Start the Week

On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to historian Niall Ferguson about his biography of Henry Kissinger. Reviled and revered in equal measure Kissinger was the statesman at the heart of American foreign policy for decades, and Ferguson argues that far from being a Machiavellian realist he was driven by idealism. Jane Smiley's trilogy of novels chart a hundred years of American life through the lives of one family. She shows clearly how the big political and social upheavals of the time were reflected in the day-to-day. The personal and political come together in the extraordinary diaries of Ivan Maisky, the Russian ambassador to London before WWII. Gabriel Gorodetsky has compiled the diaries which document Britain's drift to war during the 1930s.

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe talks to the American writer Jonathan Franzen about his latest novel, Purity. One of Franzen's characters compares the internet with the East German Republic and he satirises the utopian ideas of the apparatchik web-users. The head of the Oxford Internet Institute Helen Margetts counters with her research on the success and failure of political action via social media. The artist Tacita Dean laments the ubiquity of digital at the expense of film, and the financial journalist Gillian Tett roots out tunnel vision - both personal and business - in her new book on silos.

On Start the Week Mary Ann Sieghart explores how far leaders and governments have shaped our world. Matt Ridley dismisses the assumption that history has been made by those on high, whether in government, business or religion, and argues for a system of evolution in which ideas and events develop from the bottom up. The historian Tom Holland revels in the antics of the house of Caesar, from Augustus to Nero, and how this imperial family greatly influenced the ancient world. Barry Cunliffe tells the story of the beginnings of civilisation across Europe and the Far East over the course of ten millennia while the curator Julia Farley concentrates on one of those groups - the Celts - and celebrates their distinctive stylised art in a new exhibition at the British Museum.

Start the Week returns for a new series with a discussion about cultural exchange. Andrew Marr talks to the potter Edmund de Waal about his fascination with porcelain. De Waal's journey to understand the history and secrets of 'white gold' takes him from China to Europe and the USA. From white pots to multi-coloured: the contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei mounts an exhibition at the Royal Academy; co-curator Tim Marlow explores his cultural significance. The poet Annie Freud takes inspiration from shards of pottery found in her garden for her collection, The Remains.

Mary Ann Sieghart discusses harmony and balance, in the universe and on a smaller scale. She is joined by Nobel Prize winning physicist Frank Wilczek, whose new book examines whether beauty is one of the organising principles of the universe, and by the choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh, who uses dance to explore our relationship with science and technology. The mathematician and standup comedian Matt Parker outlines things you can make and do in the fourth dimension, and the Canadian baritone opera singer and keen amateur astronomer Gerald Finley brings his perspective to bear.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the legacy of the philosopher Alan Watts with the writer Tim Lott and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Watts popularised Buddhism and Eastern philosophy in the West and in Tim Lott's latest coming-of-age novel set in the 1970s he reflects on the power of self-discovery, while Mark Vernon questions how therapy has appropriated Buddhist ideas. The writer and translator Maureen Freely looks back at her itinerant upbringing in America, Turkey and Greece, and explores how she became the translator of other people's words and worlds, including the Nobel-prize winning author Orhan Pamuk. It's a 150 years since the first Welsh settlers established a community in Patagonia in Argentina, and the theatre director Marc Rees looks at how his countrymen retained their welsh identity in an alien landscape.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe looks at the landscapes of communism with the writer Owen Hatherley whose new book reflects how power transformed the cities of the twentieth century. Jacqueline Yallop looks back at one of the most enduring experiments of Victorian philanthropy - the utopian 'model' village. The architect Graham Morrison is involved in a model village of his own, the regeneration and development of the 67 acre site at Kings Cross, and the artist Doug Aitken, famous for his large scale outdoor film installations which he's called 'liquid architecture', is creating a 30-day happening, Station-to-Station.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr discusses the value and authenticity of art. In her novel The Improbability of Love, Hannah Rothschild satirises the art world from the Russian oligarchs and sheiks ready to spend excessive amounts, to the unscrupulous dealers and politicians, as she explores what a painting is really worth. The artist Grayson Perry has never been slow to laugh at the art world and question the role of the artist, and in his latest exhibition he brings Provincial Punk to Margate. Xavier Bray is a curator at the Dulwich Picture Gallery which earlier this year placed a cheap Chinese copy among its collection to see if visitors could spot the difference, and the filmmaker Patrick Mark tells the story of the iconic luxury brand from the 19th century - Fabergé.

Tom Sutcliffe explores health and well-being from the musings of a 17th century doctor to the latest research into psychosomatic illness. The GP, Gavin Francis celebrates the marvels of the human body while Hugh Aldersey-Williams looks back at the life of the celebrated and ever-curious doctor Sir Thomas Browne. The consultant neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan accepts that telling a patient 'it's all in your head' is unhelpful, but how do you treat those whose symptoms are medically unexplained, and may well have an emotional cause? Charlie Howard runs a youth mental health charity which takes the health professionals out of the clinic and onto the streets, and involves young people at all levels of diagnosis and treatment.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Andrew Marr talks to Zachary Leader about the life and work of Saul Bellow, one of America's most famous novelists. Bellow's vivid prose and mix of high and low culture brought 20th century America to life. Linda Grant reflects on his significance for writers today and on the literature of immigration he represents. Aeschylus' play cycle The Oresteia brought to the stage a world the Ancient Greeks understood only too well - family drama and bloody politics. In a new production Robert Icke radically re-imagines the play for a modern audience. The rapper Speech DeBelle looks back at what inspired her to find her voice, and the challenge to retain it.

Producer: Luke Mulhall.