We discuss the life and work of Marcel Proust and explore his connections with Ireland. Featuring: Dr Max McGuinness, Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies at Trinity College Dublin, and co-editor of ‘The Irish Proust: Cultural Crossings From Beckett To McGahern’; Prof Patrick ‘Paddy’ O’Donovan, Emeritus Professor of French at University College Cork; Prof Barry McCrea, Donald R. Keough Family Professor of Irish Studies, Professor of English, Concurrent Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Concurrent Professor of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame in the US; and Dr Richard Robinson, Associate Professor in English Literature at Swansea University.

Featuring: Dr Rosina Buckland, Curator of Japanese Collections in the Department of Asia at the British Museum and Lead Curator of the Samurai exhibition; Joe Nickols, curator in the Japan section of the British Museum, co-ordinating the Samurai exhibition; and Prof Oleg Benesch, Professor of Modern History and Head of the Department of History at the University of York, who specialises in the history of Japan and China in a global context.

Rasputin rose from obscurity to become the most controversial figure at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. This episode features: Sir Anthony Beevor, writer and historian, and Dr Helen Rappaport, author, media consultant, and historian specialising in the British and Russian history from 1837 to 1918.