Gavin Francis leads us through a cultural map of the body – an adventure in what it means to be human. Drawing on his own experiences as a physician and writer, he blends first-hand case studies with reflections on the way the body has been imagined and portrayed over millennia.

His journey ends at the foot – a marvel of engineering often overlooked by anatomists and medical students.

It’s thanks to the arches of our feet that we stepped into our humanity more than two million years ago.


Read by Bill Paterson
Abridged by Jo Coombs

Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus production first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2015. Show less