Podcast appearances and mentions of edmund richardson

Listening to BBC History Extra it's possible to learn a great many things. On top of that they often invite some wonderful specialists, researchers and authors to talk about their work and every time I have listened in, I have been surprised and enlightened. On one such occasion they had invited Dr Edmund Richardson to talk about his book Alexandria: The Lost City. Straight after that I got the audiobook and gave it a listen. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the real history of the East India Company, the horrors of colonialism and some of the reasons of why today's world is the way it is.Enjoy!I welcome opinions of every kind so please come and find me on social media at:Instagram: TwoandaMicTwitter: TwoandaMic1PS. The transcript has been generated automatically and does not always reflect what has been said with 100% accuracy. I hope however that it will still provide some clarity on the content.The History Extra Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9yc3MuYWNhc3QuY29tL2hpc3RvcnlleHRyYQ/episode/NjM0MzRjN2YtYWU3MS00MWE4LWIyZDMtODNkNGM2YTM3ODIy?ep=14

Recording of Off the Shelf Radio Show from WDLR with co-hosts George Needham and Nicole Fowles. Our guest this week is Jill Rinker from Sourcepoint, who joins us to discuss the upcoming programs at the Orange Branch on how to navigate the Medicare system. These programs will be held on August 2nd and 23rd at 10:00am.  Read more about the programs here. Recommendations include The King's Shadow by Edmund Richardson and Magruder's Curiousity Cabinet by H.P. Wood.  Listen live every Friday morning at 9 AM https://wdlrradio.com/program-schedule/off-the-shelf/  This episode originally aired on July 22, 2022

Dr Edmund Richardson tells the story of the East India Company deserter who went in search of one of Alexander the Great's lost cities, in Afghanistan (R)

In this second episode of reliving the joys of what entertained us, Greg, a rubber duck and I express our worldly views on the importance of comedy and how the timeless classic that is Blackadder, starring so many wonderful actors, in many ways shaped our humour. Ben Elton, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Steven Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Miranda Richardson, and Patsy Byrne were all brilliant. That must surely have been one of the main reasons why it was so successful. They just worked so well together.The story lines were super and the historical characters they parodied, such as Sir Walter Raleigh, George IV, Samuel Johnson, and the fictitious Baby eating bishop of Bath and Wells played by the late Ronald Lacey.There is so much we could write about Blackadder, but I would recommend if you haven't seen it already, to do so. It was a special show that began in the 1980s and exhibited how truly great British comedy did such a good job of laughing at itself.Thanks, Greg, for your time. A link to the book by Edmund Richardson on Alexandria and the British East India Company: Alexandria by Edmund Richardson review – the quest for the lost city | History books | The Guardian

Vick Mickunas speaks with Edmund Richardson.

Edmund Richardson recounts the story of Charles Masson, a self-taught archaeologist, and his quest to find the lost city of Alexandria.

This week Patrick covers the best of Irish and International history publications for October 2021. Books covered on the show include: 'Philip Roth: A Counterlife' with Ira Nadel, 'Plague, Pestilence and Pandemic: Voices from History' with Peter Furtado, 'White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea' with Tyler Stovall, 'The Tale of the Axe' with David Miles and 'Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City' with Edmund Richardson.    

Steve Johnson and Edmund Richardson join host Brian Lohnes on this episode of the NHRA Insider Podcast. Johnson after a stunning triumph at the Countdown Opening event at Maple Grove Raceway and Richardson after a larger-than-life reentry into NHRA sportsman racing with victories in consecutive weeks at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the Dodge SRT US Nationals.    Steve Johnson is introspective and analytical about not only his win in Maple Grove but the arc of his career in NHRA drag racing. It is a career that thus far has not yielded a championship but this year he is sitting on the best equipment he has ever had and feels as though he is a legitimate contender. The results back this assertion up. Johnson talks about his mistakes, his growth, and how he has taken the points lead in pro stock motorcycle.    Edmund Richardson is one of the greatest sportsman drag racers ever. After some time away from the sport he has back. His confidence high and his attitude highly positive. The man is having fun and plans to race for championships on the divisional and national level. The man who has done it all has goals and we're all going to get to watch him try and make them happen.    Two great chats on this episode of the Insider!

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/archaeology

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The story of Alexander the Great has inspired conquerors and would-be conquerors throughout history. Alexander's sweep through the Middle East and Central Asia left behind evidence of his mark on history--namely, in the several cities that he founded, and that sprung up to govern the kingdoms he left behind. One man looking for evidence of Alexander was Charles Masson: a deserter from the East India Company who reinvented himself as an archaeologist and scholar in Afghanistan. Academic, traveller, writer and unwilling spy, Masson's story is told in Professor Edmund Richardson's book Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City (Bloomsbury, 2021) We're joined in this interview by David Chaffetz, who's a regular contributor to the Asian Review of Books, and the author of Three Asian Divas: Women, Art and Culture In Shiraz, Delhi and Yangzhou. In this interview, the three of us talk about Charles Masson and his experiences in Afghanistan. We talk about what drove this man to embark on his archaeological calling, and how his story meshes with the story of the East India Company and Afghanistan. And we end on what Massey's story and observations teach us about how to understand Afghanistan today. Edmund Richardson is Professor of Classics at Durham University. He has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels and Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity, and was named one of the BBC's New Generation Thinkers in 2016. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexandria: The Quest For the Lost City. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the red-headed Englishman deserted the East India Company in 1827 to conduct his own archaeological digs in Afghanistan, he never imagined the Company would find him again, or try to blackmail him into spying

When the red-headed Englishman deserted the East India Company in 1827 to conduct his own archaeological digs in Afghanistan, he never imagined the Company would find him again, or try to blackmail him into spying

Historicus Wim Berkelaar bespreekt de nieuwste historische boeken. Met ditmaal:De geboorte van het moderne ik. Geluk en identiteit in Nederlandse ego-documenten 1500-1850 van Peter Buijs. De Armeense gruwelen. Nederland en de vervolging van de Armeniërs in het Ottomaanse Rijk 1889-1923 van Dirk Roodzant. Alexandrië. De zoektocht naar een verdwenen stad van Edmund Richardson. Gare du Nord. Belgische en Nederlandse kunstenaars in Parijs van Eric Min. Eén van deze boeken wordt verkozen tot Boek van de Maand - en dat kunt u winnen! Houd tijdens de uitzending onze Facebookpagina in de gaten.

Founded by Alexander the Great, the city of Alexandria sat at an important junction of the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. And then it vanished. Alexandria, the new book by Dr Edmund Richardson, doesn't just dive into what happened to this lost city - it tells the extraordinary 19th century story of Charles Masson, an ordinary boy from London turned deserter, archaeologist, and highly respected scholar.

Founded by Alexander the Great, the city of Alexandria sat at an important junction of the southern foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. And then it vanished. Alexandria, the new book by Dr Edmund Richardson, doesn't just dive into what happened to this lost city - it tells the extraordinary 19th century story of Charles Masson, an ordinary boy from London turned deserter, archaeologist, and highly respected scholar.

Bruce Shapiro on the latest from the US, Rod Barton's discusses his spy career and Edmund Richardson on a mysterious archaeologist.

In the early nineteenth-century a hitherto unremarkable man called James Lewis who was serving as a private in the East India Company decided to reinvent himself. He deserted and ran away to the little-known but beautiful city of Kabul in Afghanistan. Once there he came to dedicate himself to a strange and quixotic quest. He sought to find one of the great lost cities of the ancient world: Alexandria Under the Mountains. In this evocative and beautifully-described episode of Travels Through Time, the academic historian Edmund Richardson takes us back to the year 1833. This was, he argued, the year when James Lewis transformed from an ordinary soldier into a man called Charles Masson – a figure who would change history. The characters and storylines that feature in this episode arise from Edmund Richardson’s sparkling new book, Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City which has recently been published in hardback by Bloomsbury. Edmund Richardson is Associate Professor of Classics at Durham University. In 2016, he was named one of the BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers. As ever, much, much more about this episode is to be found at our website tttpodcast.com. Show notes Scene One: Kabul, winter 1833. In the bazaars of Kabul - a warren of stalls and camels and shouting merchants from all over Asia - a bedraggled-looking man, dressed in shabby clothes, is listening to a storyteller. Scene Two: Bagram, summer 1833. Masson rides out of Kabul in search of Alexander's city. It was called Alexandria beneath the Mountains, and was founded two and a half thousand years earlier. Scene Three: Ludhiana, northern India, autumn 1833. In the sleepy, dusty town of Ludhiana, the British East India Company's spymaster is looking over reports from his informants in Kabul. He reads about a ragged stranger, who calls himself Charles Masson, and has spent the year hunting for Alexander's lost city. Memento: Charles Masson’s drinking cup, symbolic of a different way of encountering Afghanistan. People/Social Presenter: Violet Moller Guest: Edmund Richardson Production: Maria Nolan Podcast partner: Colorgraph Follow us on Twitter: @tttpodcast_ Or on Facebook See where 1833 fits on our Timeline

Singer Umm Kulthum, Mounira al-Mahdiyya, Badia Masabni. These are the names of the pioneering performers working in Cairo's dance halls and theatres in the 1020s whom Raphael Cormack has written about in his new book. From that period of cosmopolitan culture to the uprising in 2011 - how has Egypt shifted ? New Generation Thinker Dina Rezk lectures at the University of Reading and she's been reading the new novel by Alaa Al Aswany - The Republic of False Truths. Edmund Richardson researches Alexander the Great and he's written about a Victorian pilgrim, spy, doctor, archaeologist Charles Masson who found a lost city in Afghanistan. Anne McElvoy presents. Raphael Cormack's book is called Midnight in Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt's Roaring '20s Dina Rezk is a New Generation Thinker and Associate Professor of History at the University of Reading. Her recent research has focused on the upheavals of the 'Arab Spring' across the Middle East. Edmund Richardson is a New Generation Thinker and Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham. His book is called Alexandria: The Quest for the Lost City Producer: Ruth Watts Image: People celebrate at Tahrir Square, Cairo on 3rd July 2013 Credit: BBC (Abdel Khalik Salah)

Alexander the Great's Tomb was famous and then it disappeared. Classical historian Edmund Richardson has spent the last few years following in the Macedonian's wake and admits to a growing obsession with the mystery of the missing corpse and its final resting place. Join him as he goes in search of those who claim to have found the conqueror's last remains, peers into a legend-filled sarcophagus standing shyly by the Rosetta stone in the British Museum and follows an imaginatively talented English gentleman to Alexandria during the Napoleonic Wars where rumours abound that the French have uncovered a great secret. The quest, not the bones, that's the thing. Contributers: Professor Paul Cartledge; Dr Nora Goldschmidt; Dr Neal Spencer Readers: Sudha Bhuchar; Rupert Holliday Evans In the second half, Sarah Jackson, from Nottingham Trent University, investigates the human voice, its mechanical counterparts and the way the remote voice has affected the way we express ourselves. Framed by a 1960s GPO information film about the newly automated exchange featuring 'Mr Phone' and his friends, this documentary explores the relationship between the voice and the machine.

New Generation Thinker Edmund Richardson with the story of Alexander the Great's lost city, buried beneath Bagram airbase, a CIA detention site and wrecked Soviet tanks. For centuries, it was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1832, it was discovered by the unlikeliest person imaginable: a ragged British con-man called Charles Masson, on the run from a death sentence. Today, Alexander's lost civilization is lost again. And Masson? For his next trick, he accidentally started the most disastrous war of the nineteenth century. Edmund Richardson's Essay tells the story of the liar and the lost city, of how the unlikeliest people can change history. Recorded in front of an audience as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio. Producer: Jacqueline Smith

New Generation Thinker Edmund Richardson with the story of Alexander the Great's lost city, buried beneath Bagram airbase, a CIA detention site and wrecked Soviet tanks. For centuries, it was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1832, it was discovered by the unlikeliest person imaginable: a ragged British con-man called Charles Masson, on the run from a death sentence. Today, Alexander's lost civilization is lost again. And Masson? For his next trick, he accidentally started the most disastrous war of the nineteenth century.Edmund Richardson's Essay tells the story of the liar and the lost city, of how the unlikeliest people can change history.Recorded in front of an audience as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio.Producer: Jacqueline Smith.

Neil Gaiman on his enduring attraction to the world of giants, gods and rainbow bridges of Norse myths and why he's produced his own version; plus research into the ugly side of Valentines from classical times to the 19th century with Annebella Pollen and Edmund Richardson, and, as the RSC prepares to bring Snow in Midsummer to the stage, the first of a planned series of Chinese classics, Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig explains her play's 13th century origins and along with Craig Clunas, author of Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, talks to Rana Mitter about bringing Chinese culture to new global audiences. Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig play Snow in Midsummer based on a Chinese classic is on at The Royal Shakespeare Company's Swan Theatre Feb 23rd-March 25th 2017 Craig Clunas' new book is Chinese Painting and Its Audiences Neil Gaiman's new book is called Norse Mythology. Annebella Pollen is Principal Lecturer in the History of Art and Design at the University of Brighton and has published her research on Valentines in Early Popular Visual Culture, 2014. Edmund Richardson Director of the Durham Centre for Classical Reception, University of DurhamProducer: Jacqueline Smith

Artes Mundi was established in 2003 as a biennial contemporary visual arts initiative - the poet, author and playwright Owen Sheers and Catherine Fletcher, historian and New Generation Thinker, report back on the exhibition opening in Cardiff this week with work by the chosen artists including Britain's John Akomfrah, Nástio Mosquito and Bedwyr Williams.Amitav Ghosh argues that fiction writers need to be bolder in tackling the big themes of today's world and why thinking about Climate Change is proving a challenge.Harriet Walter has played Brutus and the King in Phyllida Lloyd's all-female Shakespeare productions of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Henry IV; now she takes on Prospero in The Tempest. She talks to Anne McElvoy about giving herself permission to take on roles still normally given to men and the never-ending wonder of Shakespearian verse as the entire trilogy opens in London.Plus - ahead of the American Presidential election, New Generation Thinker and historian, Ed Richardson pops up with the mesmerising story of how Hillary Clinton is very far from being the first ever female Presidential candidate.Artes Mundi 7 runs at the National MuseumWales: Cardiff 21.10.16 – 26.02.17The Shakespeare Trilogy: The Tempest, Henry IV and Julius Caesar are at the Donmar's King's Cross Theatre in London Sept 23rd - 17th December 2016Harriet Walter's book: 'Brutus and Other Heroines: Playing Shakespeare's Roles for Women'Amitav Ghosh 'The Great Derangement: Climate Change and Thinking the Unthinkable'.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Artist Dorothy Cross, author Joanna Kavenna, the cosmologist Jo Dunkley and our second 2016 New Generation Thinker historian Edmund Richardson from Durham University join Matthew Sweet for a programme recorded in Oxford exploring mysticism and its role in a timeless search for reality.Joanna Kavenna's novel A Field Guide to Reality is published at the end of June.Dorothy Cross is displaying art as part of Mystics and Rationalists - it runs from June 11th to August 7th as part of the Kaleidoscope series celebrating 50 years of Modern Art Oxford.Edmund Richardson has published Classical Victorians: Scholars, Scoundrels & Generals in Pursuit of Antiquity.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. Find out more from our website and hear them introducing their research in the programme which broadcast on May 31st - available as an arts and ideas podcast.Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Find out who have been named as the 10 New Generation Thinkers for 2016 as they join Rana Mitter to share interesting facts from their research with the audience at this week's Hay Festival. Topics include the history of the hairdresser to the search for Alexander the Great's missing tomb; why Sigmund Freud detested the telephone to the complex relationship between the USSR and its historic churches.New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio programmes. You can hear more from the New Generation Thinkers who will be appearing on Free Thinking throughout June and find out more from our website. The New Generation Thinkers 2016:Leah Broad, University of Oxford Leah Broad's research is on Nordic modernism, exploring the music written for the theatre at the turn of the 20th century, taking her to Finland and Scandinavia to search out scores which have not been heard since the early 1900s. As a journalist Leah won the Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism in 2015. She is the founder of The Oxford Culture ReviewKatherine Cooper, University of Newcastle Katherine Cooper is working on a project exploring the ways in which British writers including H.G.Wells, Graham Greene and Margaret Storm Jameson helped in the escape of fellow writers facing prosecution and imprisonment under fascist governments in the period between WW1 and WW2..Victoria Donovan, University of St Andrews Victoria Donovan's is a historian of Russia whose research explores the complex and contradictory relationship between the Soviets and their religious heritage. Her new project is looking at the significance of patriotism in contemporary Putin's Russia. She has worked on topics including Soviet and contemporary Russian cinema, socialist architecture and the connections between South Wales and the Eastern Ukraine.Louisa Uchum Egbunike, Manchester Metropolitan University Louisa Uchum Egbunike's research centres on African literature in which she specialises in Igbo (Nigerian) fiction and culture. Her latest work explores the child's voice in contemporary fiction on Biafra. She co-convenes an annual Igbo conference at SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) and is curating a ‘Remembering Biafra' exhibition to open in 2018.Seb Falk, University of Cambridge Seb Falk is a medieval historian and historian of science whose research centres on the scientific instruments made and used by monks, scholars and nobles in the later Middle Ages. His research has led him to made wood and brass models of the instruments he studies. His new project will be an investigation of the sciences practised by medieval monks and nuns.Sarah Jackson, Nottingham Trent University Sarah Jackson's current research explores the relationship between the telephone and literature from the work of Arthur Conan Doyle to that of Haruki Murakami. The project involves research at the BT Archives which hold the public records of the world's oldest communications company. She is also a poet whose collection Pelt won the prestigious Seamus Heaney Prize in 2012. Christopher Kissane, London School of Economics Christopher Kissane is a historian working on the role of food in history exploring what we can learn about societies and cultures through studying their diets. His book, which will be published later this year, examines food's relationship with major issues of early modern society including the Spanish Inquisition and witchcraft. Anindya Raychaudhuri, University of St Andrews Anindya Raychaudhuri is working on the way nostalgia is used by diasporic communities to create imaginary and real homes. He has written about the Spanish Civil War and the India/Pakistan partition and the cultural legacies of these wars. He co-hosts a podcast show, State of the Theory, and explores the issues raised by his research in stand up comedy.Edmund Richardson, University of Durham Edmund Richardson is working on a book about the lost cities of Alexander the Great and the history of their discovery by adventurers and tricksters rather than scholars. His first book was on Victorian Britain and the ‘lowlife' lived by magicians, con-men and deserters. His latest project is on Victorian ghost-hunters and their obsession with the ancient world which led Houdini to fight against the con-artists making a fortune from fake ‘spirits'.Sean Williams, University of Sheffield Sean Williams is currently writing a cultural history of the hairdresser from the 18th century to the present day exploring their role as ‘outsiders' in society. As a lecturer at the University of Berne in Switzerland he taught German and Comparative Literature and wrote articles on flatulence in the 18th century and contemporary satires of Hitler.Producer: Fiona McLean