1 two, itwo, but now mecca final over on bbc two, but now on macca final over on bbc two, but now on bbc news, it is time for meet the author. how can a writer make us care about a creature from greek mythology born of the gods asa it's a challenge for any novelist. madeline miller did it first with achilles, now she tells the story of the great sorceress and enchantress, circe, who leads us through many of the great stories of mythology, behaving badly — like she so often did — but at the same time emerging as a figure with human qualities, including of course vulnerability. who will win many readers' sympathy because she is an individual trying to make sense of a very troubled world. welcome. what is the trick in humanising an immortal nymph like circe?

well, i think i've always found that these ancient myths really resonate with un—human nature, in that they are very timeless in what they are looking at, and i absolutely felt that as i was approaching circe. here she is. yes, she's a goddess, yes, she is a nymph, but she lives in a world where she is the pawn of much more powerful people than herself, and she's on the receiving end. she doesn't have a lot of control initially over what she can do with her life and where she can go, and i think we can all relate to feeling in the grip of larger powers than ourselves. nonetheless, you have to bring them to life. they've got to be something more than statues in a museum, and if we're going to meet odysseus and prometheus and all these people, who've got more than walk—on parts in the story, they need to come off the wall, don't they?

absolutely, and one of the things i love about the ancient myths is that, when we talk about these greek heroes, we use the word hero today to talk about someone who often is a moral exemplar. the ancient greek heroes were not moral exemplars at all. they were very complex, they had huge strengths and also huge faults, and so i really wanted to honour that in all of the characters — particularly circe — to make her a person that is three—dimensional, complex with those flaws and strengths as well. and of course you turn her into a figure who still has the powers, immortality and the ability to turn people into pigs and other things if she wants to and doesn't like them, which she uses, but you give her a humanity. you know, she changes nappies. it's a dangerous game. you are a high school classics teacher by trade. do you ever think, i'm letting this side down?

i certainly have worried about the classics police and getting kicked out of the classics club, but i think that most classicists agree that these stories live because they are retold, and they have been retold so many times over the years, in so many contradictory ways, and that's why they are still with us. and it's no accident that they've been told, because they are fundamental stories. folk myths, same thing. exactly. and i think that there is no such thing as an objective, definitive version of a myth. i think they invite us in to retell them. so, what about her? what sort of person do you think she becomes in your hands? well, i wanted her to be a character who is really forged by being downtrodden very early on in her life, and i think sometimes that can drive people towards then treading on others, but i think it can also draw great empathy and pity for others, and i think that's the way circe goes. and the downtrodden nature that

you reveal is very much connected with herfemininity. yes. this is a world, the ancient greek mythological world is a world that's not kind to women at all. it is not kind to a lot of people, men and women, but in particular as a woman and one of these lower—level nymphs, you are prey. i would not suggest for a second that this is a tract or a great political statement, but it's undoubtedly a book deeply informed by a feminist perspective in the world, isn't it? yes, i really wanted to take this female character and put her at the centre of her own epic. women have traditionally not been the subject of epics. their lives have not been seen as important enough for an epic, and so just as odysseus gets his epic i wanted this to be her epicjourney. and in a way, the humanizing of these mythological figures has to do with the revelation of her, what do we call them, psychological struggles or something? that is, to come back to the very beginning

of our conversation, that is the trick. that's what makes her tick. and, for me, that always comes originally with asking questions. so, the great mystery of circe is why is she turning men into pigs? how do you come to that point in your life? homer does not tell us, odysseus never asks her, and so i think it's really ripe for exploration. i don't believe that people do things just because, or on a whim, i think people have reasons for what they do. and what is your explanation in her character? without giving too much away... indeed, yes. but i think she feels very betrayed and assaulted and abused, at one point, and she lashes out in response to that. so, really, it's vengeance, for her. the ancient world is very, very distant now for people. notjust because of the timeline,

but because it's sort of slipping away. the days when children went to school and many of them learnt latin as just the inevitable thing, have long gone. there is great enthusiasm for the classics in many schools, of course, teachers are determined to keep them alive, but it's a changed day, isn't it? it is changing. although as a high school teacher myself, one thing that i'm always struck by is, when i do get children in the classroom, and i do start talking about the myths, they are immediately gripped. i think these stories are so exciting and filled with huge emotions and things that they can identify with that i think if you can give myth the chance, that children will run towards them. do you see yourself as some kind of classics evangelist here? chuckling. i know you are writing a work of fiction and of the imagination in a way, but you are doing more than that. you are saying, look,

here are great stories and i'm trying to breathe a particular kind of new life and shed some new light on them. it's always really exciting to me whenever someone comes and says i read your book, and it made me go back to homer. that is, for me, the ultimate compliment. i want these novels to be for everyone. but with circe, you made the point earlier that there's so much that isn't explained, that you've got the gift of the unknown to play with. yes, and as it turns out, she has this whole wonderful back story that has absolutely nothing to do with odysseus. she is the aunt of the minotaur, daughter of the sun god helios, she has a connection to prometheus, she's his cousin and all of these... you've got the wildest way of sort of bringing everybody in. like some huge cast of a broadway musical. they are all there.

if you have the opportunity to write a minotaur birth scene i feel you have to take it. absolutely. it's interesting, this struggle between somebody who is in touch with the world of the gods, in the ancient conception, and the world of humanity. it's the kind of thing that wagner struggled with in the ring. how do you make this connection work? it is a big thing to take on. that really comes right out of homer, that he has this beautiful detail about her that she is the dread goddess who speaks like a human, and so i think naturally she is that bridge. she has a sort of foot in each world. and that is the curse, of course? yes, yes. i mean if you are just one thing or the other, you get on with it, but if you are stuck transporting yourself between these two worlds of a human understanding and the kind of eternal life of the gods, how do you handle it? as you say, it is kind of a curse, because it means that you never fully belong anywhere, but it also gives you a very interesting perspective on each of those things. you can stand back and kind of come to see them for their faults, and their strengths, as well.

you don't belong anywhere, but nonetheless in your conception of her, you have a life that is, in its own bizarre way, very enriching. yes. one of the major themes of the odyssey is odysseus has this intense longing for home, and he wants to find his home in ithaca. it is a journey. yes, it is. and i wanted her to have that same sense of searching for home, except she has to create that home. she has to make it for herself. and does she do it? she does. madeline miller, author of circe, thank you very much. thank you so much for having me. another cracking day. we have seen

lots of weather watchers commentary of unbroken blue skies. the north and west of scotland, thicker cloud, and west of scotland, thicker cloud, afairold and west of scotland, thicker cloud, a fair old breeze, like this photo shows in the highlands. all courtesy of this weather front, that will continue to rush through the north—west of the country as we had through the night, and even first thing on the bank holiday monday morning. there will be some low cloud and some missed again, some irish sea coast through the night, but for most places it will be another dry and a clear one. temperatures falling into mid single figures across eastern part of england, a little bit of missed developing, but most towns and cities, no lower than nine to 12 celsius. we start bank holiday monday on a dry, bright note, those temperatures rising pretty quickly. it has become very warm across england and wales through the afternoon. more cloud across the north west of scotland, some showers, maybe some low cloud and most affecting some irish sea coast but head inland, very warm, 27 or 28

celsius likely to be the high, and this will be a record breaker. as we head into tuesday, this area of low pressure since its weather fronts out across the uk. it means temperatures will start to fall across northern and western areas in particular. the weather front also produce the outbreaks of rain across parts of northern ireland, into maybe north—west england thomas keiser britain for northern ireland later, but for the eastern side of england again another sunny and very warm day, 26 or 27 celsius. the cooler air with this next area of low pressure will continue to make inroads across the country. this system will have more oomph to it, this weather front will have more energy, it will bring outbreaks of rain to northern ireland initially, then into western parts of britain as the day wears on through wednesday. quite windy as well, particularly around hills and coasts, but across the east and the south—east, you could hold onto some fairly warm weather again, temperatures around 20 degrees with the best of the sunshine. the general trend is as this week

continues, it will start to cool down from the west. there will be some rain at times, the best of any sunshine across the south and east. this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall, the headlines: a 17—year—old boy is shot dead in south london. his mother appeals for an end to the violence in the capital this year. let my son be the last and be an example to everyone, just let it stop! tributes and messages of support for former manchester united manager sir alex ferguson, who remains in intensive care after surgery for a brain haemorrhage. a new customs partnership with the european union is still on the table, according to the business secretary, greg clark. and in sports news — celebrations on the blue side of the city. manchester city lift the trophy and are crowned premier league champions. and adieu, arsene. tributes are paid to the gunners boss in his final home game for arsenal,

where his side thrashed burnley.