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Arts & Ideas

Free Thinking Essay: Beards and Whiskers

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2599 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2014

⏱️ 15 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Historian Alun Withey says beards can shed light on a whole range of things from medicine to the military. Pogonotomy - or the art of shaving - is about more than fashion. Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage, Gateshead. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the AHRC to find the brightest academic minds with the potential to turn their ideas into broadcasts.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Can I just say?

0:01.5

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.

0:04.0

It's such a wonderful listen.

0:05.6

So nice.

0:06.5

There are loads more like it on BBC sounds.

0:08.8

Different paces, different heights.

0:10.6

The roof is buckling.

0:11.9

Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.

0:14.2

It's right foot goes for goal.

0:16.6

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.

0:26.8

So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.

0:29.8

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:31.8

Sort of expecting that every week now.

0:45.1

As Shakespeare didn't say, something beardy this way comes. Love them or loathe them,

0:49.0

it seems that beards are everywhere at the moment. Walk down your local high street,

0:55.7

before you've gone too far, it's a fair bet you're going to be met by a veritable sea of hairy faces. In many ways,

1:01.6

2014 may well prove to be the year of the beard. After a fairly long period in the wilderness,

1:07.2

facial hair has returned. It might have passed you by, but there is actually a world beard day dedicated to the celebration of the hairy chin. In Bath in September, was held the

1:12.4

British Beard Championships, a virtual X-factor for beard wearers, where owners of mighty examples of

1:18.7

facial topiary submitted themselves to the scrutiny of a panel of Pogonotomists. For whatever reason,

...

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