Catrin Nye explores the huge topic of beauty through three very different talks.

Art historian James Fox tells his audience how he fell in love with colour, and why he has made it his life’s work. He says he can’t think of beauty without thinking of colour.

It’s difficult to talk about beauty without exploring the pressures on women to conform to standard views of how they should look. Mediaeval literature specialist Laura Kalas takes her audience through a fascinating, if sometimes gory, account of how some early Christian women took drastic steps to avoid being attractive to men.

And writer Jasmine Donahaye discusses her profound relationship with wild places and urges us to find beauty in what is common – like dandelions – not just what is rare.

The Idea brings us some of the best talks with a Welsh connection, and interviews with the speakers in depth about their big idea.

The Idea is a Bengo Media production for BBC Radio Wales Show less