Free Thinking - Star Wars. Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Ruth Scurr on John Aubrey. Beowulf.
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2015
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ruth Scurr discusses her biography of the 17th-century antiquary and biographer John Aubrey - which has appeared on many of the newspaper selections of Books of the Year. Christopher Hampton and actress Adjoa Andoh talk to Anne McElvoy about a new production of Hampton's version of Les Liaisons Dangereuses which opens at London's Donmar Warehouse. New Generation Thinker Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough reviews a new TV version of Beowulf and how it compares to the poem she teaches. And the science writer and broadcaster, Marcus Chown, will be sharing his thoughts about his close encounter with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Producer: Zahid Warley
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps |
| 0:21.2 | it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream |
| 0:26.1 | van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.0 | Hello, it's fully 38 years since we first saw Han Solo at the controls of the Millennium Falcon |
| 0:39.7 | in a galaxy far, far away. |
| 0:42.8 | Slightly over 200 since Chaudelot de la Clou taught us that revenge is a dish best-eaten-cold. |
| 0:49.8 | Nearly 400 since John Aubrey enjoyed his own brief life, |
| 0:53.8 | and rather longer since we first heard |
| 0:56.6 | about this particular monster. |
| 0:58.5 | There come of Mora, under mist-liothum, Grendel Gongan, Gordes Urabar, |
| 1:06.0 | Muntis a manchunas sumne bessewerin in sale of them hyan. |
| 1:16.3 | Wode under wulcnam, to that they he win wretched, gold sailor gumina, |
| 1:19.4 | year was wist wiser, fatum fachna. |
| 1:22.9 | No need to adjust your set to the Norse setting there. |
| 1:27.6 | This is Radio 3, with a burst of the old English epic, Beirwolf. |
| 1:32.2 | Beerwolf will be stalking our TV screens early in the new year, |
| 1:35.3 | and there'll be more about the poem and the adaptation later. |
| 1:41.8 | First, though, the latest version of Chaudelot de la Clause's 18th century epistolary novel, |
| 1:43.7 | Les Liesons Dangerers. |
| 1:47.0 | It's set in pre-revolution Paris, |
| 1:51.3 | where the calculating Marquis de Morteur plots revenge against her ex-lover, the Vique Comte de Valmont. |
| 1:54.7 | She prods him to seduce a young virgin, |
... |
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