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 is 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.

This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.uk slash radio three.

Children clearly exist, because if they don't, then I need to know who it is who wakes me up at 6.30 every morning demanding toast and jam and a game of Mancala.

Childhood, though, is a much more contestable phenomenon. There are those who regard it as a state

of nature, a wild phase in which were more connected to the earth and to the animal kingdom than we

tend to be as adults, and others who regard it as a construction of culture, created when we

decided that children should be removed from the workplace and subject to a set of ideas about innocence.

Whatever childhood is made of, it's become an intense source of anxiety.

The narrative upon which we seem to have agreed as a culture is that it isn't as much fun as it used to be,

thanks to Xboxes, to televisions in bedrooms, to a disinclination to allow children

their freedom to roam, climb trees, get into fights. And there seems to be some evidence

to back this up. The UNICEF report on child well-being in developed countries placed Britain

bottom of the league in 2007. In their latest report last month, there was significant

improvement, but Britain was still only 16th. But does this all tell us anything about the real

experiences of children? Or does this data simply create a map of adult desires, fantasies,

and preoccupations? Is childhood something that we should deregulate or attempt

to reform? I've invited a gang of experts, all of whom are former children themselves, for a game

of intellectual conquers around the nightwaves table. Jay Griffiths is a writer with a lot of

stickers on her suitcase. She's the author of a new book called Kiff, in which

he argues that children in Brazilian rainforests are happier than those in European and American

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