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Samira Ahmed

Dan Gillespie Sells

Tom MacRae

Jamie Campbell

Victoria James

Tom Stammers

Michael Leader

Jackie Kay

Julian May

Front Row: Hacksaw Ridge, film; Jamie, new musical; author Vic James; the allure of Napoleon; some Robert Burns

Hacksaw Ridge, New musical Jamie, Author Vic Jame, The allure of Napoleon, Some Robert Burns

25/01/2017

Hacksaw Ridge, film; Jamie, new musical; author Vic James; the allure of Napoleon; some Robert Burns

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Hacksaw Ridge, film; Jamie, new musical; author Vic James; the allure of Napoleon; some Robert Burns

Hacksaw Ridge, new musical Jamie, author Vic Jame, allure of Napoleon, some Robert Burns.

A war film with a pacifist hero, a  musical about a boy who wants to be a drag queen, an exhibition about the fascination with Napoleon, an online hit novel and a bit of Burns.

A new musical, Everybody's talking about Jamie, is based on the story of a 16 year old boy determined to go to his prom in a dress and become a drag queen. Samira Ahmed went to rehearsals to meet Dan Gillespie Sells from band The Feeling, and screenwriter Tom MacRae who have created their first musical, as well as Jamie Campbell, now 21, on whom it is based. 

Vic James's debut novel, Gilded Cage, is set in a Britain where the magically-skilled aristocracy compels all commoners to serve them for ten years. Vic wrote it on Wattpad, an online storytelling website. It was read over a third of a million times and went on to win Wattpad's Talk of the Town award. She joins Samira, live. 

The Allure of Napoleon is the opening exhibition in the Bowes Museum's year-long celebration of its 125th anniversary. Dr Tom Stammers, lecturer in European Cultural History at the University of Durham, discusses this show which presents Napoleon as one of the first celebrity statesmen, who burnished his ascent from political outsider to national leader with the power of art.

Hacksaw Ridge has six Oscar nominations; including Mel Gibson for Best Director. The film tells the true story of Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to earn the Congressional Medal of Honour for saving the lives of 75 soldiers in Okinawa, one of the bloodiest battles of WWII. It's been hailed as a new kind of war movie because it graphically exposes the effects of guns on the human body while celebrating a central character who refuses to pick one up. Michael Leader reviews.

This evening is Burns Night when, all over the world, people celebrate the great Scottish makar, Robert Burns. Front Row has a reading his work from Scotland's current Makar, Jackie Kay. 

Producer: Julian May.

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