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May 2015
41m 47s

Mad Max, Cornelia Parker, Pirates of Pen...

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Artist Cornelia Parker's contribution to The British Library's Magna Carta octocentennial exhibition is an embroidery interpretation of the Wikipedia page for this cornerstone of the British constitution. What does it add to the commemorations?

There's a new Mad Max film, "Fury Road", with Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson in the title role - it's two hours of more-or-less non-stop action and taken decades to reach the screen; is it worth the wait?

Film director Mike Leigh is a big fan of the operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He has been working with English National Opera on a staging of The Pirates of Penzance -how does his improvisational working style fit with the formatted world of opera?

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was Susanna Clarke's 800 page novel of magic in 19th Century England. It's been turned into a 7-part TV series by the BBC.

American novelist TC Boyle's newest work is The Harder They Come, about gun control and mental illness in the USA.

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