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History & The Arts
Start writing fiction
This album provides the budding author with everything they need to know about approaching the art of fiction writing. Each track contains discussions and interviews with best-selling novelists from a variety of backgrounds including Alex Garland, Louis de Bernières, Abdulrazak Gurnah and Monique Roffey. This enlightening and engaging series ...
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History & The Arts
Start writing plays
In this album, some of our current and most well-respected playwrights offer an insight into the mechanics and beauty of writing for the stage. Contributors include Alan Ayckbourn, David Edgar, Bryony Lavery and Willy Russell, who discuss their own work and the pleasures and pitfalls of crafting a script. All of the fundamental topics, from ...
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History & The Arts
Writing family history
This album contains extracts from interviews with a wide range of people talking about family history. Some history is recalled in oral form, some in photographic and some in written form, as biographical or autobiographical evidence. Many aspects of this approach to writing are discussed in illuminating and perceptive depth, giving wide-ranging...
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History & The Arts
Electric Dreams: Technology makeover
Let our interactive take you on an electric trip down memory lane.
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History & The Arts
Philosophy and the Human Situation
Philosophy and philosophical enquiries are relevant in some shape or form to many aspects of everyday life, for example our treatment of the environment, the rapidity of today's technological progress, whether animals should have rights and if so how they should compare to ours. Philosophy also encompasses questions about the existence of God, ...
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History & The Arts
Reith Lectures 2009: A new citizenship debate
Professor Michael Sandel, the 2009 Reith Lecturer, is one of the most influential political theorists of our time. In this short introduction to Sandel's philosophy, two prominent British political theorists, Michael Sayward of The Open University, and Matt Matravers of the University of York, discuss the key themes of Sandel's work and their ...
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History & The Arts
Writing Poetry
Poetry is a delicate and intricate art form, practised by many people but rarely mastered. In this album, poets Jackie Kay, Paul Muldoon, W.N. Herbert and Jean Breeze talk about their respective approaches and attitudes to poetry. They explore many aspects of their craft, from the initial spark of inspiration and rewriting to more technical ...
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History & The Arts
Handel: A Classical Icon
In commemoration of Handel's 250th anniversary, world renowned Handel scholar and Open University Professor Donald Burrows introduces one of the most famous composers of the eighteenth century. Devised for non-musicians and beginners, the 5 video and 5 audio tracks in this album explore the music that made Handel famous. His operas are classics ...
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History & The Arts
Spectacular Flirtations
Open University Art History professor, Gill Perry takes us through The National Portrait Gallery and explores the relationship between 18th Century art and theatre and the notion of actresses and their portraits as seductive, beguiling objects. Gill also looks at parallels in the ways contemporary female stars use media images to promote ...
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History & The Arts
Creative Writing
The tracks on this album offer an invaluable insight into a wide range of techniques and practices surrounding Creative Writing. Writers as diverse as Alan Ayckbourn, Ian McMillan and Tanika Gupta talk openly about their approaches and attitudes to all aspects of writing from original concept to final drafts and productions. Writing for stage, ...
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History & The Arts
Entrainment
Open University ethnomusicologist Martin Clayton describes how his study of music and its performance in different cultural settings has allowed him to develop his understanding of the concept of entrainment. His research into this phenomenon is providing key insights into the synchronisation of rhythmic processes in humans and in the natural ...
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History & The Arts
Culture, identity and power in the Roman empire
This series of tracks concentrates on an ancient city, Thugga, and looks at the influence of the Roman Empire on the city and the existing culture. Material is taken from The Open University Course AA309 Culture, identity and power in the Roman empire.