Front Row Folgen

After discovering that he was almost exactly 150 years younger than Charles Dickens, comedian Eddie Izzard set himself the task of reading all of Dickens' works aloud. The first to be turned into an audiobook is Great Expectations. The stand-up discusses his love of Dickens and the unique challenges that come with reading the author's work. Guitarist and singer Wilko Johnson is about to release Blow Your Mind, his first album of new material in 30 years, and the first since recovering from a mayor life-saving operation to remove a large cancerous tumour in 2014. Johnson looks back over the four years of his recovery, and performs some of his distinctive R&B.In A Weekend in New York, the latest novel by Benjamin Markovits, very little happens, but a great deal is revealed about the Essingers, a large close-knit family who are at their yearly get-together and the city of New York itself. Markovits discuses his motivation for the book and explains his desire to follow in the tradition of Philip Roth and Henry James. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May.

Timothy Spall discusses his new film Stanley, A Man of Variety, in which he plays every character on screen. It follows Stanley, the only inmate in a failing insane asylum, as he wrestles with the voices in his head which take the form of classic comedy stars such as George Formby and Noël Coward.30 years ago today, a concert to celebrate the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela was staged at London's Wembley Stadium and broadcast to an audience of 600 million around the world. It was at this event that Tracy Chapman, a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Cleveland, Ohio, first came to worldwide attention as she stepped in last minute and played a selection of songs from her new album. The album, with its hit singles including Fast Car and Baby Can I Hold You Tonight, went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide and propelled Tracy Chapman to global fame. Music critic Jacqueline Springer reminisces about that watershed moment in musical history.Writer Lissa Evans talks about her latest novel, Old Baggage, which follows a firebrand suffragette yearning for her militant past. Lissa discusses her popular children's book Wed Wabbit and seeing her novel Their Finest Hour and a Half made into a successful film starring Gemma Arterton and Bill Nighy.An extraordinary photograph of the G7 summit showing the German Chancellor surrounded by other world leaders confronting a petulant, defiant looking Donald Trump has been shared widely online and been likened to a Caravaggio painting. Art critic, Richard Cork, gives his reaction. Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Hannah Robins.

Pieter-Dirk Uys, a leading satirist in South Africa, has spent his career poking fun at politicians. In a new show, The Echo of a Noise, he looks back at his life. As audience members, how does our relationship with the arts change as we age and in what way is that represented by the industry? Journalist and presenter Joan Bakewell and former Chairman of the Arts Council Christopher Frayling discuss the different ways in which older people consume the arts and the issues that it raises.Gaël Faye grew up in Burundi, the son of a Rwandan mother and a French father, and witnessed the horrors of the Rwandan civil war and genocide. He has now reflected upon that in his debut novel, Small Country, told from the perspective of 10-year-old Gabriel who desperately tries to cling onto his childhood despite what's happening around him. Gaël tells John how his experiences have shaped his work as a writer and musician.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson.