The Essay

Oscar-winning writer Frederic Raphael reads the first of his essay series about living abroad throughout Europe between the 1940s and 60s, beginning with the first foreign country he ever lived in: England.Uprooted from New York City as a young boy, the writer paints a child's-eye portrait of wartime Britain, with all its class conscious peculiarities, but seen through the eyes of a young American kid used to waffles, zips and Buicks.Producer: Jo Wheeler.

The last of five personal essays on the voice and radio. Broadcaster Fi Glover on how radio voices make the global local and the local global. Fi Glover has worked in almost every job that radio offers and is currently presenting the Listening Project on BBC Radio 4 - a programme in which her voice hardly appears whilst the voices of its contributors (ordinary people often at corners of their lives) are rich in personality and incident. Is radio good at not presenting and just listening? Has the BBC traditionally over-managed those who speak on its airwaves? And what of hate speech and hate radio? Why does the radio voice still reach deep into our hearts and minds in the era of screen-based living and social media?An essay given in front of an audience at the British Academy in London in October 2014 as part of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas. Producer: Tim Dee.

The fourth of five personal essays on the voice and radio. BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Roger Phillips describes his job as the listening anchorman of the station's daily phone-in programme. What is is like to be the in the middle of a city as it talks to and of itself every day of the week? How does the city's voice manifest itself in the way it talks? Are there as many talkers in Newcastle or Bristol? What does the Liverpool voice do to the Liverpool mind? Thoughts too on victim culture and Scally jokes. An essay given in front of an audience at the British Academy in London in October 2014 as part of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas. Producer: Tim Dee.

The third of five personal essays on the voice and radio. Former BBC journalist and now media professor David Hendy explores how, in the early years of radio, the voices coming through the airwaves were heard and regarded. Why did a heard voice carry more swaying power than written words, why did a radio voice carry - so experiments and test showed - even more potency? How did radio become a tool for demagogues? Why are our ears susceptible?An essay given in front of an audience at the British Academy in London in October 2014 as part of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas. Producer: Tim Dee.

The second of five personal essays on the voice and radio. Journalist and broadcaster Olivia O'Leary describes her autobiography in radio from Irish nuns at her boarding school hunting down wicked wirelesses to thoughts on the speed of the Irish voice by comparison with the English. Olivia O'Leary has worked in radio for decades and is well known - as a voice - for her penetrating yet tactful interviewing skills. She shares some of her secrets.An essay given in front of an audience at the British Academy in London in October 2014 as part of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas, himself one of the most famous radio voices of all time. Producer: Tim Dee.

The first of five essays on the voice and radio - all delivered by seasoned broadcasters and practitioners. Actor Samuel West explores the art of performance and declarative language. How should an actor speak? What is the best way to read poetry on the radio? How does radio drama get by without images? Are the pictures really better?Recorded in front of an audience at the British Academy in London in October 2014 as part of a series of events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dylan Thomas, himself one of the best known radio voices of all time.Subsequent essays from the British Academy come from veteran Irish broadcaster Olivia O'Leary, Professor of Media David Hendy, Radio Merseyside's phone-in host Roger Phillips and Radio 4's Fi Glover - all sharing their varied perspectives on the art of radio.Producer: Tim Dee.

Serial entrepreneur Luke Johnson celebrates the simple but powerful messages of the self-help classic, "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David J Schwartz." "His book is not great literature," he admits. "Indeed, it is popular psychology at its most obvious." However, Johnson defends its power as "basic but also profound" - and it has influenced his huge success with a series of household name businesses. Producer: Smita Patel.

Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman on how Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" legitimised her need to be a writer. She writes how the novel was "about the triumph of the human spirit". Reading it for the first in her early 20s it "blasted open a door which I thought was locked and barred to me. Actually it blasted open a door which I didn't appreciate even existed. A door that could lead to a writing career of my own... this book and its author showed that it was possible for me to not only be an author but to have my own voice."Producer: Smita Patel.

Actor/director Simon McBurney of Theatre de Complicite describes how John Berger's "And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos" plays with ideas of connection, memory, narrative and mortality which are essential to his theatrical work. "Berger digs in the vulnerable earth of human experience, and joins the fragments he uncovers with an eye as sure as an astronomer, a gesture as gentle as a carpenter," McBurney says. This slim work has been a point of reference for his art and his life. Producer: Smita Patel.

Singer Tracey Thorn describes how she as a rebellious teenager she seized on the feminist classic "The Female Eunuch" by Germaine Greer. "It seemed brand new, and it spoke to me of things I'd long thought and felt without ever having words or names for," she says. She explains how the book was a deep influence on the lyrics she wrote for her band Everything but the Girl. But now she is herself a mother, she finds herself questioning Greer's contemptuous dismissal of parenting. "As feminists, I feel we are more forgiving now than Greer was; more inclusive, less dismissive, and perhaps that's because greater freedoms have brought with them greater liberties for us to be so. It's not such a threat now to admit to being happily married and enjoying motherhood when we are not utterly constrained and defined by these roles." Producer: Smita Patel.

Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson describes how "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens mirrored his poor and troubled childhood in West London. After the death of his mother, the discovery of this great novel gave him the hope to build a happy and secure adult life. "I was thirteen years old and had read lots of books but nothing like this complex saga; so moving, so emotionally intertwined. I loved Peggoty, laughed at Micawber, loathed Uriah Heep. And I cried. Tears that never fell for my mother fell for Ham." Producer: Smita Patel.

Gabriele Ferrario of the Genizah Research Unit reveals the most secretive side of the Genizah collection: the manuscripts relating to alchemy and magic.The Cairo Genizah is a treasure trove of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo that portrays over 800 years of community life. Rediscovered in the 19th century, this vast communal paper-bin contained hundreds upon thousands of scraps of rag-paper and parchment - an unedited archive of prayers, letters, poems, magical spells, alchemical recipes, children's exercise books, divorce deeds and pre-nuptial agreements that paints a lively and intimate picture of daily medieval life in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.Produced by Michele Banal and Miranda Hinkley.First broadcast in May 2013.

Daniel Davies of the Genizah Research Unit sheds light on three very different lives by reading the private documents of the legendary philosopher Maimonides, community leader Solomon ben Judah and Indian Ocean trader Abraham ben Yiju,They are all from the Genizah papers. The Cairo Genizah is a treasure trove of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo that portrays over 800 years of community life. Rediscovered in the 19th century, this vast communal paper-bin contained hundreds upon thousands of scraps of rag-paper and parchment - an unedited archive of prayers, letters, poems, magical spells, alchemical recipes, children's exercise books, divorce deeds and pre-nuptial agreements that paints a lively and intimate picture of daily medieval life in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.Produced by Michele Banal and Miranda Hinkley.First broadcast in May 2013.

Melonie Schmierer-Lee of the Genizah Research Unit reveals the fortunes of women in medieval Cairo by looking at marriage and divorce deeds, as well as some incredibly detailed pre-nuptial agreements.The Cairo Genizah is a treasure trove of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo that portrays over 800 years of community life. Rediscovered in the 19th century, this vast communal paper-bin contained hundreds upon thousands of scraps of rag-paper and parchment - an unedited archive of prayers, letters, poems, magical spells, alchemical recipes, children's exercise books, divorce deeds and pre-nuptial agreements that paints a lively and intimate picture of daily medieval life in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.Produced by Michele Banal and Miranda HinkleyFirst broadcast in May 2013.

Ben Outhwaite, Head of the Genizah Research Unit, shows how private letters between medieval merchants reveal an international trading network that united Jews, Muslims and Christians across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.The Cairo Genizah is a treasure trove of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo that portrays over 800 years of community life. Rediscovered in the 19th century, this vast communal paper-bin contained hundreds upon thousands of scraps of rag-paper and parchment. It's an unedited archive of prayers, letters, poems, magical spells, alchemical recipes, children's exercise books, divorce deeds and pre-nuptial agreements that paints a lively and intimate picture of daily medieval life in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.Produced by Michele Banal and Miranda Hinkley.First broadcast in May 2013.

The Cairo Genizah is a treasure trove of manuscripts from the Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo that portrays over 800 years of community life. Rediscovered in the 19th century, this vast communal paper-bin contained hundreds upon thousands of scraps of rag-paper and parchment. It's an unedited archive of prayers, letters, poems, magical spells, alchemical recipes, children's exercise books, divorce deeds and pre-nuptial agreements that paints a lively and intimate picture of daily medieval life in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean.In this first essay, Dr Esther-Miriam Wagner of the Genizah Research Unit tells the story of the discovery of the Genizah inside the ancient and crumbling synagogue of Al-Fustat, a suburb of modern day Cairo. Featuring a legendary curse, a pair of intrepid Scottish twins, an eccentric scholar and one very generous rabbi.Produced by Michele Banal and Miranda Hinkley. A Nightjar production.First broadcast in May 2013.

Five Essays about the 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms. Part 5 of 5.Recorded in front of an audience at St. Georges, Bristol, as part of BBC Radio 3's Brahms Experience - a week-long exploration of Brahms' life and music.Brahms lived in a time of tremendous change. The idea of the 'future' was never far from peoples' minds: new technology was emerging, the political map of Europe redrawn, and long-cherished ideas of art and culture overturned.But how did Brahms, a composer who mined the music of the past for inspiration, fit in with a world where progress was king?Pianist and writer Natasha Loges looks at Brahms' views on the future: recording technology, piano design - and his own place in the future of music.Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

Five Essays about the 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms. Part 4 of 5.Recorded in front of an audience at St. Georges, Bristol, as part of BBC Radio 3's Brahms Experience - a week-long exploration of Brahms' life and music.Brahms and and Freud co-existed in Vienna, as psychoanalysis was being born. But they belong to two vastly different epochs: what can we learn by setting them side by side?Often at a loss for words, frequently gruff and spiky, Brahms was a man with complex personal traits. Devastated by his parents' disintegrating marriage, he found relationships exceptionally difficult.A question Freud once asked of us all might help us understand the hidden personality of Johannes Brahms: what is the sublimation of sexual desire, and how much unfulfilled libido can we bear?Writer Lesley Chamberlain takes us back to the Vienna of the 1890s, where Brahms was composing his late masterpieces and Freud was carrying out his groundbreaking early work.Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

Five Essays about the 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms. Part 3 of 5.Recorded in front of an audience at St. Georges, Bristol, as part of BBC Radio 3's Brahms Experience - a week-long exploration of Brahms' life and music.Brahms lived in a time of great political change. In his late thirties he saw the birth of a unified German nation under the 'Iron Chancellor' Otto von Bismarck. The question of what this Germany was to be became one of the great issues of the day.Writer and pianist Natasha Loges explores the nationalist elements of Brahms' music. She examines his famous feud with the more openly patriotic Richard Wagner, and the ways in which Brahms' 'German' image was manipulated in the next century by the Nazis.Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

Five Essays about the 19th-century German composer Johannes Brahms. Part 2 of 5.Recorded in front of an audience at St. Georges, Bristol, as part of BBC Radio 3's Brahms Experience - a week-long exploration of Brahms' life and music.Interaction with nature is one of the cornerstones of 19th-century Romantic music. Writer Lesley Chamberlain offers a chance to join Brahms for a creative ramble and sets his work in the climate of German ideas about nature.In the German Romantic tradition Nature is Art's rival and the artist's consolation. Brahms' love of nature, which came to him in hours of shared and solitary walking, intensified the demands he made on himself as a composer.Producer: Melvin Rickarby.