Colm Toibin; Dullness as a virtue

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 46 minutes

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Summary

Sticking in stamps and killing animals were the main achievements of King George V - according to his biographer Harold Nicholson. Now Jane Ridley has written a new book about him subtitled "Never a Dull Moment" so can dullness be a virtue. Anne McElvoy chairs the discussion, which also looks at the history and image of Roundheads and Cavaliers with New Generation Thinker Tom Charlton and the appearance of dullness in political theory with Jonathan Floyd, Associate Professor at the University of Bristol. Plus Anne talks to Colm Tóibín, the winner of the David Cohen Prize for Literature - biennial British literary award given to acknowledge a whole career.

Professor Jane Ridley's biography George V: Never a Dull Moment is out now.

Producer: Ruth Watts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Can I just say?
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0:14.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:16.7	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:21.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:25.2	And she's had to live with that.
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0:35.8	BBC Sounds, music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:40.8	Hello, I'm Anne McHelvoy, and in this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast, I'll be
0:46.6	talking to the winner of the David Cohen Prize for Literature, recognising Colum
0:50.8	Tobin for a Lifetime's achievement. And from the remarkable to the very dull, quite literally,
0:57.9	we'll be discussing the man acknowledged as Britain's dullest monarch
1:02.6	with his biographer and considering the hidden virtues of being, well, dull.
1:08.9	That's after this.
	...

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