Bright Memory V26.11.2020 Goldberg

Short stories about science and tech, history, global issues, and the personalities at the centre of it all.

Alan Yentob talks to the poet and playwright Lemn Sissay, who recently published his memoir My Name Is Why. He discusses growing up as the only black child in a sleepy market town outside Wigan in the 1970s, his time in care and being separated from his foster family at 12 and left to fend for himself. He also returns to Ethiopia to find out more about his roots. Featuring contributions from colleagues including Steve Coogan, Benjamin Zephaniah, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Julie Hesmondhalgh.

For a first attempt, it's a masterstroke! Released in 1976, Bright Size Life was Pat Metheny's first record as a leader. Just 21 years old, the American guitarist already showed a real maturity as a virtuosic composer and performer. He joined forces with Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on a flexible and dynamic drum kit. These ideal accomplices allowed him to develop what would later become his trademark sound: a fluid and often lyrical style.

For a first attempt, it's a masterstroke! Released in 1976, Bright Size Life was Pat Metheny's first record as a leader. Just 21 years old, the American guitarist already showed a real maturity as a virtuosic composer and performer. He joined forces with Jaco Pastorius on bass and Bob Moses on a flexible and dynamic drum kit. These ideal accomplices allowed him to develop what would later become his trademark sound: a fluid and often lyrical style.

Lemn Sissay's writings are a source of inspiration to huge numbers of people around the world. From poems on the walls and buildings of Manchester and beyond to the contemplative dawn verses published each morning on social media, his words bring solace and light to readers everywhere.

Michael Portillo begins a new series of railway journeys through 1930s Britain, armed with an interwar Bradshaw's guide. He explores an unmistakably modern era of glamorous locomotives, cinema and dance halls but also a time of high unemployment and widespread poverty

Prunella Scales and Timothy West pass the tiller to Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth, who are celebrating 40 years of friendship by making new memories together and learning new skills.

Learning Strategies (Mind Maps, Speed Reading, The Journey Method) to Learn Faster and Remember More in Record Time!

Hans Eklund numbers among the Swedish composers who gained public notice in the 1950s following his studies at the Royal Music Academy from 1947 to 1952 with Lars-Erik Larsson, one of his countrys most popular composers. Although Eklund was one of the very first Swedish composers whose music was performed at the Darmstadt Summer Courses, his music never abandoned tonality. Eklund wrote a total of thirteen symphonies. With the exception of the fourth, all of these works have richly associative Italian titles. His third symphony was inspired by the landscape and folk music of the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, while in his fifth symphony he deals with the subversive powers of war. The music sounds grey, sharper, not so smooth rhythmically, and hotter. Although Eklund termed his eleventh symphony of 1995 the Sinfonia piccola, it is ironically one of his longest such works as well as a memorial tribute to his honored teacher Lars-Erik Larsson. The time to rediscover this important symphonist is now!