Martin Goodman, one of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, gives a talk on the perils of writing the biographies of scientist JS Haldane and Indian mystic Mother Meera. Show more

Arthur MacMurrough Kavanagh, a 19th-century tiger-hunting MP, was born without hands and feet. New Generation Thinker Clare Walker Gore reflects on what his biography leaves out. Show more

Islam Issa reflects on his own encounters with Shakespearean understanding in the Arab world, from peasant knowledge to pop, and he looks back at a poets' debate in 1916 Egypt. Show more

Corin Throsby, one of the first of BBC Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers, tells an audience at Sage Gateshead about the extraordinary fan mail received by the poet Lord Byron. Show more

Is man the only political beast? New Generation Thinker Alasdair Cochrane argues that animals should have greater rights. Show more