Month: December 2010

Andrew Marr celebrates 40 years of Start the Week. When Richard Baker first presented the show in 1970 it was a lively and often chaotic, mix of chat and celebrity knitted together by a weekly theme. Cookery demonstrations, and dancing with Wayne Sleep, rubbed shoulders with Roald Dahl and Sophia Loren discussing what frightens them, and Idi Amin playing the accordion. It was Melvyn Bragg who reinvented the programme 18 years later to make it a forum for ideas. He challenged his guests to explain their views and when guests like Maya Angelou, Francis Crick, Tom Stoppard and Salman Rushdie sat round his table together the debate sparkled. Andrew Marr who has been at the helm for the last 8 years is joined by Richard Baker and Melvyn Bragg to discuss four decades of Start the Week.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Andrew Marr talks to the sculptor Anthony Caro about the development of modern British sculpture. Caro once worked out of a small garage at home, creating his growing metal structures, and it's the artist's studio that interests the art critic, Michael Peppiatt. He's attempting to capture the unique atmosphere of the tiny ramshackle studio behind Montparnasse where Alberto Giacometti lived and worked for nearly 40 years. For the last decade Sir Mark Jones has worked out of one of the grandest buildings in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum. As he prepares to step down next year, he talks about the continuing relevance of a museum that showcases objects and design. While the V+A has regularly exhibited works of fashion, several haute couture shops now pretend to be art galleries, and the writer, Justine Picardie asks how far fashion can be considered art. Producer: Katy Hickman.