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The Spectator
Literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented weekly by Sam Leith.
Alan Hollinghurst: The Sparsholt Affair
With Alan Hollinghurst, author of The Sparsholt Affair.
Presented by Sam Leith.
17:1712/10/2017
The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914
With Simon Heffer, author of The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914.
Presented by Sam Leith.
31:0105/10/2017
Robert Harris: Munich
With Robert Harris, author of Munich.
Presented by Sam Leith.
22:2328/09/2017
Anne Applebaum: Red Famine
With Anne Applebaum, author of Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine.
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:4621/09/2017
Robert Webb: How Not To Be a Boy
With Robert Webb, author of 'How Not To Be a Boy'.
Presented by Sam Leith.
26:0614/09/2017
Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker
With A.N. Wilson, author of Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker.
Presented by Sam Leith.
29:2907/09/2017
World Book Club's 15th Birthday
With Harriet Gilbert, presenter of World Book Club on the BBC World Service.
Presented by Sam Leith.
15:3031/08/2017
Clive James: Injury Time
With Clive James, author of Injury Time.
Presented by Sam Leith.
33:0124/08/2017
A century of Robert Lowell
With Jonathan Raban.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:4817/08/2017
The Art of the Sequel
With Bonnie MacBird, author of Unquiet Spirits, and Anthony O'Neill, author of Dr Jekyll and Mr Seek.
Presented by Sam Leith.
15:4610/08/2017
Harry Potter at 20
With Nick Hilton and Melanie McDonagh.
Presented by Sam Leith.
16:0803/08/2017
Is monogamy dead?
With Rosie Wilby, author of Is Monogamy Dead?
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:1927/07/2017
Summer Reads
With Alex Clark and Damian Barr.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:2120/07/2017
Naomi Klein: No Is Not Enough
With Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough.
Presented by Sam Leith.
26:3313/07/2017
Living with the Living Dead: The wisdom of the zombie apocalypse
With Greg Garrett, author of Living With The Living Dead: The Wisdom of the Zombie Apocalypse
Presented by Sam Leith.
23:4906/07/2017
Jonathan Meades: The Plagiarist in the Kitchen
With Jonathan Meades, author of The Plagiarist in the Kitchen.
Presented by Sam Leith.
23:4029/06/2017
The Secret Lives of Julian Assange, Craig Wright and Ronald Pinn
With Andrew O'Hagan, author of The Secret Life.
Presented by Sam Leith.
33:0822/06/2017
First Novels: The shortlisted authors for The Desmond Elliott Prize
With Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Kit de Waal, and Francis Spufford.
Presented by Sam Leith.
25:0015/06/2017
Michael Wood on William Empson
With Professor Michael Wood.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:5308/06/2017
Will Self: Phone, psychosis and postmodernism
With Will Self, author of Phone.
Presented by Sam Leith.
17:2401/06/2017
Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident
With Peter Stanford, author of Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident, and Peter Marshall, author of Heretics and Believers.
Presented by Sam Leith.
29:1925/05/2017
The Art of Losing Control
Meditation, psychedelic drugs, charismatic Christianity, sex parties... all this, and more, in the search to lose control.
With Jules Evans, author of The Art of Losing Control.
Presented by Sam Leith.
25:4218/05/2017
The Lost Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
With Anne Margaret Daniel, editor of I’d Die For You and Other Lost Stories, and Sarah Churchwell, author of Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of the Great Gatsby.
Presented by Sam Leith.
27:2611/05/2017
Hamlet: Globe to globe
With Dominic Dromgoole, author of Hamlet: Globe to Globe.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:2304/05/2017
Murray Lachlan Young: How Freakin' Zeitgeist Are You?
With Murray Lachlan Young.
Presented by Sam Leith.
26:1527/04/2017
Stiff Upper Lip: The best and worst of British boarding schools
With Alex Renton, author of Stiff Upper Lip, and Ysenda Maxtone Graham, author of Terms and Conditions.
Presented by Sam Leith.
21:4020/04/2017
Neuropolis: A Brain Science Survival Guide
With Robert Newman, author of Neuropolis: A Brain Science Survival Guide.
Presented by Sam Leith.
21:3713/04/2017
The Joy of Indexes
With Dennis Duncan.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:3306/04/2017
Charlotte Rampling: Who I Am
With Charlotte Rampling.
Presented by Sam Leith.
15:5130/03/2017
Be Like The Fox: Machiavelli's lifelong quest for freedom
With Erica Benner, author of Be Like The Fox: Machiavelli's Lifelong Quest for Freedom.
Presented by Sam Leith.
18:2123/03/2017
Michael Morpurgo: From The Yellow Brick Road to the Second World War
With Michael Morpurgo, author of Toto.
Presented by Sam Leith.
33:3816/03/2017
Stand Firm: Resisting the self-improvement craze
With Svend Brinkmann.
Presented by Sam Leith.
25:1008/03/2017
The Story of Pain
With Joanna Bourke, author of The Story of Pain.
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:2902/03/2017
From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds
With Daniel Dennett.
Presented by Sam Leith.
28:3223/02/2017
Louise Doughty on Apple Tree Yard and Black Water
With Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard and Black Water.
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:5116/02/2017
Rory Stewart: The Marches
With Rory Stewart, author of The Marches.
Presented by Sam Leith
21:3909/02/2017
Michael Rosen: The Disappearance of Émile Zola
With Michael Rosen, author of The Disappearance of Émile Zola: Love, Literature and The Dreyfus Case
Presented by Sam Leith
30:3202/02/2017
Cosmosapiens: Human evolution from the origin of the universe
With John Hands and James Le Fanu.
Presented by Sam Leith.
27:4526/01/2017
Antonia Fraser: Our Israeli Diary
With Lady Antonia Fraser, author of Our Israeli Diary.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:5116/01/2017
The War on the Old
With John Sutherland, author of The War on the Old.
Presented by Sam Leith.
25:5609/01/2017
Michael Lewis: The Undoing Project
With Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, The Big Short and his new book, The Undoing Project.
Presented by Sam Leith.
26:1421/12/2016
Treasure Palaces: Great writers visit great museums
With Maggie Ferguson, editor of Treasure Palaces: Great Writers Visit Great Museums.
Presented by Sam Leith.
19:1112/12/2016
The Dahl Debate
With Lucy Mangan, author of Inside Charlie's Chocolate Factory, and James McConnachie.
Presented by Sam Leith.
20:5805/12/2016
Can You Solve My Problems?: Alex Bellos on a puzzling history
With Alex Bellos, author of 'Can You Solve My Problems?'
Presented by Sam Leith
26:2528/11/2016
The Detection Club
With Simon Brett and Andrew Taylor.
Presented by Sam Leith.
17:0321/11/2016
The Biographer's Tale
With Richard Holmes and Frances Wilson.
Presented by Sam Leith.
31:5614/11/2016
The Hatred of Poetry: Ben Lerner on the problem of verse
With Ben Lerner, author of The Hatred of Poetry and No Art.
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:3807/11/2016
Far and Away: Andrew Solomon on a lifetime of travel
With Andrew Solomon.
Presented by Sam Leith.
24:2930/10/2016
What's the point of the Man Booker Prize?
With Philip Hensher and Sam Jordison.
Presented by Sam Leith.
23:1123/10/2016
The Return: Hisham Matar on the search for his father
With Hisham Matar, author of The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between.
Presented by Sam Leith.
23:0217/10/2016