BBC Radio Podcasts from In Our Time

Rawls' Theory of Justice (Summer Repeat)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Rawls' influential ideas on liberty and equality

Walter Benjamin (Summer Repeat)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most influential thinkers of the last century

Nineteen Eighty-Four (Summer Repeat)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orwell's novel on totalitarianism, truth and surveillance

The Sistine Chapel (Summer Repeat)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Michelangelo's iconic frescoes in Renaissance Rome

Tocqueville: Democracy in America (Summer Repeat)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy

Bacteriophages

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how viruses can help us track and cure bacterial illnesses

Monet in England

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Claude Monet's fascination with the foggy Thames.

Karma

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the doctrine on how you answer for your own actions.

Fielding's Tom Jones

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great English comic novels.

The Orkneyinga Saga

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Saga of the Earls of Orkney up to the 13th century.

Marsilius of Padua

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great figures in the history of political ideas

Empress Dowager Cixi

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman who dominated China's court for almost 50 years.

Philippa Foot

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century

Sir Thomas Wyatt

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the astonishing poet at the heart of Henry VIII's court

Mercury

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet closest to our Sun.

Bertolt Brecht

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great 20th-century German playwright.

Napoleon's Hundred Days

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Napoleon Bonaparte's surprise coup in 1815 before Waterloo

Lysistrata

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristophanes' comedy in which a sex strike brings peace.

Nikola Tesla

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated Serbian-American inventor.

The Kalevala

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the epic poem that helped build the Finnish nation.

Julian the Apostate

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the emperor who aimed to return Christian Rome to paganism

The Waltz

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of the waltz on British society and culture.

The Mokrani Revolt

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a major Algerian uprising against French rule in 1871.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Heisenberg's key role at the outset of quantum mechanics

The Sack of Rome 1527

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Holy Roman Emperor's army's notorious attack on Romans

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's fantastical tale inspired by Alice Liddell

Hormones

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the chemical signals that control the ways our bodies work

The Hanseatic League

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval trading network the Hanseatic League.

Panpsychism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that fundamental particles have consciousness.

Nefertiti

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and impact of ancient Egypt's best-known queen.

Condorcet

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the last great figures of the Enlightenment.

Twelfth Night, or What You Will

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's great comedy of love, desire and marriage.

Vincent van Gogh

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Dutch painter of Sunflowers and Starry Nights.

Tiberius

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man born in Republican Rome who became second Emperor.

Karl Barth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential Swiss protestant theologian.

Edgar Allan Poe

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of the Fall of the House of Usher.

Marguerite de Navarre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss writer and Renaissance queen Marguerite de Navarre.

The Theory of the Leisure Class

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Veblen on conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure.

The Barbary Corsairs

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of North African privateers on law and language

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's ideas on how to live a good life.

Germinal

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's novel, set in a French miners' strike.

Julian of Norwich

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval anchoress and her Revelations of Divine Love.

The Federalist Papers

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hamilton, Madison and Jay's urgings for a US Constitution.

Plankton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny lifeforms that sustain so much life on earth.

The Economic Consequences of the Peace

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Keynes' influential attack on the Treaty of Versailles

The Seventh Seal

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bergman's iconic film of a knight playing chess with Death

Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain

To mark his 1000th episode of In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain.

Albert Einstein

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Einstein's astonishing impact on theoretical physics.

Jupiter

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the largest planet in our solar system.

Elizabeth Anscombe

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential 20th-century moral philosopher.

Death in Venice

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Mann's novella of 1912.

Oedipus Rex

Melvyn Bragg and guests on Sophocles' tragedy, sometimes called the best play ever written

Mitochondria

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth.

Louis XIV: The Sun King

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and reign of the French king who built Versailles

Virgil's Georgics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet's celebration of agriculture and rural life

The Shimabara Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1637-8 Christian uprising in Japan.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Biblical texts and documents found in the late 1940s.

Walt Whitman

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the innovative and highly influential American poet.

Linnaeus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and legacy of the pioneering Swedish botanist.

The Battle of Crécy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1346 conflict between the armies of France and England

Cnut

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Dane who became a powerful King of England in 1016.

A Room of One's Own

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Virginia Woolf's essay on women and literature.

Solon the Lawgiver

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the statesman who transformed Athens in the 6th century BC

Mercantilism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea which dominated European economies for 300 years.

The Ramayana

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Sanskrit epic.

Megaliths

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what we know about ancient stones placed in the landscape.

Paul Erdős

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the prolific Hungarian mathematician.

Stevie Smith

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the writer best known for her poem Not Waving But Drowning

Chartism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 19th-century campaign for greater democracy.

Tycho Brahe

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 16th-century astronomer, renowned for his accuracy.

Superconductivity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why some materials lose all electrical resistance.

Rawls' Theory of Justice

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Rawls' influential ideas on liberty and equality.

John Donne

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the priest who was one of England's finest love poets.

The Great Stink

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1858 crisis from the flow of sewage into the Thames.

Persuasion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Austen's last complete novel, published after her death.

Citizen Kane

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' celebrated and influential film from 1941.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes and early consequences of the 1798 rebellion.

The Nibelungenlied

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval German epic The Song of the Nibelungs.

The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great global Victorian voyage of scientific discovery.

Demosthenes' Philippics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the speeches that set the standard for political attacks.

Bauhaus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential German school founded by Walter Gropius.

The Morant Bay Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events in Jamaica in 1865 and their consequences.

Wilfred Owen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the outstanding poets of the First World War.

The Fish-Tetrapod Transition

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great stages in the evolution of life on Earth.

Berthe Morisot

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the innovative artist at the heart of French impressionism

The Knights Templar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise and abrupt fall of the famous military order.

The Electron

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the atomic particle that's proved a gateway to modernity.

Plato's Atlantis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Plato's story of the great, lost island of Atlantis.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orwell's novel on totalitarianism, truth and surveillance.

John Bull

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and evolution of the satirical everyman figure

Angkor Wat

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Cambodian temple complex, begun 900 years ago.

Dylan Thomas

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poems, plays and persona of the prominent Welsh writer

The Death of Stars

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the ends of stars can lead to new planets and new life

Hegel's Philosophy of History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hegel's ideas on the consciousness of freedom.

Comenius

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 17th-century Czech educator committed to toleration.

Tang Era Poetry

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Li Bai and Du Fu from the Golden Age of Chinese Poetry.

The Davidian Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the lasting impact of David I, King of Scotland c1084-1153

Early Christian Martyrdom

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Eusebius of Caesarea and his stories of Christian martyrs.

Olympe de Gouges

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of The Declaration of the Rights of Woman, 1791

Homo erectus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the two-million-year span of our most adaptable ancestor.

Polidori's The Vampyre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1819 work that inspired two centuries of vampire tales

The Sistine Chapel

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Michelangelo's iconic frescoes in Renaissance Rome.

Antigone

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Sophocles' tragedy of an autocrat who defies family ties.

Charisma

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Max Weber's idea of charismatic authority in leadership

Seismology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the study of earthquakes helps reveal Earth's secrets.

The Arthashastra

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Indian Sanskrit text the Arthashastra.

In Our Time is now first on BBC Sounds

New episodes will now be available first on Sounds for 28 days before other podcast apps.

Peter Kropotkin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the prominent Russian anarchist and his idea of Mutual Aid

Romeo and Juliet

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's tragedy of young star-crossed love in Verona

Walter Benjamin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most influential thinkers of the last century.

The Temperance Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the enthusiasm in Britain for abstaining from alcohol.

Colette

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a major force in French culture in the 20th century.

The Gold Standard

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what happened when world currencies were tied to gold

Thomas Hardy's Poetry

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hardy's goal of being a great poet and how he succeeded.

Fritz Lang

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a giant of cinema in Weimar Germany and Hollywood.

The Hittites

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great powers of the Late Bronze Age.

A Christmas Carol

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Charles Dickens' celebrated story of Scrooge's redemption.

The May Fourth Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and protests in 1919 that shaped modern China.

The Battle of Trafalgar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Nelson's famous victory and death on 21 October 1805.

Plato's Gorgias

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Plato's exploration of the nature of power and freedom.

The Decadent Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Beardsley, Wilde and art for art's sake in the 1890s.

William and Caroline Herschel

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the siblings at the forefront of 18th-century astronomy

The Song of Roland

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a masterpiece of French epic poetry from the 12th century.

Corals

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the simple animals which form the now-threatened reefs.

Iris Murdoch

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophy of the celebrated author of The Bell.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Europe's largest republic, before its partition in 1772.

The Manhattan Project

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb before anyone else in WW2

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Anne Bronte's novel of a woman's fight for independence.

Herodotus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek writer known as the father of history.

The Evolution of Crocodiles

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the land animals of the Triassic that dominated dinosaurs.

Shakespeare's Sonnets

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss some of the greatest and most challenging poems in English

Edward Gibbon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Booth's Life and Labour Survey

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Charles Booth's landmark survey of London's poor and rich.

Kant's Copernican Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Kant's insight into how we relate to the world around us.

The Interregnum

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the upheavals of 1649-60 in the British Isles

Journey to the West

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great novel from the Ming Era, with its heroic Monkey.

Longitude

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea of longitude and the race to calculate it at sea.

The Second Barons' War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Simon de Montfort's fatal struggle with Henry III's forces

Ovid

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most influential poets of Rome's Augustan Age.

The Franco-American Alliance 1778

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French fight against Britain in America and its impact

Arianism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an orthodox form of Christianity that became a heresy.

Pierre-Simon Laplace

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician behind metrication.

The Russo-Japanese War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1904-5 clash of Japanese and Russian empires.

David Ricardo

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ricardo's argument on free trade after the Napoleonic wars

The Bacchae

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the revenge of Dionysus on Thebes in Euripides' tragedy.

The Late Devonian Extinction

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the five major extinction events on Earth so far.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Coleridge's famous poem of a sailor who shot an albatross.

Marcus Aurelius

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and meditations of 'the last good Roman emperor'.

Medieval Pilgrimage

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Christian pilgrimage in Europe in the Middle Ages.

The Rosetta Stone

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the deciphering of hieroglyphs, secret for 1,500 years.

Emilie du Châtelet

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an astonishing mathematician of the French Enlightenment.

Saint Cuthbert

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life of one of England's most revered saints.

The Plague of Justinian

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scale and impact of the plague that raged in 541AD.

The Great Gatsby

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Fitzgerald's celebrated novel of the Jazz Age.

Eclipses

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientific advances gained from studying eclipses.

The Cultural Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mao's uprising against his own party from 1966-76

John Wesley and Methodism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wesley's role in the rise of Methodism in the 18th Century

Fernando Pessoa

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great Portuguese poet and his many literary personas.

The Zong Massacre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the infamous drowning of enslaved Africans in 1781.

Albrecht Dürer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and timeless works of the great German artist.

Mary Astell

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher Mary Astell (1666 – 1731).

Piers Plowman

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Langland's celebrated poem, written around 1370.

Maria Theresa

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman who ruled Austria, shaking up the European order

Alan Turing

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the short, brilliant life of computer science's founder.

Deism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most disruptive ideas of the Enlightenment.

Macbeth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies.

Cave Art

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how and why Stone Age people decorated caves with images.

Pericles

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated Athenian statesman and orator.

Frankenstein

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Shelley's Gothic story of a monster brought to life

The Covenanters

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Presbyterian solidarity in C17th Scotland and its impact.

Paul Dirac

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest theoretical physicists who ever lived.

The Evolution of Horses

Discussion of the origin, migration, extinction and domestication of horses.

The Valladolid Debate

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dispute in 1550 over enslavement of native Americans.

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Germanic tribes' destruction of three Roman legions.

George Sand

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated French novelist, her life and work.

Alcuin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scholar who revived learning for its own sake in C8th

Solar Wind

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss solar wind, from auroras to the edge of the solar system.

The Siege of Paris 1870-71

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Paris under Prussian siege and then under the Commune

Catullus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poems of Catullus from the late Roman Republic

Tutankhamun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb and what that revealed

Auden

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss WH Auden's life and his poetry from the 1930s.

Coffee

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of coffee and its impact

Lawrence of Arabia

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lawrence of Arabia for this year's Listener Week

Li Shizhen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the heights of medical knowledge under the Ming dynasty

Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most powerful woman in the C12th Kingdom of Jerusalem

Crime and Punishment

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Dostoevsky's novel. The hero thinks he's above the law....

The Treaty of Limerick

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the treaty ending the Williamite War in Ireland in 1691

Hybrids

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how parents from different species can reproduce

Robert Burns

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry, ideas and life of Robert Burns (1759-1796).

The Time Machine

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the science and ideas in HG Wells' story of time travel.

Rousseau on Education

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ideas on the education of children

Dorothy Hodgkin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Rapture

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that believers will vanish from the world.

Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why Napoleon's apparent victory turned to defeat in 1812.

Lorca

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Spanish poet and playwright's work, life and death.

Doggerland

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Stone Age human habitats now covered by the North Sea.

The Mytilenaean Debate

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Athenians' change of mind in the Peloponnesian War.

The Inca

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the advanced Andean empire, dominant until Pizarro arrived

Sir Thomas Browne

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physician with a curious mind in dangerous times

President Ulysses S Grant

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Grant's role in reconstructing the USA after the Civil War

Kinetic Theory

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how we know gas molecules move rather than keep still.

Bergson and Time

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Henri Bergson's ideas about our experience of time passing

The Gordon Riots

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes of the violence of June 1780 and repercussions.

Nero

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most notorious rulers of ancient Rome.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's comedy, one of his most popular plays

The Evolution of Teeth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how teeth evolved in our toothless ancestors - and why.

The Great Irish Famine

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes and consequences of the Famine of 1845-49.

The Danelaw

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Danish impact on England in 9th and 10th centuries.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 'the only influential poet of the Victorian age'.

Authenticity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what it means to be oneself

William Cecil

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most powerful man in the court of Elizabeth I.

Antarah ibn Shaddad

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry and context of this pre-Islamic Arabian knight

Pheromones

A discussion of the chemicals that animals use in order to affect others of their species.

Judith beheading Holofernes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how this Bible story has inspired artists for centuries.

Aristotle's Biology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientific study of life, originated by Aristotle.

Owain Glyndwr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fight for Welsh independence in the early 15th century

Emmy Noether

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of one of the great 20th-century mathematicians.

Samuel Beckett

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the playwright and novelist, author of Waiting for Godot

Papal Infallibility

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that Popes cannot err in exercise of their office

Venus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet closest to Earth, sometimes called Earth's twin

The Poor Laws

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Poor Law of 1834 and the rise of the workhouse

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest poems from medieval England

The Thirty Years War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the devastating war across the Holy Roman Empire 1618-1648

The Long March

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Red Army's retreat across China, from October 1934

Hope

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophy of hope - a weakness or a strength?

Horace

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet Horace, who flourished under Augustus.

Marie Antoinette

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Austrian princess, guillotined as Queen of France.

Free Radicals

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the molecules linked to cell functioning and ageing

The Fable of the Bees

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mandeville's work on the public benefit of private vices.

Is Shakespeare History? The Romans

Melvyn Bragg discusses the impact of Shakespeare's approach to history (programme 2 of 2).

Is Shakespeare History? The Plantagenets

Melvyn Bragg discusses the impact of Shakespeare's approach to history (programme 1 of 2)

Edith Wharton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wharton's novels of America's Gilded Age.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German theologian, killed for plotting against Hitler

Automata

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of machines imitating living beings.

The Iliad

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the epic poem on the wrath of Achilles in the Trojan War.

William Morris

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a great cultural figure of the 19th century.

The Mexican-American War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1846-48 war that cost Mexico half its territory.

Echolocation

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how some animals sense their world with sound not sight.

Montesquieu

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss republicanism, despotism and the separation of powers.

Persepolis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Achaemenid Empire's great ceremonial capital.

Henrik Ibsen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the playwright and his tragedies of middle-class life.

Margaret of Anjou

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Queen of England at the start of the Wars of the Roses

The Emancipation of the Serfs

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the freeing of a third of Russians from serfdom in 1861.

The Mabinogion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval Welsh stories of Celtic mythology.

The Almoravid Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great empires of the Islamic west.

The Proton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Proton, found in the nuclei of all elements.

Middlemarch

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Eliot's greatest novel, published 1871-72.

George and Robert Stephenson

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George and Robert Stephenson and the birth of railways.

Roman Slavery

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the relationship between slavery and the power of Rome.

Tocqueville: Democracy in America

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy.

Augustine's Confessions

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss St Augustine's account of his conversion to Christianity.

The Highland Clearances

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss evictions and migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Sun Tzu and The Art of War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential ancient Chinese work on military strategy.

Rosalind Franklin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin.

Fungi

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss fungi.

Frederick Douglass

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of Frederick Douglass, born to slavery.

Cephalopods

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the biology of squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus.

Cicero

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the political philosophy of Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Anna Akhmatova

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the celebrated Russian poet.

The Siege of Malta, 1565

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ottoman attack on the Knights Hospitaller in Malta.

Hamlet

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's best known, longest and most quoted play.

Beethoven

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and influence of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Thomas Becket

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, murder and impact of Thomas Becket (c 1118-1170)

Moby Dick

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most popular idea sent in by listeners.

Carl Friedrich Gauss

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Gauss, one of the great mathematicians.

Thebes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek city of Thebes in myth, drama and history.

Germaine de Stael

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and works of the great woman of letters.

The Picts

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss history and culture of the Picts.

Picasso's Guernica

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events behind and impact of Picasso's iconic work.

Feathered Dinosaurs

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss which dinosaurs were feathered, and their links to birds.

The Congress of Vienna

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Congress of Vienna, 1814-15.

Aphra Behn

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aphra Behn (1640-1689): playwright, poet, spy.

Constantine the Great

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman emperor Constantine the Great.

Wuthering Heights

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights.

Kant's Categorical Imperative

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the difference between right and wrong, according to Kant.

al-Biruni

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Central Asian scientist and historian al-Biruni.

Bird Migration

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how birds navigate and the risks and benefits of migration

Plato's Republic

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great works of political and ethical theory.

Eugene Onegin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pushkin's masterpiece, Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse.

The American Populists

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rural protest movement in America's Gilded Age.

Christine de Pizan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Christine de Pizan (c1364-1430).

Enzymes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss enzymes, the catalysts essential for life.

Purgatory

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the idea of Purgatory.

Louis Pasteur

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Louis Pasteur, known as a founder of microbiology.

Emily Dickinson

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), celebrated American poet.

The Battle of Lincoln 1217

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fight for the English crown at the Battle of Lincoln.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Egyptian funerary text, The Book of the Dead.

Roger Bacon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval scholar Roger Bacon.

Rosa Luxemburg

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and times of Rosa Luxemburg, revolutionary.

Pauli's Exclusion Principle

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wolfgang Pauli and the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

Hokusai

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.

The Battle of Salamis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the significance of The Battle of Salamis, 480BC.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highest global temperatures in the last 65m years.

North and South

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South from 1855.

The Kuiper Belt

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the icy Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune, home to Pluto.

Seneca the Younger

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works, life and times of Seneca the Younger.

Maths in the Early Islamic World

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the flourishing of maths in the Islamic world from C8th.

John Clare

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Clare, poet and farm labourer.

Hannah Arendt

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and life of Hannah Arendt, political philosopher

Parasitism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Parasitism, where one species gains at the cost of another

Mary, Queen of Scots

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Nietzsche's On The Genealogy of Morality.

Johannes Kepler

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss astronomer Johannes Kepler.

Four Quartets

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss TS Eliot's Four Quartets, known as his great last work.

The Gin Craze

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the cause and impact of the gin craze in the 18th century.

Harriet Martineau

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Harriet Martineau, writer.

Garibaldi and the Risorgimento

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Garibaldi and the Risorgimento, for our Listener Week.

Baltic Crusades

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss crusades against Baltic pagans from 12th Century onwards.

Justinian's Legal Code

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great impact of legal changes under emperor Justinian.

The Fighting Temeraire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire.

Epic of Gilgamesh

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Gilgamesh, the great epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia.

John Dalton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss scientist John Dalton.

The 12th Century Renaissance

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a period of great change in western Europe.

Plasma

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter.

Lakshmi

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the goddess Lakshmi.

Zeno's Paradoxes

Does an arrow in flight move and could Achilles overtake a tortoise? Not according to Zeno

The Invention of Photography

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the invention of photography.

Sovereignty

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the idea of sovereignty.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

The Bronze Age Collapse

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Bronze Age collapse.

Penicillin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of penicillin.

Margery Kempe and English Mysticism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Margery Kempe, the medieval English mystic.

The Gettysburg Address

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, 1863.

The Muses

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Muses in Greek mythology and after.

Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot'

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Titus Oates and his fictitious Popish Plot.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

Euclid's Elements

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Elements of Euclid.

1816, the Year Without a Summer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 1816, known as the year without a summer.

The Neutron

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutron.

The Sikh Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Empire.

Agrippina the Younger

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman empress Agrippina the Younger.

Aurora Leigh

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Bedlam

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the early history of Bethlehem Hospital, known as Bedlam.

The Maya Civilization

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Maya civilization in central America.

The Dutch East India Company

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Dutch East India Company.

Mary Magdalene

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Magdalene, one of the best-known figures in the Bible

Robert Hooke

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 17th-century scientist Robert Hooke.

Rumi's Poetry

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Rumi (1207-1273).

Chromatography

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins, development and uses of chromatography.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Eleanor of Aquitaine, the most powerful woman of her time.

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776.

Saturn

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn.

Tristan and Iseult

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the story of Tristan and Iseult.

Michael Faraday

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientist Michael Faraday.

Circadian Rhythms

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss circadian rhythms.

Chinese Legalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Chinese Legalism from the time of the First Emperor.

Voyages of James Cook

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the voyages of James Cook, as suggested by listeners.

The Salem Witch Trials

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Salem witch trials.

Emma

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emma, the novel by Jane Austen.

The Battle of Lepanto

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Battle of Lepanto, 1571.

P v NP

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mathematical problem of P versus NP.

The Empire of Mali

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire of Mali.

Simone de Beauvoir

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, work and life of Simone de Beauvoir.

Holbein at the Tudor Court

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Holbein at the court of Henry VIII.

Alexander the Great

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and legacy of Alexander the Great.

Perpetual Motion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss perpetual motion.

Frida Kahlo

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Frida Kahlo.

Frederick the Great

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Frederick II, king of Prussia from 1740 to 1786.

Extremophiles

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss extremophiles and astrobiology.

Jane Eyre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847.

Utilitarianism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Utilitarianism.

Prester John

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legend of Prester John.

The Science of Glass

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the puzzling science of glass.

Josephus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Flavius Josephus, author of The Jewish War.

The Lancashire Cotton Famine

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Lancashire cotton famine during the American Civil War

Tagore

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Rabindranath Tagore.

The Earth's Core

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Earth's core.

Fanny Burney

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the 18th-century writer Fanny Burney.

Matteo Ricci and the Ming Dynasty

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Matteo Ricci's 16th-century travels in Ming China.

Sappho

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek poet Sappho.

The California Gold Rush

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the California Gold Rush of the 1850s.

The Curies

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family.

Al-Ghazali

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval Islamic thinker Al-Ghazali.

Dark Matter

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss dark matter, the 'missing mass' of the universe.

Beowulf

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.

The Eunuch

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and significance of eunuchs.

The Wealth of Nations

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's economic treatise The Wealth of Nations.

The Photon

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the photon, the fundamental particle of light.

Ashoka the Great

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Indian ruler Ashoka the Great.

Thucydides

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek historian Thucydides.

Phenomenology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophical movement phenomenology.

Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bruegel's painting The Fight Between Carnival and Lent.

Truth

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss philosophical approaches to truth.

Behavioural Ecology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss behavioural ecology.

Zen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Zen, a distinctively East Asian form of Buddhism.

Kafka's The Trial

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Trial, by Franz Kafka.

Aesop

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aesop, legendary author of the famous collection of fables

Brunel

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Hatshepsut

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the female Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut.

Nuclear Fusion

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and science of nuclear fusion.

The Haitian Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804.

Rudyard Kipling

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Rudyard Kipling.

The Battle of Talas

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Talas in AD751.

Julius Caesar

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and reputation of Julius Caesar.

e

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Euler's number, e.

The Sun

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the science of the sun, source of all our energy.

Mrs Dalloway

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway.

Hildegard of Bingen

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval writer and mystic Hildegard of Bingen.

The Philosophy of Solitude

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of solitude.

Robert Boyle

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the pioneering scientist Robert Boyle.

The Bluestockings

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the 18th-century Bluestocking Society.

The Talmud

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Talmud, a major text of rabbinical Judaism.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Photosynthesis

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis.

The Sino-Japanese War

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Tale of Sinuhe

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Egyptian poem The Tale of Sinuhe.

Tristram Shandy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Laurence Sterne's comic novel Tristram Shandy.

The Domesday Book

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Domesday Book.

Strabo's Geographica

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica, an early work of geography.

States of Matter

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the states of matter, from solids to plasmas.

Weber's The Protestant Ethic

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

Bishop Berkeley

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley.

The Trinity

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Trinity, a central doctrine of Christianity.

Spartacus

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Roman gladiator and rebel leader Spartacus.

The Eye

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the eye and how it works.

Social Darwinism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Social Darwinism.

Chivalry

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss medieval chivalry.

The Phoenicians

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Phoenicians of the ancient Mediterranean.

Catastrophism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the geological theory of Catastrophism.

Sources of Early Chinese History

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the sources for early Chinese history.

The Battle of Tours

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Tours of 732.

Plato's Symposium

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Plato's Symposium.

The Medici

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Medici family, rulers of Renaissance Florence.

Complexity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss complexity theory.

Pliny the Younger

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Roman letter-writer Pliny the Younger.

Hindu Ideas of Creation

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hindu ideas about the creation of the universe.

The Microscope

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the development of the microscope.

Pocahontas

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of the Native American Pocahontas.

The Tempest

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Ordinary Language Philosophy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ordinary Language Philosophy.

The Berlin Conference

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa.

The Corn Laws

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Corn Laws of the 19th century.

The Book of Common Prayer

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Book of Common Prayer.

Galen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Roman physician and medical theorist Galen.

Exoplanets

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.

The Mamluks

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mamluks, medieval rulers of Egypt and Syria.

Pascal

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the French thinker Blaise Pascal.

The Invention of Radio

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Chinese book Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The Physiocrats

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Physiocrats, important French economic thinkers.

Prophecy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss prophecy in the Abrahamic religions.

Relativity

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Einstein's theory of relativity.

Queen Zenobia

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Queen Zenobia, who led a rebellion against Ancient Rome.

Lévi-Strauss

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.

Cosmic Rays

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss cosmic rays.

Icelandic Sagas

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Icelandic sagas.

Gnosticism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Gnosticism, a sect associated with early Christianity.

Montaigne

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the great French writer Michel de Montaigne.

The Putney Debates

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Putney Debates of 1647.

The Amazons

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Amazons, formidable female warriors of classical myth.

Japan's Sakoku Period

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Japan's Sakoku period of deliberate isolation.

Water

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss water, one of the most remarkable of all molecules.

Alfred Russel Wallace

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the biologist Alfred Russel Wallace.

Chekhov

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov.

Absolute Zero

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature.

Pitt-Rivers

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers.

Decline and Fall

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Evelyn Waugh's comic novel Decline and Fall.

Ice Ages

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ice ages.

Epicureanism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of Epicureanism.

The War of 1812

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the War of 1812 between America and Great Britain.

Romulus and Remus

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Romulus and Remus, the foundation myth of Rome.

Comets

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss comets, the 'dirty snowballs' of the solar system.

Le Morte d'Arthur

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Malory's epic medieval tale Le Morte d'Arthur.

The Cult of Mithras

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cult of Mithras, the Roman mystery religion.

The South Sea Bubble

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the South Sea Bubble of the early 18th century.

Shahnameh of Ferdowsi

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.

Bertrand Russell

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Crystallography

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and achievements of crystallography.

The Borgias

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Borgias, the most infamous family in Renaissance Italy

Simone Weil

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French philosopher and social activist Simone Weil.

The Upanishads

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Upanishads, the sacred texts of Hinduism.

The Anarchy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Anarchy, the 12th-century English civil war.

Fermat's Last Theorem

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat's Last Theorem.

Caxton and the Printing Press

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Caxton and the influence of the printing press.

Hannibal

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the remarkable Carthaginian general Hannibal.

Gerald of Wales

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales.

The Ontological Argument

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ontological Argument for the existence of God.

The Druids

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Druids of ancient Europe.

The Cell

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biology and origins of the cell.

Hadrian's Wall

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall.

Scepticism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of philosophical scepticism.

Al-Kindi

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Arab philosopher Al-Kindi.

Annie Besant

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the 19th-century writer and campaigner Annie Besant.

James Joyce's Ulysses

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss James Joyce's celebrated novel Ulysses.

King Solomon

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biblical king Solomon.

The Trojan War

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Trojan War, a central event of Ancient Greek mythology

Marco Polo

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo.

Clausewitz and On War

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Clausewitz's influential treatise On War.

Game Theory

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss game theory, the mathematical study of decision-making

Voltaire's Candide

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Voltaire's satirical novel Candide, published in 1759.

The Battle of Bosworth Field

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Neoplatonism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient philosophical school of Neoplatonism.

Early Geology

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the emergence of geology as a scientific discipline.

George Fox and the Quakers

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of Quakerism.

The Measurement of Time

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the measurement of time.

Moses Mendelssohn

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.

Vitruvius and De Architectura

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Vitruvius's De Architectura.

Lyrical Ballads

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads.

Benjamin Franklin

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Benjamin Franklin.

Conductors and Semiconductors

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of electrical conduction.

The An Lushan Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the An Lushan Rebellion.

Erasmus

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus.

The Kama Sutra

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Kama Sutra.

The Scientific Method

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method.

1848: Year of Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss 1848, the year that saw Europe engulfed in revolution.

The Safavid Dynasty

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Safavid Dynasty of early modern Iran.

Macromolecules

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that underpin all life.

Robinson Crusoe

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe.

The Concordat of Worms

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Concordat of Worms of 1122.

Heraclitus

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus.

Christina Rossetti

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti.

Judas Maccabeus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the revolutionary Jewish leader Judas Maccabeus.

Ptolemy and Ancient Astronomy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ptolemy and ancient astronomy.

The Continental-Analytic Split

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Continental and Analytic philosophical traditions.

The Moon

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins, science and mythology of the moon.

The Siege of Tenochtitlan

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Siege of Tenochtitlan and fall of the Aztec Empire

Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People.

The Ming Voyages

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ming Voyages of discovery.

David Hume

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the Scottish philosopher David Hume.

The Etruscan Civilisation

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Etruscan civilisation.

Shinto

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Japanese belief system of Shinto.

The Hippocratic Oath

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Hippocratic Oath.

The Minoan Civilisation

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Minoan Civilisation of Bronze Age Crete.

Tennyson's In Memoriam

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam.

Malthusianism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Malthusianism.

Wyclif and the Lollards

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss John Wyclif and the Lollards.

The Origins of Infectious Disease

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of infectious disease.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Xenophon

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek historian and soldier Xenophon.

Custer's Last Stand

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer's Last Stand.

The Anatomy of Melancholy

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Robert Burton's book The Anatomy of Melancholy.

Islamic Law and its Origins

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of Islamic law.

Cogito Ergo Sum

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Rene Descartes' famous statement.

The Pelagian Controversy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the church's most significant doctrinal disputes.

The Neutrino

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutrino, the so-called 'ghost particle'.

Octavia Hill

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian social reformer Octavia Hill.

The Bhagavad Gita

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Bhagavad Gita, a key text of Hinduism.

The Iron Age

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the dawn of the Iron Age.

The Medieval University

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the foundation of the medieval universities.

Free Will

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss free will.

The Age of the Universe

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the age of the Universe.

The Taiping Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Taiping Rebellion.

Maimonides

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides.

The Nervous System

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the nervous system.

The Battle of Bannockburn

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Bannockburn.

Aristotle's Poetics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's Poetics.

The Mexican Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mexican Revolution of 1910.

Random and Pseudorandom

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss mathematical randomness and pseudorandomness.

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.

Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the influence of the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Industrial Revolution.

Daoism

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daoism, the ancient Chinese philosophy and religion.

Thomas Edison

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the American technological pioneer Thomas Edison.

Cleopatra

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Cleopatra, the famed last pharaoh of Egypt.

History of Metaphor

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of metaphor.

Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

The Volga Vikings

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Volga Vikings.

Women and Enlightenment Science

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the role played by women in Enlightenment science.

The Unicorn

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and mythology of the unicorn.

Logic

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of logic.

Sturm und Drang

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the German artistic movement known as Sturm und Drang.

The Spanish Armada

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Spanish Armada.

The Delphic Oracle

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Delphic Oracle.

Imaginary Numbers

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss imaginary numbers.

Pliny's Natural History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pliny's Natural History, one of the first encyclopedias.

Athelstan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the reign of Athelstan, the first king of all England.

Antarctica

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the Antarctic and its exploration.

The Neanderthals

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution and characteristics of the Neanderthals.

Edmund Burke

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke.

Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists.

The Cavendish Family in Science

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the scientific achievements of the Cavendish family.

William James's 'The Varieties of Religious Experience'

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

The Cool Universe

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cool Universe.

The Great Wall of China

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Great Wall of China.

Roman Satire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Roman satire.

The Zulu Nation's Rise and Fall

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise and fall of the Zulu Nation.

William Hazlitt

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of the essayist William Hazlitt.

The City - a history, part 2

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the city.

The City - a history, part 1

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the city, from its Bronze Age origins to 1800.

Munch and The Scream

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Edvard Munch and his most famous painting, The Scream.

Boudica

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and mythologisation of Boudica.

The Infant Brain

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what new research reveals about the infant brain.

Calvinism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of John Calvin and their impact.

The Indian Mutiny

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the rebellion which followed

Mathematics' Unintended Consequences

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries.

Ibn Khaldun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 14th-century Arab philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun.

Silas Marner

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Eliot's 1861 novel Silas Marner.

The Glencoe Massacre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Glencoe Massacre of 1692.

The Frankfurt School

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and influence of the Frankfurt School.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4

The more discreet role played by the Society in the 20th century.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3

The 19th century blooms scientifically with numerous alternative, specialist societies.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2

How Newton tested the lines between government-funded research and public access.

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1

Melvyn Bragg travels to Oxford, where the young Christopher Wren and friends experimented.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft.

The Samurai

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and myth of the Samurai.

Pythagoras

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans.

The Silk Road

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Silk Road, the trade routes which spanned Asia.

Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Sparta

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta.

Radiation

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of radiation, from radio waves to gamma rays

The Siege of Munster

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Siege of Munster in 1534-35.

Schopenhauer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pessimistic philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.

The Geological Formation of Britain

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the geological formation of Britain.

The Death of Elizabeth I

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth I.

The Dreyfus Affair

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Dreyfus Affair, which tore France apart in the 1890s.

Akhenaten

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Calculus

The dispute between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus.

St Thomas Aquinas

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss St Thomas Aquinas.

Ediacara Biota

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ediacara Biota.

Logical Positivism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the radical philosophy of the Vienna Circle.

Sunni and Shia Islam

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of the split between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims

Elizabethan Revenge

Melvyn Bragg discusses why revenge tragedy was so popular with Elizabethan theatre goers.

The Augustan Age

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Augustan Age in Rome.

The Trial of Charles I

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the trial of Charles I.

St Paul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influence of St Paul on the early Christian church.

The Whale - A History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolutionary history of the whale.

The Siege of Vienna

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1683 siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Army.

The Magna Carta

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Magna Carta.

The Vacuum of Space

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vacuum of Space.

The Building of St Petersburg

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the building of St Petersburg.

Suffragism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss suffragism, the movement for women's voting rights.

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aldous Huxley's dystopian 1932 novel Brave New World.

Baconian Science

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Jacobean thinker Francis Bacon and Baconian Science.

The School of Athens

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Raphael's depiction of Plato and Aristotle.

The Boxer Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Boxer Rebellion in the summer of 1900.

The Library of Alexandria

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Library of Alexandria.

The Measurement Problem in Physics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the measurement problem in physics.

The Waste Land and Modernity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss TS Eliot's seminal poem The Waste Land.

The Observatory at Jaipur

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the observatory at Jaipur.

Carthage's Destruction

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Destruction of Carthage

The Brothers Grimm

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm.

Swift's A Modest Proposal

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jonathan Swift's satirical 1729 pamphlet A Modest Proposal

History of History

Melvyn Bragg examines how the writing of history has changed over the years.

Thoreau and the American Idyll

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau.

Darwin: Life After Origins

Melvyn visits Darwin's home at Down House in Kent.

Darwin: On the Origin of Species

How Darwin was eventually persuaded to publish On the Origin of Species in November 1859.

Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle

How Darwin's work during the Beagle expedition influenced his theories.

Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin

Darwin's early life in Shropshire and his three years at Cambridge.

The Consolations of Philosophy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the consolation of Philosophy.

The Physics of Time

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of time.

Heat

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about Heat.

The Great Reform Act

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Reform Act of 1832.

Neuroscience

Melvyn Bragg examines neuroscience, the relationship between the mind and the brain.

The Fire of London

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Fire of London and the rebuilding of the city.

Aristotle's Politics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle’s ‘Politics’.

Bolivar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America.

The Baroque Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the culture of the Baroque.

Vitalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th and 19th century quest for the spark of life.

Godel's Incompleteness Theorems

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mathematician Kurt Godel and his work.

The Translation Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss classical Greek ideas in the Arabic and the Islamic world.

Miracles

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of miracles.

Tacitus and the Decadence of Rome

Melvyn Bragg examines the life and chronicles of the the Roman historian Tacitus.

Dante's Inferno

Melvyn Bragg examines Dante’s ‘Inferno’, a medieval journey through Hell’s nine circles

The Arab Conquests

Melvyn Bragg examines the Arab conquests which helped communicate Islam to the world.

The Music of the Spheres

Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient astrological idea of the music of the spheres.

The Metaphysical Poets

Melvyn Bragg examines the Metaphysical poets, including John Donne and Andrew Marvell.

The Riddle of the Sands

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the prescient thriller about Anglo-German relations.

Lysenkoism

Melvyn Bragg examines the destructive career of the Soviet geneticist Trofim Lysenko.

Probability

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the strange mathematics of probability.

The Black Death

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the Black Death and its effect on medieval society.

The Library at Nineveh

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a treasure house of Assyrian ideas.

The Brain

The history of cultural, medical, artistic and philosophical ideas about the human brain.

The Enclosures of the 18th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the enclosure movement that fenced in the British countryside.

Materialism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Materialism in Philosophy.

Yeats and Irish Politics

Melvyn Bragg examines the effect of Irish politics on the work of the poet W.B. Yeats.

The Norman Yoke

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ‘the Norman Yoke'.

The Laws of Motion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries

Melvyn Bragg examines Henry VIII's policy of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Kierkegaard

Melvyn Bragg examines the rich and radical ideas of the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

The Greek Myths

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek myths from Achilles to Zeus.

Ada Lovelace

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ada Lovelace - the Victorian ‘enchantress of numbers’.

Lear

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine Shakespeare’s bloodthirsty tragedy, King Lear.

The Multiverse

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Multiverse.

The Statue of Liberty

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Statue of Liberty. .

The Social Contract

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Social Contract; a key idea in political philosophy.

Rudolph II

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Rudolph II and his Renaissance Court in Prague.

Plate Tectonics

Melvyn Bragg examines plate tectonics, a theory that transformed our idea of the earth.

The Fisher King

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the enigmatic myth of the Fisher King.

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Charge of the Light Brigade.

Camus

The life ad work of the Algerian-French writer and philosopher, Albert Camus.

The Nicene Creed

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Nicene Creed which established the Divinity of Christ.

The Four Humours

Melvyn Bragg discusses the four humours in medical history.

The Sassanid Empire

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Sassanian Empire in Persia from the 3rd to the 7th century AD.

Genetic Mutation

Melvyn Bragg discusses mutation in genetics and evolution.

The Fibonacci Sequence

Melvyn Bragg discusses the mathematical and cultural mysteries of the Fibonacci Sequence.

The Prelude

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Wordsworth’s poem, The Prelude.

Oxygen

Melvyn Bragg discusses the discovery of Oxygen by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier.

Avicenna

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Persian Islamic philosopher Avicenna.

Guilt

Melvyn Bragg and guests take a long hard look at the idea of guilt.

Taste

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century obsession with taste.

The Arabian Nights

Melvyn Bragg discusses the myths, tales and legends of the Arabian Nights.

The Divine Right of Kings

Melvyn Bragg discusses the idea that kingly authority derives from God.

Antimatter

Melvyn Bragg discusses Antimatter in particle physics and cosmology.

Socrates

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the iconic Greek philosopher, Socrates.

Madame Bovary

Melvyn Bragg discusses the 1857 trial of Gustave Flaubert's novel, Madame Bovary

The Pilgrim Fathers

Melvyn Bragg discusses what the Pilgrim Fathers and the Mayflower mean to Americans.

The Permian-Triassic Boundary

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Permian-Triassic boundary in evolutionary history.

Common Sense Philosophy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss common sense philosophy.

Renaissance Astrology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Renaissance Astrology.

Siegfried Sassoon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Ockham's Razor

Melvyn Bragg discusses the ideas of William Ockham including Ockham's Razor.

The Siege of Orléans

Melvyn Bragg discusses Joan of Arc's role in the 1428 Siege of Orléans.

Gravitational Waves

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of Gravitational Waves.

Victorian Pessimism

Melvyn Bragg discusses the high pessimism of Victorian culture.

Spinoza

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Dutch, Jewish and Christian Philosopher, Baruch Spinoza.

Greek and Roman Love Poetry

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Greek and Roman love poetry.

Symmetry

Melvyn Bragg discusses the idea of symmetry in art and nature.

The Opium Wars

Melvyn Bragg discusses the 19th century Opium Wars between Britain and China.

St Hilda

Melvyn Bragg discusses the 7th century abbess, St Hilda.

Anaesthetics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of anaesthetics.

Bismarck

Melvyn Bragg discusses the original Iron Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck.

Epistolary Literature

Melvyn Bragg discusses epistolary literature from Aphra Benn to Les Liaisons Dangereuses

Microbiology

Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of microbiology, the study of microscopic life.

Optics

Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of the science of optics

Heart of Darkness

Melvyn Bragg discusses Joseph Conrad’s novel, Heart of Darkness.

Popper

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Karl Popper.

Genghis Khan

Melvyn Bragg discusses Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.

Archimedes

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Greek mathematician Archimedes and his famous cry of “eureka!”

The Jesuits

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Jesuits, “the school masters of Europe”.

Mars

Melvyn Bragg discusses the planet Mars, a source of endless fascination in human history

Jorge Luis Borges

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Jorge Luis Borges.

Constantinople Siege and Fall

Melvyn Bragg examines the 1453 siege of Constantinople which ended the Byzantine Empire.

Hell

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of Hell and its representation in the arts.

Indian Mathematics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 5000 year long story of Indian Maths.

Anarchism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the political creed of Anarchism.

The Speed of Light

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the speed of light, lynchpin of Einstein’s universe.

Altruism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss philosophical and evolutionary arguments over altruism.

The Peasants’ Revolt

Melvyn Bragg examines the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, a pivotal moment in England’s history.

Pope

The life and work of the brilliant, acerbic and unpopular poet Alexander Pope.

The Poincaré Conjecture

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a puzzle that may explain the shape of the universe.

The Encyclopédie

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great achievements of the Enlightenment.

The Needham Question

Melvyn Bragg examines the Needham Question; why Europe, not China made modern technology.

The Diet of Worms

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events that helped trigger the European Reformation.

Averroes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 12th century Islamic philosopher, Averroes.

Humboldt

Melvyn Bragg examines the Prussian naturalist and explorer, Alexander Von Humboldt.

Comedy in Ancient Greek Theatre

Melvyn Bragg explores comedy in Ancient Greek theatre including Aristophanes and Menander.

Pastoral Literature

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss pastoral literature from Virgil to Dylan Thomas.

Galaxies

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the creation and destruction of galaxies.

The Spanish Inquisition

Melvyn Bragg examines the Spanish Inquisition, defenders of medieval orthodoxy.

Carbon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss carbon, which forms the basis of all organic life.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 19th century anti-slavery novel, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'.

The Heart

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the heart.

Mathematics and Music

Melvyn Bragg examines the mathematical structures that lie within the heart of music.

Mill

The life and ideas of the 19th century political philosopher John Stuart Mill.

Fairies

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 5000 year cultural history of fairies.

Astronomy and Empire

Melvyn Bragg examines the relationship between astronomy and British Imperial expansion.

The Great Exhibition of 1851

Melvyn Bragg examines the exhibition that showcased Victorian Britain's industrial might.

Immunisation

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for immunisation and its impact on society.

The Oxford Movement

Melvyn Bragg examines the 19th century Catholic movement within the Church of England.

Goethe

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great German polymath, Johann Wolfgang Goethe.

The Carolingian Renaissance

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Emperor Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance.

The Royal Society

The history of the formation of the Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy.

Don Quixote

Melvyn Bragg considers the importance of the 17th century Spanish novel Don Quixote.

Negative Numbers

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss negative numbers, a history of mystery and suspicion.

Friendship

Melvyn Bragg explores the concept of friendship; ‘a single soul dwelling in two bodies’.

Catherine the Great

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Empress who transformed and modernized Russia.

Human Evolution

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the six million year old story of human evolution.

Chaucer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English literature.

The Abbasid Caliphs

Melvyn Bragg examines the Abbasid Caliphs, rulers of the Islamic world for 200 years.

Seventeenth Century Print Culture

Melvyn Bragg examines the controversy and scandal of 17th century print culture.

Relativism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss relativism; a philosophy with no absolute truths.

Prime Numbers

Melvyn Bragg examines prime numbers and their mysterious role in the universe of numbers.

The Oath

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the importance of the oath in the Classical World.

The Oresteia

Melvyn Bragg examines the ‘Oresteia’, the seminal trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus.

Heaven

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ideas of heaven and the afterlife.

The Peterloo Massacre

Melvyn Bragg examines the 1819 Peterloo Massacre and the brutality of the British state.

Artificial Intelligence

Melvyn Bragg investigates artificial intelligence; can a computer imitate the human mind?

Hobbes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

The Graviton

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for the Graviton particle in physics.

Pragmatism

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the American philosophy of pragmatism.

Greyfriars and Blackfriars

Melvyn Bragg looks at the religious orders of the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

Asteroids

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the unique properties of asteroids.

Johnson

The life and work of Samuel Johnson, a giant of 18th century literature.

Cynicism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cynics, the performance artists of philosophy.

Mammals

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the mammals which began 65 million years ago.

The Field of the Cloth of Gold

Melvyn Bragg examines the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and Tudor conspicuous consumption.

Magnetism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and mysterious force of magnetism.

Marx

The life and ideas of Karl Marx who changed the world with his Communist Manifesto.

Marlowe

Melvyn Bragg examines the life of glittering Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe.

Merlin

Melvyn Bragg examines Merlin, prophet, magician, king maker and the mad man of the woods.

The KT Boundary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the KT Boundary and the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Paganism in the Renaissance

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the return of classical pagan thought in the Renaissance.

The Scriblerus Club

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the satirical 18th century Scriblerus Club.

Renaissance Maths

Melvyn Bragg explores Renaissance Mathematics, when maths moved from an art to a science.

The French Revolution's reign of terror

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the reign of terror during the French Revolution.

Beauty

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the qualities of beauty and the history of aesthetics.

Abelard and Heloise

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval tale of Abelard and Heloise.

Perception and the Senses

Melvyn Bragg examines perception: how the brain reacts to the mass of data crowding it.

The Aeneid

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ‘The Aeneid’, Virgil's great epic poem about Rome.

Archaeology and Imperialism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the link between archaeology and imperialism.

Alfred and the Battle of Edington

Melvyn Bragg examines King Alfred and the defeat of the Vikings at Battle of Edington.

John Ruskin

The life and work of one of the most influential figures of the Victorian era.

Angels

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the heavenly host of Angels.

Dark Energy

Melvyn Bragg examines recently discovered 'dark energy' and its effect on the universe.

Modernist Utopias

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mad, bad world of modern utopias.

Stoicism

Melvyn Bragg explore Stoicism, the most influential philosophy in the Ancient World.

Alchemy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alchemy, the ancient science of transformations.

The Cambrian Period

Melvyn Bragg examines the Cambrian period, when there was an explosion of life on Earth.

The Mind/Body Problem

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of thought about the mind/body problem in philosophy.

Tsar Alexander II's assassination

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881.

The Roman Republic

The rise and eventual downfall of the Roman Republic which survived for 500 years.

Faust

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the myth of Faustus and temptation by evil.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Melvyn Bragg examines the Second Law of Thermodynamics from steam to the Big Bang.

Machiavelli and the Italian City States

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli.

Jung

The extraordinary mind and theories of the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.

The Venerable Bede

The life and work of the Venerable Bede who revolutionised Christian scholarship.

Higgs Boson

The history of the quest to find the Higgs Boson, also known as the 'God Particle'.

Zoroastrianism

The history of Zoroastrianism, claimed to be the first monotheistic religion.

Electrickery

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity.

Witchcraft

The history of witchcraft in Reformation Europe.

Rhetoric

Melvyn Bragg and guests discusses rhetoric; supported by Aristotle but reviled by Plato.

The Han Synthesis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Han Synthesis philosophies of China.

Sartre

The life and work of French novelist, playwright and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Politeness

Melvyn Bragg examines the cultural effect of the eighteenth century idea of Politeness.

The Origins of Life

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss when and how life on earth originated.

Agincourt

The history and legacy of the English army's defeat of the French at Agincourt in 1415.

The Odyssey

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the monster filled epic, Homer’s Odyssey.

Pi

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of the longest and most detailed number in nature.

Washington and the American Revolution

Melvyn Bragg examines the first President of the US and what drove him to revolution.

Renaissance Magic

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Renaissance obsession with Magic.

Empiricism

Melvyn Bragg examines the 17th century idea that all knowledge arises from experience.

Babylon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the truth behind the empire of Babylon.

The Planets

Melvyn Bragg examines our knowledge of the planets in both our and other solar systems.

Toleration

Melvyn Bragg looks at the politics behind the rise of religious freedom in England.

Zero

Melvyn Bragg examines the number between 1 and -1, once denounced as the devil's work.

Heroism

Melvyn Bragg explores what defines a hero, and their place in classical society.

Tea

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss tea, the first truly global commodity.

Hysteria

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how emotional experiences can become physical symptoms.

The Later Romantics

Melvyn Bragg examines the poetry, tragedy and idealism of Byron, Shelley and Keats.

The Fall

Melvyn Bragg examines the concept of original sin and its influence in Christian Europe.

China's Warring States period

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the astonishing productivity of the Chinese Golden Age.

Theories of Everything

Melvyn Bragg explores the 30 year search to solve all the biggest questions in physics.

The Norse Gods

Melvyn Bragg examines the myths and theology that inspired the Vikings.

Dreams

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the function and interpretation of dreams.

The Mughal Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine how much the British Raj owed to the Mughal Emperors.

Rutherford

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear science.

The Sublime

Melvyn Bragg explores a transcendental idea that took hold on the Age of Enlightenment.

Thermopylae

Melvyn Bragg examines the Battle of Thermopylae, a defining clash between East and West.

Cryptography

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and history of codes.

Lamarck and Natural Selection

Melvyn Bragg discusses Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the 18th century French precursor to Darwin.

The Alphabet

Melvyn Bragg investigates how sounds turned into signs and signs became the alphabet.

The Devil

Melvyn Bragg examines how the Devil became an established figure in Christianity.

Wittgenstein

The life, work and legacy of the 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein.

St Bartholomew's Day Massacre

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the infamous St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572.

Ageing the Earth

Melvyn Bragg examines the age of the Earth and its division into four great Eons.

Duty

Melvyn Bragg examines duty, a concept that has excited philosophers through history.

Sensation

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the novels of sensation, a Victorian literary phenomenon.

Robin Hood

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the centuries old myth of the most romantic noble outlaw.

Infinity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the nature and existence of mathematical infinity.

The Schism

Melvyn Bragg examines events surrounding the medieval division of the Christian Church.

Bohemianism

Melvyn Bragg examines the 19th century Parisian philosophy of life lived for art.

Maxwell

The work and legacy of the often overlooked 19th century scientist James Clerk Maxwell.

The Apocalypse

Melvyn Bragg examines how a powerful narrative of judgement and retribution evolved.

Nature

Melvyn Bragg examines the attempt to define humanity’s part in the natural world.

Vulcanology

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the formation and eruption of volcanoes.

The East India Company

The history of the private trading company that helped forge the British Empire.

The Aristocracy

Melvyn Bragg examines the origins, power and eventual decline of the British aristocracy.

The Art of War

The history and philosophy of warfare throughout the ages.

The Lunar Society

Melvyn Bragg examines an 18th century group of pioneering scientists and engineers.

Memory

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the function and significance of memory.

Blood

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss blood, from medical progress to the link to the divine.

The Holy Grail

Melvyn Bragg examines why the Holy Grail legend has fascinated writers for centuries.

The Jacobite Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg examines the Stuart dynasty's final attempt to reclaim the throne of England.

Roman Britain

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 400 year history of the Romans in Britain.

Youth

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of concepts and ideas on youth from antiquity to today.

Proust

The life and work of the celebrated 20th century French novelist Marcel Proust.

The Spanish Civil War

Melvyn Bragg examines the causes, events and repercussions of the Spanish Civil War.

The Life of Stars

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life cycle of stars.

Originality

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the creative force of originality.

Redemption

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss redemption, crucial for Judeo-Christian thought.

Meteorology

Melvyn Bragg explores the fascinating and mystifying science of meteorology.

The Aztecs

Melvyn Bragg examines the creation, power and legacy of the Aztec Empire.

The Lindisfarne Gospels

Melvyn Bragg examines the manuscripts that united Celtic and Roman cultures in England.

Chance and Design

Melvyn Bragg explores the question and theories of a grand design in the universe.

The Epic

The history of the epic, from Homer's Odyssey to Joyce’s Ulysses.

The Calendar

Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient origins of our Gregorian calendar.

Man and Disease

Melvyn Bragg examines how humans have understood and fought disease throughout history.

The Enlightenment in Scotland

Melvyn Bragg examines the emergence and impact of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Imagination

Melvyn Bragg investigates the creatives forces of the imagination.

Muslim Spain

Melvyn Bragg examines Muslim Spain, from Cordoba’s golden age to the fall of Granada.

Victorian Realism

Melvyn Bragg explores Victorian realism and its focus on the ordinariness of life.

Human Nature

Melvyn Bragg examines whether our natures are innate or defined by unbringing.

Architecture and Power

Melvyn Bragg explores the ideas architecture expresses about our past and identity.

The Scientist

Melvyn Bragg explores the origin of the concept and the historical role of the scientist.

Slavery and Empire

Melvyn Bragg examines British imperialism and its captives, both slaves and Britons.

Heritage

Melvyn Bragg explores the relationship between heritage culture and the study of history.

Psychoanalysis and Democracy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of politics on psychoanalysis.

Freedom

Melvyn Bragg considers what it is to be free and how freedom became such a powerful value.

Cultural Imperialism

Melvyn Bragg examines how a dominant power can exert a cultural influence on its empire.

Wagner

Melvyn Bragg examines the position of Richard Wagner and his music in German culture.

The American West

Melvyn Bragg explores the myths and harsh reality of the 19th century American pioneers.

The Soul

The history of thought on immortality, the self and the afterlife.

The Grand Tour

The origins and cultural impact of 18th century tourism.

Drugs

Melvyn Bragg examines the role of narcotics and stimulants in the history of medicine.

Chaos Theory

Melvyn Bragg examines how Chaos Theory has affected our understanding of the universe.

The Examined Life

Melvyn Bragg investigates how our preoccupations about how to live have altered over time.

The Physics of Reality

Melvyn Bragg examines the attempt to reconcile Quantum Theory and classical physics.

Tolstoy

Melvyn Bragg explores the life and work of the 19th century Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.

Bohemia

The history of the ancient kingdom and its religious, national and ethnic ideologies.

Extra Terrestrials

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss our chances of ever discovering life on another planet.

The Artist

Melvyn Bragg explores the history and changing the status of the artist.

Marriage

The history of marriage from ancient Greek and Babylonian times to today.

The Buddha

The life of Siddhartha Gautama and the legacy of his teachings.

Milton

Melvyn Bragg examines both the literary and political careers of the poet John Milton.

Virtue

Melvyn Bragg explores the meaning and purpose of the philosophical concept of virtue.

The Celts

Melvyn Bragg examines what we really know about the Celts of pre-Roman Britain.

Anatomy

The 2000 year old history of mankind's quest to understand the human body.

The Universe's Shape

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the shape, size and topology of the universe.

Yeats and Mysticism

Melvyn Bragg explores the strange and mystical world of the Irish poet W B Yeats.

Happiness

Melvyn Bragg considers whether 'happiness' means living a life of pleasure or of virtue.

Catharism

Melvyn Bragg examines the Cathars, a medieval European Christian sect accused of heresy.

Nuclear Physics

Melvyn Bragg examines the 20th century development of nuclear physics as a science.

Sensibility

Melvyn Bragg examines the ideas behind the 18th century literary cult of sensibility.

Food

The cultural history of food in Modern Europe since the Renaissance.

Rome and European Civilization

Melvyn Bragg and guests assess the role that Rome has played in European civilization.

Genetics

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the development of the science of genetics.

Oscar Wilde

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Oscar Wilde, his literary legacy and the Aesthetes.

Third Crusade

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highs and lows of the Third Crusade.

Oceanography

Melvyn Bragg explores what science has revealed, and we still don't know, about the sea.

Surrealism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss surrealism, the art of the unconscious.

The British Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ethos and legacy of the British Empire.

Confucius

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the chinese philosophy of Confucianism.

Napoleon and Wellington

The comparative histories of two titans of 19th century history.

Democracy

Melvyn Bragg examines the origins of the most cherished form of government in the world.

Byzantium

The culture, history and legacy of the eastern Byzantine Empire.

Dickens

The achievements and legacy of the 19th century literary giant Charles Dickens.

The Earth's Origins

Melvyn Bragg discusses the origins of the Earth.

Existentialism

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the 20th century philosophy of existentialism

The Sonnet

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Sonnet, the most enduring form in the poet’s armoury.

The French Revolution's Legacy

The impact and legacy of the French Revolution on European culture and politics.

Evil

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notion of evil in western philosophy.

Literary Modernism

Melvyn Bragg examines the movement that embraced Joyce, DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.

The Glorious Revolution

Melvyn Bragg considers whether the events of 1688 were really glorious or revolutionary.

Black Holes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Black Holes, the ghosts of massive stars.

The Roman Empire's Collapse in the 5th century

The causes and events of the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century.

The Philosophy of Love

Melvyn Bragg examines the western understanding of the Philosophy of Love since Plato.

Fossils

The significance of fossils in history and the impact of techniques in understanding them.

Shakespeare's Life

Melvyn Bragg and guests consider the enigma of the life of William Shakespeare

Money

Melvyn Bragg examines whether economic factors really are behind all historical events.

Quantum Gravity

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 20th century attempts to understand the Quantum world.

The Restoration

Melvyn Bragg looks at the reign of Charles II and the consequences of the Restoration.

Humanism

The history and legacy of classical Humanism, invented by Cicero.

Imperial Science

Melvyn Bragg examines whether agriculture or trade drove 19th century British imperialism.

Science and Religion

Melvyn Bragg explores the areas of conflict and agreement between science and religion.

The Enlightenment in Britain

Melvyn Bragg examines the role of British thinkers in the 18th century Enlightenment.

Mathematics and Platonism

Melvyn Bragg examines whether mathematics is a process of invention or of discovery.

Gothic

Melvyn Bragg examines the origins and significance of the 18th century Gothic movement.

Nihilism

The history of the philosophy that claims that truths are illusory.

Psychoanalysis and Literature

Melvyn Bragg assesses the role of Freudian analysis in understanding literature.

Evolutionary Psychology

Melvyn Bragg explores the basis and context for the ideas of Evolutionary Psychology.

The Tudor State

Melvyn Bragg looks at the re-shaping of England as a modern state by the Tudor dynasty.

Laws of Nature

Melvyn Bragg considers whether what is true in physics is true in all areas of existence.

The Romantics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideals, exponents and legacy of Romanticism.

Hitler in History

Melvyn Bragg examines Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany though historiographical theories.

London

The history of London from its Neolithic origin to the digitalised capital city of today.

Imagination and Consciousness

Melvyn Bragg investigates how neuroscience can explain the enigmas of consciousness.

Biography

Melvyn Bragg examines why the public is fascinated with the private lives of individuals.

Inspiration and Genius

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the true meaning of genius and whether it is born or made.

The Renaissance

Melvyn Bragg explores the veracity of modern claims about the culture of the Renaissance.

The American Ideal

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the ideals that underwrite the idealism of America.

Chemical Elements

Melvyn Bragg explores chemistry's ongoing mission to understand irreducible substances.

The Wars of the Roses

The 15th century wars of the royal Houses of Lancaster and York.

Shakespeare's Work

Melvyn Bragg examines what it is about Shakespeare’s work that makes it universal.

Death

Melvyn Bragg examines the development of Western rituals and attitudes to death.

Human Origins

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of the human species.

Englishness

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the characteristics of the English identity.

New Wars

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we are in a new era in the history of modern warfare.

The Natural Order

Melvyn Bragg examines the science of taxonomy; the classification of the natural world.

History and Understanding the Past

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we can ever predict the future by understanding the past.

Materialism and the Consumer

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development and future of material culture.

Lenin

Melvyn Bragg investigates what drove the Soviet leader Lenin, and enabled his successes.

The Age of Doubt

Melvyn Bragg examines the spread of religious doubt over the last three centuries.

Metamorphosis

Melvyn Bragg explores the enduring appeal of the Roman poet Ovid’s work Metamorphoses.

Grand Unified Theory

The 20th century pursuit in physics for the ultimate theory of everything.

Reading

The history of the politics, practice and process of reading.

Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment

Melvyn Bragg assesses the scientific legacy of the 18th century German poet Goethe.

Republicanism

Melvyn Bragg examines how English republicanism has developed from Cromwell to today.

Economic Rights

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the relationship between democracy and capitalism.

Masculinity in Literature

Melvyn Bragg investigates the changing ideals of masculinity in 20th century literature.

Information Technology

Melvyn Bragg explores the social and economic consequences of the information revolution.

Climate Change

Melvyn Bragg examines predictions and solutions for global warming and rising sea levels.

Time

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of mankind’s attempt to understand the nature of time.

Prayer

Melvyn Bragg examines the purpose and effects of prayer.

Medical Ethics

Melvyn Bragg examines the technological advances and ethics of modern medicine.

Childhood

Melvyn Bragg looks at how perceptions of childhood have changed over the last 100 years.

Tragedy

Melvyn Bragg examines whether the ancient genre of tragedy has a place in our own time.

Consciousness

Melvyn Bragg examines why ideas about consciousness preoccupy philosophers and scientists.

Progress

Melvyn Bragg examines whether mankind has made as much moral as material progress.

The Novel

Melvyn Bragg and guests consider the development and the future of the novel.

Education

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and the modern purpose of education.

Atrocity in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the widespread and chilling inhumanity of the 20th century.

The Individual

Melvyn Bragg explores the concept of the individual from the Renaissance to today.

The Nation State

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether it is appropriate to think of the UK as a nation.

Utopia

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why we are as enthralled as ever by the idea of a Utopia.

Maths and Storytelling

Melvyn Bragg examines whether it is possible to apply mathematical logic to literature.

Genetic Determinism

Melvyn Bragg explores the part genes play in our personalities.

Pain

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes and our mechanisms of coping with pain.

Truth, Lies and Fiction

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether it matters if memoirs aren’t entirely truthful.

Africa

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the roots of Africa's current political and social crises.

Intelligence

Melvyn Bragg explores the origins, manifestations and possibilities of intelligence.

Capitalism

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of capitalism from Marx to the collapse of Communism.

The Great Disruption

Melvyn Bragg looks at the 20th century shift from industrial to information society.

The Monarchy

Melvyn Bragg examines the enduring strengths and current role of the British monarchy.

Just War

Melvyn Bragg examines where the idea of a just war originated and if it can still exist.

Memory and Culture

Melvyn Bragg examines how our collective and individual ways of remembering have changed.

The Universe's Origins

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of what we know about the origins of the universe.

Multiculturalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 20th century’s vast population and cultural shifts.

Mathematics

Melvyn Bragg examines the importance of mathematics in relation to other sciences.

Artificial Intelligence

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we are near to achieving the thinking, feeling computer.

Fundamentalism

Melvyn Bragg examines the roots and the consequences of religious fundamentalism.

Evolution

Melvyn Bragg examines the future of gene therapy and advances in evolutionary biology.

Writing and Political Oppression

Melvyn Bragg examines whether writers have a political role in modern society.

Good and Evil

Melvyn Bragg examines how we judge good and evil in modern western civilisation.

Architecture in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines what the architecture of the 20th century says about the age.

Animal Experiments and Rights

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of animals in humankind’s search for knowledge.

History as Science

Melvyn Bragg examines the importance of geography and ecology in shaping world history.

Shakespeare and Literary Criticism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the enduring popular and academic appeal of Shakespeare.

The Avant Garde's Decline and Fall in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the history and legacy of 20th Century Avant Garde painting.

Space in Religion and Science

Melvyn Bragg looks at how cyberspace has introduced a new concept of space in our world.

Language and the Mind

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether the formation of language is innate or cultural.

Psychoanalysis and its Legacy

Melvyn Bragg examines the relevance of psychoanalysis at the end of the 20th century.

Ageing

Melvyn Bragg looks at the ethical, economic and biological implications of living longer.

Modern Culture

Melvyn Bragg examines the definition and state of modern culture in the 20th century.

Genetic Engineering

Melvyn Bragg examines the implications of the developments in genetic engineering.

Feminism

Melvyn Bragg examines the development of the empowerment of women in the 20th century.

The British Empire's Legacy

Melvyn Bragg examines the impact of Britain’s colonial past on its current identity.

Neuroscience in the 20th century

Melvyn Bragg examines the little we know and what we don’t yet know about the brain.

The American Century

Melvyn Bragg examines how legitimate it is to call the 20th century the American century.

Cultural Rights in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines what impact globalisation has had on human rights.

History's relevance in the 20th century

Melvyn Bragg considers the relevance of the study of history in the 20th century.

Work in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the changing ideas about the function of work in the 20th century.

The Brain and Consciousness

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss our knowledge of memory and the functioning of the brain.

The City in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg looks at the innovative developments of the city in the 20th century.

Science in the 20th century

Melvyn Bragg examines how perceptions of science have changed in the 20th century.

Science's Revelations

Melvyn Bragg examines whether science has ruined our sense of poetic wonder at the world.

Politics in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg discusses politics and morality with Gore Vidal and Alan Clarke.

War in the 20th Century

Melvyn Bragg explores ideas that have influenced 20th century human rights and warfare.