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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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Free Thinking

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with artists and thinkers in debates and interviews.

The ideas shaping our lives today - with leading artists and thinkers in extended interview and debate.

Free Thinking: 2014 Festival: The Free Thinking Essay

Free Thinking: 2014 Festival: The Free Thinking Essay: Part 10: The Spin Doctors of 19th-Century America

The Spin Doctors of 19th-Century America

Part 10 Part 10: The Spin Doctors of 19th-Century America

2014 Festival

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, 2014 Festival, The Free Thinking Essay, The Spin Doctors of 19th-Century America

Joanna Cohen compares 19th-century attitudes to American politicians with those of today.

Joanna Cohen from Queen Mary, University of London, explores public cynicism about politicians and asks whether we can learn anything from 19th-century attitudes in America.

In the age of spin, few people believe that they can actually know, let alone trust, a politician. But such public cynicism was not always our default attitude. Embracing the emerging sciences of the age, 19th-century Americans thought they might be able to combine physiognomy (the science of reading faces) and the techniques of photography to uncover the true characters of leaders and statesmen. Joanna Cohen from Queen Mary, the University of London explores their efforts and the lessons for voters now.

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead earlier this month. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the AHRC to find the brightest academic minds with the potential to turn their ideas into broadcasts.

All the discussions and essays from the Free Thinking festival are available as Radio 3 Arts and Ideas downloads.

Producer: Zahid Warley.

Free Thinking: 2014 Festival

The Free Thinking Essay

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.

Events from the 2014 Free Thinking festival. The theme is 'the limits of knowledge'

Series of events from the 2014 Free Thinking festival. The theme is 'the limits of knowledge'

Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers give talks in front of an audience at Free Thinking 2014

Series in which Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers give talks in front of an audience at Sage Gateshead for the 2014 Free Thinking festival of ideas. The theme is 'the limits of knowledge'

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Free Thinking

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The Free Thinking Essay

Part 10: The Spin Doctors of 19th-Century America

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