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Arts & Ideas

Tacitus, Byron's fanmail and Bluey

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2598 Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2024

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Classicist Mary Beard picks Tacitus as a figure who still has relevance if we're thinking about satire, power and celebrity. Shahidha Bari is joined by Mary, historian Helen Carr, who co-edited What is History Now? political sketch-writer from The Times newspaper Tom Peck and Konnie Huq, writer and former presenter of the children's TV show Blue Peter. On April 21st 1964, the tv channel BBC 2 launched with an episode for children of Play School and programmes like Bluey and Peppa Pig, have been making headlines so what do we want from kids TV? Plus - poet Lord Byron died 200 years ago this week - scholar Dr Corin Throsby has been reading the fan mail he received.

Listen out for Mary Beard and the new series of Being Roman coming to BBC Radio 4 in May - and the first series is available on BBC Sounds. And if you're a fan of Oliver Postgate - The Clangers, Bagpuss and Noggin you can find a Free Thinking episode exploring those programmes.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Tim Heffer

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.

0:39.8

Hello, welcome to the Arts and Ideas podcast.

0:42.8

We're going through the round window to explore the meaning of children's TV,

0:47.5

Byron's fan mail, and learning how the Roman historian Tacitus might help us to think about

0:52.5

Liz Truss.

0:59.8

Music and historian Tacitus might help us to think about Liz Truss. Here's a house, here's a door.

1:02.8

Welcome to Free Thinking on Radio 4.

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