The Dying of the Light

Available for 33 days

Catrin Nye is back with another episode of The Idea – food for the mind and inspiration for the soul. This week’s theme is The Dying of the Light, exploring death, and grief and how we face them. Catrin’s guests bring three different perspectives to this huge subject. Nobel Prize winner Dr. Venki Ramakrishnan is a molecular scientist who can tell us a lot about why we die, and what determines how long we – and other animal species – tend to live. He lays down some factual foundations for the other contributions to the programme. Delyth Badder is an expert in Welsh folklore, and in particular in customs that developed over hundreds of years around dying and death. She also gives Catrin some fascinating detail on the rich variety of stories about death omens – where people would see phenomena which foretold their own death or that of loved ones. How we try to face our own demise is one thing, but coping with the loss of a loved one is another. Writer Clare Mackintosh lost a baby, who was five weeks old, and years later has written a book sharing what she has learned about dealing with profound loss and grief. It’s called I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This and it aims to help others through the most agonising mental pain imaginable. The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection and interviews with the speakers talking in depth about their big idea. The Idea is a Bengo Media production for BBC Radio Wales Links relevant to the programme: hayfestival.com https://www.folklorewales.com claremackintosh.com