Intelligence Squared: Arts & Culture

Speaking and writing correct English are the hallmarks of an intelligent person. No one who cares about language wants to be caught splitting an infinitive or muddling up ‘infer’ and ‘imply’. Which is why the bestseller lists are regularly topped by books on 'good' English by the likes of Daily Mail polemicist Simon Heffer and Today programme presenter John Humphrys - both of whom defend the motio...

This week we bring you an episode from one of our sister podcasts, How I Found My Voice, where Samira Ahmed speaks with one of the biggest names in British entertainment - the television and radio presenter Graham Norton. From growing up as a young gay man in County Cork, Ireland, to living with hippies in Los Angeles and becoming a household name in the UK, Graham has had a fascinating life and c...

Marina Abramović is one of the most celebrated performance artists in the world. Over a career spanning four decades she has pioneered performance as an art form and accumulated a devoted following. Using her body as both subject and object, Abramović explores notions of nothingness and time, and draws in the audience as part of her performance. At her 2010 exhibition, ‘The Artist is Present’, at...

Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie joins journalist Razia Iqbal to take us back in time and discuss three influential touchstones of his life: a silver ingot engraved with an unpartitioned map of India, Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine man’, and James Joyce’s ‘The Dead’, a slightly intimidating but powerful inspiration. This episode was originally released in 2021 as part of Intelligence Squared’s touch...

Poetry is the perfect medication against some of life’s challenges, so William Sieghart has found. In this accessible and warming exchange, from tea towel poems to T.S. Eliot, Sieghart brings to life a few of the experiences that inspired his book ‘The poetry pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul’. Here he has collected poems that can each serve a different need: fear...

This week we bring you an episode from one of our sister podcasts, How I Found My Voice, where host Samira Ahmed speaks to poet and activist Benjamin Zephaniah. From racist attacks and police brutality to receiving a letter from Bob Marley telling him that Britain needs him, Zephaniah talks about the moments that shaped and inspired his voice. How I Found My Voice is an Intelligence Squared podcas...

This week's episode is made in partnership with international heritage charity World Monuments Fund Britain. Together we explore the fascinating world of on-screen historic homes with insightful conversations with industry experts who have brought these magnificent buildings to life on the big and small screens. We were joined by Nell Hudson, actress in popular TV dramas like 'Victoria' and 'Outla...

Intelligence Squared: Arts & Culture brings you Letters That Changed The World, a celebration of the written word, giving us an insight into some of history’s greatest minds. Based on award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore’s book Written in History: Letters that Changed the World. Joining him on stage were No 1 bestselling novelist Kate Mosse. Together they discussed letters by Michelangel...

Armando Iannucci and James Rhodes met on the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss the transcendent power of music, using the concert grand at Cadogan Hall to help tell their remarkable stories. The chair is broadcaster, author and leading voice on all things musical, Clemency Burton-Hill.  James Rhodes is known as the wild man of concert pianists. His approach to the piano is raw and unbridled –...

This week we explore the ways Western culture has depicted powerful women down the ages. To what extent have they been packaged into a male template? And how much have they been able to control their own image? Featuring classicist Mary Beard and Sotheby’s specialist Holly Braine, and chaired by cultural critic Shahidha Bari, the conversation will range from sculptures of ancient goddesses such as...

Statues and memorials to famous figures of the past adorn our towns and cities but what should be done when some of these figures have come to be seen by many people as controversial symbols of oppression and discrimination? In Britain, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign hit the headlines when it demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College, of which he was a leading b...

To celebrate some of the most influential and impactful speeches ever made, we invited Barack Obama’s director of speechwriting, Cody Keenan and Tony Blair’s former speechwriter, Philip Collins, to discuss the power of the spoken word. Our host was journalist and presenter Emily Maitlis, with actors including Jeremy Irons and Carey Mulligan joining us to reenact speeches that have defined pivotal...

Created in partnership with Sotheby's, in a debate that spans the centuries, Peabody Award-winning spoken word performer George the Poet and Booker Prize-winning author Howard Jacobson go head-to-head over which form of cultural expression best resonates now and forever. Does hip-hop and slam poetry speak more to society than historical texts that require background knowledge to be fully understoo...

Welcome to the new Arts & Culture podcast from Intelligence Squared. Join us every week as we delve into the artistic and cultural moments, movements and conversations that have shaped, and are still shaping, our world.  Over the years we’ve staged hundreds of Arts and Culture debates, live events, discussions and interviews, working with some of the world's greatest minds, including Kate Winslet,...