Exploring different aspects of history, science, philosophy and the arts.
Leading artists, writers, thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives & links between past & present and new academic research.
An antidote to today’s frenzied world. Step back, let go, immerse yourself: it’s time to go slow.A lo-fi celebration of pure sound.
Series of programmes exploring film music
Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.
Michael Berkeley's guests share their musical passions and reveal which pieces bring them joy and sustain them through hard times.
Rethink music with The Listening Service. Tom Service presents a journey of imagination and insight, exploring how music works
Every Friday we bring you a new drama from BBC Radio 4 or Radio 3. Exercise your imagination with some of the best writers and actors on radio. Storytelling at its very best.
BBC Radio 3's Composer Of The Week is a guide to composers and their music. The podcast is compiled from the week's programmes and published on Friday, it is only available in the UK.
Radio 3's cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance
Innovative and thought-provoking features that make adventurous use of sound and explore a wide variety of subjects. Made by leading radio producers.
An edited version of the regular Building a Library slot where guest experts review available recordings of a work from the classical music repertoire and give a recommendation.
The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters
Discover the world with music. Join local experts for a sonic journey around the globe.
Jess Gillam hosts the music show for people who like classical and other stuff too. Music, eclectic playlists and chat, with a new guest every week.
An exploration of early music, looking at early developments in musical performance and composition in Britain and abroad. UK only: please note that not all episodes are podcast.
In this set of free downloads, BBC Radio 3 presenters introduce a key composer and work featured in BBC Prom concerts.
Intelligent and challenging quiz games on BBC Radio 4. Featuring Round Britain Quiz, Counterpoint and Brain of Britain with Quiz Masters including Paul Gambaccini.
Key pieces of music from the Georgian period explored by Suzy Klein and Christian Curnyn. From BBC Radio 3
Download the best satirical comedy from Radio 4, every Friday. Features The News Quiz, The Now Show and Dead Ringers.
Composer and comedian Vikki Stone unbuttons the BBC Proms and asks the questions everyone else is afraid to ask.
Dramas for English language learners from BBC World Service. Improve your English with retellings of stories classic and new. Each episode is between 6 and 10 minutes long.
Discover classical music loved by celebrated guests from all walks of life. To hear the music in full go to BBC Playlister.
Dr Adam Rutherford and guests illuminate the mysteries and challenge the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
Your one-stop shop for all things Shakespeare. Catch A-List casts in brand new versions of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, plus documentaries from the brightest minds.
The podcast for classical newbies. If you fancy giving classical music a go, start here.
BBC Radio 3 Opera guides
World music from the Commonwealth countries for BBC Radio 3’s World on 3, Fridays. Musicians, sportspeople and cultural figures introduce music recorded on location.
Creative collaborations in new music. A series where the world’s leading composers and performers explain how they cooperate in the creation of new work.
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents a collection of quirky tales from the corners of history, exploring a different theme in each weekly episode.
Artists, musicians and composers introduce fifty key pieces of classical music composed between 1950 and 2000. As featured in the BBC Radio 3 programme, Hear & Now.
Sara Mohr-Pietsch interviews today’s composers exploring the relationshipbetween their immediate environment and the music they write. From BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now, published on Sunday mornings.
The final shortlist of winning carols in the Breakfast Christmas Carol Competition. Composed by listeners, a setting of a poem by Susan Hill specially written for Radio 3
Seriously is home to the world’s best audio documentaries and podcast recommendations, and host Vanessa Kisuule brings you two fascinating new episodes every week.
Radio 3's regular jaunt into the latest, brightest and best gaming soundtracks.
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and major breaking news from a global perspective
Maurice Ravel revealed through guides to his work and life. First broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Ravel Day, 7 March 2014.
Highlights from BBC Radio 3’s In Tune - featuring interviews with guests from the world of music and the arts. In Tune is presented by Sean Rafferty and Katie Derham.
BBC Radio 3's Piano A to Z
Classical music critic Norman Lebrecht talks to major figures in the field
Katie Derham explores the relationship between music and dance in a variety of genres.
Britten 100. Highlights from Radio 3’s Britten centenary weekend in Aldeburgh with special features, interviews and on location reports recorded in Suffolk.
Programme offering advice and guidance to those interested in building a library of jazz recordings or adding to an existing one
A personal view of classical music from a range of presenters. Authored, themed mini-series and one-off programmes offer a chance to share the musical interests of the presenters.
Latest news from the King Power Stadium including highlights from Monday night’s phone-in, in-depth interviews with Foxes’ stars and post-match reaction. From BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio 5 live’s award winning gaming podcast, discussing the world of video games and games culture.
The home of the best science programmes from BBC Radio 4 introduced by Dr. Alex Lathbridge.
As part of BBC Sound of Cinema, a special series of interviews with major names from the industry, providing a fascinating insight into how music works in film.
In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4
Nandini Das, Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at Oxford, brings us stories and personal experiences of rain and the way it informs and combines with different cultures across the globe. Each of the five essays takes a particular sense and location as focus, beginning with Nandini's native India and the sound of rainfall. She recalls…
Ian Stringer, Matt Piper & Joe Brewin bring you a full preview to Burnley (A).By BBC Radio Leicester
Catherine Pepinster, Kate Kennedy, Tim Stanley and New Generation Thinker Dafydd Mills Daniel join Rana Mitter to look at the poet, theologian and now Saint John Henry. The programme marks 175 years since Newman's conversion from the high church tradition of Anglicanism and the Oxford Movement to the Catholic faith on 23 Feb 1846, with a conversati…
The three top players play for the title of Counterpoint Champion with Paul GambacciniBy BBC Radio 4
Elin Manahan Thomas selects her favourite recordings of the music of Josquin des PrezBy BBC Radio 3
New Generation Thinker Dr Islam Issa has a strong cultural attachment to the Balcony. In his native Egypt, the place where architectural historians believe the balcony was first developed, the balcony is a pivotal part of family homes, a place that blurs the line between private and public living. He recalls it being a place that linked communities…
A radiophonic sound journey of Parisian brutalism by composer Iain Chambers, composed entirely from recordings of the buildings featured.Paris is well known for its historic architecture: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomph, and the endless rows of apartment buildings built by Hausmann in the 19th century. But beyond the historic centre lie a seri…
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Leicester City Football Forum


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Leicester City 1-3 Arsenal - Premier League reaction
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1:01:13
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Post match analysis plus reaction from City manager Brendan RodgersBy BBC Radio Leicester
With the upcoming release of a full length big screen outing for Tom and Jerry, Matthew Sweet meets composer Christopher Lennertz to talk about his music for this and other films.By BBC Radio 3
Kate Molleson talks to the pianist Anne Queffelec about one of her life’s passions, Satie, the clarity she observes in French music, and how writing is helping her during lockdown.The musicologist Jillian C. Rogers, author of a new book ‘Resonant Recoveries: French Music and Trauma Between the World Wars’, describes how sound played a role in heali…
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The World Tonight


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Alex Salmond says “no doubt” Nicola Sturgeon broke ministerial code
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In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4
In our world of dissolving distinctions, five contemporary writers imagine life as an animal of their choice and investigate the boundaries between animal and human - each with the help from different animal experts. In this edition, writer Ned Beauman explores the world of the Devon beaver.In other essays in the series, Isabel Galleymore clings to…
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The Verb


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Language, Fashion and Textiles - Experiments in Living
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This week, Ian and his guests examine writing about fashion and explore the language woven into fabric, with Kassia St Clair, Linda Grant, Amy Key and Lettie Precious.Kassia St Clair is the author of 'The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History', a book that illustrates just how important textile technology has been to our human story, and shows …
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Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4


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The Now Show - 26th February - ft Jess Fostekew, Beardyman and Ken Cheng...
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Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches in front of a remote audience - and all from their own home!In the first show of the new series, they are joined by Jessica Fostekew who relays her time volunteering in a vaccination centre. Ken Cheng talks about his experiences as a Chinese Briton plus music from Beardym…
Owynn Palmer-Atkin & Ian Stringer preview Arsenal at home for the Foxes.By BBC Radio Leicester
Felix Mendelssohn was one of the most gifted and versatile musicians the world has ever seen. As a child prodigy he was likened to Mozart and he grew to become one of the most famous and beloved composers in Europe, during the middle of the 19th century. His life was cut tragically short, at the age of 38, while he was at the very height of his pow…
Caroline Bird was only fifteen when she had her first collection of poems published; she’s been writing since she was eight, hiding in the corner behind her bunk beds at home. This was in Leeds, where Caroline was brought up, the daughter of playwright Michael Birch and theatre director Jude Kelly. She’s now published six collections of poetry, alo…
Darkly comic, heart-warming drama starring Christopher Eccleston. By Christine Entwisle.By BBC Radio 4
Anna is off to meet Mr Ingle, the warehouse manager, to discuss stock management.By BBC Radio
Psychologist Kimberley Wilson and Dr Xand van Tulleken take a journey around the human body, to find out what it can tell us about our innate capacity for change. In this episode, Kimberley and Xand focus on the heart, which has been branded the seat of emotion by generations of poets and songwriters.They find out whether it’s medically possible to…
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The World Tonight


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President Biden speaks to King Salman of Saudi Arabia
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In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4
In our world of dissolving distinctions, five contemporary writers imagine life as an animal of their choice and investigate the boundaries between animal and human - each with the help from different animal experts. In this edition, writer Toby Litt is inspired by the world of the brown hare.In other essays in the series, Isabel Galleymore clings …
Shahidha Bari is joined by Lisa Downing, Stuart Elden, and Stephen Shapiro to read volume 4 of Foucault's History of Sexuality, translated into English for the first time, which examines beliefs and practices among the early Christians in Medieval Europe. Although he had specified in his will that his works shouldn't be published after he died (in …
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Leicester City Football Forum


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Leicester City 0-2 Slavia Prague - Foxes Europa League adventure is over
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29:12
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Post match analysis plus reaction from City boss Brendan Rodgers after the Foxes exitBy BBC Radio Leicester
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BBC Inside Science


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Good COP Bad COP, Shotgun Lead Persistence, and Featherdown Adaptation
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On Thursday, The UN Environmental Programme published a report called Making Peace With Nature. It attempts to synthesise vast amounts of scientific knowledge and communicate “how climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution can be tackled jointly within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals”. But it also offers clear and digestible…
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4
In our world of dissolving distinctions, five contemporary writers imagine life as an animal of their choice and investigate the boundaries between animal and human - each with the help from different animal experts. In this edition, playwright Sarah Kosar flies in the night sky with the soprano pipistrelle bat.In other editions in the series, Isab…
Joanna Bourke is an historian whose previous work has looked at fear, pain, sexual violence and dismemberment. Her new book is a history and examination of bestiality and zoophilia, tracing our changing understandings from Leviticus, to modern psychiatry, the animal rights movement, and beyond.Anna Tsing's book The Mushroom at the End of the World …
Tom Service selects his favourite recordings of Bruckner's Sixth SymphonyBy BBC Radio 3
In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4
In our world of dissolving distinctions, five contemporary writers imagine life as an animal of their choice and investigate the boundaries between animal and human - each with the help from different animal experts. In this edition, writer and sound artist Belinda Zhawi imagines life as a southern African plains Zebra. In other editions of the ser…
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Seriously...


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The Battersea Poltergeist – Ep1: 63 Wycliffe Road
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63 Wycliffe Road is an ordinary house on a quiet South London street, but in 1956, it becomes famous as the site of an alleged poltergeist. The strange events focus around teenager Shirley Hitchings – but is it a haunting or hoax? Ghost hunter Harold Chibbett arrives to investigate.This series blends drama and documentary to explore an intriguing p…
In our world of dissolving distinctions, five contemporary writers imagine life as an animal of their choice and investigate the boundaries between animal and human - each with the help from different animal experts, In this edition, poet Isabel Galleymore clings to the side of a rock pool as a limpet. In subsequent editions of the series Belinda Z…
Ian Stringer & Matt Piper preview Slavia Prague at home.By BBC Radio Leicester
The last semi-final in this year's tournament of the music quiz with Paul GambacciniBy BBC Radio 4
Errollyn Wallen unravels the story of how classical music fused with local musical traditions across the British Commonwealth, speaking to acclaimed conductor Zubin Mehta, soprano Patricia Rozario, composer and kora player Tunde Jegede and others.Errollyn explores the remarkable musical hybrids that emerged in Nigeria, India and the Caribbean, as w…
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Leicester City Football Forum


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Aston Villa 1-2 Leicester City - Premier League reaction
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55:35
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Post match analysis plus reaction from City boss Brendan Rodgers.By BBC Radio Leicester
Studies began life as an aid in the struggle to master the piano within the human limitations of two hands and ten fingers. But from being the bane of many a pianist's life and a means of selling more pianos, these arid technical exercises flowered into some of the greatest music written for piano from Chopin, though Debussy to György Ligeti. And i…
As we enter the third decade of the 21st century, Matthew Sweet features a selection of music for film from across the years that has presented its own vision of the 20s, such as Children of Men and Terminator.By BBC Radio 3
Tom Service is joined by the artist Edmund de Waal and composer Martin Suckling as they discuss the relationships between the crafts of porcelain and contemporary composition. We hear how Edmund’s book, The White Road, and his work as a master potter, inspired Martin to pen his flute concerto. The American composer, John Corigliano, speaks to Tom a…
Guilty pleasure. Airport novel. Holiday reading.The language used to describe crime fiction often suggests that there's something throwaway in the ability to craft a gripping story that keeps the reader guessing. There's a suggestion that creating"a page-turner" is something of a lesser skill when it comes to writing. Creeping up on that idea from …
Owynn Palmer-Atkin and Ian Stringer preview the Foxes' visit to Aston VillaBy BBC Radio Leicester
A satirical review of the week's news with Andy Zaltzman and guests Andrew Maxwell, Ayesha Hazarika, Scott Bennett and Kiri Pritchard-McLeanIt's the last in the current series and there are pressing issues on the agenda from climate change to the story of an incorrectly measured man.Written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Frase…
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Arts & Ideas


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Adoption, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Renée Vivien & Violette Leduc
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Overcoming long term illness, controlling her money and eloping to revolutionary Italy: Fiona Sampson's new biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning focuses on her as someone interested in inventing herself - not as an ailing romantic heroine. Peggy Reynolds began her academic career studying Browning's long poem Aurora Leigh. She's been reading abo…
Donald Macleod finds connections between Mozart’s operas and the composer’s own lifeBorn in 1756, the theatre was a life-long passion for Mozart. Starting at the tender age of just 11, in the space of 22 years he produced an astonishing 24 theatrical works. His destiny was to follow in his father’s footsteps, as a court musician. Instead, by 1781, …
Anna's been chosen to head up the company's stock management. But she needs help!By BBC Radio