³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Are the British to clouds what the Inuit are to snow? Alexandra Harris tells the story of the weather’s role in our cultural life.

Alexandra Harris tells the story of how the weather has written and painted itself into the cultural life of Britain. Are we to clouds what the Inuit was to snow?

Cloud meant 'hill' in Middle English, a solid, earthy thing. Looking at a cumulus cloud, rising bumpy and steep-sided above us, it's easy to see why.

For a while in the 14th century, the same Northumbrian poem could contain both the tangible and the metaphorical, before the earthy meaning gradually faded, leaving its solid residue in our vocabulary in the form of ‘clot’ and ‘clod’.

The figurative meaning soared, and clouds were ever after phenomena of the sky.

Music by Jon Nicholls.

Producer: Tim Dee

First broadcast on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4 in May 2016.