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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

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Free Thinking

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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.

Rana Mitter

Meredith Hooper

Ben Saunders

Hugh Broughton

Jonathan Bamber

Jacqueline Smith

Free Thinking: Antarctica: Testing Ground for the Human Species

Antarctica: Testing Ground for the Human Species

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Antarctica: Testing Ground for the Human Species

Ben Saunders, Meredith Hooper, Hugh Broughton and Jonathan Bamber join Rana Mitter.

Meredith Hooper, Ben Saunders, Hugh Broughton and Jonathan Bamber discuss the Antarctica of our imaginations and the reality of the landscape with Rana Mitter. 

Two hundred years ago, Antarctica was discovered by Russian explorers and throughout this year the the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust is marking that anniversary.  As we approach the date in June which is celebrated as midwinter with a special meal on the research stations - here's a chance to hear Rana Mitter and guests discussing the lure of this polar region both in our imaginations and as an aid to understanding what is happening to the planet.  
 
Rana Mitter's guests are: 
writer Meredith Hooper, who has visited Antarctica under the auspices of three governments, Australia, UK and USA and is currently curating an exhibition about Shackleton and the Encyclopedia Britannica he took with him on Endurance. 
Polar explorer Ben Saunders completed the longest human-powered polar exploration in history to the South Pole and back, retracing Captain Scott’s Terra Nova expedition. 
Architect Hugh Broughton is the designer behind Halley VI, the UK's scientific base on the Brent Ice Shelf 
Jonathan Bamber is one of the world's leading experts on ice and uses satellite technology to monitor the mass of Antarctica's ice sheets; his work is central to predictions of ice melt and rising sea levels. He is head of the Bristol Glaciology Centre.   

Recorded in front of an audience at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at Sage Gateshead in November 2014

You might also be interested in this discussion of Ice with Kat Austen, Michael Bravo, Jean McNeil and Tom Charlton https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001jzq
You can find further information from the British Antarctic Survey  https://www.bas.ac.uk/ and the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust https://www.ukaht.org/ 

Producer: Jacqueline Smith

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.

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