Main content

Words and Music Episodes

  1. Marilyn Monroe centenary: What is beauty?

    Ralf Little and Susannah Fielding with readings on the subject of beauty.

  2. Wildflowers and weeds

    From the beloved bluebell to the deadly nightshade: prose poetry and music about nature.

  3. Attenborough at 100: a World of Animals

    Readings by Hugh Bonneville, Anne-Marie Duff and excerpts from David Attenborough's memoir

  4. Just Williams

    From Shakespeare to Richmal Crompton and Billy Collins; Bach, Walton to Grace Williams.

  5. Once Upon a Time...

    Actors Pearce Quigley and Lydia Wilson with readings about princesses, spells and frogs.

  6. Going through the Gate

    From gardens and kissing to heaven and hell, Troy to Watergate: in music, prose and poetry

  7. An English countryside calendar

    Martin Clunes and Louiza Patikas with words and music evoking Constable's landscapes.

  8. Looking

    Music and Ben Miles and Ellie Piercy with readings about mirrors, looks and contemplation.

  9. Music and the Mechanical Mind

    A journey of discovery, weaving music with poetry and prose read by leading actors.

  10. Wishes

    Actors Shobna Gulati and Colin Tierney with readings and music on the theme of wishes.

  11. Venice and its Carnival

    Julian Ovenden and Jo Herbert with readings and music evoking carnival time in Venice.

  12. Giants

    Saskia Reeves and John Leader with readings about trolls, monsters and the vast universe.

  13. The Victorian World

    Janie Dee and Roger Allam read from a selection of Victorian prose and poetry set to music

  14. Agatha Christie and music

    50 years ago the 'Queen of Crime' fiction died. When young, she planned a career in music.

  15. American Ideas of Independence

    Ideas of freedom expressed by Willa Cather, Solomon Northup, Walt Whitman, Louise Erdrich.

  16. Twelve Days of Christmas

    We celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas with music, readings, gold rings and pear trees.

  17. Jane Austen's world

    Featuring music listened to and played by Jane Austen, from adaptations and in her novels.

  18. Joy and Sorrow

    Olivia Chaney, Xhosa Cole, Patrick Baladi and Charlotte Martin in front of an audience.

  19. Small Towns

    Jemma Redgrave and Sushil Chudasama read from EF Benson, Kiran Desai, Paul Murray

  20. Little Furry Creatures: Mice, Rats and Squirrels

    From Douglas Adams to Beatrix Potter, ballet to the back yard: mice, rats and squirrels.

  21. Travel: on land, over water, in the air

    Songs for sailors, the Kronos quartet Cycling Through Muddy Streets, Johnny Cash's travels

  22. Sleep and Dreams

    Readings and music about our night-time thoughts and slumbers marking the clock change.

  23. Fire

    Specially curated music and readings inspired by fire, flames and infernos.

  24. Nobel Prizes

    Highlighting the work of Nobel Prize for Literature Laureates.

  25. Rising high

    From church spires and skyscrapers to soaring sopranos-today's episode hits the high notes

  26. Genius, Polymaths and Prodigies

    The exceptional talents of Mozart, Einstein, Da Vinci, Gertrude Stein and Ada Lovelace.

  27. The Coastal Path

    A trip following the Charles III coast path around England in poems, prose and music.

  28. Creating Music

    Musicians' diaries, passages from novels and poems showcase the making of music

  29. Miniatures

    Exploring the small from dolls houses to netsuke figures, piano miniatures to haiku.

  30. Virginia Woolf

    Celebrating Virginia Woolf as we mark the centenary of the publication 'Mrs Dalloway'.

  1. Previous
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. …
  8. 23