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Free Thinking, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3's unique annual festival of ideas, returns to Gateshead this November where leading public figures from arts, literature and politics will be discussing The Pursuit of Happiness, and many other topics.

The annual festival, now in its fifth year, which takes place from 5-7 November at The Sage Gateshead, examines and celebrates the world of ideas through debates, interviews, specially-commissioned radio drama, essays, music and conversation.

Among the speakers are Lord Blair – former Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police; children's author Dame Jacqueline Wilson; Kevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs; and renowned actress Fiona Shaw.

Lord Blair of Boughton, once Britain's most senior policeman, will be discussing society's relationship with violence.

Former Children's Laureate, Jacqueline Wilson, will be launching the festival with the annual Free Thinking lecture on Friday evening by asking whether literature encourages us to believe that happiness is easier to find than it really is.

Kevin McCloud, best known for his work on Grand Designs, will be offering his perspective on the man-made world and the value of craftsmanship to the way we live now.

Fiona Shaw, regarded as one of the finest classical actresses of her generation, explains how it feels to don the persona of Hedda Gabler or Miss Jean Brodie each evening, and then walk out of the theatre into ordinary life.

For the first time, Free Thinking will also have a guest curator – the award-winning screenwriter and novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce, who has chosen the theme of marriage for one of the debates and will be giving his own talk on the importance of failure.

Further speakers for the weekend include comediennes Natalie Haynes and Janey Godley; booker prize-winning novelist Pat Barker; political journalist Mehdi Hasan; Vicar of Jesmond David Holloway; psychotherapist Jan McGregor Hepburn; and writers Julian Gough, Sarah Maitland and Sarah Dunant.

Participatory events include a joint event with Newcastle's Café Culture called Theory Slam! (a fast-paced talk-off against the clock where ideas have to be communicated in under three minutes) and Free Thinking's ever-popular Speed Dating with a Thinker event, led by Radio 3 presenter Ian McMillan.

The three days will consist of over 25 events, all of which are free. The events will also be broadcast on Radio 3 during the weekend and in subsequent editions of Night Waves – the station's arts and ideas magazine programme – and The Verb, Radio 3's "cabaret" of new writing.

In a first for this year's Free Thinking, Radio 3 and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 5 Live will be hosting a simulcast debate arguing which is more important – sport or the arts?

In another first for this year's festival, Radio 3 will also be broadcasting a series of local events in the run-up to the main festival, entitled A Little Bit of Free Thinking. These include a debate on the future of reading at Barter Books in Alnwick, a discussion on the globalisation of higher education at the University of Sunderland and a live broadcast with leading authors from the Gala Theatre in Durham, as part of the Durham Book Festival.

Roger Wright, Controller of Radio 3, said: "We are delighted to be returning to The Sage Gateshead and building on the successes of last year's festival. Innovative speech programming is a key feature of Radio 3's output and Free Thinking is a celebratory moment for our speech programmes.

"I am sure that the audiences both for the public events and on-air will enjoy the ambition of this stimulating festival."

Anthony Sargent, General Director of The Sage Gateshead, said: "We were very happy to host last year's Free Thinking and are delighted to welcome back one of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's most innovative cultural festivals for a second year.

"In its first five years The Sage Gateshead has won an international reputation for its lively, welcoming ambience and innovative approach to programming and, for us, Free Thinking is a very particularly enjoyable and rewarding new partnership."

Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival is produced in collaboration with ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Newcastle. Further details of the festival will be announced in due course.

Free Thinking on Radio 3

The Free Thinking Lecture (Jacqueline Wilson)
Friday 5 November 2010, 9.15pm

An Evening of Free Thinking
Sunday 7 November 2010
Highlights from the festival, including Drama On 3 and Words And Music, recorded over the weekend

Night Waves and The Verb
Monday to Friday from 8 November onwards, 9.15pm
The best of the interviews, lectures, performances debates and audience discussion recorded at Free Thinking

Further broadcast highlights will be announced in due course.

Event and ticket information

Tickets for main Free Thinking Festival (5-7 November) are free. Bookings can be made now by calling The Sage Gateshead ticket office on 0191 443 4661 or online at thesagegateshead.org.

Links for the Free Thinking events at Barter Books, The University of Sunderland and the Durham Book Festival can be found at bbc.co.uk/radio3.

Notes to Editors

Radio 3 broadcasts classical music, jazz, world music, arts programmes and drama. Last year ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3 broadcast over 600 complete concerts and operas from venues and festivals across the UK and beyond. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 3 is the home of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Proms and broadcasts every concert live. It supports composers, writers and new young performers and last year broadcast over 40 new drama productions. bbc.co.uk/radio3.

The First Free Thinking Festival was held in Liverpool in November 2006. Previous contributors have included David Miliband, Brian Eno, Rev Ian Paisley, William Orbit, A S Byatt, Howard Jacobson, Bill Drummond, Tanya Byron, Phil Redmond and Gina McKee.

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