BBC Radio 4 - Arts & Ideas

Proms Extra: The Politics of Shaving with Shahidah Bari,

Facial Fuzz: A short back-and-sided history with Kathryn Hughes and Alun Withey

Novelist Philip Hensher and Professor Philip Horne explore Henry James in Italy.

Hear Charlotte Brontë's biographer Claire Harman & Yorkshire-born novelist Joanne Harris

Clare Walker Gore on what a C19th MP without hands and feet tells us about stereotypes.

Dr Alun Withey researches an 18th C healthcare scheme at Bamburg Castle in Northumberland

The winning entries in this year's Proms Poetry Competition

Shahidha Bari and Houda Echouafni on this powerful islamic folk-cycle - Arabian Nights

The playwright David Hare discusses his new memoir, 'The Blue Touch Paper'.

Michael Cox explores the history of the London School of Economics with Stephanie Flanders

Hermione Lee on the American writer Willa Cather's 1915 novel 'The Song of the Lark'.