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

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Twenty Minutes

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Twenty Minutes: The Ascent of Mount Ventoux

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The Ascent of Mount Ventoux

28/02/2012

BBC Radio 3 - Twenty Minutes, The Ascent of Mount Ventoux

Petrarch's account of how he and his brother once set out to climb a mountain in Provence.

A reading from the Italian poet Petrarch's account of how in 1336, he and his brother set out to climb Mout Ventoux in Provence. The challenges were both spiritual and physical.

In 1336, two brothers set out to climb a famous peak in the Provence area of France:

'At the time fixed we left the house, and by evening reached Malaucene, which lies at the foot of the mountain, to the north. Having rested there a day, we finally made the ascent this morning, with no companions. except two servants. 
And a most difficult task it was... 
The mountain is a very steep and an almost inaccessible mass of stony soil. But, as the poet has said: "Remorseless toil conquers all." '

The poet Petrarch describes his climb of this mighty mountain, which teaches him things 
beyond the merely physical. Translated by James Harvey Robinson.

Reader Carl Prekopp
Producer Duncan Minshull.

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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