Natalie Haynes stands up for the classics

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BBC Radio 4 LW

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

Comedy: Standup

Natalie Haynes creates stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

Natalie Haynes takes a fresh look at the ancient world, creating stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 5: Suetonius

Suetonius

Series 5

BBC Radio 4 - Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, Series 5, Suetonius

Natalie stands up for Roman biographer Suetonius, with Llewelyn Morgan and Anita Anand.

Natalie stands up for the Roman biographer of the Caesars and friend of Pliny the Younger, Suetonius.  She's joined by guests Professor Llewelyn Morgan and biographer Anita Anand.

Natalie tells the story of Suetonius,  biographer of the Caesars and friend of Pliny the Younger.  She's joined by guests Professor Llewelyn Morgan and biographer and journalist Anita Anand.
Classical knowledge is fragile: so much is lost.  We don't know, for example, when Julius Caesar was born.  What we do know about the Caesars is largely because of  Suetonius.  And some of it is quite strange.  Who knew that experts in Latin grammar were once the coolest of the cool?  That Domitian wrote a treatise on hair care?  That Augustus kept a bust of Hadrian in his office and used hot nuts to soften the hair on his thighs?  (Please don't try this at home).  

Fellow biographer Anita Anand knows - like Suetonius - that writing about the long-dead is probably sensible if you want to stay out of trouble, but she still found herself in international hot water after her book on the Koh-i-Noor diamond (co-written with William Dalrymple) was published.  It's amazing how Suetonius managed to stay in imperial good books despite writing the first warts and all biographies of all time.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 5

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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

Series 5

Suetonius

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