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When Greeks Flew Kites Podcast

When Greeks Flew Kites

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Monthly series in which Sarah Dunant finds stories from the past to help frame the present

Monthly series in which historical novelist Sarah Dunant delves into the past for stories and moments that help frame the present, bringing to life worlds that span the centuries.

When Greeks Flew Kites: Episode 4

Factual: History

29/10/2017

Episode 4

BBC Radio 4 - When Greeks Flew Kites, Episode 4

Can history unlock the secret to a better old age?

History show. With an ageing population and ever-rising concerns about dementia, Sarah Dunant looks to the past to find out if it might help shift our perspective on growing old.

A monthly series in which broadcaster and acclaimed historical novelist Sarah Dunant delves into the past to help frame the present, bringing to life worlds that span the centuries. Taking modern day anxieties as its starting point, the programme considers how certain questions are constant, yet also change their shape over time.

This month, Sarah delves into history to find some answers to the age old question of old age. At a time when lengthening life-expectancy brings increasing pressure on our modern society and the older generation searches for a place within it, she looks at the different responses down the years to this most human of constants.

From the elder statesman of Republican Rome still striving for relevance to the story of how the discovery of Alzheimer's transformed modern America's attitude to growing old, When Greeks Flew Kites takes an honest look at the history of old age and some of the surprising lessons it can teach us today.

The guests are Professor Lyndal Roper from Oxford University, Professor Susannah Ottaway from Carleton College, Professor Jesse Ballenger from Drexel University, and Professor Mary Harlow from the University of Leicester.

Presenter: Sarah Dunant
Producers: Katherine Godfrey and Nathan Gower
Executive Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for 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.

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