Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Thinking Allowed

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Science & Nature

BBC Radio 4 FM

Thinking Allowed: Physiognomy and Teenage music

14/07/2010

Physiognomy and Teenage music

BBC Radio 4 - Thinking Allowed, Physiognomy and Teenage music

Do facial features indicate moral character? Laurie explores the culture of physiognomy.

How much can be told about a person by looking at their face? Laurie Taylor explores the impact on culture of the strange and complex ideas of physiognomy.

The study of facial features and assumptions about their relationship to character informs the judgements we make about people to this day. For centuries, in literature, in art, in images and cartoons the descriptions of the way people look has served to indicate how they might behave and there is even a kind of science - physiognomy - dedicated to cataloguing the complex relationship between the two. 

Laurie Taylor discusses the impact on culture of this strange science of instinct and prejudice with the literature scholar John Mullan and Sharrona Pearl author of About Faces; Physiognomy in Nineteenth-Century Britain.

Also, should we grow out of the music of our youth? Laurie discusses teen passions with Jon Savage and whether musical appreciation means a development away from the sounds we first loved.

Producer: Charlie Taylor.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Thinking Allowed

Physiognomy and Teenage music

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4