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
