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Natural Histories

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

Nature that has got under our skin and profoundly impacted human culture and society across our history.

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Natural Histories: Willow

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Willow

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Willow

Brett Westwood looks into the cultural influence of the willow, from 2018

Brett Westwood embraces the willow. A tree celebrated across cultures for its beauty and versatility, it is the tree we have hugged closer than any other.

Brett Westwood embraces the Willow. A tree celebrated across cultures for its beauty and versatility, it's the tree we've hugged closer than any other. Brett learns from Joan Armatrading how the willow can take away our pain, and visits the willow fields of the Somerset levels, where tall-growing willows sway like a bamboo forest. 

As it weeps by our waterways and whispers in our hedgerows, it's given us endless laments, has been used by witches for magic wands and broomsticks, and has been turned into everything from charcoal to coffins, to painkillers. 

Natural Histories - the only programme where Monet and Shakespeare meet The Wicker Man and folk-rock supergroup Steeleye Span. 

Originally broadcast in a longer form on 17th July 2018
Original producer: Melvin Rickarby.
Archive Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol : Andrew Dawes

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