Cultural life, the radio four podcast, she reveals her formative influences and experiences, and how her passion for playing was there from the start. I knew very young there was no question i wanted to play the violin. There was no question that that was what i must do and had to do and wanted to do. Have you played here much, nicky . They chuckle nicola benedetti, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you so much for having me. Its an absolute pleasure. You were born and brought up in north ayrshire. What are your earliest musical memories at home . What memories do you have of music being played at home . The bee gees and abba. Later on, good dose of shania twain. That was all my dads taste. My mum definitely had a kenny g record. Um. She laughs saxophone . Theyll kill me for saying all of this quite like this, but its the truth both of your parents were born in italy, werent they . Yes. Was it an italian household culturally growing up . Its a good question. I would say both parents
Because a play that you originally wrote in 2012 and put on in 2012 has been revived at the National Theatre in london in just the last few days. And its got me wondering, as you have been heavily involved with the revival, how have you sort of seen the evolution of your own writing and what interests you . Have you changed in the decade . Yes, i think i have. I mean, its so interesting to go back to something you wrote just over ten years ago. As you say, 2012 was the first production of it. Its a play called the effect, and it follows. It follows two triallists taking part in a Clinical Trial for a new antidepressant and two doctors running it. And the triallists basically start to fall in love, but dont know whether they are actually falling in love or if its an effect of the new antidepressant that theyre trialling. And of course, when i wrote it originally, i felt very close to these young sort of Romeo And Juliet 20 somethings feeling excited and romantic for the first time. And
i m beginning this week in northern france, on a journey that two and a half million people take each year. i m kind of getting an idea of how popular this place must be, because it s off season, it s super cold but this bus is packed. i can see i vejust got a glimpse of the abbey. it does look pretty special. this is mont saint michel, one of france s most visited sites. it s an island off the coast of brittany, in normandy, connected to the mainland by a half a mile long bridge that opened back in 2014. and this year, the island celebrates a very special anniversary. it is the 1,000th anniversary of the construction of the church. how on earth did they construct something like this 1,000 years ago? mm hm. yeah, this is the best of medieval engineering. and it started off as a sanctuary dedicated to saint michel, saint michael, in the year 708. then it took off, you know, the pilgrims started to come. they had to come across the bay, so walk through the sands, and then i
our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. the american say the attack happened at abase known as tower 22, right on the syrian jordanian border. it is one of many american bases across the region. there have been dozens of drone and missile attacks in recent months, but no american personnel had been killed until now. joe biden, seen here attending church this morning, was quick to point the finger. we know it was carried out by radical iran backed militant groups operating in syria and iraq, he said. it s not necessarily a tipping point into uncontrolled escalation between the united states and iran, but is a dangerous step because, as i say, the us will have to respond even more strongly than it has done to previous attacks. carefully cultivated over yea rs, iran has a wide network of allies and proxies operating in countries across the middle east. they are all opposed to israel and the united states it s sometimes called the axis of resistance. there are pro ir
paul adams reports. the american say the attack happened at abase known as tower 22, right on the syrian jordanian border. it is one of many american bases across the region. there ve been dozens of drone and missile attacks in recent months, but no american personnel had been killed until now. joe biden, seen here attending church this afternoon, was quick to point the finger. we know it was carried out by radical iran backed militant groups operating in syria and iraq, he said. it s not necessarily a tipping point into uncontrolled escalation between the united states and iran, but is a dangerous step because, as i say, the us will have to respond more strongly than it has done to previous attacks. carefully cultivated over years, iran has a wide network of allies and proxies operating in countries across the middle east. they are all opposed to israel and the united states it s sometimes called the axis of resistance. there are pro iranian militias in lebanon, the pal