The Suspicious Death of Emile Zola
Listen now
Description
Steve Punt returns as Radio 4's very own private detective. Punt travels to Paris to investigate the suspicious death of celebrated writer Émile Zola. Zola died in 1902 from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a blocked chimney. At the time, the authorities reached a verdict of accidental death. Subsequently, evidence has emerged that Zola's death may have been murder. Certainly Zola's role in France's notorious Dreyfus Affair made him many enemies. But as Punt discovers, the case is far from clear cut. For one thing, carbon monoxide is a very unusual way of murdering someone. Punt summons the experts and weighs up the evidence. Producer: Laurence Grissell.
More Episodes
Marcel Duchamp is considered one of the great artists of the 20th century, but was his greatest achievement - Fountain - a urinal bearing the signature R. Mutt, the work of someone else? The original Fountain has long been lost, and for many decades forgotten, but in the 1950's became such a...
Published 09/23/17
Published 09/23/17
One afternoon in July 1953 Father Henryk Borynski, a Polish priest living in Bradford, took a telephone call. His housekeeper heard him say "OK, I'll go". He put on his hat, and his coat and left. He was never seen again. Many Poles fled to the United Kingdom during World War II and settled in...
Published 09/16/17