Paul Morley on the north; lost instruments; Cannes report; Angela Gheorghiu's Cultural Exchange - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

With John Wilson.

Writer and critic Paul Morley discusses his new book The North: (And Almost Everything In It). The book is part memoir and part history, exploring what it means to be northern and the contribution the area has made to English cultural and political life.

In Cultural Exchange, in which leading creative minds reflect on a favourite cultural experience, soprano Angela Gheorghiu nominates fellow Romanian Virginia Zeani singing Bellini's I Puritani.

Critic Jason Solomons considers the runners and riders for this year's Palme D'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Coen Brothers new offering Inside Llewyn Davis and Blue Is The Warmest Colour, a love story that has already made history for containing the most explicit lesbian sex scenes in a mainstream movie.

Singer-songwriter John Grant has revealed his anguish after his laptop, containing music and notes for lyrics, was stolen after a recent gig in Brighton. Jazz musician Soweto Kinch was also the victim of theft, but is now reunited with his beloved saxophone, and Beth Orton recovered a lost guitar after help from footballer Joey Barton. All three musicians reflect on their losses - and Soweto Kinch plays his returned saxophone in the Front Row studio.

Producer Ellie Bury.

Further episodes of Front Row: Archive 2013

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