Jazz Carols
from Highfields Church, Cardiff
BBC Radio 4
Peace of Mind (16 October 2016)
[rnotes] Poet Michael Symmons Roberts questions the nature and appeal of having peace of mind. According to Michael, “There seems to be something close to a peace of mind industry out there, complete with its own sales force. Nothing makes me want to cancel my life insurance like those smug inhabitants of magazine adverts and …
Learning and the Reasons of the Heart (9 October 2016)
[rnotes] Writer and theologian Jane Williams examines the relationship between learning and language and the tension between what we know in our hearts and what we can articulate. Jane starts by looking at the beginning of life, when we exist in a pre-verbal stage. As wondrous as it is to see the arrival of speech …
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Peeling the Dragon Skin (13 October 2013)
[rnotes] Eustace Clarence Scrubb is a thoroughly unlikeable boy. He learns his lesson, in CS Lewis’s book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, when he is transformed into a dragon. Inspired by Eustace’s story, John McCarthy explores our relationship to our skins and how what’s inside us is affected and shaped by what is outside …
Brilliant Mistakes, Blessed Failures (10 July 2016)
[rnotes] Artist Grayson Perry has said that ‘creativity is mistakes’. Journalist Abdul-Rehman Malik agrees, and explores through poetry and prose how mistakes, although a reminder of human imperfection, nevertheless have the ability to reveal something new and hidden. The programme features the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Costello and Puccini, and readings from theologian Paula …
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Beating Time (5 October 2014)
[rnotes] Samira Ahmed drums her fingers and explores waiting, measuring and keeping time. She talks to the conductor Charles Hazlewood about why holding an orchestra to the beat is like persuading a pony round the paddock and considers the impatience of Henri Bergson who understood the nature of time as he mixed himself a drink. …
Procrastination (14 July 2013)
[rnotes] Have you ever been blighted by a looming deadline and stayed up all night, wishing you’d started work just a bit earlier? You might curse your hesitation in these situations. But, Samira Ahmed asks: is procrastination always such a bad thing? Most of us will have procrastinated at some point in our lives. Maybe …
God Loves a Drunk (28 August 2016)
[rnotes] Award winning poet Imtiaz Dharker examines the phenomenon of divine intoxication – being drunk on God. It’s an experience which causes an uncontainable release of energy and intoxication, one that has inspired writers for centuries. Imtiaz explains “Before I ever tasted it I understood the metaphor of wine and its powerful spell. It was …
Joy (5 June 2016)
[rtoc] Lord Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi, uses his debut presenting Something Understood to reflect on joy through music, prose and poetry and some profound insights from his own life. In a deep and moving programme Rabbi Sacks reflects on the difference between joy and happiness. The programme begins with a blast from Beethoven’s great …
Death Be Not Proud (8 May 2016)
[rnotes] Death has been an inspiration to poets, authors, artists and composers throughout the centuries. The multi award winning poet, Professor Michael Symmons Roberts, devotes his debut presenting Something Understood to an intense reflection on the subject, its mystery and inevitability. Roberts has himself used death in his own work, notably in his poem Corpse …
George Herbert (19 October 2014)
[rtoc] George Herbert provided the series Something Understood with its title and so is, in a sense, the programme’s literary patron. Mark Tully presents a celebration of the seventeenth century metaphysical poet’s life and work in conversation with his latest biographer John Drury, and discusses the relevance Herbert can still have for us today. There …
A Special Tribute to Nelson Mandela (8 December 2013)
[rtoc] Johnny Clegg, Steve Mabuso, Derek De Beer, Jabu Mabuso, Keith Hutchinson And Dudu Zulu Asimbonanga (Mandela) Johnny Clegg & Savuka – Third World Child. EMI. The Choir Gauteng A-Team Childhood Mandela Son Of Africa, Father Of A Nation: Original Soundtrack. Mango Records. Paul Robeson Joe Hill The Essential Paul Robeson. …
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Healing Moments (15 May 2016)
[rtoc] Academic Dr Sarah Goldingay explores the spiritual aspects of healing. Sarah’s research into the healing experience has led her to the realisation that the process involves far more than our bodies alone. For Sarah, healing is about our emotions, our sense of self, the landscape and community we were born into. It’s about our …
Faith in Numbers (8 September 2013)
[rtoc] 00:00 John McCarthy’s time in captivity. High anxiety when being moved, e.g. in a sack, between locations. Tried songs, remembering poetry. Doing maths. Somewhere safe “a little world that was mine”. Despite being self-confessed innumerate. 02:30 Thomas Stanley, C17 writer and historian reflecting back to Pythagoras. 05:30 Faith and number connected from inception of …