This episode of Backlisted was recorded at the Port Eliot Festival. Andy and John are joined by writer and critic, Suzi Feay, TV and radio critic for the Financial Times and Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter and activist and author of The Progressive Patriot and Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World. The book they are discussing is The Lion & the Unicorn: Socialism & the English Genius, first published as a pamphlet by Secker & Warburg in 1941. The podcast ends with a spontaneous singing of Blake’s 'Jerusalem' – ‘England’s real national anthem’ - led by Billy Bragg.

Books mentioned

George Orwell - The Lion & the Unicorn; Animal Farm; 1984; Essays; The Road to Wigan Pier
Billy Bragg – The Progressive Patriot; Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World
W. Somerset Maugham – The Moon & Sixpence

Other links

Arena: Contemporaries remembering George Orwell
Billy Bragg's website
Suzi Feay's Book Bag blog
Christopher Hitchens in Vanity Fair on why women aren’t funny