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Woman's Hour: Dolly Parton - feminist icon? And poet Hollie McNish's Letter to an Unknown Soldier

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26/06/2014

Dolly Parton - feminist icon? And poet Hollie McNish's Letter to an Unknown Soldier

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Dolly Parton - feminist icon? And poet Hollie McNish's Letter to an Unknown Soldier

Dolly Parton - feminist icon? And a letter to an unknown soldier from poet Hollie McNish.

Why everyone loves Dolly Parton. A celebration of Ann Radcliffe's Gothic fiction. Combating loneliness. And poet Hollie McNish shares her contribution to a new WW1 memorial.

Dolly Parton makes her debut Glastonbury performance this weekend. Her platinum blonde hair, sequinned styling, and famous cleavage make her instantly recognisable but it's her wit, her writing, and her huge hits that have made her a star. As she's said herself, "I may look fake, but I'm real where it counts." We look at her enduring appeal across the generations and ask; Is she a feminist icon?

On platform one of Paddington station in London, there is a statue of an unknown soldier who is reading a letter. 'Letter to an Unknown Soldier' is the name of a project which asks everyone to contribute to marking the outbreak of the First World War, by writing their own. All the letters the soldier receives will be published on a website in an effort to create a war memorial entirely from
words.

Widely seen as the mother of the Gothic Novel, Ann Radcliffe was the highest paid author of her time but despite this, has widely been ignored compared to writers like Jane Austen. This weekend, the University of Sheffield is holding a conference to celebrate her 250th anniversary. So why has she been forgotten and what influence does her writing have on contemporary gothic authors?

The charity Contact the Elderly organise tea parties across the country hosted by volunteers - to help older people feel less isolated. Volunteers get a lot out of it as do the people who attend. In the latest in our series on loneliness we look at ways to tackle or even prevent feeling lonely.

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