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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: About Average

The Essay: About Average: Episode 2: Small, Medium and Large

About Average

Episode 2

Episode 2: Small, Medium and Large

Small, Medium and Large

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, About Average, Small, Medium and LargeClose menu

Ian Sansom discusses the scientific measurement of the average man and woman's dimensions.

Novelist and critic Ian Sansom uncovers the unlikely history of the scientific measurement of the average man and woman's dimensions.

Novelist and critic Ian Sansom believes that the idea of the average is one of the key terms and principles of the modern age, encompassing human productivity, relationships, politics and art. So, how did average become a byword for mediocrity? 

In the second essay of the series, he uncovers the unlikely history of the scientific measurement of the dimensions of the average man and woman. We learn that our ever-changing dimensions matter - size matters - for all sorts of obvious reasons, not least because average sizes literally determine the shape of the world we all live in: the height of our tables and chairs, the shape of our clothes, our cars, our phones - and of course our coffins. We all live and die according to the average.

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.

Novelist and critic Ian Sansom explores the meaning of the 'average'

Novelist and critic Ian Sansom explores the meaning of the 'average', a key term of the modern age in economics, relationships, politics and art

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About Average

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