Classicist Mary Beard picks Tacitus as a figure who still has relevance if we're thinking about satire, power and celebrity. Shahidha Bari is joined by Mary, historian Helen Carr, who co-edited What is History Now? political sketch-writer from The Times newspaper Tom Peck and Konnie Huq, writer and former presenter of the children's TV show Blue Peter. On April 21st 1964, the tv channel BBC 2 launched with an episode for children of Play School and programmes like Bluey and Peppa Pig, have been making headlines so what do we want from kids TV? Plus - poet Lord Byron died 200 years ago this week - scholar Dr Corin Throsby has been reading the fan mail he received.
Listen out for Mary Beard and the new series of Being Roman coming to BBC Radio 4 in May - and the first series is available on BBC Sounds. And if you're a fan of Oliver Postgate - The Clangers, Bagpuss and Noggin you can find a Free Thinking episode exploring those programmes.
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Tim Heffer
Introducing New Generation Thinkers 2023
Charles Babbage and broadcasting the sea
Translating Cultures
East Germany
The culture of Albania
New Thinking: AI, feminism, human/machines
Busking and Billy Waters
The wicked? stepmother
Decadent Art
Debt
New Thinking: British Sign Language
Making Your Voice Heard
Anarchism and David Graeber
Dom Sylvester Houédard
Sesame Street and Soviet culture
Tin cans, cutlery and sewing
Ghosts of Caribbean History
Climate change and empire building
Phaedra, Cretan palaces and the minotaur
Idrissa Ouédraogo
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It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins