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The best of arts and classical music from the @BBC
United Kingdom
Joined June 2009
🏎️ Fasten your seatbelts for Isata Kanneh-Mason's lightning-fast rendition of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3. 🎹. 📺 Watch Prom 22: Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev in its entirety now on @BBCiPlayer
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Swan Lake Bath Ballet - 27 elite ballet dancers from companies across the globe perform a modern-day Swan Lake from their own home (filled) baths. Remotely directed by @CoreyBakerDance from his UK bathroom. #FilmedInLockdown #CultureInQuarantine . @ace_national @thespacearts
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The inimitable @stephenfry tells the @hayfestival about a hilarious moment while recording the audiobook for #HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. #HayFestival2019
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Andrew Scott, as Hamlet, performs the opening lines of #Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy. Watch the full production at 9pm, Saturday, @BBCTwo
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🔥 @sarkodie performs ‘Lucky’ at @1Xtra’s Afrobeats Concerto 🔥. With the @Compozers and the @BBCPhilharmonic conducted by Robin Wallington (@ConductorRobin). 📺 Watch the full show on @bbciplayer |
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Filmed in 31 countries on six continents over three years, epic 9-hour series #Civilisations comes to @BBCTwo on 1st March. Presented by @wmarybeard @simon_schama @DavidOlusoga
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"How many hours of a woman candidate's life is spent in the impossible task of making herself look acceptable?". @wmarybeard talks to @HillaryClinton about double standards in politics and much more on @BBCTwo and @BBCiPlayer tonight at 8pm:
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Happy 90th birthday to Quentin Blake, celebrated illustrator of many Roald Dahl books. This is the story of how Blake and Dahl collaborated to bring the BFG to life. Quentin Blake: The Drawing of My Life, full show streaming now on @BBCiPlayer
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Visitors to the @britishmuseum get a surprise when @wmarybeard fulfils a lifelong ambition and spends the day as a gallery attendant. See more on tonight’s @BBCFrontRow Late on @BBCTwo at 11.05pm
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The Night has finally come. The Royal Albert Hall is transformed into the Wigan Casino for one night only, with Northern Soul at the Proms. Join the party tonight, starting at 7.45pm on BBC Two and iPlayer.
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#WhyILoveMuseums: @wmarybeard fulfilled a lifelong ambition when she spent the day as a gallery attendant at the @britishmuseum ♥.(Originally broadcast on #FrontRowLate on @BBCTwo in 2018)
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"If you stifle creativity you're only leading half a life" - wise words from @louistheroux on the sparkle creativity brings to our lives. Full film with #GetCreative inspiration and added wise words from @RomeshRanga, @thekatiederham and @higeorgeshelley:
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Here's @jk_rowling on the power of the #library. From Harry Potter: A History of Magic, now on @BBCiPlayer #LovetoRead #LoveLibraries
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Salut #FreddieMercury, who died on this day in 1991. Here, in a vintage clip, he and Queen are interviewed as they rehearse for Live Aid in 1985. #Queen
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🏯🗡️ Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was born #onthisday in 1910. From Seven Samurai and Rashomon to Yojimbo and Ran, Inside Cinema explores his revolutionary work.
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Zaha Hadid has sadly died. She recently wrote a postcard to her younger self for BBC Arts with these words of wisdom
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"A library is truly a place of magic" - Harry Potter author @jk_rowling on the power of books. #LibrariesWeek is celebrating the link between reading and wellbeing. How have libraries changed your life? #LoveToRead
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💔 “There's a ghost in my house. I can't hide”. A Northern Soul classic at the Royal Albert Hall, where the genre that inspired a dedicated all-night dance culture gets its own orchestral Prom. Get your dancing shoes on, turn up the volume, and watch the party on @BBCiPlayer
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Yesterday at the @hayfestival, @mrjamesob told the audience yesterday why the result of the Irish abortion referendum has a particularly personal resonance. #HayFestival2018
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Still Amazing! Watch producer Tony Visconti breaking down the multi-track of David Bowie's Heroes to reveal how the song was built. When @Tonuspomus drops out the music to reveal David's voice alone there won't be a dry eye in the Bowiesphere! #DavidBowie
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"Men rode to Catraeth, fearless, crazed with mead. " Discover the power of medieval Welsh poem Y Gododdin - with some help from @michaelsheen - in #ArtThatMadeUs, an alternative history of the British Isles. Watch on @BBCTwo & @BBCiPlayer at 9pm:
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“We're one humanity, nothing less.”. The King has commissioned portraits of @SirGeoffPalmer and nine fellow members of the Windrush Generation. 📺Windrush: Portraits of a Generation is available on BBC iPlayer from 6am and on BBC Two at 7.45pm on Thursday. #windrush75
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To be, or not to be. 🪶. The exact date of William Shakespeare's birth in 1564 is unknown, but it's traditionally marked on 23 April; the same date as his death in 1616. Fleabag star Andrew Scott, as Hamlet, performs the opening lines of Shakespeare's most famous soliloquy.
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When 5-year-old @wmarybeard visited @britishmuseum she just wanted to see some ancient Egyptian bread… What followed sparked her love of history and museums. For more watch #InsideCulture at 7.30pm tomorrow #MuseumPassion
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"To be or not to be. that is the QUESTION?". When some of the world's finest actors struggled with how best to deliver Hamlet's immortal line, a surprise star had the final word. Watch Gregory Doran Remembers. Shakespeare Live! on @BBCiPlayer.
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As #Civilisations, a series 3 years in the making and featuring over 500 artworks, arrives on the @BBC, here's just one of those - La Dame de Brassempouy, a beautiful 25,000 year-old representation of a female face. @BBCTwo @BBCiPlayer
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Some of the hottest Afrobeats artists join forces with @BBCPhilharmonic & @compozers for a special concert from @1Xtra. It’s the first time a full orchestra in the UK has staged a concert dedicated to Afrobeats. Watch on BBC Four & @BBCiPlayer tonight 8pm
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Film critic @AliPlumb of @BBCR1 on the sound effect that became the best movie in-joke ever. You might not have realised, but The Wilhelm Scream is in. Every Star Wars movie.Every Indiana Jones film.All 3 Lord of the Rings movies .200+ other films.🎬 #BBCInsideCinema
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Lights, camera, drag queens - @TrixieMattel's guide to drag on film, from the fiercest, most sickening looks in golden-era cinema to divine cult hits and runway-ready modern classics, we're serving movie eleganza extravaganza. #DragRaceUK @DragRaceUKBBC. 🎬 #BBCInsideCinema
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Happy 77th birthday to singer, fashion maverick, queer icon, and Oscar winner Cher! 🎉🎂. Inside Cinema pays tribute to Cher's illustrious career on the big screen, with unforgettable performances in iconic films like Moonstruck, Mask, Silkwood, and Mermaids.
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A Dutchman known as the "Indiana Jones of the art world" has found a Picasso painting that was stolen 20 years ago
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From Psycho to Skyfall and several Disney classics, @CasparSalmon and #InsideCinema explore the impact of the pointedly camp big screen villain.
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It’s true @MarianKeyes – there’s an imagine… documentary all about you. We’ve had a sneak peek, it definitely exists. And it’s brilliant and moving. Everyone else can watch on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer on Monday night:
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Which writer would #Sherlock star @louisebrealey most like to be? We caught up with her at #HayFestival to find out.
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Noël Coward grew up in poverty and left school at 9. He was queer in a very straight world. At 30 he was the highest-paid writer in the world and a star. This is his inspirational story. Watch Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story, Boxing Day on BBC Two & @BBCiPlayer.
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🎭 ‘The past is prologue’. What makes a Shakespearean actor truly great? Generation-spanning performances from Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Hugh Quarshie, Judi Dench and Patrick Stewart. 📺 Shakespeare season on @BBCiPlayer #bbcshakespeare
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Glorious! Gaiman & Fry on Myths. Watch full hour session of @neilhimself & @stephenfry #Hay30 #myths
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Author @neilhimself is among the four writers shortlisted for a substitute for this year's Nobel literature prize
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Inner-city NHS trauma surgeon Martin treats two stabbings a day and two shootings a week. Sculptor Nick Elphick (@Nickelphick) hears about his incredible work in the first episode of a new series of Extraordinary Portraits with @BillBailey, tonight 8:30pm on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer
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🕵️ @MarkGatiss is Sherlock Holmes and @TVSanjeev Bhaskar is Dr Watson, all wonderfully soundtracked on stage by the @BBCSO. 🐺. Inside Classical: The Hound of the Baskervilles is on at 8.30pm on Christmas Day on BBC Four and @BBCiPlayer.
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🎶 This is the amazing moment when eight London teenagers hear an #opera singer in the flesh for the first time. Watch the full story in Hip Hop to Opera from @operahollandpk on @BBCiPlayer now:
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Anna Karina, French new wave star and inspiration, dies at 79. Watch her speaking about some of her greatest films - Pierrot le Fou, Contempt, Bande à part & Alphaville. #annakarina #JeanLucGodard #frenchnewwave
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Celebrate the fantastical life of #TerryPratchett with new documentary #BackInBlack tomorrow at 9.00pm on @BBCTwo @terryandrob
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Congratulations to social housing scheme Goldsmith Street who have won the @RIBA #StirlingPrize! The project was described as 'a beacon of hope' in a time of housing crisis and crippling local authority cuts.
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Actor Carmen Munroe's credits include Doctor Who and the sitcom Desmond's, but she says she had to struggle to find proper roles. Her portrait, commissioned by The King, will join the Royal Collection for #Windrush75. 📺 Windrush: Portraits of a Generation is on BBC iPlayer.
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🤔 What is it that makes Shakespeare so great? . Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren, Brian Cox, Lucy Jago and Prof Ewan Fernie tackle the big question. Watch Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius on BBC iPlayer.
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❤️🔥 Do I love you? Indeed I do! . Northern Soul at the Proms is a euphoric night of dance anthems supercharged by epic new orchestral arrangements. The party starts on Saturday at 7.45pm on @BBC Two and @BBCiPlayer.
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It’s #MuseumFromHome day – welcome! Find out about what’s coming up between 10am and 5pm today
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“I would never have done if it wasn’t for this idiot” . With backing from pal @Rylan, @RobbieRinder steps out of his comfort zone to have a go at conducting Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in Venice. 📺 Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour - all episodes streaming now on @BBCiPlayer.
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🕵️ "Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound." 🐺. Inside Classical: The Hound of the Baskervilles stars @MarkGatiss as Sherlock Holmes and @TVSanjeev Bhaskar as Dr Watson, accompanied by @NeilKBrand and the @BBCSO. Watch it now on @BBCiPlayer.
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Congratulations to #Ffolio artist Mathew David @matyd88 for his nomination in the Best Short-Form Scripted category at the Broadcast Digital Awards. His film Skinny Fat features in Drama Shorts: BBC Introducing Arts, streaming on @BBCiPlayer now:
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Artist @richard_mosse uses military-grade cameras to highlight the refugee crisis enveloping Europe. Watch more at
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Museums, Archives, Galleries and Libraries - share your posts on Thursday 30 April. Just add #MuseumFromHome so the world can find it! @bbcarts is sharing as many as we can. Join @DanNouveau & @sacha_coward from 10.00am here:
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On #FrontRowLate tonight, @wmarybeard speaks exclusively to Roger Law, as he films a pilot in the UK for the new Spitting Image series coming to American TV.
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Flags by artists including Grayson Perry (@Alan_Measles) and Cornelia Parker have appeared across London's West End as the @royalacademy celebrates its 250th anniversary #RA250
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Watch an impassioned @michaelsheen speak on the importance of empathy as part of his speech on Aneurin Bevan #Hay30
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“It really is like magic.” .Leonardo da Vinci, born 15 April 1452. Some of Leonardo's most beautiful drawings have been hidden for centuries - see them brought to life under ultra-violet light.
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100 years after the Suffragettes won the right to vote, women will gather in the streets of Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London today for #PROCESSIONS2018
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Noughts + Crosses author @malorieblackman on the 82 rejection letters she received from publishers. “When you find the thing you want to do, you don't let it go in a hurry”. imagine. Malorie Blackman: What If? | @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer tonight -
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Oscar-winning actress and former MP Glenda Jackson has died aged 87. Last year, she told @JohnWilson14 that while she was pleased to win two Oscars, she focused on acting over attending award ceremonies. Watch This Cultural Life on BBC iPlayer:
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Groundbreaking new research has shown that taking part in even a small amount of creative activity can improve your wellbeing. Take our new Feel Good Test to discover how to reboot your creative hobbies. #GetCreative
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Emma Thompson this month pulled out of animated feature Luck over the production's hiring of John Lasseter, the former Pixar chief who has been accused of sexual harassment. She discussed the #MeToo movement with @wmarybeard on #FrontRowLate on @BBCTwo in 2018
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The Museum of Homelessness is itself homeless and has taken its displays onto the streets. Today is World Homeless Day - see how the museum is challenging our perceptions of living without a home #MuseumPassion
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The one and only @mrmichaelball with ❤️ Love Changes Everything ❤️ from Aspects of Love. Watch #BigNightOfMusicals on #iPlayer from 25 March at 7.50pm.
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"Languages have a flavour to me". J. R. R. Tolkien died on this day in 1973. In this @BBCArchive film from 1968, the Lord of the Rings author reflects on his passion for inventing languages like Elvish.
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As #LibrariesWeek celebrates the link between reading and wellbeing, Wolf Hall author Hilary Mantel explains how reading fiction can increase empathy #LoveToRead
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The @BBC has announced that @wmarybeard will present the forthcoming @BBCTwo series of @BBCFrontRow, which will broadcast - for the first time - live on Friday nights at 11pm:
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Revealed in the last few minutes by @mariellaf1 on @BBCOne - the 100 Novels That Shaped The World of our panel. There was months of intense discussion to come up with the list - it's personal 💗. but what novels do you love?.#MyBookLife.
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Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust is based on a project spearheaded by the Prince of Wales @ClarenceHouse. The finished portraits, destined for the Royal Collection Trust @RCT, will be unveiled at the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace.
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Cary Grant was born #OnThisDay in 1904. Inside Cinema looks at how a working class boy from Bristol became one of the brightest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
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Raise the banners! Women across Britain march for suffrage & what it means to be a C21st woman. See selection of banners prior to this afternoon's #PROCESSIONS in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh & London here & watch @BBCOne today 14.00 10/6. #PROCESSIONS2018
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Orkney's Skara Brae is Europe's best-preserved Neolithic village. A ferocious storm revealed a 5,000-year-old community with culture and style. The perfect site for Beginnings in @simon_schama's History of Britain. 15 hours of classic TV 📺 @BBCiPlayer |
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As Olivia Colman gets another Oscar nomination for The Lost Daughter, #InsideCinema celebrates her amazing versatility. @annasmithjourno charts Colman's journey from cult comedy Peep Show to dramatic TV roles in Broadchurch and Oscar-winning big screen performances.
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'It's not rocket science darling. We’re just asking you to be thin and curvy, sexy and innocent!’. Acting auditions can be SAVAGE 😂.#LeadingLadyParts
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Why did Arthur Conan Doyle love to hate his greatest creation, Sherlock Holmes? 🕵️🔎. Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle premieres on Sunday on @BBCiPlayer and at 9pm on BBC Two.
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🎂 Bette Davis was born #OnThisDay in 1908. 👀. Watch @annabdemented's Inside Cinema celebration of the uncompromising and trailblazing Hollywood icon. 👁️👁️
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Good luck to The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, which is up for the best animated short film at tonight's Oscars. 🏆. Discover what inspired Charlie Mackesy, the artist and author behind the beloved story, to create his beautiful illustrations.
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🎄👻 “Whatever attacked him wasn’t human.”. Can an experiment truly bring life to the bag of bones that is the mysterious Lot No. 249?. @Markgatiss adapts Conan Doyle’s gothic short story with Kit Harington and Freddie Fox. A Ghost Story for Christmas 10pm @BBCTwo and @BBCiPlayer
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An intimate, revealing portrait lets us into @charliemackesy's world, exploring how he came to write The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, and following him as it is turned into an animated film. Christmas Eve, 3.55pm @BBCTwo & @BBCiPlayer |
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Enough steel to make 16 buses and seen by more people than the Mona Lisa. We look back on the #AngelOfTheNorth at 20.
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🎭 ‘The past is prologue’. What makes a Shakespearean actor truly great? Generation-spanning performances from Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren, Hugh Quarshie, Judi Dench and Patrick Stewart.
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Fantastic - literally. The Worlds of Ursula K Le Guin @BBCFOUR documentary explores the remarkable life of the late author, best known for brilliant science fantasy work The Earthsea Trilogy, one of the 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. #mybooklife #LeGuin
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Goblins, fairies and gnarly trees! Explore the magical winter wonderlands of illustrator Arthur Rackham
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.@Markgatiss is updating the Christmas ghost story with The Dead Room on @BBCFour - ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ghost from the 1970s. Hmm, interesting…’
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“I've always been thought of as a funny little round person and I resent that because I felt I was more than that”. Miriam Margolyes (@MMargolyes) opens up about her life and career in imagine. Watch on @BBCOne & @BBCiPlayer at 10:40pm tonight:
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43 dancers. One staircase. One smartphone. One take. An extraordinary performance in BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay building as we count down to #DancePassion Live on Friday 5 April.
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Record Store Day 2019: Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt on a diplomatic mission. #mightyboosh #recordstoreday.
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With apologies to graphic designers everywhere, we've mocked up five book cover clichés - alongside some real-world #bookalikes
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"Why would you never starve to death in the desert?".Punk poet @official_jcc tells a cracker joke and performs the first of 12 comic limericks he's composed especially for Christmas. 🎄 See more on @BBCiPlayer:
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The first known studio recording of David Bowie is set for auction after being found in an old bread basket
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🎂 Bette Davis was born #OnThisDay in 1908. 👀. Watch @annabdemented's Inside Cinema celebration of the uncompromising and trailblazing Hollywood icon. 👁️👁️
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The Redemption of Thomas Shelby by @Rambertdance. Soundtracked by new music and iconic Peaky Blinders tracks, this spectacular dance production tells Shelby's WWI story, before his days as a notorious crime boss. 📺 New Year's Day on BBC Four and @BBCiPlayer.
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Ayup, it's Bob! He set fire to his family home. He's a former bin man and solicitor and was known as The Cockroach King - it's top entertainer Bob Mortimer telling Lauren Laverne stuff on #desertislanddiscs.
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Arundhati Roy reads a beautiful passage from her essay The End of Imagination, a critique of India’s nuclear weapons programme written after the success of her debut novel The God of Small Things #HayFestival2019
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