Shortened

BBC Radio 4 LW

Start the Week

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

BBC Radio 4 FM

Start the Week: National myths with Neil MacGregor

National myths with Neil MacGregor

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, National myths with Neil MacGregor

Neil MacGregor, Christopher Harding and Kajsa Norman with Kirsty Wark.

Neil MacGregor, Christopher Harding and Kajsa Norman discuss how the world sees the UK with Kirsty Wark.

Kirsty Wark explores national stories and myths – from both inside and outside a country’s borders.

Neil MacGregor discusses how Dickens, Monty Python and the Suez Crisis have influenced the way Britain is perceived abroad. He visits five different countries to find out which historical events, cultural influences and objects have shaped the way how others see us. The answers may well surprise people back home. 

Sweden has a strong sense of its own national identity: it boasts the world’s oldest free press and prides itself on its special brand of social democracy. But the journalist Kajsa Norman looks beyond this utopian myth to expose the darkness in the Swedish soul. She reveals what happens to those who dare to dissent from consensus.

Japan’s national image abroad is one of staid tradition mixed with bizarre pop culture, and the samurai warrior alongside the grey mass of ‘salarymen’. But the academic Christopher Harding argues there is far more to Japanese society than these enduring clichés. He looks at how Japan has been reinventing itself over the last century and a half, and the often radical and outspoken resistance to conformity.

Producer: Katy Hickman

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.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Start the Week

National myths with Neil MacGregor

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4