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The Bronze Age Man of Jodrell Bank

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BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Bronze Age Man of Jodrell Bank

His home's Bronze Age legacy and nearby Jodrell Bank inspire author Alan Garner to write.

4 Extra Debut. How the Bronze Age legacy of Alan Garner’s home and nearby Jodrell Bank, inspires his novels.  With Martin Goodman. From 2014.

Writer, Alan Garner lives in a medieval building on a Bronze Age site, within a mile of the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. 

Alan explains how this has inspired his writing for over 50 years. He describes how it gives him a unique sense of place, and a perspective on the passage of time reflected in his book trilogy, and which first propelled him to fame with the children's classic fantasy story, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen in 1957.

Martin Goodman, Professor of Creative Writing at Hull University, visits Jodrell Bank with Garner to find out more about the timeline the author traces from the Bronze Age artifacts found around his home, through to the contemporary exploration of space which the telescope undertakes today. Garner takes inspiration from making these connections and expresses them through his fantasy stories.

Goodman also re-visits the locations which make Garner's books so memorable by heading to Alderley Edge - an outcrop of rock in Cheshire, with dramatic views of the Pennines.  The physical features of this landscape, such as stones and hidden places  have been given a mythical dimension by Garner, who explains how the Edge has cast a spell over him since his childhood.

Producer: Philip Reevell

A City Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2014.

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