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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

BBC Proms

Music: Classical

2024

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

The world's greatest classical music festival. Stunning performances, unique collaborations and the sheer joy of live music. Relive 2023's highlights before the new season begins.

BBC Proms: 2015 Season: Proms Interval

BBC Proms: 2015: Proms Interval: The Biggest Bonfire in the World

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

27/08/2015

The Biggest Bonfire in the World

2015

BBC Radio 3 - BBC Proms, 2015, Proms Interval, The Biggest Bonfire in the World

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough investigates the Nordic culture of fire.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough investigates the Nordic culture of fire, from bonfires to the apocalypse.

Every year in Norway they build one of the largest bonfires in the world. Given the nature of their winters you'd expect Norwegians to light good fires. Except this one's in the middle of Summer, to celebrate the birth of John the Baptist; and some brave soul has to climb a 100-foot wood pile and light it from the top. Beginning with that moment Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough watches fire kindling right across Norse culture. She asks why over a million people would watch a 12-hour broadcast of a small fire on Norwegian TV. She talks to people who argue for hours about the best way to stack a wood pile. And she whisks us through time, through myth, legend and volcanic chaos to the great conflagration of Ragnarok - the bonfire at the end of history.

Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

BBC Proms: 2015

BBC Proms: 2015: Proms Interval

Proms Interval

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.

All broadcasts from the 121st season of the BBC Proms.

Feature series accompanying concerts in the 2015 Proms season

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The Biggest Bonfire in the World

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