John Cooper Clarke on Johnny Green, road mana...

Born Joan Molinsky in 1933, Joan Rivers shot to fame on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who she later infuriated by hosting a late night chat show of her own. Comedian and writer Helen Lederer, author of Not That I Am Bitter, picks Joan for her fearless ability to take on th ...  Show more

Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but most of her life was spent in Paris, where her father was astrologer to the King of France. After her husband died she was left alone to bring up her three children. Christine's most famous work is The Book of the City of Ladies, and histo ...  Show more

Anoushka Shankar, Arooj Aftab, Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Nadine Shah talk about the role of spirituality in their music, what their sound gives the audience, and share thoughts on being women of colour in the music industry.Born in the UK, Anoushka Shankar spent her younger years in L ...  Show more

So prodigious was the polymath Rabindranath Tagore, there’s a saying in Bengal that one lifetime is not enough to consume all of his work. Poet, playwright, thinker, activist, educator, social reformer, composer, artist… the list of his talents is long. Today his name is known al ...  Show more

Have you heard sitar music, from India? Joshua Leo and Liz Waid look at the man who made this traditional music popular around the world. 

Anoushka Shankar on sitar and Kasiva Mutua on drums...two celebrated female musicians talk to Kim Chakanetsa about their paths to mastering instruments more traditionally played by men.Anoushka Shankar's father, the legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar taught her to play th ...  Show more