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The VerbEpisodes
Best Episodes of The Verb
Mark All
Dec 16th, 2022
Join Ian McMillan for a festive recording of The Verb, in which we'll encounter a parade of imaginary creatures conjured through poems and songs and stories brought by his guests. The poet and performer John Hegley has written us a brand new poem, YA superstar Melvin Burgess tells us about his debut adult novel ‘Loki’...
Nov 6th, 2020
Are you what you eat? The way we talk and think about food has changed a lot in recent years, particularly when it comes to the idea of eating ethically and the concept of veganism. Once a punchline, it's now a multi-million pound industry. What do the words we use to talk about food tell us about the underlying moral...
Oct 19th, 2018
The Verb heads into the forest as part of Radio 3's season exploring the enchantment, escape and magical danger of forests.We explore the forest as metaphor with Terry Deary, Pascale Petit, with music and poetry from Claire Trévien and Kate Arnold, and Jack Bernhardt reminds us why teenagers should never go into the wo...
Apr 27th, 2018
Ian McMillan and guests explore Japanese night-time language, poetic encounters and musical collisions - and uncanny meetings that happen in the dark.The programme is part of Radio 3's 'Night Blossoms' - a week exploring the unexpected, the shadows and the counter-cultural in Japanese music and arts. Producer: Faith L...
Sep 22nd, 2017
Ian McMillan presents Radio 3's 'cabaret of the word' - this week he explores the stories we do or don't tell about engineering, and investigates that iconic post-war figure 'the boffin'. He's joined for the first time this year by Ted Hughes Award winner and spoken word star Hollie McNish. Hollie will be a regular gue...
Feb 9th, 2025
The beauty of flower names, time-thieving hedgehogs, the poetry of fertile earth, and the absurdity of English spelling - all appear in The Verb this week.Ian McMillan's guests are the poets Don Paterson, Zena Edwards, and John McAuliffe who's celebrating fellow poet Michael Longley - and we also hear a new 'eartoon'...
Feb 2nd, 2025
Flames and poetry - what poetry tell us about the Los Angeles fires, the pleasure the poet John Keats took in reading - a poem-letter to an imaginary estate agent, and magical language. To explore all this McMillan is joined by poetry writers and poetry lovers.Ian's guests: BBC newsreader and journalist Reeta Chakrab...
Jan 26th, 2025
How does it feel to be adopted? How does naming things affect experience? Why does a mysterious sound make Ian want to get out of the studio in Salford? Is it ever a good idea to pretend to have a particular accent? Poems, questions and much more - on this week's Verb.Ian McMillan is joined by poets Joelle Taylor, Ant...
Jan 19th, 2025
Ian McMillan presents highlights from the TS Eliot Prize Readings - extraordinary poetry from 2024.Poetry books featured :Raymond Antrobus 'Signs, Music' (Picador Poetry)Hannah Copley 'Lapwing' (Pavilion Poetry)Helen Farish 'The Penny Dropping' (Bloodaxe Books)Peter Gizzi 'Fierce Elegy' (Penguin Poetry)Gustav Parke...
Jan 12th, 2025
Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins tells Ian McMillan about the influence of poetry on his writing, and shares poems written by his own mother. Ian also explores the influence of a very competitive mother on the life and poetry of former National Poet of Wales Gwyneth Lewis. And as it's the first Verb of the year...
Jan 3rd, 2025
The Morecambe Poetry festival hosts Ian McMillan and the Verb at the Morecambe Winter Gardens, for a special recording with poets Pam Ayres, Raymond Antrobus and Henry Normal, three performers much- loved by audiences.Pam Ayres takes us back to the beginning of her career with the first poem she ever performed live whi...
Dec 27th, 2024
A special recording of The AdVerb at The Hackney Empire . Ian McMillan introduces six unique collaborations - new commissions between poets composers and musicians in collaboration with BBC Contains Strong Language and the BBC Symphony Orchestra Poets from the East End of London team up with composers to make new piece...
Nov 3rd, 2024
Ian McMillan is joined by four guests for more poetry and performance . After a year characterised by wet weather, Alan Connor constructs a poem from 188 Words for Rain collected on travels around the country for his new book with that title. Comedian and writer Isy Suttie treats us to a new song written with the app...
Oct 27th, 2024
On this week's edition of The Verb, Ian McMillan gathers together - Wendy Cope - the poet whose 1986 debut collection "Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis" became that rare thing - a poetry best seller. As her first collected poems are published she reflects on poetry forms and why some of her old poems are making their f...
Oct 20th, 2024
This week on The Verb Ian McMillan is joined by Paul Farley, author of the bird-centred 2019 poetry collection 'The Mizzy'. Especially for The Verb he's written us a brand new poem that considers birds on our workplace, inspired by new 'Nature Postive' building regulations.Malika Booker is tackling this week's 'Neon L...
Oct 6th, 2024
BBC Contains Strong Language 2024 took place in Sydney Australia in partnership with Red Room Poetry and ABC Australia . This special edition of The Verb was recorded in State Library of New South Wales n front of a audience as part of the festival. With guests Eileen Chong the first Asian Australian poet to be on ...
Sep 29th, 2024
Gardens, balloons, parties and whales feature in this week's cabaret of the word. Ian's guests include Toby Litt, Roger Robinson, Hannah Silva and Caleb Femi.Novelist, poet and librettist Toby Litt has wrestled Ian, written stories backwards, and been limited to a single verb, in previous Verb commissions. This week he...
Sep 22nd, 2024
Ian McMillan presents a cabaret of the word - the best poetry and performance - with guests Daljit Nagra, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Brian Bilston and the voice of Stagedoor Johnny.Brian Bilston, internet poetry sensation - and the poet behind 'Days like there' and 'Alexa, what is there to know about love?' shares poems in...
Sep 6th, 2024
Bringing you the best in Australian spoken word poetry . A special edition of Adverb, recorded at the Riverside Theatres in Parramatta the creative edgy hub of West Sydney. Featuring the founder of the exciting Bankstown series of poetry slams Sara Mansour along with many of the poets who have performed there in sl...
Aug 16th, 2024
Recorded live at the sunny Latitude Festival Ian McMillan has gathered three top poets for The Adverb - The Verb's showcase of the best live poetry and readings. Dr John Cooper Clarke is a legend of the punk poetry scene and gets us into gear with a poem about the thrilling allure of the hire car. The best art can come...
Jul 28th, 2024
Why does 'mean' have so many meanings? Why do poets take metaphor so seriously? Why do objects like pink ghetto blasters make poems live? And why are the filaments of our eyes in the edges of the snow? To answer these surreal, and not so surreal questions - Ian McMillan is joined by Alistair McGowan, Caroline Bird, and...
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