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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Thinking Allowed: 24/03/2010

24/03/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, 24/03/2010

Why does a book fair represent so much more than economics to the publishing industry? Also criminal justice in the 18th century: Laurie Taylor discusses the Bow Street Runners.

In April the world's publishing industry descends on Earls Court for the London Book Fair. It is principally a showcase of British books and an opportunity to sell their foreign rights but there is so much more going on. Laurie Taylor talks to the social scientist Brian Moeran and the publishing industry insider Damian Horner about parties, restaurants, one-upmanship and the importance of long-term friendships in an industry which relies on something as intangible as the quality of a book.

He also talks to David Cox about the forerunners to the Metropolitan Police, the Bow Street Runners. Were they anything more than corrupt thief-takers and a private security firm for the upper classes? Laurie hears new evidence which casts them as world class innovators in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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24/03/2010

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