Summary
Laurie Taylor talks to Molly Conisbee, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath, about her ‘people’s’ history of mortality, beyond queens and aristocrats. From the plague pits to grave-robberies and wakes, she explores how cycles of dying, death and disposal have shaped our society. What did it mean to die well in the past, what does it mean now? Also, Chao Fang, Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, talks about his study of the meaning of a good death in China & how it differs from western notions which centre the dying person’s wishes rather than family harmony.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What is love? |
| 0:03.0 | Is it chemistry, fate or a disaster waiting to happen? |
| 0:07.0 | Sometimes you mistake other things for love. |
| 0:10.0 | Join me, Ryland, on my new podcast as I ask experts and a few familiar faces what love really means. |
| 0:16.3 | Because it turns out it's a bit more complicated than happily ever after. |
| 0:20.7 | You should think of it as the daily commitment you make to someone that you care about. |
| 0:25.2 | Ryland, how to be in love. Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.1 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:35.1 | This is a Thinking Aloud podcast from the BBC, and for more details and much, much more about |
| 0:41.1 | thinking aloud, go to our website at BBC.co.com. |
| 0:45.8 | Hello. Now, religious instruction was not really my best school subject. I mean, even as I say |
| 0:53.3 | these very words, memories of the classroom |
| 0:55.8 | surface, Taylor, what are the four last things ever to be remembered? Heaven, hell, judgment, |
| 1:05.7 | and, and, and, um, death, Taylor, you missed out death. |
| 1:12.9 | Well, I was only 13 at the time, but I really shouldn't have forgotten death. |
| 1:16.7 | How to die well. |
| 1:18.1 | How to ensure a good death by dying in a state of grace, |
| 1:21.7 | and thus ensuring a primrose path to heaven. |
| 1:25.6 | Well, in my recent and rather more, well, rather more secular years, |
| 1:29.5 | I haven't given much thought to ways of dying |
| 1:31.8 | until I was confronted by a new encyclopedic survey |
| 1:35.2 | which promised to bring, and I quote, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.