Month: September 2012

On Start the Week Andrew Marr celebrates myth and fairy tales. With the coming 200th anniversary of the first edition of the Grimm Brothers' Tales, Philip Pullman presents new versions of his favourite stories, from the classic quests and romance to the lesser-known tales of villainous kings and wicked wives. Sara Maitland explores the idea that these fairy tales are intimately connected to forests. The theatre director, Tim Supple looks east to the tales of life and death in One Thousand and One Nights. And at the Royal Opera House, Keith Warner, presents his production of the vast, mythical world of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Producer: Katy Hickman.

In a special edition of Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to Salman Rushdie. For a decade the writer was forced to live under police protection after being 'sentenced to death' by the Ayatollah Khomeini following the publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses. He talks about living in hiding, under an alias, Joseph Anton, and how he gradually secured his freedom. Rushdie argues that we are 'story-telling animals', but more than twenty years since his controversial book was banned around the world, Andrew Marr asks what impact this has had on the stories we tell.