Christmas Close Up

Nativity Characters - Beyond the Christian Story

What Jesus and Mary represent to Muslims beyond the story of the Incarnation.

• 15 mins

Christmas Close Up

Black Magus

Theologian Robert Beckford reflects on the magi as a symbol of cultural inclusion.

• 15 mins

Christmas Close Up

Holy Innocents

The resonance of the Feast of the Holy Innocents for Christians in the Middle East.

• 15 mins

Breaking Free

Sarah Walker

Sarah Walker on learning and playing Schoenberg's Suite for Piano, Op 25, for her MA.

• 15 mins

Breaking Free

Stephen Johnson

Stephen Johnson discusses Schoenberg's String Quartet No 2.

• 15 mins

Breaking Free

Gillian Moore

Gillian Moore talks about Alban Berg's relationships with the women in his life.

• 15 mins

Breaking Free

Tom McKinney

Tom McKinney on his 'first contact' with the music of Webern: Five Pieces for Orchestra.

• 15 mins

Breaking Free

Bethany Bell

Journalist Bethany Bell on living in Modling, a town near Vienna where Schoenberg lived.

• 15 mins

Cornerstones

Quartz

Linda Cracknell reflects on the appeal of the quartz on Ben Lawers, her local Munro.

• 15 mins

Cornerstones

Millstone

Poet Helen Mort reflects on the Peak District's Stanage Edge, famed for its millstone grit

• 15 mins

Cornerstones

Coal Mines

Writer Paul Evans traces a family line back through Shropshire's seams of coal.

• 15 mins

Cornerstones

Fire Rocks

Novelist Sarah Moss discusses basalt and dolerite, the fire rocks that underpin castles.

• 15 mins

Cornerstones

Chalk

Alyson Hallett on being drawn to chalk landscapes and the large horse at Westbury in Wilts

• 15 mins

Heffer on Film - Kitchen Sink Cinema

Room at the Top

Simon Heffer re-examines the 1959 British New Wave film Room at the Top.

• 15 mins

Heffer on Film - Kitchen Sink Cinema

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

How Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was made into a film.

• 15 mins

Heffer on Film - Kitchen Sink Cinema

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

Simon Heffer explores the 1962 film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.

• 15 mins

Heffer on Film - Kitchen Sink Cinema

This Sporting Life

Simon Heffer examines the powerful 1963 film version of This Sporting Life.

• 15 mins

Heffer on Film - Kitchen Sink Cinema

Billy Liar

Simon Heffer explores Billy Liar, the 1963 British New Wave film starring Tom Courtenay.

• 15 mins

Gun Culture

Taking Aim - Renaissance-Style

The origins of gunpowder-fired weapons on the battlefields and in Renaissance Italy.

• 15 mins

Gun Culture

Gotham's Gun Baron

Brian DeLay discusses Marcellus Hartley, the first important American arms dealer.

• 15 mins

Gun Culture

Pistols at Dawn

Historian John Gallagher examines the history and etiquette of duelling with pistols.

• 15 mins

Gun Culture

Sniper

Nicholas Rankin explores the emergence of the deadly 'force reducer' that is the sniper.

• 15 mins

Gun Culture

The Howth Mauser

Heather Jones explores the symbolism of the Howth Mauser and other guns.

• 15 mins

Black and White

Words on the Page

Glyn Maxwell on whether we have become too black and white, and too binary.

• 15 mins

Black and White

Yin and Yang

Xiaolu Guo remembers lessons learned from her father growing up in China.

• 15 mins

Black and White

Messrs Smith and Carlos and Norman

Lindsay Johns explains the inspiration he draws from a black and white photo at his desk.

• 15 mins

Black and White

Skin

Poet and writer Salena Godden explains her relationship with her skin.

• 15 mins

Strange Beds

Colin Thubron

Colin Thubron recalls booking into a room that once belonged to a merciless Chinese leader

• 15 mins

Strange Beds

Rachel Cooke

Journalist Rachel Cooke on spending a night in accommodation in the wilds of Scotland.

• 15 mins

Strange Beds

Philip Hoare

Philip Hoare on spending a night in a hospital observation ward after falling off his bike

• 15 mins