Podcasts - Talks, Discussions and Interviews

The Essential Shakespeare Live Encore is a new 2-CD set from British Library Publishing, produced in conjunction with Royal Shakespeare Company. It is a follow-up to the bestselling The Essential Shakespeare Live.

It features scenes and speeches from RSC productions in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, recorded by the British Library and the RSC over more than 50 years. All the recordings are published for the first time. With historian Michael Wood and RSC Chief Associate Director Gregory Doran.

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Producers John and Lisel Gale are interviewed by Rebecca Novell, and Iain Mackintosh, who founded Oxford's Prospect Theatre Company, talks with Dr Alec Patton. Introduced by Jamie Andrews, Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts.

From the 2009 Theatre Archive Project live event.
Recorded on 14 September 2009

Alison Weir is one of Britain's best-loved and most-read historians. Her works include The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Henry VIII: King and Court and Mary, Queen of Scots. Her next book will be a detailed account of the dramatic and controversial imprisonment and execution of Anne Boleyn. In this intriguing talk, she makes a compelling case that Anne went to her death an innocent, wronged woman.
Recorded on 28 July 2009

Philippa Gregory has a remarkable ability to bring to life the world and relationships of the Tudors. Her many works, including The Other Boleyn Girl, The Boleyn Inheritance and (forthcoming) The White Queen build vivid storytelling around detailed historical research. As well as sharing her research on Henry and her thoughts on his psychology, Philippa discusses Henry’s relationships with – and, at times, fear of – women throughout his life.
Recorded on 8 July 2009

Juan Garcés of the British Library talks to Timothy Arthur Brown, one of the team who helped create the digitised Codex Sinaiticus - probably the earliest surviving Bible in the world.

Juan Garcés of the British Library talks to Rachel Kevern of the University of Birmingham, one of the team who helped create the digitised Codex Sinaiticus - probably the earliest surviving Bible in the world.

Joe Flatman discusses themes and issues in his new book Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts, including the social implications of the massive maritime technological development in the medieval period and the impact of Christianity on maritime images. Interviewed by Ellie Russell.
Recorded on 29 May 2009

Book published by the British Library £30.00

Hilary Mantel frequently brings the darker side of history into her work. Here she reads from and discusses Wolf Hall, set in the world of Henry VIII’s notorious chief minister Thomas Cromwell. With Erica Wagner, Literary Editor of The Times, and historian Derek Wilson.
Recorded on 27 May 2009

International summit, sports tournament, and wild party: that was Henry VIII's meeting with Francis I in a field near Calais in 1520. Brett Dolman of Historic Royal Palaces talks to Rob Ainsley about the most extraordinary campsite in history.

Extracts from Henry's Music (Obsidian CD705) courtesy of Obsidian Records. Buy from the British Library Shop or www.obsidianrecords.co.uk

Two experts on British history ask how British is the notion of liberty. As our colonies gained independence, we mass-produced constitutions for the emerging states – but our own idea of constitution resides not in a single document but a diffuse collection of documents, rulings and ideas.

Those experts are historian and Princeton scholar Professor Linda Colley, guest curator of Taking Liberties, and Professor AC Grayling, writer and professor of philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.
Recorded on 28 January 2009

A century since the height of the women's suffrage movement, and despite much subsequent legislation, many women feel that their rights remain under threat at the workplace and in the home.

This debate, led by Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee, examined the issue with the chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commision Nicola Brewer; the novelist Tahmima Anam; and the chair of the British Youth Council Emily Beardsmore.

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti, a tireless advocate of human rights and campaigner against what she regards as repressive legislation, gave a fascinating interview with Joan Bakewell at the British Library 

Chakrabarti had plenty to say about what she sees as the erosion of the principles espoused by many of the exhibition's key documents such as Magna Carta and the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights.
Recorded on 31 October 2008

Some texts are even more than the relationship between the mortal and the divine. This one chronicles a nation too – Armenia, the world's first Christian country – in a unique script virtually unchanged since its invention 1600 years ago. British Library curator Dr Vrej Nersessian explains.

Pearl Goodman, Julia Jones and Harry Greene talk about their memories of working in Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop to a live audience. Chaired by Kate Harris. 

Murray Melvin talks to Dominic Shellard and answers questions from the audience (MP3, 38min, 15.5MB).
Recorded on 9 October 2007
About Theatre Archive

Frank Hawkins has spent 15 years studying Madagascar's unique bird life. Here, with recordings of their songs, he talks about his adventures in this friendly, little-explored land of rainforests and savannah, tracking birds such as the red-shouldered vanga, and the bizarre, inquisitive cuckoo-roller. A CD of Madagascar's 127 extraordinary species, many rare and most previously unpublished, is available from the British Library Shop.

Science vs Religion? It seems many see it that way, with both religious and atheist zealots accusing each other of arrogance and ignorance. Prominent atheists Jonathan Miller and John Gray discuss in a lively debate chaired by author and novelist Lisa Appignanesi.
Recorded on 3 September 2007

A panel of Times Literary Supplement editors and contributors, chaired by Mary Beard, produced a lively and opinionated debate about the shared history of the three faiths at the British Library Conference Centre. They also asked (and occasionally tried to answer) some searching questions about the exhibition's aims and achievements. 

Panelists: Simon Goldhill, Lucy Becket, Rupert Shortt, Francis Robinson, Robert Irwin and Ali Ansari.
Recorded on 30 July 2007

Extremist Christians, Jews and Muslims have all quoted scripture to justify their aims. The vast majority of adherents of these religions say they are misusing the holy texts. What's going wrong? Religious historian - and former nun - Karen Armstrong gave a fascinating talk examining this thorny issue. Recorded on 4 June 2007.

Tracy Chevalier reads from her novel Burning Bright and discusses William Blake's Notebook with Blake scholar Michael Phillips.

Turn the pages of William Blake's Notebook now
Recorded on 11 April 2007

A panel of creative writers discuss the author's perspective on the archiving of their own papers; with A.S. Byatt, Peter Nichols, Owen Sheers and Peter Porter. Chaired by Mark Le Fanu, General Secretary of the Society of Authors.

With Mark Oaten MP for Winchester; Professor Eric Barendt, Goodman Professor of Media Law at UCL; Michael White, Assistant Editor of the Guardian; and Alastair Brett, Legal Manager of Times Newspapers. Chaired by David Sherborne, media barrister.

Since 2003, the British Library Sound Archive has been a partner in the Surface Scanning of Archived Sound Recordings research project at the University of Southampton. Professor John McBride, the project's manager and Nigel Bewley, head sound engineer in the Sound Archive, discuss the project. This podcast features audio transferred from the British Library's earliest object containing recorded sound, a Thomas Alva Edison tinfoil recording of c. 1877, unplayable by conventional means. Although the audio is of poor quality, it's extraordinary that the 130-year-old recording survives and is recoverable at all.
Recorded on 8 Dec 2008

In this fascinating lecture to accompany the Taking Liberties exhibition, Nicholas Vincent – author, and Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia – talks about the great icon of liberty: its background, its significance, and its various physical incarnations. He also punctures a few myths about this most legendary of documents.
More details
Recorded on 24 Nov 2008

Richard Fairman of the British Library Sound Archive discusses The Spoken Word – British Writers and The Spoken Word – American Writers: CD sets containing rare and previously unpublished recordings of famous and influential authors. Includes discussion and audio clips of Arthur Miller, Arthur Conan Doyle and Virginia Woolf. Interviewed by Sarah Espiner.
Online Shop - buy these CDs
Recorded on 20 Oct 2008

Jamie Andrews, Head of Modern Literary Manuscripts at the British Library, introduces the Library's free new exhibition The Golden Generation, which features audio, video, manuscripts and more from the vibrant postwar age of British theatre 1945-1968. The podcast includes fascinating interview snippets with some of the people working at that time, from the legendary to the unsung.
Recorded on 8 Sep 2008

Equally able as a poet and artist, Isaac Rosenberg is now considered one of the most gifted voices of the First World War generation. His 'Break of Day in the Trenches' has been called ‘the greatest poem of the war. Marking 90 years since his death, the evening of talks and discussion led by Jean Liddiard and Vivien Noakes explored Rosenberg’s world, work and legacy. Introduction by Jamie Andrews. Readings by actor Sam Dastor.
Recorded on 8 April 2008

Steve Cleary, Curator of Drama and Literature, introduces the new British Library CD. 'The Spoken Word: Evelyn Waugh', with an exclusive clip from the CD of Waugh reading from his own work 'Half in Love with Easeful Death'.
Recorded on 17 March 2008