The Essay

An 8-year-old who condemns his own mother to execution in 1582: New Generation Thinker Emma Whipday, who researches Renaissance literature at Newcastle University, has been reading witch trial records from Elizabethan and Jacobean England to explore how they depict single mothers. And she finds chilling echoes of their language in newspaper articles in our own times. Producer: Ruth Watts Emma Whipday is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker 2022 on the scheme which puts research on the radio. You can find her sharing her thoughts on Free Thinking episodes about Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare, Cross-dressing, Step-mothers, and Tudor families.

The noisy Victorian world annoyed the mathematician, philosopher and inventor Charles Babbage, who came up with the idea of a programmable computer. He wrote letters complaining about it and a pamphlet which explored ideas about whether the sea could record its own sound, had a memory and could broadcast sound. New Generation Thinker Joan Passey, from the University of Bristol, sets these ideas alongside the work done by engineers cabling the sea-bed to allow communication via telegraph and Rudyard Kipling's images of these "sea monsters." Producer: Torquil MacLeod New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in partnership with BBC Radio 3. Ten early career academics are chosen each year to share their research on radio. You can find a collection of discussions, features and essays on the Free Thinking programme page. Joan Passey can be heard in Free Thinking episodes discussing Cornwall and Coastal Gothic, Oceans and the Sea at the Hay Festival 2022, Vampires a

Race relations aren't always thought of as being linked with the experimental writing and art promoted by the Bloomsbury set in 1920s Britain but New Generation Thinker Jade Munslow Ong, from the University of Salford, argues that without a group of South African authors who came to Britain we might not have Virginia Woolf's Orlando. But Roy Campbell, William Plomer and Laurens Van der Post weren't the only writers from that country with a Bloomsbury connection. A founder of the Native National Congress - later the ANC - was also hard at work on a novel which depicted an interracial friendship. Producer: Ruth Thomson New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select ten academics each year to turn their research into essays, features and discussions. You can find a collection featuring their insights on the Free Thinking programme page, available on BBC Sounds and to download as the Arts and Ideas podcast. You can hear more from Jade in discuss

There are 43 tidal islands around the UK, accessible just briefly each day, along beguiling and perilous paths. As the tide retreats, five writers walk their favourite causeway to islands of refuge, pilgrimage, magic and glamour. Today, WN Herbert follows in the footsteps of pilgrims to Lindisfarne and reflects on the causeway connecting to a meditational space and how we are all now connected by various versions of a tidal causeway, advancing and retreating through. social media. Across the series: Claire McGowan sees time change as she enters the freezing waters off Burgh Island and sips cocktails in the art deco hotel bar. Ben Cottam almost gets stuck in the mud as he searches for the grave of a black slave and questions his family’s past at Sunderland Point. And between kite surfers and dog walkers, Patrick Gale is suspended between two worlds as he follows the S shaped causeway, shaped by relentless tides and currents to St Michael’s Mount. Evie Wyld boards the ferry at Lymington pier and retrac

Five Bicycle-Shaped Musings from writer, raconteur and life-long cyclist Andrew Martin Today Andrew Martin discusses all the reasons there are to get cycling. Today just 2 per cent of journeys are made by bike in the UK although our European neighbours in Holland and Belgium put us to shame with far higher levels of enthusiasm for the humble velocipede. But cycling used to be the default method of transport for many in the UK and with all the health and environmental benefits that cycling brings, there is now a stronger movement than ever to encourage us all to get back on our bikes. Written and read by Andrew Martin Produced by Karen Holden

Five Bicycle-Shaped Musings from writer, raconteur and life-long cyclist Andrew Martin On a visit to bucolic Derbyshire, Martin pootles happily along a disused railway on a Sustrans National Cycle Network. Early cyclists resisted dedicated cycle lanes; today cycle lanes are regularly created to foster the new cycling boom. Written and read by Andrew Martin Produced by Karen Holden

Five Bicycle-Shaped Musings from writer, raconteur and life-long cyclist Andrew Martin In this episode the sport of cycling and the problem of the MAMIL (Middle-Aged Man in Lycra) as scrutinised by staunch utility cyclist Andrew Martin. He is amused to discover that Lycra endows a speed advantage of 0.0001% over a three-piece tweed suit and a pipe. Written and read by Andrew Martin Produced by Karen Holden

Five Bicycle-Shaped Musings from writer, raconteur and life-long cyclist Andrew Martin Today how socialism and cycling conjoined. A traditionally working-class transport mode is counterpointed with the idea of the cyclist as supreme individualist, riding on pavements and ignoring red lights. Cycling clubs today focus on environmentalism and sociability rather than socialism, but their slogan is still ‘Fellowship is Life.’ Written and read by Andrew Martin Produced by Karen Holden

Five Bicycle-Shaped Musings from writer, raconteur and life-long cyclist Andrew Martin. Growing up in York, a flat cycling town, despite failing his Cycling Proficiency Test, Martin had about 30 bikes in the 1970s. Crossbars have since become top tubes, oil become lube, cycle clips become trouser bands. He resisted mountain bikes in the 80s as ugly and pompous and anyway never cycled up mountains. He currently owns a Dawes racer, aka road bike, and still cycles daily, finding himself now engaged in – thanks to congestion, environmentalism and Covid – a fashionable pursuit. Written and read by Andrew Martin Produced by Karen Holden

Ben Cottam puts on full waterproofs to cross the causeway to Sunderland Point, in search of the grave of a black slave. There are 43 tidal islands around the UK, accessible just briefly each day along beguiling paths. Across the series, five writers journey across a favourite causeway to islands of refuge, pilgrimage, magic and glamour. Wheels spin wildly and Ben peers anxiously through mud-sprayed windscreen as he tries to drive to Sunderland. There is no real boundary between land and sea, the coastline as fluid as the tide. The danger signs escalate and he remembers tales of insidious rising waters, drilled into him as a child by coastguards from Morecambe Bay. He treks to what is uncomfortably called Sambo’s grave, the resting place of young black slave. Abandoned there by a sea captain in the 18th century, Ben wonders how his own family might have treated him and is heartened to find fresh tributes marking a lost life. Producer: Sarah Bowen

Claire McGowan enters the freezing waters off Burgh Island, connected at low tide to the mainland by a short sandy causeway. There are 43 tidal islands around the UK, accessible just briefly each day along beguiling and perilous paths. Across the series, five writers walk their favourite causeway to islands of refuge, pilgrimage, magic and glamour. Claire grew up with the mythology of the giant Finn McCool flinging rocks at a rival in Scotland and building the Giant’s Causeway. Arriving at Burgh Island, she steps into tranquil 1920s glamour, to sip Agatha Christie inspired cocktails in the Art Deco hotel bar. In this time capsule, Claire explores our relationship with Golden Age Crime and her own past; as the tide retreats, past relationships disappear with the waves and time simultaneously changes and stays still. Producer: Sarah Bowen

There are 43 tidal islands around the UK, accessible just briefly each day, along beguiling and perilous paths. As the tide retreats, five writers walk their favourite causeway to islands of refuge, pilgrimage, magic and glamour. Today, Evie Wyld boards the ferry at Lymington pier and retraces a path well-travelled with her family during school holidays - across the Freshwater Causeway on the Isle of Wight. Her route takes her past ghost benches, a graveyard, World War Two pill boxes on a journey through grief, memory and what survives the tide. Across the series: Claire McGowan sees time change as she enters the freezing waters off Burgh Island and sips cocktails in the art deco hotel bar. Ben Cottam almost gets stuck in the mud as he searches for the grave of a black slave and questions his family’s past at Sunderland Point. WN Herbert follows in the footsteps of pilgrims to Lindisfarne and reflects on the causeway leading to a meditational space. And between kite surfers and dog walkers, Patrick

There are 43 tidal islands around the UK, accessible just briefly each day, along beguiling and perilous paths. As the tide retreats, five writers walk their favourite causeway to islands of refuge, pilgrimage, magic and glamour. Patrick Gale joins those seemingly walking on water as they cross to St Michael’s Mount in this first episode. Between kite surfers and dog walkers, he is suspended between two worlds as he follows the S shaped causeway, shaped by relentless tides and currents. He is joined by Lord St Leven who tells him about the near impossible task of maintaining the route to the Mount, his family’s home since the 17th century. And from the tidal walk emerge the stories and myths that have built up around Karrek Loos yn Koos, first visited by Archangel Michael, and now by hundreds of thousands of tourists. Across the series: Evie Wyld retraces a childhood walk across the Freshwater Causeway on the Isle of Wight, finding graveyards and ghost benches. Claire McGowan sees time change as she en

Margaret Heffernan explores how art can help us deal with uncertainty in our lives. Without uncertainty, there is no freedom. How do artists learn how to use this freedom to act, to make something, to have original ideas? Modern life feels increasingly uncertain, to the point of making us uncomfortable. Most people hate uncertainty. We feel calmer knowing something bad is definitely coming (say, an electric shock) than when there's a possibility we might escape it. New technology sometimes seems to have the goal of eliminating uncertainty, but is this really desirable? Margaret argues that an element of uncertainty is a necessary part of the creative process, a catalyst which can help us find ways of meeting the challenges of the future. Margaret Heffernan is a writer and entrepreneur, author of the award-winning 'Uncharted: How to Map the Future'. Here, she takes inspiration from artists who embrace uncertainty. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

Margaret Heffernan explores how art can help us deal with uncertainty in our lives. How does an artist know when a piece is finished? Or more precisely, when they should stop work and launch it into the world? Margaret Heffernan is a writer and entrepreneur, author of the award-winning 'Uncharted: How to Map the Future'. Here, she takes inspiration from artists who embrace uncertainty. Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

Margaret Heffernan explores how art can help us deal with uncertainty in our lives. How do artists tolerate the fear that uncertainty creates? Modern life feels increasingly uncertain, to the point of making us uncomfortable. Most people hate uncertainty. We feel calmer knowing something bad is definitely coming (say, an electric shock) than when there's a possibility we might escape it. New technology sometimes seems to have the goal of eliminating uncertainty, but is this really desirable? Margaret argues that an element of uncertainty is a necessary part of the creative process, a catalyst which can help us find ways of meeting the challenges of the future. Artists deal with uncertainty all the time: starting work nobody asked for, rarely sure where the work will go, when it’s finished or whether it will connect with a public. This can be deeply frightening: Tracey Emin sketches before having enough courage to paint; Sebastian Barry fears the next word won’t come. To the frequent dismay of fans, a

Margaret Heffernan explores how art can help us deal with uncertainty in our lives. How do artists begin a new project? The point is to be open to the world, and to have 'an eye that is always watching'. Modern life feels increasingly uncertain, to the point of making us uncomfortable. Most people hate uncertainty. We feel calmer knowing something bad is definitely coming (say, an electric shock) than when there's a possibility we might escape it. New technology sometimes seems to have the goal of eliminating uncertainty, but is this really desirable? Margaret argues that an element of uncertainty is a necessary part of the creative process, a catalyst which can help us find ways of meeting the challenges of the future. Artists deal with uncertainty all the time: starting work nobody asked for, rarely sure where the work will go, when it’s finished or whether it will connect with a public. This can be deeply frightening: Tracey Emin sketches before having enough courage to paint; Sebastian Barry fe

Margaret Heffernan explores how art can help us deal with uncertainty in our lives. Modern life feels increasingly uncertain, to the point of making us uncomfortable. Most people hate uncertainty. We feel calmer knowing something bad is definitely coming (say, an electric shock) than when there's a possibility we might escape it. New technology sometimes seems to have the goal of eliminating uncertainty, but is this really desirable? Margaret argues that an element of uncertainty is a necessary part of the creative process, a catalyst which can help us find ways of meeting the challenges of the future. Artists deal with uncertainty all the time: starting work nobody asked for, rarely sure where the work will go, when it’s finished or whether it will connect with a public. This can be deeply frightening: Tracey Emin sketches before having enough courage to paint; Sebastian Barry fears the next word won’t come. To the frequent dismay of fans, artists change direction before they have to. They have age

Perhaps above all, the artistic quality we prize most is imagination. Psychologist Professor Victoria Tischler explores the enigmatic work of ceramicist Shinichi Sawada. Shinichi's sculptures look like small demons or monsters. The organic forms are covered with clay studs that resemble spikes, some forming mask-like facial figures, like totem poles. As an artist with autism, Shinichi is largely non-verbal, so he can't explain the meaning of his work, allowing the viewers' imagination to run riot. The best way to experience any art.

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns completes his exploration of South African food, as he discusses the national dish, and what it says about the Rainbow Nation. South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay has delved into its different cuisines for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds. In today's final Essay, Lindsay strolls through the picture postcard community of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, on his way to eat a personal favourite - tomato bredie. His lunch companion, meanwhile, orders bobotie - a meal which originated in the country's Cape Malay community but has now become the national dish. And as he reflects on the series, Lindsay wonders what t