Summary
In 1989 the demilitarized zone between East and West was the venue for a gathering which was titled the Pan-European picnic. Matthew Longo's new book explores the Hungarian, East German and Russian politics which led to this happening and how it contributed to the ending of the cold war. He joins historians of art and food in a conversation hosted by Anne McElvoy which ranges across picnics in ancient Greece, French impressionist painting, country house opera events like Glyndebourne and celebrating the arrival of the cherry blossom season.
Matthew Longo is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Leiden and author of The Picnic
Monika Hinkel is an art historian based at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
Kirsty Sinclair Dootson is a lecturer in Film and Media at University College London
Pen Vogler is a food writer and the author of Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain
Producer: Ruth Watts
The Picnic: An Escape to Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain by Matthew Longo is out now You can find other discussions about German and cold war history on the Free Thinking programme website and available as the Arts and Ideas podcast.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Can I just say? |
| 0:01.5 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | It's such a wonderful listen. |
| 0:05.6 | So nice. |
| 0:06.5 | There are loads more like it on BBC sounds. |
| 0:08.8 | Different paces, different heights. |
| 0:10.6 | The roof is buckling. |
| 0:11.9 | Where you can also listen to live sports commentary. |
| 0:14.2 | It's right foot goes for goal. |
| 0:16.7 | And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories. |
| 0:21.7 | The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession. |
| 0:25.2 | And she's had to live with that. |
| 0:26.8 | So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion. |
| 0:29.7 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:31.7 | Sort of expecting that every week now. |
| 0:35.8 | BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:40.4 | Hello, I'm Anne McHellvoy, and in this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast, |
| 0:45.2 | we are packing up the picnic basket and heading for the great outdoors, |
| 0:49.3 | a cultural history of the picnic. |
| 0:51.4 | Teddy Bears optional, coming up after this. |
| 0:58.1 | Music history of the picnic. Teddy Bears optional. Coming up after this. Hello there. This is Kate Mollison. And this is Donald Percloud. |
| 1:03.9 | The composer of the week podcast introduces you to the human side of the men and women who create our greatest music. |
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