The John Batchelor Show

Saturday 13 February 2016

Air Date: 
February 13, 2016

Photo, left:  The Battle of Alexander at Issus (German: Alexanderschlacht) is a 1529 oil painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538), a pioneer of landscape art and a founding member of the Danube school. It portrays the 333 BC Battle of Issus, in which Alexander the Great secured a decisive victory over Darius III of Persia and gained crucial leverage in his campaign against the Persian Empire. The painting is widely regarded as Altdorfer's masterpiece, and is one of the most famous examples of the type of Renaissance landscape painting known as the world landscape, which here reaches an unprecedented grandeur.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World, by Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray (1 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World, by Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray (2 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World, by Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray (3 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World, by Jim Lacey and Williamson Murray (4 of 4)
 
Hour Two
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book), by Stephen R. Bown (1 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book), by Stephen R. Bown (2 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book), by Stephen R. Bown (3 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book), by Stephen R. Bown (4 of 4)
 
Hour Three
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  The Nile: A Journey Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present, by Toby Wilkinson (1 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: The Nile: A Journey Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present, by Toby Wilkinson (2 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: The Nile: A Journey Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present, by Toby Wilkinson (3 of 4)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: The Nile: A Journey Downriver Through Egypt's Past and Present, by Toby Wilkinson (4 of 4)
 
Hour Four
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  Alexander the Great, by Philip Freeman (1 of 2)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Alexander the Great, by Philip Freeman (2 of 2)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  Wicked Company: Radical Freethinkers and Friendship in Pre-Revolutionary Paris, by Philipp Blom (1 of 2)
Saturday 13 February 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:  Wicked Company: Radical Freethinkers and Friendship in Pre-Revolutionary Paris, by Philipp Blom (2 of 2)
'Ferney-Voltaire is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. It lies between the Jura mountains and the Swiss border and forms part of the metropolitan area of Geneva. Ferney was first noted in 14th-century Burgundian registers as "Fernex." Four centuries later, however, Voltaire changed the "x" to a "y" due to the excessive number of towns in the region with names ending in "x," such as Maconnex, Saconnex, Gex, Versonnex, Ornex.
During Voltaire's reign over Ferney in the second part of the 18th century, the town saw rapid expansion. Today Ferney is a peaceful town with a Saturday market and a large international community, due to the proximity of CERN and the United Nations Office at Geneva. Ferney is growing very quickly. It is also home to the Lycée International. Voltaire still presides over Ferney with his statue in the center of town.'