Front Row

Maurizio Cattelan at Blenheim Palace, Ad Astra reviewed, Japanese Culture, Shakespeare Folio discovered

09.17.2019 - By BBC Radio 4Play

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A solid gold toilet reputedly worth £4.7 million has been stolen from Blenheim Palace. It's part of the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's new exhibition Victory is Not an Option which remains open and combines a retrospective of his work along with some new pieces made especially for the Palace. Art critic Jacky Klein reviews and reports on the latest from the theft. Brad Pitt stars in the film Ad Astra as an astronaut on a mission to Neptune in order to save the planet from destruction. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews this epic space odyssey. It's believed that John Milton's personal, annotated copy of an early Shakespeare folio has been discovered. The folio includes sophisticated marginalia that could shed light on the development of Milton as a poet and academics say it could be one of the most important literary discoveries of modern times. Cambridge University fellow Dr Jason Scott-Warren explains his astonishing find. As the Rugby World Cup heads to Japan, we get a personal introduction to current Japanese culture from Junko Takekawa, from the Japan Foundation, and Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, academic and curator of the recent Manga exhibition at the British Museum. Presenter: Kirsty Lang

Producer: Hannah Robins

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