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Categories: Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

  1. The Real George Orwell

    A journey exploring the man Eric Blair and the writer George Orwell

    BBC Radio 4

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  2. Talking Movies

    Talking Movies' weekly report in which Tom Brook and his team explore the world of cinema.

    BBC News

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  3. A Menace to Society

    Lifelong fan Danny Wallace celebrates the Beano comic in its 75th anniversary year.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  4. Just So Science

    Vivienne Parry with the science behind Kipling's stories

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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  5. The Cultural Exchange

    Mark Lawson and guests debate what now shapes our cultural choices - critics or clicks?

    BBC Radio 4

  6. Talking Pictures

    A nostalgic journey through cinema’s greatest moments.

    BBC Two

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  7. The Value of Culture

    Melvyn Bragg explores the history of the idea of culture, and its value today.

    BBC Radio 4

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  8. And No Birds Sing: Rachel Carson and Silent Spring

    Franny Armstrong looks at the explosive impact of Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring.

    BBC Radio 4

  9.

    Bellydancing and the Blues

    Guy Schalom hunts out the spirit of the new Egypt in the musical roots of the bellydance

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  10. Our Language in Your Hands

    Linguist Mark Turin explores the fate of the world's endangered languages

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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  11. The Beat Hotel

    How a down-at-heel Parisian hotel became the world's avant-garde headquarters.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  12. Letters from Germany

    Leading German figures write about the country they know and the way it is perceived

    BBC Radio 4

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  13. On the French Fringe

    Kirsty Lang and Lucy Ash present cultural snapshots off the beaten track in France

    BBC Radio 4

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  14. The Big B at 70

    A look at the life and work of Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest star in Bollywood

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  15. Foreign Bodies

    Mark Lawson examines how mystery novels reflect a country's history and political system.

    BBC Radio 4

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  16. Guthan Binn Nam Bonn

    Na guthan seinn ro bhinn a choisinn buinn òir aig Mòdan Nàiseanta.

    BBC Radio nan Gàidheal

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  17. Spellbound: Siouxsie and the Banshees

    Miranda Sawyer looks at one of music's most distinctive artists Siouxsie and the Banshees.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  18.

    One Man's War

    Katie Derham delves into the fascinating world of musical life during the Second World War

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  19.

    Was Dracula Irish?

    Irish novelist Patrick McCabe explores the Irish influences on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

    BBC Radio 4

  20.

    Happy Days - The Children of the Stones

    Writer and comedian Stewart Lee explores the television series Children of the Stones.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  21. The Voices of...

    Musicians talk about their life and work.

    BBC Radio 4

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  22. Deborah Bull's Dance Nation

    Dancer, writer and broadcaster Deborah Bull presents a social history of dance in the UK

    BBC Radio 4

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  23. Walter Kershaw: The UK's First Street Artist?

    Uncovering the life and work of a pioneering and under-appreciated British painter

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  24. Treasures of Ancient Rome

    Alastair Sooke takes an in-depth look at the art of the Roman Empire.

    BBC Four

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  25. The Human Jukebox

    Peter Curran on earworms; why we sing to ourselves, and why sometimes we can't stop it

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  26.

    Composing LA

    How Western classical music underpinned the golden age of the Hollywood film score.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  27.

    The 'arse that Jack Built

    Ian McMillan goes in search of one of Britain's strangest linguistic features...

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  28.

    Ulster's Forgotten Darling

    Fionola Meredith goes in search of medieval scholar, author and poet Helen Waddell.

    BBC Radio 4

  29.

    Old Photographs Fever - The Search for China's Pictured Past

    Historical photographs are rare in China, but now the pictured past is being reclaimed.

    BBC Radio 4

  30.

    In His Element

    Sir Ken Robinson, creativity guru, is in Derry-Londonderry, the first UK City of Culture.

    BBC Radio 4

  31.

    Changing My Voice

    Christopher Gabbitas explores the effects on singers of changing the pitch of their voice.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  32.

    The Voice of God

    Richard Coles on the various ways that the voice of God is depicted, and what this reveals

    BBC Radio 4

  33. Roger Law and the Chinese Curiosities

    Roger Law explores some unexpected corners of China's rich and varied culture

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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  34. The Frock and the Church

    Women bishops? Will the Church of England approve them and can it cope with the fallout?

    BBC Radio 4

  35.

    Stuart: A Face Backwards

    Mark Burman strips away the layers of Stuart Freeborn's remarkable life in movie make-up.

    BBC Radio 4

  36. Dream Builders

    Razia Iqbal in conversation with some of the world's greatest architects.

    BBC World Service

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  37. Smile

    Kate Williams explores the history and development of the modern winning smile

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  38.

    The French East End

    Lucy Ash explores London's new French community, as it spreads beyond South Kensington.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  39.

    It's Fun, But Is It Theatre?

    Punchdrunk, YouMeBumBumTrain, and other immersive theatre companies under the microscope.

    BBC Radio 4

  40. Reading between the Lines

    Michael Morpurgo on the changing experience of learning to read over the last 70 years

    BBC Radio 4

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  41. The Trouble with Kane

    Series following a new approach tried as an alternative to custody for child offenders

    BBC Radio 4

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  42. The Library Returns

    Jonathan Glancey explores how libraries in Europe and the USA are being reinvented.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  43.

    The First LP in Ireland

    The extraordinary story of how classic Irish folk songs were saved from extinction.

    BBC Radio 4

  44. Shakespeare in Italy

    Francesco da Mosto takes to the Italian road again in search of Shakespeare in Italy.

    BBC Two

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  45. Folk Song, Art Song

    Christopher Maltman debates the place of folk song in the classical recital repertoire.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  46.

    One in a Million

    One million books given away for free - how did it affect those involved?

    BBC Radio 4

  47.

    In Search of Originality

    Ian Peacock sets out to achieve the seemingly impossible, to be original.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  48.

    The Mystery of the Holy Thorn

    Who cut down Glastonbury's 'holy thorn' tree? And why did it matter to so many people?

    BBC Radio 4

  49. La France Maintenant

    Andrew Hussey goes beyond the cliches to discover the true face of 21st-century France

    BBC Radio 4

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  50. What the Scandinavians Know About Children's Literature

    Mariella Frostrup looks at Scandinavian children's literature.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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