Natural Histories   /     Swans: from ancient Greece to Swan Lake to Putin's Russia.

Description

Series celebrating the infinite variety of the natural world and its depiction in culture. In the final episode of the series we present our swan song. Ethereally white and otherworldy, the Swan has featured in countless fairytales and myths. Brett Westwood gets up close with bird itself, paddling and snuffling his way through 2000 years of cultural history. On its way he visits ancient Greece, Swan Lake, and Putin's Russia. He hears the swan-infused poetry of WB Yeats, and finds out whether a swan can really break your arm. With contributions from: Kevin O'Hare - Director of The Royal Ballet Fumi Kaneko - First Soloist, The Royal Ballet Edith Hall - Professor of Classics, Kings College London Sacha Dench and Kevin Woods - Wildfowl and Wetlands Trusts at Slimbridge David Barber - Queen's Swan Marker Chris Perrins - Queen's Swan Warden Waldemar Januszczak - Art Critic, The Sunday Times Suki Finn - Philosopher, University of Southampton Reader: Deirdre Mullins

Subtitle
A swan song, of sorts, for the final episode of this series.
Duration
1661
Publishing date
2018-09-25 10:30
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06m44k8
Contributors
  BBC Radio 4
author  
Enclosures
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/5/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download/proto/http/vpid/p06m43mw.mp3
audio/mpeg