Night Waves - Othello & Insects
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2013
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Rana Mitter talks to Susannah Clapp with the first review of the National Theatre's production of 'Othello', starring Adrian Lester as the Moor. According to David Boyle's new book, 'Broke', something is killing off the middle classes and to discuss this are Selina Todd and Mark Littlewood. The literary biographer Richard Holmes has taken to the air in his latest book - a history of ballooning and its pioneers. And, as "Who's the Pest?" brings a season of insect inspired events to the Wellcome Collection in London, Rana is joined by Mark Moffett, and Erica McAlister to discuss the hidden virtues of insects.
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, 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 |
| 0:21.2 | that 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. |
| 0:32.1 | This is a download from the BBC. For more information and our terms of use, go to BBC.co.uk slash radio three. |
| 0:40.7 | And tonight, on Shakespeare's 449th birthday, we'll have the first verdict on the hottest ticket in London theatre. |
| 0:48.0 | Adrian Lester and Rory Keneer in the National Theatre's new production of Othello. |
| 0:52.6 | The balloon goes up as best-selling historian Richard |
| 0:55.9 | Holmes red discovers the era when humans first took to the skies. And then it's Beatlemania. |
| 1:07.7 | We'll find out why we should be saying, I want to hold your hand or your spindly leg, as we ask, insects, friend or food. |
| 1:16.6 | But first, a recent BBC survey identified seven different social classes, including an established middle class, |
| 1:25.6 | that is, a wealthy, large and gregarious group, |
| 1:29.0 | scoring highly on cultural capital. |
| 1:31.3 | Well, I've got a man sitting right here who thinks that's just completely wrong. |
| 1:35.5 | David Boyle, at the New Economics Foundation, doesn't see the middle class as wealthy or gregarious. |
| 1:40.5 | He argues that it's been killed, stone dead, and he's identified the murderer. |
| 1:46.5 | Just like on the Orient Express, it wasn't one killer, but several, unaffordable house prices, |
| 1:52.2 | greedy banks, the me first scramble for good education, extortion at childcare costs, and plundered pensions. |
| 1:59.6 | All of them took a turn stabbing the knife into the |
| 2:02.3 | boden-clad chest of the middle class. Well, David's with me here now. His carry a bag of organic |
| 2:07.9 | rice cakes carefully stashed away, along with Mark Littlewood, Director General of the Institute of Economic |
| 2:14.1 | Affairs. And down the line, we also had the social historian, Selina Todd, of Oxford |
| 2:18.6 | University. David, in the 1990s, there was a lot of middle class unemployment. In the 70s, |
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