Heal, The Sunday Express

 

Radio Choice:   Radio Times, The Observer, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, Time Out.

What Grandad Did in the Dark

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 A pile of flaking 78 rpm discs recorded by famous spiritualist Noah Zerdin have lain undisturbed in a south London garage for 70 years. Remarkably they contain the voices of people who claim to have died before the recordings were made. Noah’s three granddaughters decide to investigate his Great Experiment to prove life after death. (1 x 28′)

First broadcast  January 2002 BBC Radio 4

Producer Chris Eldon Lee

A truly odd, moving, wonderfully spooky story – Gillian Reynolds, The Daily Telegraph

Radio choice: Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Radio Times

Radio 4 Pick of the Week

Hollywood on the Tiber

 

hotAs Cinecittà marks its 75th anniversary, Mukti Jain Campion looks back at the extraordinary early history of Rome’s most famous film studios. (1×28′)

First broadcast October 2012      BBC Radio 4

Contributors include: Sandy Lieberman, Flavia Gentili, Noa Steimatsky and Giampaolo Grassi

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

 

 

Radio Choice: The Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Independent, Observer, Sunday Telegraph, Mail on Sunday and Radio Times

Radio 4 Pick of the Week

Read D J Taylor’s Review in The Tablet

Read the Conor Maynard’s Review in The Stage

Tagore at 150

 

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In the beautiful setting of Dartington Hall in Devon, poets, singers and ecologists gather to share their favourite Rabindranath Tagore verse at a festival to mark the 150th anniversary of the Bengali poet’s birth. Introduced by Satish Kumar, Artistic Director of the Festival who is a devotee of Tagore’’s ecological teachings as well as his poetry. (1 x 28′)

First broadcast  July 2011     BBC Radio 4

Contributors: Modern translators of Tagore William Radice and Ketaki Kushari Dyson, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, singers Debashish and Rohini Raychaudhuri, environmentalist Jonathon Porritt and internationalist Clare Short .

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

Radio choice: The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph

Antarcticans

 

antTo mark the centenary of Roald Amundsen’s arrival at the South Pole (to be followed a month later by Captain Scott), Radio 3’s The Essay each night is presented by professionals who have lived and worked in Antarctica. (5 x 14′)

First broadcast December 2011  BBC Radio 3

Producer Chris Eldon Lee

These essays are delights, full of extraordinary details and brimming with passion   – Elizabeth Mahoney, The Guardian.

 

Read Elizabeth Mahoney’s  full review

  1. Glaciologist David Drewry recalls his adventurous efforts to survey Antarctica’s landscape.
  2. Writer Meredith Hooper witnesses the plight of penguins affected by climate change.
  3. John Sweeny relives his desperate efforts to find a new home for Antarctica’s last huskies.
  4. Geologist Jane Francis struggles to make ice cream freeze in the Antarctic.
  5. David Walton describes the tricky legal struggle to protect Antarctica from humans.

Radio 4 Pick of the Week

 

The Little Black Fish That Created Big Waves

 

Little Black FishNegar Esfandiary looks inside the covers of one of her favourite childhood books from Iran and discovers a powerful political allegory that has inspired countless activists and artists since it was first published in 1968. (1 x 28′)

First broadcast  August 2011     BBC Radio 4

Storyteller Richard Neville & Letter readings by Ravin Ganatra

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

A little hymn to freedom – Simon O’ Hagan, The Independent

 

Radio Choice: The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Radio Times

Move Over Wodehouse

India’s English-speaking middle class is expanding fast and expected to reach 500 million by 2025. It represents a dream market for publishers and one that is set to become the biggest in the world. So what books are Indians reading? How are the perennial classics such as Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse faring against the emerging Indian authors? And what does it take to become a bestseller in India? Mukti Jain Campion reports from the Jaipur Literature Festival and from Trivandrum in Kerala, India’s most literate state. (1 x 28′)

The programme was full of humour, interest and symbolic import – D J Taylor, The Tablet

First broadcast   May 2012 BBC Radio 4

Contributors include: best-selling authors Jeffrey Archer, Chetan Bhagat, William Dalrymple, Jaishree Misra and Tarun Tejpal.

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

Radio Choice: The Sunday Times

Radio 4 Pick of the Week

The secret to writing a bestseller in India

Read DJ Taylor’s Tablet Review

Reclaiming the Swastika

 

RECLAIMING THE SWASTIKA

A symbol of fascism or a universal sign for good luck?  Mukti Jain Campion uncovers the long history of the swastika and examines calls for it to be reclaimed from its Nazi links. (1 x 28′)

First broadcast October 2014 BBC Radio 4

Producer Mukti Jain Campion

 

fair, fascinating and exemplary – Paul Donovan, The Sunday Times

 

Radio Choice: The Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and Radio Times

BBC Radio 4 Pick of the Week

You can see the swastikas discussed in the programme

Read BBC News article   How the world loved the swastika – until Hitler stole it

Hearing ear