The Essay

Andrew Hurley on the haunting qualities of Chingle Hall, a 17th-century manor house near Preston. 3/5 Andrew describes the disturbing histories of the inhabitants of the hall and the many paranormal experiences of visitors. As repositories of memories and secrets, are buildings themselves sentient things and places of shifting realities? Producer Clare Walker.

Novelist Melissa Harrison on the joy of 'sleeping with books' at Gladstone's Library in North Wales, the only residential library in the UK. 2/5 Melissa explains why the building allows her to sink into a state of uninterrupted concentration, allowing a thread of thought to persist not only over hours but days. Producer Clare Walker.

Pianist Stephen Hough on Wigmore Hall in London and how its "shoebox" design catches the ear. 1/5 Stephen describes the hall in which he has performed and listened to numerous concerts and how its design ensures "every sound is beautifully focused." This week's Essays are celebrating British architecture. Each writer has a passionate connection with the building, revealing how our long past and co...

Ian Sansom drops a quick line to Dante

Ian Sansom writes to Frankenstein author, Mary Shelley, to ask her how on earth she coped

Ian Sansom is in the gutter looking at the stars as he writes to Oscar Wilde

Ian Sansom writes to Irish novelist and playwright, William Trevor

Ian Sansom writes to poet Marianne Moore and asks her about that tricorn hat

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Writer, composer and silent movie accompanist Neil Brand weighs up propaganda versus artistic invention in the re-enactment of the Revolution at the heart of Eisenstein's classic film October. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russia...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Political commentator and historian Tariq Ali recalls a tour of Constructivist Moscow in the 1980s that introduced him to the work of revolutionary architect Moisei Ginzburg. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture Producer...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Ceramicist Claire Curneen tells the strange story of the Imperial Porcelain Factory in Petrograd that was renamed the State Porcelain Factory in 1917. She examines two dinner plates, now held at the National Museum of Wales, that were...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Poet and biographer Elaine Feinstein compares the impact of the Revolution on the contrasting lives of the two great poets, Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture Producer Alison Hindel...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Musicologist Tamsin Alexander considers the music of Alexander Mosolov, which was inspired by the industrial sounds of the newly forged Soviet Union, and who was the only composer to be sent to the Gulag. Part of Breaking Free: A Centu...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Academic and art historian Christina Lodder describes the work and influence of visionary sculptor Vladimir Tatlin, whose major revolutionary design would never be realised. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture Producer...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Director and writer Richard Eyre appraises the impact of the Russian Revolution on the life and career of theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Initially, an enthusiast for the Bolshevik cause, he later fell foul of the system. Part of...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Former ballerina Deborah Bull looks at the impact of Nijinsky's revolutionary ballet, The Rite of Spring, which in dance terms, pre-empted the events of October 1917 by several years. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. 100 years to the day since American journalist John Reed witnessed first-hand the momentous events in revolutionary Petrograd, writer and historian Helen Rappaport reappraises his classic account, Ten Days That Shook the World. Part of...

Ten contemporary cultural specialists look back at the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on artists of the time - in film, theatre, poetry, dance and beyond. Journalist and writer Martin Sixsmith opens the series with a consideration of the choices, good and bad, open to artists during and after the Revolution. Part of Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture Producer Alison Hindell BBC...

Claire woke up one morning to discover that overnight she had lost her memory as a result of a viral infection. Dr Catherine Loveday, a neuropsycholgist at the University of Westminster, has worked with Claire for many years and shares what life is like when you can only live in the present. Programme image courtesy of Sarah Grice, Wellcome Collection.

Professor David Shanks is an expert in memory and learning at UCL and investigates how the brain makes memories. This has implications for exams and for how people can learn a language, in this essay David looks at how we can influence our memories and tells us about the more unusual ways to remember. Programme image courtesy of Sarah Grice, Wellcome Collection.

Eyewitness accounts are crucial in court cases but how reliable are people's memories? Forensic psychologist Professor Fiona Gabbert researches the reliability, suggestibility and fallibility of memory to discover how errors are made. And while most people think their memories are their own, social influences can cause "memory conformity" when people discuss their shared experiences together. Fion...

We all remember where we were as a child when a particular world event took place; depending on your age it could be the killing of J.F. Kennedy, the bombing of the twin towers in New York or the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Chris French is Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths and is interested in the nature of early childhood memories. Some memories when we interrogate them are clearly not...

Neuroscientist Adam Zeman on how amnesia leads to a loss of self and how the lives of two men, Peter and Marcus, have been affected by their lack of a past. As Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the University of Exeter, Adam works with people with epilepsy who experience loss of memory. His work leads him to examine how memories are formed and ask whether autobiographical details...

How do you deal with a house worth of "stuff" when the family home needs to be cleared after the death of your mother? And when you're living in a small flat that has little room for heirlooms? While in the depths of grief, and faced with difficult decisions about what to do with everything, Joanna Robertson ponders the true meaning of things once their beloved owner has gone. Apart from their obv...

Many people feel they're drowning in stuff, and try to declutter. Joanna Robertson is one of them. And in the fourth part of her series on "stuff", she finds that trying to get rid of books and personal letters is a whole other story. What to do with books brought home from faraway places, and with once-treasured love letters? Producer: Arlene Gregorius.