The Essay

The Dogon. Jeanne Haffner on how aerial photography changed the spaces we live in. You won't find this photograph in a glossy coffee table book. It's not art and the person who took it doesn't feature in the Photographers Hall of Fame. But this picture has had an enormous impact on the organisation of our living spaces. The birds-eye photograph of the Dogon tribe working their fields in Mali was t...

You won't find this photograph in a glossy coffee table book. It's not art and the person who took it doesn't feature in the Photographers Hall of Fame. But this picture has had an enormous impact on our world. Today high-resolution photographs of nebulae or galaxies saturate our culture to such an extent that they are almost kitsch. But when Henry Draper took the very first pictures of a nebula i...

You won't find this photograph in a glossy coffee table book. It's not art and the person who took it doesn't feature in the Photographers Hall of Fame. But this picture has had an enormous impact on the world of medicine and our relationship with our bodies. The photograph of Anna Bertha Ludwig Rontgen's left hand taken in 1896 astounded the scientific world and alarmed the public. For the scient...

Writers, painters and other practitioners re-visit an early piece of work. And tell us what they think about it now: 5. Roger Michell, director of such films as Notting Hill and Hyde Park on Hudson, describes working for the BBC in the 1980's. He was fresh out of theatre, and making his first drama was a huge challenge - aesthetically and technically..

Writers, painters and other practitioners re-visit an early piece of work. And tell us what they think about it now: 4. After deciphering some vivid dreams, singer-songwriter Stephen Coates formed a band called The Real Tuesday Weld. He also descended the depths to an underground river in London and this, too, helped with the band's formation.. Producer Duncan Minshull.

Writers, painters and other practitioners re-visit an early piece of work. And tell us what they think about it now.. 3. Actress Janet Suzman was cast as an unknown to play Alexandra in a film about the Romanovs. It was called 'Nicholas and Alexandra', and it meant hello Hollywood! But if she watches herself as Russian royalty these days, what's her response? Producer Duncan Minshull.

Writers, painters and other practitioners re-visit an early piece of work. And tell us what they think about it now: 2. Writer and painter Harland Miller ran a studio in New York in the early '90s, and was once mesmerised by a strange sign in a cafe. He made some notes about it - then realised his visual sense and love of word-play began to feed off each other... Producer Duncan Minshull.

Writers, painters and other practitioners re-visit an early piece of work. And tell us what they think about it now: 1. Novelist Deborah Moggach wrote her first book in Pakistan, 38 years ago, and her heroine was a rebellious student called Laura. Now, who could that be based upon? Producer Duncan Minshull.

The grim, concrete forts and pillboxes of the east coast of England may seem a far cry from the romantic ruins of Britain's medieval castles. But as writer Ken Worpole argues, they have earned their place in the East Anglian landscape, and should be both preserved, and treasured as reminders of our past, just as much as ivy-clad castles and castle ruins from the high middle ages. As somebody who w...

Very often the visitor to a medieval castle in Britain is confronted with a mass of information and interpretation about the military activities of the men who inhabited these spaces, but very little about the women. Archaeologist Prof. Roberta Gilchcrist is keen to correct this imbalance, and argues that traditional interpretations of castles ignore the gendered spaces - the gardens, the apartmen...

The walls of Kenilworth Castle, situated at the heart of England, might have seemed practically impregnable to the men defending them. And yet, as Dr Benjamin Wild argues in tonight's essay, the mightiest of fortresses was of little more account than a mere folly when men pursued force and fanfare at the expense of political relationships. In 1266 a somewhat humiliated Henry III laid siege to this...

It is generally conceded that, following his triumphant conquest of Wales, Edward I ordered to be constructed some of the finest castles in Britain. But who exactly designed them? And who managed this massive construction project? In general, little is known about the lives and careers of medieval master masons - the equivalent of today's architects. However, as architectural historian Dr Nicola C...

In the Fall and Rise of the British Castle, five writers reflect on the continuing power of the castles, which still dominate not only large sections of the British landscape, but also large areas of our imagination. In this first of the series, historian Professor Jeremy Black gives an overall view of the castle as an instrument of power and control, built to withstand siege warfare - a lesson wh...

Actor and playwright Lolita Chakrabarti explains how "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens affected her at a pivotal moment in her life. She first came across the novel at the age of 15, as a set text at school. Dickens's account of the French Revolution mirrored the tumult of the politics of the mid-1980s, while his narrative seized her imagination. "He paints pictures with words succinctly a...

Journalist and writer Jon Ronson explains the electrifying effect of reading Jonathan Coe's "What a Carve Up!" He first came across the satirical novel as a care-free nightclubber in his 20s. "It politicized me in a way," Ronson says, making him "understand that big politics affect those of us down here just trying to shuffle our way through life". He was horrified and fascinated by the Winshaws,...

Jude Kelly, the artistic director of Southbank Centre, describes how "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott mirrored her own experiences growing up in a lively Liverpool home. Like the March family, Kelly grew up surrounded by sisters, and with a father who was often absent. She was inspired by the way Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy grew throughout the novel. "Each daughter is tested against her own frailties...

The legendary singer-songwriter Steve Earle describes how Truman Capote's true-life murder story, "In Cold Blood", captured his imagination as a 12-year-old boy. He first encountered the tale - a dramatic account of a multiple killing in Kansas - in the film version, shown at a local drive-in movie house. "I had to find a copy of that book and read it for myself," he says, stealing the volume from...

Writer Polly Coles reads So Near to Venice, the last of her essays about some of the ways in which Venetians and others have adapted to live in 21st-century Venice. Moving to Venice with her family for several years gave her a resident's view of a city she loves and despairs of in equal measure. Once the most cosmopolitan city in Europe, nowadays it seems little more than a stage-set for the touri...

Writer Polly Coles reads The Writing on the Wall, the third of her essays about some of the ways in which Venetians and others have adapted to live in 21st-century Venice - one of the most beautiful cities in the world. In tonight?s essay, Polly argues that the recent Biennale fashion of rigging up neon strips of random text around the city Venice is nothing new in city that has always been writte...

Writer Polly Coles reads Tinseltown, the second of her essays about some of the ways in which Venetians and others have adapted to live in 21st-century Venice - one of the most acclaimed cities in the world. Moving to Venice with her family for several years gave her a resident's view of a city she loves and despairs of in equal measure. Once the most cosmopolitan city in Europe, nowadays it seems...

Writer Polly Coles reads At Home, the first of her essays about some of the ways in which Venetians and others have adapted to live in 21st-century Venice - one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Moving to Venice with her family for several years gave her a resident's view of a city she loves and despairs of in equal measure. Once the most cosmopolitan city in Europe, nowadays it seems lit...

Tom Shakespeare challenges stereotypical ideas about creativity and disability, by celebrating a selection of disabled artists, discussing how their impairments fuelled their genius and demonstrating the variety and achievement of disabled lives. Lucy Jones may well be the best British painter you've never heard of. There is no doubt about her disability, because she was born with cerebral palsy....

Tom Shakespeare challenges stereotypical ideas about creativity and disability, by celebrating a selection of disabled artists, discussing how their impairments fuelled their genius and demonstrating the variety and achievement of disabled lives. What comes to mind when you think of disability? Perhaps the child born with a genetic condition, or the person in the prime of life who becomes spinal-c...

Tom Shakespeare challenges stereotypical ideas about creativity and disability, by celebrating five disabled artists, discussing how their impairments fuelled their genius and demonstrating the variety and achievement of disabled lives. The visionary Brazilian sculptor Arthur Bispo do Rosario spent fifty years of his life on a Rio de Janeiro psychiatric ward, and did not even think of himself as a...

Tom Shakespeare challenges stereotypical ideas about creativity and disability, by celebrating five disabled artists, discussing how their impairments fuelled their genius and demonstrating the variety and achievement of disabled lives. Bryan Pearce, a painter from St Ives in Cornwall, was one of the very few people with learning disability who has achieved fame in their own right. He was born wit...