Radio 3 Essay

England's limestone landscapes. By Sue Clifford, co-founder of Common Ground.

The Rev Richard Coles ponders heaven and hell in the classic 1946 Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death, starring David Niven.

Continuing the Sound of Cinema season, ballerina, writer and broadcaster Deborah Bull gives a dancer's take on Powell and Pressburger's best-known film, the 1948 classic 'The Red Shoes', starring Moira Shearer, and based on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale.

With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, continues her reflections on what Scottishness means to her in this week's series of The Essay. In this podcast: Scotland's many hidden identities. AL Kennedy was born in Dundee, and now lives in London. She is the award-winning author of 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 3 works of non-fiction. Her latest short story collection, 'All the Rage', was published in Spring 2014. Written and performed by AL Kennedy

With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, continues her reflections on what Scottishness means to her in this week's series of The Essay. In this podcast: the language of Scotland. AL Kennedy was born in Dundee, and now lives in London. She is the award-winning author of 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 3 works of non-fiction. Her latest short story collection, 'All the Rage', was published in Spring 2014. Written and performed by AL Kennedy

With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, reflects on what Scottishness means to her in this series of The Essay. In this podcast: morality and misery - is dourness necessarily such a bad thing? AL Kennedy was born in Dundee, and now lives in London. She is the award-winning author of 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 3 works of non-fiction. Her latest short story collection, 'All the Rage', was published in Spring 2014. Written and performed by AL Kennedy

With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, reflects on what Scottishness means to her in this new series of The Essay. In this podcast: a good sense of humour. AL Kennedy was born in Dundee, and now lives in London. She is the award-winning author of 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 3 works of non-fiction. Her latest short story collection, 'All the Rage', was published in Spring 2014. Written and performed by AL Kennedy

With Scotland and all things Scottish very much in the air, acclaimed writer, comedian and now ex-pat, AL Kennedy, reflects on what Scottishness means to her in this new series of The Essay. Today: tartan, the kilt and a sense of identity. A L Kennedy was born in Dundee, and now lives in London. She is the award-winning author of 6 novels, 6 short story collections and 3 works of non-fiction. Her latest short story collection, 'All the Rage', was published in Spring 2014. Written and performed by A L Kennedy

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Jeanette Winterson examines her own sense that recent years have seen a turning point in British attitudes to the importance of the arts.

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Chinese-born author, Xiaolu Guo, contemplates the role of Chinese 'coolies' on the battlefields of the First World War.

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Episode Three: A Visit to the Magician German writer Daniel Kehlmann reflects on recent German history through the prism of a hypnotism show taking place in a central Berlin theatre.

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Colm Toibin tells the story of Lady Gregory's fighter pilot son, whose death inspired one of Yeats' most famous poems, 'An Irish Airman Foresees His Death'.

Taking Robert Graves' phrase Goodbye to All That as their starting point, five writers from countries involved in the First World War reflect on a turning point moment in their own histories and interpret the phrase with the ambiguity that Graves intended. These five essays that have been curated by writer Lavinia Greenlaw to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One, as part of 14-18 Now, a major cultural programme across the United Kingdom. Here, Elif Shafak contemplates a point of no return in the history of her native country, Turkey.

Film critic Peter Bradshaw looks at Powell and Pressburger's sensuous 1947 melodrama, 'Black Narcissus'.

The poet Ruth Padel reflects on the German artist Kathe Kollwitz's memorial for her youngest son Peter, who died on the battlefields of the First World War in October 1914.