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Arts & Ideas

Night Waves - Tony Benn, PL Travers, Guy Debord

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2598 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2013

⏱️ 46 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Veteran politician Tony Benn talks to Matthew Sweet about his final volume of diaries, A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine. Historian Eliza Filby and journalist David Aaronovitch examine how much political traditions shape contemporary politics. Writer Brian Sibley reveals the lesser-known side of Mary Poppins author PL Travers. Writer Will Self discusses Guy Debord’s prescient polemic, The Society of the Spectacle.

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 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.

0:40.9

Four words to guide us through tonight's programme.

0:43.9

Situationism, socialism, Sufism, and another one, beginning with S, that I'm going to delegate to Julie Andrews.

0:51.9

It's super-cala, fragilistic, ex aliddocious, even though the sound of it is something

0:57.5

quite atrocious. If you say it loud enough, you'll always sound precocious. Supercalifragulistic

1:03.4

XPrily Alidocious. Um-de-Lum-Lumda-Lumda-Li. Supercalifragilistic ex-Pialadocious

1:10.7

from the film of Mary Poppins.

1:12.7

But can we use that word to describe the new film starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks, a biopic of creator, P.L. Travers. We'll discover that with the help of Brian Sibley, who knew Travers well and also knows a spoonful of sugar when he tastes it.

1:28.6

And look at these other numerous sundry items emerging from the Brian Sibley, who knew Travers well and also knows a spoonful of sugar when he tastes it.

1:28.5

And look at these other numerous sundry items emerging from the floral carpet bag.

1:33.0

A copy of Gida Boers, The Society of the Spectacle,

1:36.5

a book beloved by revolutionaries and rockers.

1:39.7

Will Self is here to unpack it.

1:42.0

The journalist David Aronovich and the historian Eliza Filby are here too,

1:46.0

but I'll tell you why a bit later, because we have lots to do, and as Mary Poppins knows, well begun, is half done.

1:53.5

So we're beginning with Tony Ben. He's a man who loved his nanny, and you'll hear her mentioned in good time.

1:59.7

Ben is one of the fixtures in the landscape

2:01.8

of British politics, a distinguished aristocratic structure modernised for 20th century public life,

...

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