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Front Row: Philip Pullman on Northern Lights 25 years on, Mrs America reviewed, Simon Schama

09/07/2020

Philip Pullman on Northern Lights 25 years on, Mrs America reviewed, Simon Schama

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Philip Pullman on Northern Lights 25 years on, Mrs America reviewed, Simon Schama

Philip Pullman and Northern Lights 25 years on, Simon Schama and a review of Mrs America.

Philip Pullman and Northern Lights 25 years on, Simon Schama on his Radio 4 lockdown series The Great Gallery Tour and a review of BBC 2's Mrs America starring Cate Blanchett.

Today is the 25th anniversary of the publication of Northern Lights, the first novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy that introduced Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon to the world.  It’s been announced that a previously unseen short story by Philip Pullman about a teenage Lyra, Serpentine, will be published in October.  He joins Front Row live to talk about its place in the series and what the novels and last year’s TV dramatisation have meant to so many.

Mrs America stars Cate Blanchett as conservative political activist Phyllis Schlafly who in 1970s opposed the implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Women’s Liberation movement that supported it. American novelist Meg Rosoff and journalist Elle Osili-Wood consider how the drama portrays real historical events and how relevant the battles depicted in the TV series seem to young women today.

Simon Schama talks about his new BBC Radio 4 lockdown series The Great Gallery Tour.  He was inspired to make the series because he is badly missing the joy of museums and galleries and he will be exploring some of his favourite treasure-houses of great art around the world: the Prado, the Rijksmuseum and the Whitney.  He begins with the Courtauld Gallery in London.

Presenter:  Samira Ahmed
Producer:  Hilary Dunn
Studio manager:  Nigel Dix
Image: Philip Pullman
Image credit: Roberto Ricciutti/Getty Images

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