Sleepless In Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, The Addams Family, Hairspray, Mary Poppins Returns, Marc Shaiman's music has been a part of our lives for over three decades. One time king of the Romcom score, master arranger and songwriter, Marc talks to Matthew Sweet about his career and introduces cues from some of his many scores. As well as those l…

Award-winning poet Joelle Taylor returns to the cinema in Rawtenstall where her mother worked, and where she grew up - celebrating the horror films that turned her into a writer, with brand new poetry that evokes the projection box, the usherettes, memories of being a child in front of the big screen, and the ghosts that haunted the building. Prese…

On this week's edition of The Verb, Ian McMillan gathers together - Wendy Cope - the poet whose 1986 debut collection "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" became that rare thing - a poetry best seller. As her first collected poems are published she reflects on poetry forms and why some of her old poems are making their first public appearance in her ne…

By BBC Radio 3

Does the reach of the USA and its cultural influence mean "we're all American now?" Anne McElvoy and her guests discuss the similarities and differences across the Anglosphere and think about the changing dynamics on the international stage. They are:Freddy Gray, Deputy Editor of the Spectator Magazine and host of the Americano podcast.Dr Katie McG…

Donald Macleod explores the life and music of African American composer Margaret Bonds This week, Donald Macleod is joined by musicologist and pianist Dr Samantha Ege to delve into the life and music of African American pioneer composer, Margaret Bonds (1913-1972). Bonds was one of the most important composers and pianists of her time. She wrote se…

Matthew Sweet saddles up to explore the most iconic soundtracks of the Wild West. Traverse the sweeping landscape with music from Western blockbusters, including The Magnificent Seven and A Fistful of Dollars. Featuring the award-winning score from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in celebration of its 55-year anniversary. To listen on most smar…

This week on The Verb Ian McMillan is joined by Paul Farley, author of the bird-centred 2019 poetry collection 'The Mizzy'. Especially for The Verb he's written us a brand new poem that considers birds on our workplace, inspired by new 'Nature Postive' building regulations. Malika Booker is tackling this week's 'Neon Line' poem. Booker won the Forw…

The American writer Garth Greenwell won widespread acclaim for his first novel, What Belongs to You, including the British Book Award for the Debut of the Year in 2016. This success would have surprised his high-school teachers in Kentucky. As a teenager, he failed English and decided to follow a very different path: he turned to singing and eventu…

The philosopher Leo Strauss claimed that many of the great texts of Western philosophy can be read in two ways. There's the message intended for everybody, but also a deeper level, accessible only to those who can see it. Taking this as a starting point, Matthew Sweet grapples with the closed world of social media tribes, the challenges posed by co…

Ian McMillan talks to Margaret Atwood and Alice Oswald about how we write poetry, and their own process, the natural world, time, and the possibilities of myth.By BBC Radio 4

Sarah Ogilvie is a lexicographer and a proud and self-confessed word nerd: languages are her passion and are at the heart of her writing and scholarship. She worked as an editor at the Oxford English Dictionary and went on to write a book about the thousands of volunteers around the world who submitted words for its first edition. She has researche…

Can we still be idealistic about childhood? How do we square the impact of war, stories of sexual abuse, the impact of time spent on screens with the idea of children's experiences being about play, learning to be social, listening and creating stories ? Anne McElvoy's guests include:Katherine Rundell, author of the Waterstones book of 2023 Impossi…

Kate Molleson delves into the life and music of the “Yankee Maverick”, Charles Ives. Charles Ives is considered a leading American composer of the early 20th century. Known for many musical innovations, his was a unique voice, a pioneer who combined elements of Western and American music traditions. He’s also been called a Yankee Maverick and much …

Donald Macleod and Leah Broad survey the life and work of British composer Dorothy Howell This week Donald Macleod is joined by the award-winning author Leah Broad to explore the story of the British composer Dorothy Howell, who shot to fame aged 21 after the triumphant premiere of her orchestral work ‘Lamia’ at the Proms. By the mid-1920s she was …

BBC Contains Strong Language 2024 took place in Sydney Australia in partnership with Red Room Poetry and ABC Australia . This special edition of The Verb was recorded in State Library of New South Wales n front of a audience as part of the festival. With guests Eileen Chong the first Asian Australian poet to be on the school syllabus, who came to A…

The costume designer Jenny Beavan has won three Academy Awards for three very different films: the elegant Merchant Ivory drama Room with a View; the post-apocalyptic Mad Max: Fury Road; and most recently the Disney film Cruella, for which she created a huge, vibrant parade of 1970s-inspired fashion. She’s received a further nine Oscar nominations …

"I never read novels" is something you hear people say. What is the point of reading - be it histories or fiction? Does it help us empathize with the situation of other people or shed insights into our historical moment? With the news story that university students these days are, apparently, unaccustomed to reading entire books, cover to cover, fa…

Lucian Msamati has played leading roles on our most famous stages: Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the National Theatre, Iago in Othello at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Estragon opposite Ben Whishaw in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. He started out performing – in his words – ‘for farmers sitting on beer crate…

Sibling rifts, leadership battles in politics and history, philosophical schools of thoughts and their key players all come into our discussion of the way rivalry shapes the world. Roger Luckhurst reflects on the legacy of the American literary critic and philosopher Fredric Jameson who died earlier this week. Plus a report from the Warburg Institu…

Donald Macleod showcases the life and music of Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) arguably did more to transform opera than any composer of his generation: thinking deeply about how text and music should work together, and trying to strip away fripperies to ensure it was urgent, powerful and arresting. His radical appro…

Jay Rayner has his dream job: he loves writing and he loves food, and for the past 25 years he’s been the restaurant critic for the Observer. Jay is also familiar as a broadcaster, appearing as a judge on Masterchef, and hosting The Kitchen Cabinet on Radio 4. His recent book, Nights Out At Home, provides recipes to enable readers to create some of…

Climate, trust, politics, communication. Some would say we live in a period of crisis several areas of society and life. How can we make sense of the present moment, and where do we go from here? Plus, we hear about the short list for this year's Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize and ask what that tells us about scientific publishing. Matthe…

We often think of composers as solitary geniuses, scribbling away at their masterpieces, working alone. But this isn’t always the case. Gustav Holst, most famous for composing The Planets, struggled all his life with neuritis, a condition that made his arms feel like “jelly overcharged with electricity.” It was frequently impossible for him to play…

"Les petites girls Anglaises" was the nickname given by a French journalist to the elaborately costumed and rhythmic Tiller Girls troupe. Adjoa Osei is a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and a former performer herself, and she's been exploring the complexities involved in being a dancing girl in 1930s Paris, appearing on stage alongsi…

1574, and a baby girl on board a ship fleeing from France, arrives in London. Esther Inglis went on to become a successful Tudor bookmaker and artist and Eleanor Chan argues that the inclusion of psalm music in the self portraits created by Inglis is a coded way of symbolising belonging at a time of religious strife. The essay draws on research don…

"Millons be Free" is a Jacobin song which originally celebrated the idea of the French Revolution, whose tune became the American national anthem. Oskar Jensen sings us the melody and tells us a story involving Alexander Hamilton, the advocate of women's rights Mary Wollstonecraft, Haydn and Hummel at a drinking society, a Liverpool lawyer William …

How musician Robert Hales and a witty song helped Robert Cecil, Elizabeth I's counsellor, win back the Queen's favour. Documents show us that Cecil supported many musicians, paid for a full-time consort, and had to temporarily dismiss one player for "lewdness". New Generation Thinker Christina Faraday tells the story and explores what we know about…

Teresa del Riego's work was a staple of early Prom seasons but the anthem she premiered for the suffrage movement in 1911, at the Criterion restaurant Piccadilly Circus, which had 1,000 copies of the song distributed around the country, has not been heard recently. Naomi Paxton shares her research into the compositions of del Riego (1876-1968) and …

Ann Cleeves is one of Britain’s most successful and prolific crime writers, reaching millions of readers around the world. She’s reached millions of television viewers too, with series including Vera and Shetland, adapted from her books. She has written on average a book a year for almost four decades, but success was anything but instant. She was …

With the success of the far right Alternative for Deutschland party in the German elections, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris making their pitches to American voters to be their leader and the Conservatives in this country voting for their: we look at Carl Schmitt, the German political theorist of democracy, crisis and dictatorship, to see if he can …

Kate Molleson explores the twists and turns of Schoenberg’s life Is there a more controversial, infamous figure in 20th Century music than Arnold Schoenberg? Arguably no other twentieth-century composer’s ideas have been more influential among composers since, however his music is still neglected and misunderstood by programmers and audiences. Scho…

With the success of the far right Alternative for Deutschland party in the German elections, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris making their pitches to American voters to be their leader and the Conservatives in this country voting for their: we look at Carl Schmitt, the German political theorist of democracy, crisis and dictatorship, to see if he can …

Artist and printmaker Norman Ackroyd was born in Leeds in 1938. He fell in love with the landscape of the Yorkshire Dales, riding around on his bicycle as a young boy and studied art despite his father believing it was a waste of time. He is now one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary printmakers, with works in collections around the world inc…

In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. As the Games draw to a close, Hannah reaches the top spot on the podium, focusing on gold and its allure over composers and musicians across the centuries. Golden appl…

Donald Macleod examines Bruckner’s lifelong struggle to become the great composer we know today From our modern perspective, it can be difficult to appreciate why it took so long for Anton Bruckner to be recognised as one of the leading musical voices of the 19th century. His spectacular symphonies regularly pack out concert halls today but his own…

Bringing you the best in Australian spoken word poetry . A special edition of Adverb, recorded at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta the creative edgy hub of West Sydney. Featuring the founder of the exciting Bankstown series of poetry slams Sara Mansour along with many of the poets who have performed there in slams that attract huge audiences to…

Hannah French presents the second of two programmes of highlights from the 2023 London International Festival of Early Music, today focusing on their support of young, up-and-coming artists. The OAE Experience Ensemble offers students the chance to play alongside seasoned professionals, and you can hear them playing music by Haydn and Mozart, as we…

Hannah French presents the first of two programmes of highlights from the 2023 London International Festival of Early Music, including performances from harpsichordist Jane Chapman, recorder player Erik Bosgraaf, the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Ensemble Pampinea.By BBC Radio 3

Hannah French marks the 450th anniversary of the birth of John Wilbye, the most famous of the English madrigalists. Wilbye's fame rests almost entirely on the 64 works contained in two books of madrigals which were published in 1598 and 1608.By BBC Radio 3

For their first visit to the Beverley and East Riding Early Music Festival, Ensemble Augelletti - the newly appointed BBC New Generation Baroque Ensemble focus their musical lens on a curious and well-connected local clergyman and musician – Edward Finch. Specialising in making musical arrangements of the most popular music of his time, including H…

As part of Radio 3’s programming around LGBTQ+ Pride, Hannah French is joined by musicologists Berta Joncus and Lola Salem to explore the life and career of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who shot to fame at the court of King Louis XIV. Lully was an Italian violinist, guitarist and dancer, who caught the eye of the young King when they danced together in a b…

In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. In second place, it's silver: from silver cymbals to South American silver mines, silver swans to Judas's 30 pieces of silver, Hannah considers the 'second best' metal…

In honour of the Paris Olympics, Hannah French explores medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music associated with gold, silver and bronze across three episodes of The Early Music Show. Starting in third place, Hannah considers music relating to bronze, from the extraordinary sound of Bronze Age horns to the magnificent music that would have floated o…

Thomas Adès is one of the UK’s foremost and most successful composers. His first opera, Powder Her Face, was premiered in 1995, when he was just 24. With its racy subject matter, based on the life of the Duchess of Argyll, it put him squarely on the musical map, winning widespread critical acclaim. His catalogue now includes almost 90 works, with c…

Matthew Sweet packs his bags in search of the films that bring back memories of summer - with music from the hot sun of Roman Holiday and Jean de Florette, the childhood adventures of Swallows and Amazons and UP and the nostalgia of Cinema Paradiso.By BBC Radio 3

Recorded live at the sunny Latitude Festival Ian McMillan has gathered three top poets for The Adverb - The Verb's showcase of the best live poetry and readings. Dr John Cooper Clarke is a legend of the punk poetry scene and gets us into gear with a poem about the thrilling allure of the hire car. The best art can come out of limitations and Luke W…

This special episode of Sound of Cinema features an exclusive interview with the visionary filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, known for his masterful blend of suspense, psychological drama, and supernatural elements in films like The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and Split. His collaboration with composers like James Newton Howard has resulted in som…

Donald Macleod explores the life and work of the 18th century composer Joseph Bologne Donald Macleod explores the life and work of a musician also remarkable for his sporting prowess. Joseph Bologne’s story throws a light on the political turbulence affecting France in the 18th century, and on the legacy of colonialism and slavery. Bologne is celeb…

Donald Macleod explores the world of Ethel Smyth through five love affairs British composer Dame Ethel Smyth was one of the early 20th century’s most original cultural voices. A prodigious musical talent who was best known for her operas, she was a force of nature, an unapologetic eccentric who didn’t suffer fools gladly, and a rule-breaking, trail…