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PODCAST

This Cultural Life

In-depth conversations with some of the world"s leading artists and creatives across theatre, visual arts, music, dance, film and more. Hosted by John Wilson.

arts personal journals

All Episodes

43:01

Julian Barnes

This Cultural Life ·

2026/02/19

The novelist, essayist and critic Julian Barnes talks to John Wilson about his career and formative cultural influences. One of the most acclaimed and distinctive British writers of his generation, his early novels, including Metroland, A History Of The World In 10 and a Half Chapters, and Flaubert’s Parrot, established his reputation for blending fiction, factual biography and philosophical reflection. Julian Barnes won the Booker Prize in 2011 for The Sense Of An Ending, and the same year won the

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43:36

Imogen Cooper

This Cultural Life ·

2026/02/12

Dame Imogen Cooper is one of Britain’s most esteemed concert pianists. Having played since the age of five, she was mentored by the great Austrian born pianist Alfred Brendel before making her name internationally with interpretations of works by Schumann, Schubert and Mozart. She is renowned as a reflective, poetic sensitive performer in the concert hall and recording studio. She was made a CBE in 2007, became the first pianist to be awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2020 and, the following

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43:15

Jonathan Pryce

This Cultural Life ·

2026/02/05

Award-winning actor Sir Jonathan Pryce talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and career. He made his name with the 1975 Trevor Griffiths play Comedians, his role as a stand-up comic winning him a Tony Award after it moved to Broadway. He won an Olivier Award for a landmark production of Hamlet in 1980, and another Tony for his role as The Engineer in Miss Saigon. His huge and diverse list of film credits include Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopian drama Brazil, the musical Evita alongside

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43:12

Katie Mitchell

This Cultural Life ·

2026/01/29

Theatre and opera director Katie Mitchell talks to John Wilson about her career and formative influences. She is renowned for her experimental storytelling on stage, her feminist perspective, and for contemporary reframing of classic plays, she has directed more than 100 productions over more than 30 years. She has worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre, where - as associate director - she staged bold new versions of work by a wide range of writers

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43:07

Annie Leibovitz

This Cultural Life ·

2026/01/22

American photographer Annie Leibovitz talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences. For over 50 years she has captured rock stars, actors and politicians in the pages of Rolling Stone magazine, Vanity Fair and in museums & galleries around the world. She is renowned for elaborately designed shoots, sometimes involving multiple celebrity sitters, and creating images that have a cinematic or painterly quality. Her best known photographs include John Lennon just hours before he was

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43:07

Guillermo del Toro

This Cultural Life ·

2026/01/15

Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences. From his 1992 debut Cronos to his recent big budget spectacular retelling of Frankenstein, del Toro’s 12 feature films mix fantasy, horror and Gothic romance to create modern fairy tales about innocence, brutality and redemption. His movies have won eight Academy Awards including three for Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006, and four Oscars for The Shape Of Water in 2017, plus seven BAFTAs and three Golden

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43:19

Ricky Gervais

This Cultural Life ·

2026/01/08

Comedian and writer Ricky Gervais talks to John Wilson about his formative creative influences and inspirations. Ricky Gervais made his name as the co-creator andstar of The Office, the mock documentary series which became a landmark in British television comedy, and was shown all round the world. Further success followed with the comedy drama series Extras, Life’s Too Short and Afterlife, and awards including two Emmys, four Golden Globes and seven BAFTAs. Ricky Gervais has written and performed

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42:35

Jennifer Lawrence

This Cultural Life ·

2025/11/13

Jennifer Lawrence's breakthrough role in the 2010 drama Winter’s Bone secured her first Academy Award nomination when she was just 20, and she won the Best Actress category two years later for Silver Linings Playbook. Since then, she has become one of the most prolific, critically acclaimed and highest paid actors in Hollywood as the star of The Hunger Games series and three X-Men movies. Other leading roles include American Hustle, Joy and, most recently, the psychological drama Die My

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43:23

Rufus Wainwright

This Cultural Life ·

2025/11/06

Rufus Wainwright is a singer-songwriter and composer renowned for his distinctive voice and the theatricality of his performances. Born into a family of folk musicians, his mother was Kate McGarrigle and his father is the songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. Since his debut in 1998, his 11 studio albums have been characterised by their candid autobiographical themes, with songs about addiction, sexuality and fraught family dynamics. He has also worked as a classical composer, with his operas Prima

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42:01

Mark Ronson

This Cultural Life ·

2025/10/30

Having spent his early years in London, Mark Ronson grew up in Manhattan, began working as a DJ as a teenager and quickly made a name for himself on the New York club scene of the 1990s. He moved into music production and, in 2006, co-wrote and co-produced the Amy Winehouse album Back To Black. The record won five Grammys and Mark Ronson himself scooped the Producer of the Year Award. Since then, he has released five solo albums and worked with some of the most successful names in pop including

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43:15

Rose Tremain

This Cultural Life ·

2025/10/23

Dame Rose Tremain is one of Britain’s most prolific and popular writers, having written 17 novels and five collections of short stories over the last 50 years. She was one of only six women on Granta magazine's inaugural 1982 list of the best young British novelists, alongside Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie and others. Her fifth novel Restoration was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1989, she won the Whitbread Prize for Music And Silence in 1999, and was awarded the 2008 Orange Prize - the

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43:46

Thomas Adès

This Cultural Life ·

2025/10/16

One of the most revered and prolific British classical musicians, Thomas Adès made his name with his 1995 opera Powder Her Face, written when he was just 24 years old. His orchestral composition Asyla was nominated for the Mercury Prize for album of the year in 1999. Recordings of his opera The Tempest and, more recently, his score for the ballet The Dante Project have both won Grammy Awards. His ten symphonic works, three operas and numerous chamber pieces are performed all round the world. In 2024

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43:19

Jonathan Anderson

This Cultural Life ·

2025/10/09

Jonathan Anderson was appointed as creative director of the French fashion house Dior in March 2025, becoming one of the world’s most influential designers. As creative director of the luxury label Loewe for 11 years from 2013, he led a rebranding of the Spanish company, and was hailed a critical and commercial success. He’s also run his own label JW Anderson since 2008, and launched collaborative lines with high street brands including Top Shop and Uniqlo. The recipient of many accolades since

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43:31

Jackie Kay

This Cultural Life ·

2025/10/02

Jackie Kay is one of the best known and most popular Scottish literary figures. A poet and novelist, she served as Makar - the name for Scotland’s poet laureate - for five years from 2016. Since her debut poetry collection The Adoption Papers in 1991, she has published 20 works of fiction and verse for adults and children, and a memoir about meeting her biological parents called Red Dust Road. Jackie Kay was made a CBE for services to literature in 2020.Jackie talks to John Wilson about her

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43:10

Kerry James Marshall

This Cultural Life ·

2025/09/25

American artist Kerry James Marshall is one of the world’s most important living painters. Marshall has been making his large-scale, vividly colourful evocations of African-American life for over 40 years. His figurative paintings are rich with symbolism, metaphor and visual references to both social history and his favourite artists from the past. A 1997 painting called Past Times, which evokes works by Seurat and Manet, sold at auction in 2018 for $21m, setting a world record for a work by a

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43:54

Alicia Vikander

This Cultural Life ·

2025/09/18

Swedish-born Alicia Vikander won global acclaim in 2015 for playing Vera Britten in Testament Of Youth, and a humanoid robot in the thriller Ex-Machina. The following year she won an Academy Award for her supporting role with Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, along with a Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Since then her diverse range of screen roles have included playing a spy boss in the film Jason Bourne, computer game heroine Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, and Gloria

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43:57

Alison Balsom

This Cultural Life ·

2025/09/11

Classical trumpeter Alison Balsom talks to John Wilson about the most significant influences and experiences that have inspired her career. Having recorded 17 studio albums since 2002, she has been named Gramophone Artist of the Year, won three Classical Brit Awards, along with an OBE for services to music. She has performed with leading conductors and orchestras around the world, including at the Last Night of the Proms.Producer: Edwina Pitman

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43:36

Eric Idle

This Cultural Life ·

2025/09/04

Comedian, writer, musician and actor Eric Idle talks to John Wilson about his creative influences. A founding member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, he wrote and performed across their four television series and films, including The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. As a songwriter, he was responsible for much of the Python’s musical comedy, including Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and The Galaxy Song.He created the comedy series Rutland Weekend Television and the Beatles parody band

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43:59

Anselm Kiefer

This Cultural Life ·

2025/07/10

Anselm Kiefer is one of the world’s greatest living artists. Born in Germany at the end of the Second World War, much of his work in paintings, sculptures and vast installation pieces, has addressed his country’s history and culture, asking difficult questions about the legacy of fascism and conflict. His paintings, thickly layered and sometimes embellished with straw or molten lead, often depict dark rutted fields or dense forests. Kiefer is renowned for the size of his work, and for his

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43:41

Katherine Rundell

This Cultural Life ·

2025/07/03

Children’s writer and academic Katherine Rundell is the multi-million selling author of adventure stories including Rooftoppers, The Wolf Wilder and The Explorer which won the Costa Children’s Book of the Year. Impossible Creatures, the first of a five book series, was named Waterstones Book Of the Year in 2023. Her biography of the 17th century poet John Donne was a non-fiction bestseller and she became the youngest ever winner of the £50,000 Bailey Gifford Prize. At the age of 36, Katherine

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