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
New Thinking: Food
New Thinking: Writing exile and overcoming statelessness
African identity via China and photography
Robert Aickman
Eliza Flower and non-conformist thinking
Sleep
Sankofa and Afrofuturism
Valis and Philip K Dick
Humours and The Body
Victorian colour, jewellery and metalwork
New Thinking: Work and protest
Being Blonde
The Frieze/Radio 3 Museum Directors Debate 2023
Art, Kew, a symphony and nature
New Thinking: Modernism, exile and homelessness
Faith, consciousness and creating meaning in life
Refuge and National Poetry Day
Slavic culture and myth
Hobbes and New Leviathans
Childbirth and parenthood: Contains Strong Language Festival
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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