Stephen Fry
4) Mexico
Language
English
Description
In this video, Stephen Fry travels through Mexico participating in local customs, learning the culture, and exploring historic sites. Places visited include: Chihuahua, Barranca, Real de Catorce, Teotihuacan, Mexico City, and Acapulco.
5) Identity
Language
English
Description
What makes one group of humans different from another? In this program, Stephen Fry argues that above all, it is the way they speak - be it a national language, regional dialect, or even class variation. Visiting markets in Kenya and call centers in Newcastle, Fry charts the shifting patterns of lingua franca and the inexorable spread of Globish (global English). Topics include English accents (with Ian McMillan); multilingualism; Jewish humor and...
Language
English
Description
Storytelling has been with us as long as language itself. The desire to both entertain and explain has resulted in the flowering of language to describe every aspect of the human condition. In this program, Stephen Fry discovers what makes a good story, and why some writers are better at conveying joy or horror than others. Topics include the Odyssey and the Iliad; James Joyce's Ulysses; the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Stephen King (with Lord of...
Language
English
Description
In this program, Stephen Fry delves into the history of the written word, starting with the earliest writing - cuneiform - and ending with blogging and twittering. Along the way he looks at how printing shaped our relationship with writing, eventually resulting in libraries, encyclopedias, and computer code. Topics include Egyptian hieroglyphics, Homer, and the Phoenicians; the spread of Arabic; pinyin and Chinese literacy (with Zhou Youguang, called...
Language
English
Description
Is bipolar disorder simply the latest label for bad behavior? Does the condition fuel the creative drive of great artists? Is there something glamorous about a diagnosis of bipolar disorder? In this program Stephen Fry shares his personal experience with BPD and answers questions that the diagnosis frequently raises. Investigating the misleading highs and the depressive lows that led him to repeated suicide attempts, Fry educates viewers about BPD's...
Language
English
Description
Stephen Fry knows that the taunting voice in his head is a symptom of his bipolar disorder, but he has not sought medical treatment for the disease. In this program Fry looks into the options available for BPD patients after discovering that his illness has progressed. Like many, he rejects lithium due to its cognitive dulling effect, though actor Richard Dreyfuss tells Fry he had great success with the drug. Fry speaks with people who have tried...
10) Uses and Abuses
Language
English
Description
While not everyone approves of "'bad" words, in this program Stephen Fry learns that profanity plays an important role in human communication. Fry undergoes an MRI scan to find the part of the brain associated with swearing, and meets a stroke patient and a person with Tourette syndrome, both of whom say they can't help using the F-word. Topics include swearing to relieve pain (with Brian Blessed); the power of bad words in humor and social interactions...