Poetry Extra: Dylan Thomas

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Poetry Extra: Dylan Thomas - Witness; The Essay; King Charles III

Dylan Thomas - Witness; The Essay; King Charles III

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, Dylan Thomas - Witness; The Essay; King Charles III

Daljit Nagra selects the best programmes from the BBC's poetry archive.

Daljit Nagra chooses Witness, The Essay with Andrew Davies and King Charles III reading Fern Hill.  From 2013 and 2014.

Poet Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's poetry archive to commemorate 70 years since the death of Dylan Thomas - and to celebrate King Charles III - who turns 75 on Tuesday - 14th November. 

And for the first time, Daljit reads his own poem We're Lighting Up the Nation - commissioned by the BBC and Buckingham Palace to mark this year's Coronation - originally read by James Nesbitt on BBC 1 on March 7th 2023.  

WITNESS HISTORY - The Death of Dylan Thomas 

In November 1953 the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas died in New York aged just thirty-nine. 
Witness presents interviews from the BBC archives.

Presented and produced by Lucy Burns

First broadcast on BBC World Service in November 2013.
 
THE ESSAY -  A Childhood Encounter with Dylan
Andrew Davies reflects on the influence of Dylan Thomas as a child growing up in Wales in the 1950s, with aspirations to be a writer. 

Producer: Johannah Smith 

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in May 2014
 
Prince Charles reading Fern Hill 

The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, recorded reading one of his favourite poems - Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas - originally broadcast to mark National Poetry Day in 2013.   

At the time, the Prince was the patron of The Dylan Thomas 100 Festival, a BBC festival which celebrated the poet's centenary (in 2013).
Prince Charles said he enjoyed the poem for its "poignant and moving evocation of a rural west Wales childhood". 

One of the legacies of Thomas's poetry is that it inspires people to appreciate the incomparable landscape of Wales.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday 3 October 2013.

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