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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: WB Yeats at 150

The Essay: WB Yeats at 150: Episode 4: The View from the Tower

WB Yeats at 150

Episode 4

Episode 4: The View from the Tower

The View from the Tower

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, WB Yeats at 150, The View from the Tower

John Banville explains his long-held love for Yeats's 1928 collection of poetry The Tower.

Author John Banville explains his long-held love for WB Yeats's 1928 collection of poetry The Tower.

Winner of the Nobel Prize in 1923, William Butler Yeats is a commanding presence in 20th-century literature and has inspired, and occasionally infuriated, successive generations of readers, writers, and performers ever since. 

Marking the 150th anniversary of his birth on 13th June 1865, five of Ireland's leading cultural figures reflect on their relationship with his work. The authors include actor Fiona Shaw, writer Fintan O'Toole and poets Paul Muldoon and Paula Meehan.

In this edition, Booker Prize-winning author John Banville explains his long-held love for Yeats's 1928 collection, 'The Tower'.

Producer: Stan Ferguson.

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.

Leading cultural figures from Ireland reflect on their relationship with WB Yeats's work

To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth in June 1865, five of Ireland's leading cultural figures reflect on their relationship with the poet, dramatist and prose writer William Butler Yeats.

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Episode 4: The View from the Tower

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