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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Twenty Minutes

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Eclectic arts magazine programme, exploring a range of fascinating subjects

Eclectic arts magazine programme, exploring a range of fascinating people, places and events

Twenty Minutes: A Nice Pair of Handstitched English Shoes

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A Nice Pair of Handstitched English Shoes

28/07/2011

BBC Radio 3 - Twenty Minutes, A Nice Pair of Handstitched English Shoes

Writer Ian Sansom reflects on the literary significance of footwear.

Writer Ian Sansom reflects on the literary associations of footwear and goes in search of a bespoke pair of shoes.

In 1886, Vincent Van Gogh visited a Paris flea market and bought a pair of worn-out boots. They didn't fit. So he painted them instead.

Writer Ian Sansom investigates the artistic, cultural and philosophical history of shoes - from God instructing Moses to take off his sandals in front of the burning bush, to the cult of the Louboutin - and goes in search of a nice pair of handbenched English shoes.

He explores the Freudian shoe, fairy tale shoes, Van Gogh's boots (as interpreted by Heidegger and Derrida), Holocaust shoes, Jesus sandals, killer heels and poems and images of people traipsing and fleeing. 
Producer Sara Davies.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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A Nice Pair of Handstitched English Shoes

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