Animal Farm

Giles Fraser explores Dr. Iain McGilchrist’s brain hemisphere theory, which argues that the left and right hemispheres of the brain perceive the world in radically different ways—and that modern society has become dangerously dominated by the left hemisphere’s analytical, fragmen ...  Show more

In this episode of Beyond Belief, Giles Fraser explores the deeply personal and often transformative phenomenon of religious conversion in prison. From heroin addiction and violence to spiritual awakening, we hear the raw and powerful testimony of Tony Winter, whose journey to fa ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Animal Farm, which Eric Blair published under his pen name George Orwell in 1945. A biting critique of totalitarianism, particularly Stalinism, the essay sprung from Orwell's experiences fighting Fascists in Spain: he thought that all on the left w ...  Show more

The novel Animal Farm was an allegory about the dangers of Soviet communism and of the communist leader Joseph Stalin. It was first published shortly after the end of World War Two, as the Cold War was just beginning. Louise Hidalgo has been speaking to Orwell's adopted son, Rich ...  Show more

Whilst at school, a young Alan Johnson was given some money by a teacher and told to go and buy four copies of any book for the school library.

He headed down the Kings Road in Chelsea, stopping only for a sly cigarette along the way.

Having already read 'Animal F ...

The vision of the future evoked in George Orwell’s last novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was so terrifying to its first readers that some claimed to be unable to sleep at night. When the book was adapted by the BBC for the new medium of television after Orwell’s death, millions became ...  Show more