If you’re a fan of great English literature and its relationship to the traditional pub, you may enjoy this program from BBC 4. It was first broadcast March 1 and will be available to listen to on the BBC’s archive until this Saturday, March 6. Here’s the description of it from the website:

From Falstaff at The Boar’s Head to John Self at The Shakespeare in Martin Amis’s Money, English literature and the pub are intertwined. It started in a pub — Chaucer’s pilgrims setting out from The Tabard in Southwark — and has been waiting to be chucked out ever since. Robert Hanks presents an elegy for pubs in literature and an exploration of what the smoking ban, the gastro pub and the five quid pint are going to do to writing.

It’s just under an hour long, but goes by quickly if you love this sort of thing, as I do. So settle in with a beer and give it a listen. Thanks to my friend Glenn Payne for letting me know about this fascinating show.