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.

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

Hello and on nightwaves, dramas of both the political and stage variety are our big themes for tonight.

We'll be examining the wiles of propaganda as a new exhibition charts the business of persuasion,

and our TV dramas and a more immersive approach to theatre

changing the way that actors perform. But first, a titan of 18th century politics through the eyes

of a prominent conservative today. Jesse Norman's been part of David Cameron's intellectual

vanguard, an architect of the party's modernisation and its big society aspirations.

He's also proved occasionally a turbulent member of Parliament since 2010.

But his fascination is with a figure who dominated the commons in the era of the American

and French revolutions Edmund Burke, and he's written a new book about him.

For much of his life, Burke was a thorn

in the side of the powerful, arguing against untrammeled royal patronage, supporting Catholic

emancipation, and leading the charge against Warren Hastings, the autocratic governor of the East

India Company. As a contemporary of Hogarth and Swift, Burke was also part of a flowering of mid-18th

century arts and writing. Now, Jesse Norman believes, Burke's legacy needs to be revived. But where

would his hero fit in the spectrum today? I started by asking Jesse why he wouldn't consider

Burke a liberal individualist. Because I think he would be thoroughly opposed now to the present, have it all, me first, culture,

and would be very much looking to put society first in political deliberation,

and not just society as of the present generation, but also the balancing of interests and well-being

...