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, it's 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 at some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

On tonight's program, Curiosity.

Not the kind that kills the cat, but the elixir of a full life, according to

Theodor Zeldin, named by a newspaper as one of the 40 world figures whose books are likely

to have a lasting relevance to the new millennium. I talked to him in a moment about his new book,

The Hidden Pleasures of Life. Also, Shakespeare, the man for most seasons, celebrated both by the Nazis and by their opponents.

What do present-day Kosovovans and Serbians make of him?

Especially Kosovoins as they emerge from a winter of discontent,

with unemployment at 30% and fears of renewed Serbian influence in the country.

Well, we'll find out.

And in all the talk of revolution and counter-revolution in the Middle East,

what about a sexual revolution?

Headscarfs and hymins is a provocative book by the award-winning Mona Tahari, who's lived in Egypt and

Saudi Arabia, and found herself groped on the haj in Mecca. But first, Theodore Zeldin, whose books

include an intimate history of humanity and a history of French passions. He's a writer fascinated

not so much by the public life of humanity,

although he's written on that,

but by the hidden pleasures of life, the title of his new study.

His first hero is a 19th century Iranian student

who walks out of his home in Sultanabad

...