The Essay Episodes Available now
Magnolia—The Meaning of Flowers
4/5 Fiona Stafford discusses magnolias, which are among the oldest plants in the world.
Rose—The Meaning of Flowers
3/5 Professor Fiona Stafford discusses our millennia-long understanding of roses.
Lily—The Meaning of Flowers
2/5 Professor Fiona Stafford explores our contradictory relationship with the lily.
Sunflower—The Meaning of Flowers
1/5 Fiona Stafford explores the meanings and importance to us of the sunflower.
Donald Sturrock on the events that made the man and writer—Roald Dahl at 100
5/5 Dahl's biographer Donald Sturrock recalls meeting the storyteller in his writing hut.
Michael Rosen on the exuberance of Dahl's poetry—Roald Dahl at 100
4/5 Michael Rosen celebrates the dazzling language and clever observation of Dahl's poetry.
Laura Dockrill on Dahl's heroine Matilda—Roald Dahl at 100
3/5 Performance poet Laura Dockrill remembers growing up with Dahl's heroine Matilda.
Jeremy Dyson on the delicious lure of Dahl's adult fiction—Roald Dahl at 100
2/5 Jeremy Dyson remembers his 10-year-old self's discovery of Dahl's short stories for adults
Frank Cottrell Boyce on flying and myth-making—Roald Dahl at 100
1/5 Frank Cottrell Boyce on the myth Dahl built around his plane crash during World War II.
Daljit Nagra - On your 'A 1940 Memory'—The Somme
5/5 Daljit Nagra with his poem On your 'A 1940 Memory', in response to the Battle of the Somme
