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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

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: In Praise of the Midlands

The Essay: In Praise of the Midlands: Episode 3: Shakespeare the Midlander

Factual: History

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

In Praise of the Midlands

Episode 3

Episode 3: Shakespeare the Midlander

Shakespeare the Midlander

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Dominc Dromgoole explores how Shakespeare was shaped by his Stratford upbringing.

Dominic Dromgoole argues that Shakespeare's vision was shaped as much by his Stratford upbringing as by time in London. It forms the backdrop to the universal themes of his work.

We tend to think of England in terms of the binary opposition between the rebel North and establishment South, with the result that we often forget about the bit of the country sandwiched in between - the Midlands. This week five Essayists shed light on the distinctive history and culture of England's squeezed middle.

In this third programme, broadcast to mark the 450th anniversary of the Bard's birth, Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of The Globe, offers praise to 'William Shakespeare the Midlander', and argues that the vision of world literature's most celebrated son was shaped as much by his provincial Stratford upbringing as by his later time in London, and that the distinctive 'mellow shapes of the Midlands' form the backdrop to the universal themes of his writing.

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.

Five writers explore the distinctive history and culture of the English Midland

Series in which five writers explore the distinctive history and culture of the English Midland

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In Praise of the Midlands

Episode 3: Shakespeare the Midlander

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