PPF Live Special: Churchill – The Politician With Nine Lives w/Robert Saunders
Today’s episode is the second of our two recent live recordings of PPF, this one in front of an audience at the Bath Curious Minds Festival. David talks to historian Robert Saunders about the life of Winston Churchill and all its twists and turns of fortune: from disgrace in WWI, economic disaster in the 1920s, wilderness in the 1930s, through to redemption in 1945 and rejection by the voters in the same year. How to make sense of it all? Is there a thread that connects the ups and downs? Has there ever – anywhere – been another political life like it?
Out now on PPF+: David discusses the influence of Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto (1909) – from cars to cod liver oil, from fascism to techno-optimism, from the madness of pre-WWI Europe to the craziness of Silicon Valley today. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus
Next time: The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Lenin and Trotsky
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1:03:37
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Rite of Spring w/Dominic Dromgoole
Our third Parisian revolution is another explosive night in the theatre, this time in the world of dance. David talks to Dominic Dromgoole about Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which provoked absolute outrage when it premiered in 1913. Is that what its impresario Diaghilev wanted? How did Nijinsky cope? Did the response foreshadow the trauma to come in 1914? And how did the set designer Roerich end up playing a part in American presidential history?
Dominic Dromgoole’s Astonish Me! First Nights that Changed the World is available wherever you get your books https://profilebooks.com/work/astonish-me/
Out this weekend: a new bonus episode on PPF+ exploring the far-reaching impact of Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto (1909), from pre-WWI Europe to Silicon Valley. Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus
Next time: PPF Live: Churchill – The Politician With Nine Lives
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46:53
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Ubu Roi w/Dominic Dromgoole
Today’s Parisian revolution is a theatrical performance that produced a riot. David talks to theatre director Dominic Dromgoole about Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (1896), which only ran for a couple of nights but left an indelible mark on the culture of the age and has resonated ever since. Why did a play effectively written by children provoke such a storm among the adults? What made it it blow the mind of W. B. Yeats who was in the audience? How can something so bad be so liberating?
Next time: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
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46:01
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Salon Des Refusés w/Dominic Dromgoole
Today’s episode is the first of three this week with the theatre director and writer Dominic Dromgoole, exploring revolutionary events in the world of art and theatre, starting with the opening of the Salon des Refusés in Paris in May 1863. How did the Emperor Napoleon end up sponsoring such a counter-cultural event? Why did it provoke such public outrage and astonishment? And in what ways did Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe revolutionise what was possible in the creation and consumption of modern art?
A new edition of our newsletter is out now with guides to the events of the Paris Commune and much more. Sign up to get it every fortnight https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters
Next time: Ubu Roi w/Dominic Dromgoole
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42:44
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Marx and the Paris Commune
Today the first of four episodes about Parisian revolutions. We start with the definitive nineteenth-century revolutionary and his definitive revolution: David talks to historian Bruno Leipold about why Karl Marx thought the Paris Commune in 1871 was the model of a workers' uprising and provided a vision of the socialist future. How had the Communards reinvented democracy? Was this a social, an economic or a political revolution? And how did Marx reconcile himself to its bloody failure?
Bruno Leipold’s intellectual biography of Marx and Marxism Citizen Marx is available now https://bit.ly/4i8Gmga
A new edition of our free fortnightly newsletter is out tomorrow with guides to the events of the Paris Commune and much more. Sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters
Next time: Salon des Refusés w/Dominic Dromgoole
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Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.
Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.
New episodes every Thursday and Sunday.
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