Contributor(s): Robert Rowland Smith | From Plato through Monty Python to Terry Eagleton and beyond, the question of the meaning of life has been a source of both mystery and mirth. In this lecture, based on his new book Driving with Plato, Robert Rowland Smith breaks life down into its milestones from cradle to grave: what does it mean not just to be born and to die, but to learn to talk, to lose your virginity or have a mid-life crisis? Robert Rowland Smith began his career as a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford before becoming a partner in a management consultancy. He now consults independently, has a column on moral dilemmas in the Sunday Times and contributes to BBC television and radio. His last book was Breakfast with Socrates, recently translated into sixteen languages.