Ancient Lives with Mary Beard ..... Being Greek

Now, this is one I will listening to.

It's Ancient Lives with  Mary Beard, Being Greek.*

I am a great fan of Mary Beard, have her books, listened to her on the Romans on the wireless and always follow her TV programmes.

"From Marvel movies to presidential elections their powerful influence endures on our stories, philosophies and politics, but what it was it like to be an Ancient Greek? Scattered clues need to be gathered until they form a living, breathing human, witness to the cultural powerhouse that was Ancient Greece.

In Being Greek, Mary Beard, Britain’s best-selling historian of the ancient world, rebuilds the lives of six people, from a priestess to a murderer. 

Her investigations reveal the limits of female independence and take us deep into the marriage of an Athenian power couple. 

Themes of faith, politics and justice reveal the foundations of Greek society, but it’s the thoughts, feelings and lifestyles of individual Greeks she’s really interested in. Gods and legendary heroes are easy to come by, but Mary looks behind the temples and beyond the classic myths, filling in her stories with the relatable detail of Greek life, uncovering what they ate, how they decorated their homes and raised their children.

Mary visits the sites that help cast fresh light on past lives- the grave of a powerful woman in prehistoric Mycenae, an exquisite temple clutching the slopes of the Acropolis and the dusty plains of Marathon. Experts in Greece and the UK help Mary interpret the clues, along with film director Martin Scorsese who’s fascinated by the story of a gangster of the ancient world who pulled powerful strings to escape imperial justice.

In the first episode we meet Euphiletos, on trial for the murder of his wife's lover. Can he convince the jury that this is a crime of passion, not a calculated act of mob violence?

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Researcher: Anna Charalambou

Expert Contributors: Rosanna Omitowoju, Cambridge University and Rebecca Sweetman, Director of the British School at Athens

Actors: Robert Wilfort as Euphiletos and Laura Dos Santos as the old woman

Translations by Mary Beard

Special thanks to Elizavet Sioumpara and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture".

Leaving me just to fall back on one of my favourite historian of children's books, Looking at Ancient History by R J Unstead

Location; BBC Radio 4

Picture; cover of Looking at Ancient History, R J Unstead, 1959

*Ancient Lives with Mary Beard Being Greek, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002xzjn

** R J Unstead, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/R.J.Unstead

Choose your friends ....The Delian League ....power politics in 5th century Greece on the wireless

Now this is one I am going to listen to.

Hoplite 5th century, 2018

It's the latest offer from In Our Time on BBC Radio 4.

"Misha Glenny and guests discuss the origins and evolution of an alliance which transformed the geopolitics of the classical world: the Delian League. 

Since the start of the 5th Century BCE, city states across Greece had been fighting a series of armed conflicts in the Greco-Persian Wars. 

After the defeat of a second Persian invasion in 478 BCE, a league of cities across Greece came together and formed a new alliance led by Athens. That alliance is now known as the Delian League, after the island of Delos where it was established. 

In the following decades, Athens used the Delian League to grow its own wealth and formidable naval power. But cities who tried to leave the alliance found themselves violently put down and their lands confiscated by the Athenians. 

What had begun as a cooperative alliance sworn to resist the Persian Empire gradually started to seem like it may have created another imperial power: the Athenian Empire.

With Leah Lazar, Lecturer in Hellenistic Culture at the University of Manchester, Polly Low, Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham, and, Paul Cartledge, AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Martha Owen"*

Location; In Our Time, BBC Radio 4

Pictures; Hoplite 5th century, 2018, Jona Lendering, his file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication and the Thermopylae pass at the area of the Phocian Wall, Author Fkerasar, Licensing, I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses

*The Delian League, In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002xp5l

Travels with Radio 4 …..

I can think of no better reflection on David Hockney’s painting “A Bigger Splash” than Paddy O’Connel’s take on the picture and the life of the artist than his short sound broadcast of a diver leaping into a pond which was today’s entry into “Slow Radio”. "Possibly a first on radio and possibly the last".

Brixham days, 2022

Slow Radio is just one of the features I like on his programme Broadcasting House which goes out on a Sunday just after 9 am.

It’s never dull, covers a heap of topics from the topical, to the personal, the gentle and the downright daft, hence “Slow Radio” which is a short piece which can be the noise of a snail eating a lettuce to heavy raindrops before a downpour to the humming of old-fashioned telegraph wire.

And in between, before and after Mr. O‘Connel offers up a mix of reports, conversations and music. 

So, today’s edition included the “Royal Marine Commandos fast rope onto a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the English Channel. Scotland win their first World Cup match in 36 years. Radio 4 favourites Mark Steel, Sian Williams, Deborah Meadon and Giles Brandreth describe their secret holiday spots. 

Lemn Sissay returns to his childhood stomping ground Makerfield, who's by election is this week. 

On the news review Neil McIntosh, Cathy Newman and Alexander Dragonetti. Reverend Brian Anderson reflects on a traumatic week in Belfast. The Femmes De La Mer sing a sea shanty to mark the Falmouth sea shanty festival”.*

All of which was followed by the ever-interesting Desert Island Disc with the actor Anna Maxwell Martin who left me with the throw away lines “Get a grip, get on the ship” and “not being a Debbie Downer” which I know will join my collection of much used indeed over used sentence stoppers. And that memorable comment from Michelle Obama’s mum to her kids which was “Come home. We like you”. Simple, full of love and chimes in with me and any parent thinking of their own up children.

And still to come there is a documentary, that much loved comedy series “I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue", a bit of news, Drama on Four, when it will still only be 3pm.

So, to quote that line from a 1970s, advert “it’s got the lot”  and makes me reflect that Radio 4 remains one of our gifts to the civilized world.

Location; Radio 4

Pictures; A Bigger Splash it ain’t, Brixham 2022, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Broadcasting House, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xns2

Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist .... on the wireless now

It's not the zippiest of titles but it does the biz, because this is the story of one farmer in the Vale of Yorkshire who has uncovered some remarkable archaeological finds in his farm*.

Roman coin, Claudius, 43-54 AD

It comes from BBC Radio 4's On Your Farm which goes out every day at 6.30 am.  under the collective title of Farming Today and "gets to the heart of country life with a look at individual farming endeavours".

Its got the lot, covering heaps of different stories all related to farming,  So I have listened to "The Art of Asparagus", "A Cumbrian Farm", "Meet Syrian bee expert", "Marino Wool for Surfers", "Carbon Counting", and today's "Digging in the past".

 "Arable and archaeology are the two passions in Nick Wilson's life. 

He farms in the Vale of York but the discovery of a Roman burial site in one of his fields turbo-charged his interest in the past. 

That was nearly 10 years ago, since then he has studied for a PhD in archaeology and excavated acres of farmland. 

Reverse of the Claudian coin

As well as the Roman tomb, he's unearthed Bronze-age cooking pots, quern stones for grinding corn, jewellery and a hob-nail boot from Roman times"*.

Produced and presented by Rebecca Rooney".

Location; The Vale of York

Pictures; a Roman coin from the era of the Emperor Claudius, [I think], 1975,from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*Digging in the past: the arable farmer who's an archaeologist,On Your Farm, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xdbd

**On Your Farm, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s571

The Evolution of Trees ... one to listen to .... on the wireless ... today

I like trees and who wouldn't?

They look good, offer shade, have heaps of different things to eat and can be found in parks, along roads and in gardens as well as huge parts of our countryside.

So I am looking forward to The Evolution of Trees on BBC Radio 4.

It is part of the In Our Time series and today "Misha Glenny and guests discuss the earliest evidence we have of the existence of trees and how even plants we might have on windowsills or as vegetables in gardens can and do, in the right conditions, evolve into trees. 

Since their emergence around 400 million years ago after low lying plants started to develop stronger stems and grow taller and more upright, trees have transformed our planet, so creating ecosystems, altering the atmosphere and setting the stage for the world as we know it today.

With; Jenny McElwain, 1711 Chair of Botany at Trinity College Dublin and Director of Trinity Botanic Gardens, Christopher Berry, Senior Lecturer in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Cardiff University, and Bill Baker, Senior Researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Produced by Conor Garrett"*

Location; BBC Radio 4

Pictures; trees wot i have liked, on the Meadows, 2020, Hough End, 2023, and Beech Road, 2026, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*The Evolution of Trees, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002x5jl  

'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' .... a fascinating story on the wireless today

Despite not being interested in football, here is a series of broadcasts I have been drawn to.

It is available on Saturdays and there after from BBC Radio 4.*

"'Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel' explores the meaning of England and Englishness through the history of the England Men’s Football team. 

This is a social and cultural history as much as a sporting one, examining the story England tells about itself and how it's changed, via the medium of the international game.

Football is singularly the most important cultural institution in the country for defining Englishness” says Historian David Goldblatt, as the series begins looking at the most famous moment in English football – the world cup win in 1966. Comedian, writer and football fan, David Baddiel, sees how the victory adorned swinging London, and yet the characters in the team spoke to a very different kind of England. 

David also travels back to the very origins of the game in England (discovering that Henry VIII had a pair of football boots), checks in with Elis James for a view from Wales, and muses on the meaning of national anthems.

The series delves deep into how national myths are both forged and reflected in the fate of eleven young men with three lions on their shirts. 

It takes in the view from England’s sporting rivals, from Wales to Argentina, and asks what light the success of England’s Woman casts on the story of England’s Men.

Across the series, David Baddiel will be joined by contributors including Stephen Fry, Alex James, Maisie Adam, Elis James, Barney Ronay, Roy Williams, Des Lynam, Stuart Pearce, Jean Williams, David Goldblatt, Pippa Grange, Jonathan Wilson, David Seaman, Omid Djalili and many more.

Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel is produced by BBC Studios Audio for BBC Radio 4, in collaboration with Left Bank Pictures who are producing the upcoming drama Dear England for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

The producers are Rich Power and David Baddiel."

Location; BBC Radio 4

Pictures; football figurines, circa 1990s courtesy of Ben, Josh and Saul, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Sixty Years of Hurt with David Baddiel, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wlk2

The Garamantes ... that ancient Sahara civilization .... on the wireless today

To my shame I had never come across The Garamantes.

Ruins of the ancient city of Garma02, 2010

All of which will be put right when I listen to The Garamantes which is the latest of broadcasts from on In Our Time on BBC Radio 4 today and beyond.

"Misha Glenny and guests discuss an ancient civilisation who lived over 2000 years ago in the southwest of modern-day Libya. During prehistoric times, the Sahara Desert was greener and even had large lakes, but for the last 5000 years it has been a hyperarid environment. 

Extreme swings of temperature and limited surface water might make the Sahara seem like an inhospitable place to live, but an ancient people in North Africa known to us as the Garamantes thrived there. 

Following descriptions of the Garamantes in Roman and Greek texts, the Garamantes have often been seen as pastoral nomads, or as tribal barbarians on the periphery of the Mediterranean world. But the work of archaeologists in recent decades has revealed something different. 

Evidence suggests a society with flourishing towns and cities, complex underground irrigation systems, a key role in trade routes across the Sahara – and may give us a broader view of ancient history.

With David Mattingly, Emeritus Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Leicester, Farès Moussa, Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton and Cultural Heritage Consultant, and Josephine Quinn, Professor of Ancient History and Fellow of St John’s College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Martha Owen"

Location; In Our Time, BBC Radio 4

Picture; Ruins of the ancient city of Garma02, November 2010, Franzfoto, I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following licenses: GNU head Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.

1945 and 1914: Germany in a Nutshell .... one to listen today

Now this is one I am listening to.

It is the story of the residents of Weimar during the rise and rule of Hitler in 10 episodes based on the book "Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe" by Katja Hoyer.*

Weimar – On the Edge of Catastrophe is written by Katja Hoyer and "is informed by the meticulous diary of Carl Weirach a bookseller who moved to Weimar in 1914.

It follows the lives of the residents of the town of Weimar – a town renowned for its cultural heritage as the birthplace of Goethe and a town beloved by Schiller, Bach, Liszt and Nietzsche.

Weimar is Germany in a nutshell, the former German president Roman Herzog once said ‘a town in which not only culture and thought were at home but also philistinism and barbarism.’

The episode begins in 1945 as Allied forces march the residents of Weimar to Buchenwald concentration camp to force them to face the atrocities that have happened just 8kms from their town. The Weimarers protest they knew nothing of what took place there.

And our story begins in 1914, when Carl Weirich moves to Weimar to set up a new life, taking over a booksellers in the centre of town.

Rosa Schmidt a woman of Jewish heritage is in Alexandria giving birth to her third child. She must battle across Europe as WW1 begins to return to her husband’s home town of Weimar.

Germany’s revolution following the first World War leads to the abdication of the Kaiser and the Grand Duke, and ushers in the first democratic ballot in history on the 19th of January 1919.

It also follows the fortunes of the Schmidt family, whose matriarch Rosa Schmidt was of Jewish origin. They return to her husband’s home town of Weimar in 1914 and look for an opportunity to set up a new hotelier business.

Weimar explores ‘the question of how and why a nation that prided itself on its culture and civility enabled the catastrophe of Nazism haunts us to this day because we fear a repeat.’ The book is about the tension between individual and collective responsibility and sounds a warning for our own times.

Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian, journalist and the author of the international bestseller Beyond the Wall as well as Blood and Iron. A visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she writes for Bloomberg and Berliner Zeitung and is a commentator on German current affairs for many British newspapers. She was born in Germany and is now based in the UK.

The reader is Sian Thomas.

The abridger is Julian Wilkinson.

The producer is Lu Kemp"

*Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe by Katja Hoyer, BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002w5pm