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, 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 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.

Oh mother, the young prince is to pass by our door.

How can I attend to my work this morning?

Show me how to braid up my hair.

Tell me what garment to put on.

Well, those lines in the voice of a love-struck young girl

are sung in German in the second half of tonight's prom,

the lyric symphony by Alexander Zemlinsky.

But they were originally written in Bengali,

part of a collection known as The Gardner

by the great Indian poet, playwright, and novelist,

Rabindranath Tagore.

In the early 20th century,

Tagore may have been the most celebrated cultural figure in the world. His poetry was admired

by figures including W.B. Yates and Ezra Pound, as well as musicians such as Zemlinsky. And he also

won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. But he was also deeply critical of British rule in India,

returning his knighthood in response to the brutal Amritsa massacre in 1919, when British troops fired on peaceful protesters, killing hundreds.

He was an inspiration for figures from filmmaker Sutsijit Ray to economist Amatya Sen.

And tonight we explore his work and his legacy. With me, our prize-winning

...