Radio listener: Mr Jupitus in the Age of Steampunk | Hy-Brasil | Arthur and George | My Life in Five Books

IMAGINE a present resembling a future as imagined in the late 19th century, in which steam, rather than the internal combustion engine, has prevailed, powering overland transport, submarines, even flying machines.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Sep 2012, 18:42 BST

Mr Jupitus in the Age of Steampunk

Monday, Radio 4, 4pm

Hy-Brasil

Wednesday, Radio 4, 11am

Arthur and George

Monday, Radio 4 Extra, 2:30pm

My Life in Five Books

Thursday, Radio Scotland, 2:05pm

Such is the history-bending cult known as steampunk, not only an entertainingly anachronistic sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy but also a style ethos informing music, arts and even fashion, replete with creations which look familiar to anyone raised on Jules Verne and HG Wells.

Phil Jupitus dons his flying goggles to investigate this daftest of all possible worlds, in which the 19th and 21st centuries collide, in MR JUPITUS IN THE AGE OF STEAMPUNK. He meets some serious adherents, including science-fiction author Adam Roberts, 19th-century literature specialist Dr Christine Ferguson and Dr Chandrika Nath of the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, who leads a double life as singer with the band Sunday Driver, combining Asian and English folk with indie pop and steampunk influences.

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Further flights of imagination this week head for the ancient Celtic legend of Hy-Brasil, the elusive island in the west which only reveals itself every seven years. In HY-BRASIL, Paul Evans takes an imaginary voyage into the unknown to investigate this land beyond the sunset, which was documented as lying off the south-western coast of Ireland in a map drawn in 1325.

That storyteller par excellence Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spun many a fantasy in his time, but the creator of Sherlock Holmes proved himself a hard-headed investigator in his own right when he championed a young Parsi solicitor, George 
Edjali, who was wrongfully accused of a series of vicious attacks on horses. Julian Barnes based his much praised 2005 novel Arthur and George on the case, and Clive Merrison reads it on Radio 4 Extra, starting on 
Monday.

Literature is also the topic as MY LIFE IN FIVE BOOKS returns to 
Radio Scotland, this week featuring Stuart Cosgrove talking to literary agent Jenny Brown, who describes Jennie Erdal’s Ghosting as the book that changed her life.