Epiphanies

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

The inspiring moments that start an artistic journey

The intimate moments of creative inspiration are recalled by some of our best known artists in conversation with John Wilson.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Epiphanies: Edmund de Waal, Danielle de Niese, Gabriel Krauze, Olivia Williams

Edmund de Waal, Danielle de Niese, Gabriel Krauze, Olivia Williams

BBC Radio 4 - Epiphanies, Edmund de Waal, Danielle de Niese, Gabriel Krauze, Olivia Williams

Moments of inspiration recalled by some of our best known artists.

John Wilson discovers the extraordinary light-bulb moments that have inspired some of our best known artists on their creative journey.

John Wilson explores the intimate moments of creative inspiration that have been experienced by some of our best known artists.

Opera superstar Danielle De Niese remembers how her mother inspired her to sing as a young girl growing up in Australia, with an interpretation of Barbra Streisand’s Evergreen that taught her that singing is as much about personal interpretation.

Gabriel Krauze was longlisted for the Booker Prize for his debut novel Who They Was, based on his time as a member of criminal gangs as a young man on the streets of west London. An obsessive reader of fiction as a child, he remembers the epiphany of first hearing It Was Written, an album by New York rapper Nas which inspired him to tell his own stories of criminality and survival.

As a young girl, actress Olivia Williams wanted to be a ballet dancer after falling in love with Rudolf Nureyev when she saw him dance in Sleeping Beauty. She was inspired to become a stage actress Royal Shakespeare after seeing Judi Dench lead a comedy musical production of A Comedy Of Errors in the mid 1970s.

Ceramic artist and author Edmund de Waal first discovered the pottery wheel when he was taken to an evening art class at the age of five, a moment of epiphany that set the course of his life for the next 50 years. 

Produced by John Wilson
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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Epiphanies

Edmund de Waal, Danielle de Niese, Gabriel Krauze, Olivia Williams

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BBC Radio 4 FM

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