Reith Lectures

And then the other thing which has really impacted me, taking this to the agitation piece now, is Rutger Bregman.

And if any of you have not listened to Rutger Bredman's Reef Lectures, then I urge you to do so.

They're on the BBC iPlayer still.

They're from last Christmas.

Like, you know sometimes historical novels, novels, they're very much written with a 21st century sensibility and somehow all the characters seem to have, you know, thoughts and ideals that are 21st century ideals even though they're 18th century characters, and I feel like you didn't do that with your characters.

It was kind of born of a comment that Hilary Mantel made in, she did this series of lectures, the, the Reith Lectures for Radio 4, and she did them on historical fiction.

And she talks about how boring it would be [laughs] if you're writing back into the past, say.

And for a modern writer it's really tempting to underplay God, for example-

You're listening to The Verb with me, Ian McMillan, a man made entirely of that element verb.

And if this programme has inspired a passion for the elements, this year's Reith Lectures on Radio 4 by that poet of the natural landscape, Robert Macfarlane, are structured around the elements this year and will be broadcast later this autumn.

Now, the elements are at the heart of myths and religions, the big stories that have explained the world to us.

The Icelandic writer Andre Snær Magnusson talked on this programme about how important myths that invoke the power of the fundamental forces are in helping us get to grips with what's going on with humans and the planet now.