#198 Giant: An opera about the legacy of the ‘Irish giant’ Charles Byrne and the surgeon John Hunter

Welcome to CultureLab, from New Scientist podcasts. In this episode, culture and comment editor Alison Flood speaks with composer Sarah Angliss. 

Sarah has written a new opera called Giant, which is based on the true story of the 18th-century “Irish giant” Charles Byrne, who had an undiagnosed benign tumour of his pituitary gland which caused him to grow to be 2.31m tall. Byrne’s corpse was stolen and later put on public display by the surgeon John Hunter, despite his explicit wishes to be buried at sea. 

Giant premieres in June at the Aldeburgh Festival, 240 years since Byrne’s death.

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