Night Waves - Death
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2013
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Matthew Sweet visits Tate Britain’s unveiling of a comprehensive new vision of its permanent collection. Thematic presentation gives way to strict chronology. Susannah Clapp gives a first night review of Public Enemy, a new production of Ibsen's play about corruption and the nature of the public good. New research has revealed only a very small percentage of the population has made plans for the end of their lives. Matthew and guests discuss the idea of the good death. F R Leavis’ spirit has been summoned to the discussion table in the recent wranglings about what should be taught to children in schools. David Ellis, who studied with, and the novelist Margaret Drabble discuss his influence and reputation.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 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, 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? |
| 0:23.4 | It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream. |
| 0:28.9 | Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a download from the BBC. |
| 0:34.1 | For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.com.uk slash radio three. |
| 0:40.8 | Hello. Tonight on night waves will use the power of art and ideas to travel through time, |
| 0:46.8 | at least 45 minutes forward and 500 years back. From where I'm speaking to you, it's Friday lunchtime. |
| 0:55.6 | But it's also Monday night, |
| 1:01.2 | and our theatre critic is racing back from Norway in the 1880s, the setting of Ibsen's public enemy, a drama about public health and public morals. We'll also stop off in 20th century |
| 1:07.7 | Cambridge. Margaret Drabble is going to tell us about Levis and the Levisites, |
| 1:13.0 | and we'll look into the face of death and ask how we're getting on with him these days. |
| 1:17.9 | First though, let me tell you where I am, and where and when we're going to go to first. |
| 1:22.8 | That sound you can hear is being made by an installation by the artist Simon Starling, Phantom Ride. |
| 1:29.1 | It's filling the central hall of Tate Britain on the bank of the Thames. |
| 1:37.6 | In the galleries that surround it, though, time and space have been altered. |
| 1:42.3 | Tomorrow, that's Tuesday, the tape reveals its grand rehang, the best of its collection, |
| 1:47.9 | rearranged in strictly chronological order, no schools, no movements, just a walk from the age |
| 1:54.2 | of Holbein to the age of Francis Bacon. |
| 1:56.9 | I have an appointment with one of the curators of the rehang, Chris Stevens. |
| 2:04.2 | Chris, beneath our feet here are brass dates lodged in the floor. We are standing between |
| 2:12.4 | 1890 and 1910. But if I look behind us down here, I can see how far back can I see in time? |
| 2:21.3 | What's at the very end of our view here down this corridor? Well, we're on this long |
... |
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 2026.