Tom McKinney hears from composers Larry Goves, Judith Bingham and Huw Watkins about the challenges of writing a musical comission. Show more

Joyce's Big Lie, a short story by Deborah Moggach. Joyce is in Cornwall as autumn approaches and looking for love. As the weather begins to change, what lies ahead for her? Show more

A reading from Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday, about wasted opportunities at school and how one 'sniffed out' one's own cultural touchstones in turn-of-the-century Vienna. Show more

Paul Farley discusses Goethe's poem The West-Eastern Divan, focusing on its author's fascination for and championing of Arabic literature. Show more

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough investigates the Nordic culture of fire, from bonfires to the apocalypse. Show more

Martin Sixsmith asks how the idea, image and interpretation of Joseph Stalin has haunted Russia. Show more

Professor Trevor Cox asks if technology will ever match the human voice and allow a machine to sing. Show more

DJ Taylor's story Some Versions of Pastoral. An ageing couple cling to memories on the fringes of a literary set, until their peace is broken by a visit from their younger friends. Show more

Gordon Kennedy reads from Arthur Conan Doyle's autobiography, in which he looks back at his career as a writer and reflects on the methods and reputation of Sherlock Holmes. Show more

Kate Clanchy reflects on the importance of the summer house to people in Scandinavia and Russia, including artists such as Grieg, Sibelius, Nabokov and Tove Jansson. Show more

Landscape architect Charles Jencks talks to Anna Magnusson about the inspiration behind his extraordinary landscapes. Show more

Sara Kestelman reads Edith Pearlman's short story Puck, following the amusing and quirky events that take place after Rennie acquires a small statue to sell in her antique shop. Show more

A discussion about the arts in Britain 1945, exploring how the Second World War had helped give the country a new cultural appetite and understanding. Show more

Nandini Das and Haydn Williams discuss how a fashion for all things Turkish permeated everyday European life in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Show more

An exploration of the reasons behind the fall of the Babylonian empire, as documented in the Book of Daniel and other historical sources. Show more

Nicholas Farrell reads a classic 1950s short story by William Golding set in an English cathedral, in which a puritanical spinster is pushed to her limits, with fatal results. Show more