Episode description

The profound effects of losing our sense of smell, why historians should think more about the smells of the past and some thoughts on sneezing from Montaigne and La Condamine. Rana Mitter is joined by philosopher and wine-taster Barry Smith, Chrissi Kelly who founded the charity AbScent following her own experience of anosmia (the loss of smell), sensory historian William Tullett and New Generation Thinker Gemma Tidman.

William Tullett's book Smell and the Past: Noses, Archives, Narratives is out now.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

You can find previous Free Thinking discussions about other body parts available on BBC Sounds and as the Arts & Ideas podcast. We have looked at Knees From dance to prayer, knees ups to kneeling https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gv2t Hands Matthew Sweet explores hands with psychoanalyst Darian Leader, an art historian and a computer scientist https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gnj18 Barry Smith discussed what gives us Pleasure https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tf72 Novelist Michele Roberts discussed evoking smell in fiction https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n24f5