A BBC Radio 4 Collection

In Our Time: 25 Explorations of Space

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the cosmos, from the origins of the universe to dark matter and dark energy 
 
'Consistently superb' John Banville 
 
In Our Time is a linchpin of the Radio 4 schedule, attracting over 2 million listeners a week since its launch in 1998. Erudite, edifying and enlightening, it tackles serious ideas succinctly, providing fascinating insight into subjects ranging from the Fibonacci Sequence to Frida Kahlo. 
 
In this special thematic anthology, we traverse the solar system, the galaxies and the multiverse, voyaging across space to explore 25 celestial objects and phenomena. Included are programmes on the universe, the sun, the moon, the stars and the planets - among them our near neighbours, Venus and Mars. Also featured are discussions on comets, asteroids and black holes, as well as eclipses, exoplanets and the mysterious, invisible substance known as 'dark matter'. Topping and tailing the collection are episodes dealing with the science of astronomy, examining Ptolemy's geocentric theory of the universe and the relationship between astronomy and the British Empire. 
 
Hosted by veteran broadcaster Melvyn Bragg, with contributions from expert scholars and academics including Sir Martin Rees, John Gribbin, Carolin Crawford and Sir Roger Penrose, these captivating colloquies will inspire anyone with a sense of wonder and a thirst for knowledge. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Natalia Fernandez, Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Julia Johnson and Phil Tinline 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Ptolemy and Ancient Astronomy 17 November 2011 
The Multiverse 21 February 2008 
The Universe's Origins 20 May 1999 
The Universe's Shape 7 February 2002 
The Age of the Universe 3 March 2011 
Galaxies 29 June 2006 
The Sun 10 July 2014 
The Moon 3 November 2011 
Eclipses 31 December 2020 
The Planets 27 May 2004 
Venus 27 December 2018 
Mars 11 January 2007 
Saturn 14 January 2016 
The Kuiper Belt 2 March 2017 
Exoplanets 3 October 2013 
The Life of Stars 27 March 2003 
The Death of Stars 9 June 2022 
Black Holes 12 April 2001 
Asteroids 3 November 2005 
Comets 17 January 2013 
The Cool Universe 6 May 2010 
Dark Matter 12 March 2015 
Dark Energy 17 March 2005 
The Vacuum of Space 30 April 2009 
Solar Wind 23 January 2020 
Astronomy and Empire 4 May 2006 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Concepts and Theories in the History of Physics

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of physics through its most important ideas and hypotheses 
 
'In Our Time is in a class of its own' New York Times 
 
Eclectic, erudite and entertaining, In Our Time is one of Radio 4's most successful programmes, regularly attracting an audience of over 2 million for its discussions on every subject under the sun: from oceanography to Ovid. 
 
In this special themed collection, Melvyn Bragg is joined by guest experts including Simon Schaffer, John Gribbin, Jim Al-Khalili and Sir Martin Rees to discuss 25 of the key laws, principles and problems of physics. Here are examinations of major concepts including plasma, radiation, matter and antimatter and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, as well as discourses on historical theories such as Zeno's paradoxes, the speed of light and relativity. Also featured are analyses of modern developments in physics, including the discovery and growing understanding of the proton, neutron and electron, the controversial breakthrough of nuclear technology, and the search for the holy grail of 20th century physics: the Grand Unified Theory. 
 
Physicists, students of science and knowledge seekers will savour these wide-ranging, comprehensive and accessible discussions, which serve as a springboard to dive deeper into the fascinating fundamental principles that govern our universe. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris and Simon Tillotson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Major Concepts 
States of Matter 3 April 2014 
Heat 4 December 2008 
Absolute Zero 7 March 2013 
The Second Law of Thermodynamics 16 December 2004 
Plasma 13 October 2016 
Magnetism 29 September 2005 
Radiation 12 November 2009 
The Physics of Time 18 December 2008 
Quantum Gravity 22 February 2001 
Antimatter 4 October 2007 
The Graviton 24 November 2005 
Optics 1 March 2007 
With Simon Schaffer, Jim Bennett and Emily Winterburn 
 
Part II: Historical Theories 
Zeno's Paradoxes 22 September 2016 
The Speed of Light 30 November 2006 
The Laws of Motion 3 April 2008 
Kinetic Theory 23 May 2019 
Relativity 6 June 2013 
The Physics of Reality 2 May 2002 
 
Part III: Modern physics 
Grand Unified Theory 24 February 2000 
The Electron 29 September 2022 
Nuclear Physics 10 January 2002 
Cosmic Rays 16 May 2013 
The Proton 26 April 2018 
The Neutron 14 April 2016 
The Neutrino 14 April 2011 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Theories and Thinkers in the History of Mathematics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 pivotal concepts, theorists and developments that have advanced the science of mathematics 
 
'Might be the best radio programme ever' Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian 
 
In Our Time is a Radio 4 phenomenon, a knowledge juggernaut that has informed and entertained over 2 million listeners each week since its first broadcast in 1998. In its 25 years on air, it has covered an astonishing array of topics, from the Second Law of Thermodynamics to the Sistine Chapel. 
 
Beginning with three introductory episodes, this specially curated collection explores 25 of the most important individuals, ideas and discoveries that have transformed our understanding of mathematics over the past 5,000 years. We learn how Indian mathematics provided the foundations for much of our modern thinking, discover why Euclid's Elements is the most influential textbook ever written and hear of the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus. 
 
Plus, we are introduced to influential mathematicians including Pythagoras, Blaise Pascal, Emmy Noether and Alan Turing, as well as key concepts, problems and puzzles such as negative numbers, infinity, Fermat's Last Theorem, the Poincaré conjecture and P v NP. 
 
Enlightening, thought-provoking and inspiring, these wide-ranging discussions make abstruse ideas accessible and demystify mathematics, showing how it shaped our world and made us who we are. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Simon Tillotson, Thomas Morris and Natalia Fernandez 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Context 
Mathematics 6 May 1999 
Mathematics and Platonism 11 January 2001 
Mathematics' Unintended Consequences 11 February 2010 
 
Part II: History of Mathematics 
Indian Mathematics 14 December 2006 
Euclid's Elements 28 April 2016 
Maths in the Early Islamic World 16 February 2017 
Renaissance Maths 2 June 2005 
Calculus 24 September 2009 
 
Part III: Influential Mathematicians 
Pythagoras 10 December 2009 
Archimedes 25 January 2007 
Blaise Pascal 19 September 2013 
Emilie du Châtelet 4 February 2021 
Carl Friedrich Gauss 30 November 2017 
Ada Lovelace 6 March 2008 
Emmy Noether 24 January 2019 
Alan Turing 15 October 2020 
 
Part IV: Key Concepts 
Zero 13 May 2004 
Prime Numbers 12 January 2006 
Negative Numbers 9 March 2006 
e 25 September 2014 
Pi 2 September 2004 
Imaginary Numbers 23 September 2010 
Infinity 23 October 2003 
 
Part V: Problems and Puzzles 
Zeno's Paradoxes 22 September 2016 
Fermat's Last Theorem 25 October 2012 
The Poincaré Conjecture 2 November 2006 
Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems 9 October 2008 
P v NP 5 November 2015 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Iconic Poets and Poems in English

Melvyn Bragg and guests analyse 25 key poets and literary works, tracing the evolution of poetry over 550 years 
 
'The best programme coming out of the entire corporation these days' Sunday Telegraph 
 
Since its debut in 1998, In Our Time has amassed a dedicated following of more than 2 million listeners. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, with a panel of guest experts, each show features a plethora of fascinating facts and inspirational discourse on topics ranging from democracy to dark matter. 
 
This specially curated collection celebrates the rich diversity of poetry in English, focussing on 25 major works and writers from the mediaeval era to the 20th Century. Opening with a programme on Geoffrey Chaucer, often called the father of English literature, it encompasses some of the greatest poets of all time, including John Donne, Pope, Milton, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, W B Yeats and Wilfred Owen. 
 
Among the influential poems discussed are Shakespeare's sonnets, Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', Wordsworth's 'The Prelude' and the epic that made Byron famous, 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'. Also featured is a bonus episode, 'The Sonnet', exploring the most enduring form in the poet's armoury and how its fourteen lines have exercised poetic minds. 
 
Packed with stimulating ideas and spellbinding rhetoric, this absorbing anthology is guaranteed to bring unfettered enjoyment to all lovers of the written word. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Simon Tillotson, Thomas Morris and Natalia Fernandez 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Chaucer 9 February 2006 
Piers Plowman 29 October 2020 
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 13 December 2018 
Shakespeare's Sonnets 24 June 2021 
John Donne 12 January 2023 
Milton 7 March 2002 
Pope 9 November 2006 
Songs of Innocence and of Experience 23 June 2016 
Lyrical Ballads 8 March 2012 
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 4 March 2021 
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage 6 January 2011 
The Prelude 22 November 2007 
John Clare 9 February 2017 
Emily Dickinson 11 May 2017 
Christina Rossetti 1 December 2011 
The Charge of the Light Brigade 10 January 2008 
Tennyson's In Memoriam 30 June 2011 
Aurora Leigh 24 March 2016 
William Morris 5 July 2018 
Gerard Manley Hopkins 21 March 2019 
Walt Whitman 27 April 2023 
Thomas Hardy's Poetry 13 January 2022 
Yeats and Mysticism 31 January 2002 
Yeats and Irish Politics 17 April 2008 
Wilfred Owen 27 October 2022 
The Sonnet 21 June 2001 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Figures and Events in Christian History

Melvyn Bragg and guests chart 1,500 years of Christianity through its most influential movements, events and historical figures 
 
In Our Time has been the cornerstone of broadcasting on BBC Radio 4 since its launch in 1998. Presented by one of Britain's greatest champions of the arts, Melvyn Bragg, the show explores ideas across history, religion, philosophy, science and culture. With a vast array of contributors from the world of academia, such as Mary Beard, Angie Hobbs and Diarmaid MacCulloch, it is one of Radio 4's most successful programmes. 
 
Collected in this thematic anthology are 25 episodes focusing on notable events and individuals in Christian history, from the third century AD to the founding of Methodism, that have transformed the history of the world. Included are saints such as St Paul, Mary Magdalene, St Augustine, St Hilda, St Cuthbert, the Venerable Bede and St Thomas Aquinas, and other notable Christian figures, such as John Wyclif, William Cecil, John Foxe, Titus Oates and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Also featured are programmes on key religious movements, among them Catharism, the Jesuits, Greyfriars and Blackfriars, as well as major historical events including the Schism, the Spanish Inquisition, the Diet of Worms and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. 
 
Packed with thought-provoking facts and informed debate, this fascinating collection of specially collated programmes will captivate In Our Time fans, students of religion and anyone with an interest in theology and the Christian church. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Victoria Brignell, Julia Johnson, Thomas Morris and Simon Tillotson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Saints 
St Paul 28 May 2009 
Mary Magdalene 25 February 2016 
Augustine's Confessions 15 March 2018 
St Hilda 5 April 2007 
Saint Cuthbert 28 January 2021 
The Venerable Bede 25 November 2004 
St Thomas Aquinas 17 September 2009 
 
Part II: Other Christian Figures 
Wyclif and the Lollards 16 June 2011 
William Cecil 7 March 2019 
Foxe's Book of Martyrs 18 November 2010 
Robert Boyle 12 June 2014 
Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot' 12 May 2016 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer 27 September 2018 
 
Part III: Religious Movements 
Arianism 15 April 2021 
Catharism 17 January 2022 
Greyfriars and Blackfriars 10 November 2005 
Covenanters 12 March 2020 
The Jesuits 18 January 2007 
John Wesley and Methodism 10 December 2020 
 
Part IV: Historical Events 
Early Christian Martyrdom 28 April 2022 
The Pelagian Controversy 21 April 2011 
The Schism 16 October 2003 
The Spanish Inquisition 22 June 2006 
The Diet of Worms 12 October 2006 
The Dissolution of the Monasteries 27 March 2008 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Perspectives on the Visual Arts

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 explorations of the visual arts, including artistic and architectural styles, historic movements, notable artworks and visual artists 
 
Radio 4's In Our Time has established itself at the pinnacle of essential conversation on a wide range of subjects from science, history, philosophy and the arts. The programme, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2023, is presented by Melvyn Bragg with contributors from the diverse worlds of academia. 
 
Opening with four contextual episodes - The Artist, Imagination, The Muses, and Architecture and Power - this thematic anthology contains 25 programmes on the history of visual art. Included are artistic styles and movements, from Avant Garde to Bohemianism, and great cultural figures such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Katsushika Hokusai, Frida Kahlo, Michelangelo and William Morris. Also featured are episodes on Baroque, Bauhaus and Surrealism, as well as such iconic artworks as Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, Turner's The Fighting Temeraire, Munch's The Scream and Picasso's Guernica. 
 
How did the artist become a special kind of human being? Why is architecture such a powerful form of expression? These, and many other topics, are discussed in this release. Whether you're an arts student or simply want to broaden your horizons, this enlightening and entertaining compilation will provoke thoughts and debate long after you have finished listening to it. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Natalia Fernandez, John Goudie, Thomas Morris, Luke Mulhall and Simon Tillotson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Context 
The Artist 28 March 2002 
Imagination 28 November 2002 
The Muses 19 May 2016 
Architecture and Power 31 October 2002 
 
Part II: Styles and Movements 
Cave Art 24 September 2020 
Vitruvius and De Architectura 15 March 2012 
The Baroque Movement 20 November 2008 
Bohemianism 9 October 2003 
The Decadent Movement 18 November 2021 
Bauhaus 10 November 2022 
Surrealism 15 November 2001 
The Avant Garde's Decline and Fall in the 20th Century 25 February 1999 
 
Part III: Visual Artists 
Albrecht Dürer 12 November 2020 
Holbein at the Tudor Court 15 October 2015 
Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists 27 May 2010 
Hokusai 30 March 2017 
Berthe Morisot 13 October 2022 
Frida Kahlo 9 July 2015 
William Morris 5 July 2018 
 
Part IV: Art and Architecture 
The Lindisfarne Gospels 20 February 2003 
Judith beheading Holofernes 14 February 2019 
Angkor Wat 23 June 2022 
The Sistene Chapel 31 March 2022 
The School of Athens 26 March 2009 
Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent 15 January 2015 
Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People 20 October 2011 
The Fighting Temeraire 10 November 2016 
Munch and The Scream 18 March 2010 
Picasso's Guernica 2 November 2017 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Pioneers in the History of Science

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 scientific pioneers who have shaped the development of science over 500 years 
 
'Exemplifies what Radio 4 is all about, and what makes it world class' The Guardian 
 
One of the bedrocks of Radio 4, In Our Time has entertained and fascinated millions of listeners since it was first broadcast in 1998. Each week, Melvyn Bragg and a panel of leading academics discuss the big ideas that form the intellectual agenda of our age, traversing an eclectic spectrum of topics from the alphabet to Absolute Zero. 
 
This specially curated collection introduces us to 25 of the best minds who have shaped the fields of science over the past five centuries. Beginning with an introductory episode, 'The Scientist', it encompasses pioneers such as mathematicians Blaise Pascal, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Ada Lovelace and Emmy Noether; astronomers Johannes Kepler and William and Caroline Herschel; chemists Rosalind Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin; and physicists Ernest Rutherford and Paul Dirac. Among the other famous names featured are Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, Alan Turing and the Curies, as well as the great naturalist Charles Darwin, who is the subject of a 4-part special devoted to his life and work. 
 
Science students, In Our Time fans and lovers of learning will relish these captivating, wide-ranging discussions, giving us unparalleled insight into the remarkable individuals whose ideas and inventions have transformed our world. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Victoria Brignell, Thomas Morris, John Goudie and Simon Tillotson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
The Scientist 24 October 2002 
Johannes Kepler 29 December 2016 
Pascal 19 September 2013 
Robert Boyle 12 June 2014 
Emilie du Châtelet 4 February 2021 
Lamarck and Natural Selection 26 December 2003 
William and Caroline Herschel 11 November 2021 
Pierre-Simon Laplace 8 April 2021 
John Dalton 27 October 2016 
Humboldt 28 September 2006 
Carl Friedrich Gauss 30 November 2017 
George and Robert Stephenson 12 April 2018 
Michael Faraday 24 December 2015 
Ada Lovelace 6 March 2008 
Maxwell 2 October 2003 
Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin 5 January 2009 
Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle 6 January 2009 
Darwin: On the Origin of Species 7 January 2009 
Darwin: Life After Origins 8 January 2009 
Louis Pasteur 18 May 2017 
Pitt-Rivers 28 February 2013 
Thomas Edison 9 December 2010 
Rutherford 19 February 2004 
Emmy Noether 24 January 2019 
The Curies 26 March 2015 
Alan Turing 15 October 2020 
Rosalind Franklin 22 February 2018 
Paul Dirac 5 March 2020 
Dorothy Hodgkin 3 October 2019 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Journeys Through the History of the Islamic World

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of the Islamic world through its religion, thinkers, poetry, empire and rulers 
 
'An ever-growing library of wisdom' The Economist 
 
Since 1998, In Our Time has been the go-to radio programme for knowledge seekers and inquiring minds. Tackling big topics with a light touch, it has introduced weekly audiences of over 2 million to subjects ranging from Romulus and Remus to the Renaissance. 
 
This special themed collection provides a focussed, wide-ranging introduction to 25 of the ideas and events that shaped the Islamic world, highlighting the numerous connections between Islamdom and the West throughout history. We learn the origins of Sharia law, and how prophets became important to Islam, Judaism and Christianity alike; discover how the Translation Movement introduced the Arabic world to Greek philosophy, medicine, engineering and maths; and find out how settlers and invaders from both East and West transformed and refashioned the civilisations they touched, from the Arab Conquest, Muslim Spain and the Volga Vikings to the Third Crusade and the Siege of Vienna. 
 
Here, too, are key scholars and writers, among them al-Kindi, the first significant thinker to reconcile philosophy and Islam; Averroes, who worked to integrate Islamic theology with the rationality of Aristotle; Maimonides, a titan of Jewish intellectual history who was much influenced by the Islamic world; and Rumi, the Persian poet and Sufi mystic whose work transcends borders of time, faith, language and geography. 
 
Hosted by Melvyn Bragg with a panel of experts including Mona Siddiqui, Jim Al-Khalili, Tariq Ali and Amira Bennison, these enlightening, accessible discussions will illuminate, inspire and surprise. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Victoria Brignell 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Religion 
Islamic Law and its Origins 5 May 2011 
Sunni and Shia Islam 25 June 2009 
Prophecy 13 June 2013 
 
Part II: History of Ideas 
Maths in the Early Islamic World 16 February 2017 
The Translation Movement 2 October 2008 
Al-Kindi 28 June 2012 
al-Biruni 10 June 2010 
Avicenna 8 November 2007 
Al-Ghazali 19 March 2015 
Averroes 5 October 2006 
Maimonides 17 February 2011 
Ibn Khaldun 4 February 2010 
 
Part III: Literature 
Antarah ibn Shaddad 28 February 2019 
Rumi's Poetry 11 February 2016 
 
Part IV: Empire 
The Sassanid Empire 13 December 2007 
The Arab Conquests 26 June 2008 
Muslim Spain 21 November 2002 
The Battle of Tours 16 January 2014 
The Volga Vikings 11 November 2010 
The Almoravid Empire 3 May 2018 
Third Crusade 29 November 2001 
The Siege of Vienna 14 May 2009 
 
Part V: Rulers 
The Abbasid Caliphs 2 February 2006 
The Mamluks 26 September 2013 
The Safavid Dynasty 12 January 2012 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

A BBC history of Iron Age Britain

Unearthing Britannia's Tribes

From warrior queens to King Arthur, this epic collection explores the tribes, rulers and civilisations of Britain's Iron Age 
 
In the first millennium BC, the Iron Age arrived in Britain, bringing with it huge technological and social changes. New civilisations arose, the landscape was transformed, and societies developed new cultures and lifestyles. 
 
In this comprehensive collection, we take an in-depth look at Iron Age Britain and its inhabitants. The Essay: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes takes us on a 15-part 'woad trip' from the western reaches of Cornwall to the wilds of Scotland and Wales, as archaeologists, historians and writers reveal the peoples of ancient Albion and those who encountered them. We meet Queen Cartimandua, King Arthur, Boudicca, Pytheas and Lindow Man; hear the stories of the Cantiaci, the Demetae, the Durotriges and the Druids; and probe their myths, ideas and characters. Reaching journey's end, we learn how tribal Britain succumbed and was integrated into the Roman world. With the arrival of Caesar's armies, nothing would be the same again... 
 
Bookending this fascinating series are three episodes from In Our Time, unpacking the context behind this pivotal period of history. In the first programme, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the transition from Bronze to Iron and the dawning of the European Iron Age; while the second and third examine the legacy of both the prehistoric Celts and their ultimate conquerors, the Romans, analysing their lasting impact on Britain today. 
 
Production credits 
In Our Time presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris 
 
The Essay: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes presented by David Miles, Caradoc Peters, Melanie Giles, Nicki Howarth-Pollard, Menna Elfyn, Ilka Tampke, David Greig, Ron Hutton, Mandy Haggith, Miles Russell, Sarah Moss and Guy de la Bédoyère 
Produced by Ellie Bury and Mark Burman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 (In Our Time) and BBC Radio 3 (The Essay) on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Context 
In Our Time: The Iron Age 24 March 2011 
With Barry Cunliffe, Sue Hamilton and Timothy Champion 
 
Part II: Unearthing Britannia's Tribes 
The Cantiaci 17 January 2022 
Cornwall 18 January 2022 
The Parisi 19 January 2022 
Queen Cartimandua & the Brigantes 20 January 2022 
The Demetae 21 January 2022 
Boudicca-Warrior Queen 24 January 2022 
The Maeatae 25 January 2022 
In Search of The Druids 26 January 2022 
Pytheas and the Iron Sea 27 January 2022 
Arthur Begins 28 January 2022 
Lindow Man 14 February 2022 
The Roman Orbit 15 February 2022 
The Atrebates 16 February 2022 
The Durotriges 17 February 2022 
Maidens, Matriarchs and Crones 18 February 2022 
 
Part III: Iron Age Culture 
In Our Time: The Celts 21 February 2002 
With Barry Cunliffe, Alistair Moffat and Miranda Aldhouse Green 
 
Part IV: Roman Invasion and Occupation 
In Our Time: Roman Britain 1 May 2003 
With Greg Woolf, Mary Beard and Catharine Edwards 
 
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Thinkers Who Shaped Modern Philosophy

Melvyn Bragg and guests chart 500 years of Western philosophy through its most influential ideas and theorists 
 
'Listen to this and you'll never regret it' The Independent 
 
First aired in 1998, In Our Time has become one of Radio 4's most beloved and enduring shows, regularly attracting an audience of over 2 million. Each week, Melvyn Bragg and his panel of guest experts take part in an erudite, stimulating discussion on subjects ranging from the Peasants' Revolt to plate tectonics, taking the listener on a fascinating tour through a wonderland of ideas. 
 
Collected in this special thematic anthology are 25 episodes showcasing notable individuals from Renaissance times to the present day who have transformed the way we think about the world. Included are philosophers such as Descartes, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Karl Marx, authors Albert Camus, Iris Murdoch, Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir, psychoanalyst Carl Jung and many other celebrated thinkers. Also featured are programmes on key philosophical themes, traditions and theories, among them existentialism, empiricism and feminism. 
 
Both an essential resource for philosophy students and a treasure trove for knowledge-seekers, this wonderfully curated collection of thought-provoking programmes will captivate longtime fans of the flagship BBC show, and surprise and delight those who are coming to it for the first time. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Natalia Fernandez, Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson and Victoria Brignell 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Modern Philosophical Traditions 
 
The Continental-Analytic Split 10 November 2011 
 
Part II: Rationalism and Empiricism 
 
Consciousness 25 November 1999 
Empiricism 10 June 2004 
Cogito Ergo Sum 28 April 2011 
Spinoza 3 May 2007 
Bishop Berkeley 20 March 2014 
David Hume 6 October 2011 
 
Part III: Existentialism 
 
Existentialism 28 June 2001 
Schopenhauer 29 October 2009 
Kierkegaard 20 March 2008 
Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morality 12 January 2017 
Camus 3 January 2008 
 
Part IV: Logic, Language and Science 
 
Ordinary Language Philosophy 7 November 2013 
Jung 2 December 2004 
Bertrand Russell 6 December 2012 
Wittgenstein 4 December 2003 
Bergson and Time 9 May 2019 
Popper 8 February 2007 
 
Part V: Moral Philosophy 
 
Virtue 28 February 2002 
Kant's Categorical Imperative 21 September 2017 
Mill 18 May 2006 
Simone Weil 15 November 2012 
Iris Murdoch 21 October 2021 
 
Part VI: Political Philosophy 
 
The Social Contract 7 February 2008 
Machiavelli and the Italian City States 9 December 2004 
Hobbes 1 December 2005 
Rousseau on Education 10 October 2019 
Marx 14 July 2005 
Hannah Arendt 2 February 2017 
 
Part VII: Feminist Philosophy 
 
Feminism 7 January 1999 
Mary Astell 5 November 2020 
Mary Wollstonecraft 31 December 2009 
Simone de Beauvoir 22 October 2015 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Landmarks in Military History

In Our Time: 25 Key Figures in Ancient History

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 major leaders, thinkers and writers of the classical world 
 
'The best thing on Radio 4, possibly the best thing on the radio full stop' 
The Spectator 
 
In Our Time is one of BBC Radio's most successful and best-loved programmes, with a weekly listenership of over two million. Since 1998, it has 'transformed the landscape for serious ideas at peak listening time' (The Times), introducing its audience to an astonishing array of intriguing topics, from the epic of Gilgamesh to the gin craze. 
 
This special thematic collection focusses on some of the most important rulers, philosophers and writers of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt. Across 25 episodes, presenter Melvyn Bragg and a panel of top-class academics engage in lively and eloquent conversation as they explore the lives, reputations and impact of these pivotal figures. Their subjects include emperors, statesmen, military leaders, authors, poets, playwrights, fabulists and theorists - among them Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Socrates, Pythagoras, Ovid, Aesop and Sappho. 
 
Whether you're a long-standing In Our Time fan or a new listener, a student of ancient history or simply keen to expand your knowledge; this thoughtfully curated compilation of illuminating, accessible discussions is sure to enlighten and entertain. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Victoria Brignell, Natalia Fernandez and Luke Mulhall 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Leaders of Ancient Rome 
 
Julius Caesar 2 October 2014 
With Christopher Pelling, Catherine Steel and Maria Wyke 
 
Cleopatra 2 December 2010 
With Catharine Edwards, Maria Wyke and Susan Walker 
 
Cicero 25 January 2018 
With Melissa Lane, Catherine Steel and Valentina Arena 
 
Agrippina the Younger 31 March 2016 
With Catharine Edwards, Alice König and Matthew Nicholls 
 
Nero 25 April 2019 
With Maria Wyke, Matthew Nicholls and Shushma Malik 
 
Constantine the Great 5 October 2017 
With Christopher Kelly, Lucy Grig and Greg Woolf 
 
Marcus Aurelius 25 February 2021 
With Simon Goldhill, Angie Hobbs and Catharine Edwards 
 
Pliny the Younger 12 December 2013 
With Catharine Edwards, Roy Gibson and Alice König 
 
Queen Zenobia 30 May 2013 
With Edith Hall, Kate Cooper and Richard Stoneman 
 
Part II: Leaders of Ancient Greece 
 
Pericles 17 September 2020 
With Edith Hall, Paul Cartledge and Peter Liddel 
 
Alexander the Great 1 October 2015 
With Paul Cartledge, Diana Spencer and Rachel Mairs 
 
Part III: Thinkers of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece 
 
Galen 10 October 2013 
With Vivian Nutton, Helen King and Caroline Petit 
 
Thucydides 29 January 2015 
With Paul Cartledge, Katherine Harloe and Neville Morley 
 
Xenophon 26 May 2011 
With Paul Cartledge, Edith Hall and Simon Goldhill 
 
Heraclites 8 December 2011 
With Angie Hobbs, Peter Adamson and James Warren 
 
Socrates 27 September 2007 
With Angie Hobbs, David Sedley and Paul Millett 
 
Archimedes 25 January 2007 
With Jackie Stedall, Serafina Cuomo and George Phillips 
 
Pythagoras 10 December 2009 
With Serafina Cuomo, John O'Connor and Ian Stewart 
 
Part IV: Writers of Ancient Rome 
 
Seneca the Younger 23 February 2017 
With Catharine Edwards, Mary Beard and Alessandro Schiesaro 
 
Josephus 21 May 2015 
With Tessa Rajak, Philip Alexander and Martin Goodman 
 
Ovid 29 April 2021 
With Maria Wyke, Gail Trimble and Dunstan Lowe 
 
Horace 15 November 2018 
With Emily Gowers, William Fitzgerald and Ellen O'Gorman 
 
Part V: Writers of Ancient Greece 
 
Aesop 20 November 2014 
With Pavlos Avlamis, Simon Goldhill and Lucy Grig 
 
Herodotus 23 September 2021 
With Tom Harrison, Esther Eidinow and Paul Cartledge 
 
Sappho 9 April 2015 
With Edith Hall, Margaret Reynolds and Dirk Obbink 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

In Our Time: 25 Classic Novels

Melvyn Bragg and guests tell the story of the novel over 400 years, via key literary works and movements 
 
'One of Radio 4's quiet jewels in its crown' The Guardian 
 
In 1998, a brand new culture show was launched on Radio 4, featuring Melvyn Bragg and a panel of leading academics discussing the ideas, individuals and events that have shaped our world. In Our Time rapidly became one of radio's most well-loved programmes, regularly attracting over 2 million listeners eager to learn more about the topic of the week - which could be asteroids, Zoroastrianism or anything in between. 
 
This specially curated collection charts the evolution of the novel as a literary form throughout the past four centuries, analysing 25 works ranging from Cervantes' 17th century epic Don Quixote to George Orwell's 1945 political fable Animal Farm. Some of the best books of all time are examined and elucidated here, including Robinson Crusoe, Tristram Shandy, Emma, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Crime and Punishment, Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway. Three additional programmes, on 'The Novel', 'Victorian Realism' and 'Literary Modernism', set these masterpieces in their historical context. 
 
Devotees of fiction, In Our Time fans and the intellectually curious will love these dynamic, stimulating discussions, which open the door to a whole world of classic literature and invite us to venture in. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Olivia Seligman, Natalia Fernandez, Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Julia Johnson, Luke Mulhall 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: The Early Novel 
 
The Novel 11 November 1999 
With D J Taylor and Gillian Beer 
 
Don Quixote 16 March 2006 
With Barry Ife, Edwin Williamson and Jane Whetnall 
 
Robinson Crusoe 22 December 2011 
With Karen O'Brien, Judith Hawley and Bob Owens 
 
Voltaire's Candide 3 May 2012 
With David Wootton, Nicholas Cronk and Caroline Warman 
 
Tristram Shandy 24 April 2014 
With Judith Hawley, John Mullan and Mary Newbould 
 
Emma 19 November 2015 
With Janet Todd, John Mullan and Emma Clery 
 
Frankenstein 16 May 2019 
With Karen O'Brien, Michael Rossington and Jane Thomas 
 
Eugene Onegin 22 June 2017 
With Andrew Kahn, Emily Finer and Simon Dixon 
 
Part II: The Victorian Novel 
 
Victorian Realism 14 November 2002 
With Philip Davis, AN Wilson and Dinah Birch 
 
A Christmas Carol 16 December 2021 
With Juliet John, Jon Mee and Dinah Birch 
 
Jane Eyre 18 June 2015 
With Dinah Birch, Karen O'Brien and Sara Lyons 
 
Wuthering Heights 28 September 2017 
With Karen O'Brien, John Bowen and Alexandra Lewis 
 
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall 30 September 2021 
With Alexandra Lewis, Marianne Thormählen and John Bowen 
 
Moby Dick 7 December 2017 
With Bridget Bennett, Katie McGettigan and Graham Thompson 
 
North and South 9 March 2017 
With Sally Shuttleworth, Jenny Uglow and Dinah Birch 
 
Aurora Leigh 24 March 2016 
With Margaret Reynolds, Daniel Karlin and Karen O'Brien 
 
Crime and Punishment 14 November 2019 
With Sarah Hudspith, Oliver Ready and Sarah Young 
 
Middlemarch 19 April 2018 
With Rosemary Ashton, Kathryn Hughes and John Bowen 
 
Tess of the d'Urbervilles 5 May 2016 
With Dinah Birch, Francis O'Gorman and Jane Thomas 
 
The Time Machine 17 October 2019 
With Simon Schaffer, Amanda Rees and Simon James 
 
Part III: The Modernist Novel 
 
Literary Modernism 26 April 2001 
With John Carey, Laura Marcus and Valentine Cunningham 
 
Heart of Darkness 15 February 2007 
With Susan Jones, Robert Hampson and Laurence Davies 
 
James Joyce's Ulysses 14 June 2012 
With Steven Connor, Jeri Johnson and Richard Brown 
 
The Great Gatsby 14 January 2021 
With Sarah Churchwell, Philip McGowan and William Blazek 
 
Mrs Dalloway 3 July 2014 
With Hermione Lee, Jane Goldman and Kathryn Simpson 
 
Kafka's The Trial 27 November 2014 
With Elizabeth Boa, Steve Connor and Ritchie Robertson 
 
Decline and Fall 21 February 2013 
With David Bradshaw, John Bowen and Ann Pasternak Slater 
 
Animal Farm 29 September 2016 
With Steven Connor, Mary Vincent and Robert Colls 
 
© 2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2022 BBC Studios 
Distribution Ltd.

The Routes Of English Complete Series 1-4

In this collection, Melvyn Bragg surveys how English has evolved over 1,000 years. He starts by looking at the disappearance of old dialects like that of Cumbria, and how English has been enriched by foreign languages, from Latin and Old French to dozens more as conquest, trade and immigration played their part in recent centuries. He also examines new coinages, puns and wordplay; how accents and social class are entwined; swear words; attempts to stop the evolution of language in its tracks; and, lastly, the many varieties of English that are spoken around the world today. 
 
Next, it's dialects from around Britain: the Pitmatic of Northumberland, the dialect of (London/Derry), the increasingly elusive Cornish dialect, Pidgin and Shropshire dialect, before finishing up with a speculation on the future of English dialects. Finally, Melvyn examines some of the many different varieties of English spoken around the world today, taking in Spanglish from the USA, Indian English, Caribbean English, Australian English, South African English and a kind of 'international English' used between non-native English speakers. 
 
©2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2022 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Charles Dickens: A BBC Biography

A BBC radio collection celebrating Charles Dickens' life, work and influence 
 
Charles Dickens was a literary giant, second only to Shakespeare in the ranks of England's greatest writers. This extensive biographical collection looks at the man, his novels and his legacy to provide an all-round portrait of the much-loved author. 
 
Michael Eaton's five-play cycle Dickens in London, starring Samuel Barnett, Alex Jennings and Antony Sher, explores Dickens' changing relationship with the city that fired his imagination. His numerous achievements are discussed in Great Lives: Charles Dickens (featuring Armando Iannucci and Humphrey Carpenter) and In Our Time: Dickens (featuring Melvyn Bragg and guests). Sam West reads from Dickens' letters in Words and Music: Dickens's World; Simon Watts tells how the author's 1842 visit to the US became a turning point in his career in Witness History: Dickens in America; Ian Gillan takes a tour of Dickens' old home in Pride of Place: 48 Doughty Street; and in Night Waves, Philip Dodd talks to Claire Tomalin about her definitive biography, Charles Dickens: A Life. 
 
Literary Pursuits finds Sarah Dillon hunting for the story behind the story of Dickens' classic masterpiece, Great Expectations; and in The Mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Frances Fyfield ponders what happened to the hero of Charles Dickens's final, unfinished novel? In Free Thinking: Dickens, Matthew Sweet and guests examine his oeuvre and the way his work connects with the present day, while Landmarks: Charles Dickens is devoted to the great author's final completed novel, Our Mutual Friend. 
 
Finally, Indian writer Ayeesha Menon finds out about her country's love affair with Charles Dickens in The Documentary: Dickens and India - Mutual Friends; and his enduring significance is explored in the five-part Radio 3 series The Writer's Dickens, in which contemporary novelists Tessa Hadley, Romesh Gunesekera, AL Kennedy, Alexander McCall Smith and Justin Cartwright consider the craft of Dickens' prose and reveal how he is both a role model and a shadow looming over their own writing. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

How the north of England shaped modern Britain

The Matter of the North

Melvyn Bragg explores the pivotal role of England's north in defining modern Britain, and its enduring effect on every part of the globe 
 
'It's impossible not to admire the thrust and sweep of this series' The Telegraph 
 
In this captivating 10-part series, Melvyn Bragg brings all his enthusiasm, experience and expertise to a subject that has enthralled him his entire life: the importance of the North in shaping the United Kingdom. Joined by special guests including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Michael Parkinson, Joan Bakewell, David Hockney, Maxine Peake, Simon Armitage and Sir Geoffrey Boycott, he charts the ebb and flow of Northern power and influence, examining how one smallish geographical region came to have such an enormous effect on our culture worldwide: from science and philosophy to music and sport. 
 
Beginning his story from the top of Hadrian's Wall, Bragg looks at the fall of Rome and the rise of Northumbria, and considers the glorious Northumbrian Renaissance - and the mark left on the North by invading Vikings and Normans. He looks at the turbulent years of rebellion that swept the area and the idea of 'northern speech', and tells of his love for the Northern landscape that inspired Wordsworth, Coleridge, the Brontës and Turner. 
 
Bragg also celebrates the North as the heartland of the Industrial Revolution, and sings the praises of Manchester, the first city of that revolution. He explains how many radical movements had their genesis in the North: from Chartism and the suffragettes to the birth of the Labour Party. Bringing us right up to date, he looks at some great 20th Century cultural icons, such as the Beatles and Coronation Street. Finally, he reflects on 'Northern power', asking what being and sounding Northern means and questioning what the future holds for the North in the wake of the EU referendum. 
 
Also included In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall, in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this famous archaeological monument, and the two-part series North and South: Across the Great Divide, which finds Ian Marchant travelling along England's North/South divide to ask what it really means - and see if it is shifting. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg. Produced by Faith Lawrence 
 
With guests including: Simon Armitage, Syima Aslam, Prof Simon Bainbridge, Dame Joan Bakewell, Maria Balshaw, Prof Hannah Barker, Dr Sarah Bastow, Chris Bonington, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Claire Breay, Prof Michelle Brown, Revd Canon Rosalind Brown, Prof Sally Bushell, Prof Robert Colls, Julian Cooper, Ed Cox, Prof Katy Cubitt, Judith Cummins MP, Dame Judi Dench, Prof Richard Gameson, Toby Gordon, Lee Hall, Prof Ian Haynes, Susan Harrison, Prof Nick Higham, David Hockney, Prof Richard Horrocks, Howard Hull, Prof Judith Jesch, Dr Chris Jones, Dr Katy Layton-Jones, Dr Jill Liddington, Bill Lloyd, Natalie McCaul, Jimmy McGovern, Ian McMillan, Dr Katrina Navickas, Sir Michael Parkinson, Maxine Peake, Dr Robert Poole, Irna Qureshi, Canon Apiarist Adrian Rhodes, Lee Rigg, Jonnie Robinson, Prof Dave Russell, Jonathan Schofield, Rommi Smith, Prof Keith Stringer, Dr James Sumner, Dr Matthew Townend, Jenny Uglow, Matthew Watson, Prof Andy Wood 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 29 August-9 September 2016 
 
In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Victoria Brignell 
With Greg Woolf, David Breeze and Lindsay Allason-Jones. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 July 2012 
 
North and South: Across the Great Divide 
Presented by Ian Marchant 
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery 
With Sir Michael Darrington, Prof Danny Dorling, Rachel North, Dominic Watt, Prof David Morley, John Langton. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21-28 March 2012 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Melvyn Bragg explores the pivotal role of England's north in defining modern Britain, and its enduring effect on every part of the globe 
 
'It's impossible not to admire the thrust and sweep of this series' The Telegraph 
 
In this captivating 10-part series, Melvyn Bragg brings all his enthusiasm, experience and expertise to a subject that has enthralled him his entire life: the importance of the North in shaping the United Kingdom. Joined by special guests including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Michael Parkinson, Joan Bakewell, David Hockney, Maxine Peake, Simon Armitage and Sir Geoffrey Boycott, he charts the ebb and flow of Northern power and influence, examining how one smallish geographical region came to have such an enormous effect on our culture worldwide: from science and philosophy to music and sport. 
 
Beginning his story from the top of Hadrian's Wall, Bragg looks at the fall of Rome and the rise of Northumbria, and considers the glorious Northumbrian Renaissance - and the mark left on the North by invading Vikings and Normans. He looks at the turbulent years of rebellion that swept the area and the idea of 'northern speech', and tells of his love for the Northern landscape that inspired Wordsworth, Coleridge, the Brontës and Turner. 
 
Bragg also celebrates the North as the heartland of the Industrial Revolution, and sings the praises of Manchester, the first city of that revolution. He explains how many radical movements had their genesis in the North: from Chartism and the suffragettes to the birth of the Labour Party. Bringing us right up to date, he looks at some great 20th Century cultural icons, such as the Beatles and Coronation Street. Finally, he reflects on 'Northern power', asking what being and sounding Northern means and questioning what the future holds for the North in the wake of the EU referendum. 
 
Also included In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall, in which Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this famous archaeological monument, and the two-part series North and South: Across the Great Divide, which finds Ian Marchant travelling along England's North/South divide to ask what it really means - and see if it is shifting. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg. Produced by Faith Lawrence 
 
With guests including: Simon Armitage, Syima Aslam, Prof Simon Bainbridge, Dame Joan Bakewell, Maria Balshaw, Prof Hannah Barker, Dr Sarah Bastow, Chris Bonington, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Claire Breay, Prof Michelle Brown, Revd Canon Rosalind Brown, Prof Sally Bushell, Prof Robert Colls, Julian Cooper, Ed Cox, Prof Katy Cubitt, Judith Cummins MP, Dame Judi Dench, Prof Richard Gameson, Toby Gordon, Lee Hall, Prof Ian Haynes, Susan Harrison, Prof Nick Higham, David Hockney, Prof Richard Horrocks, Howard Hull, Prof Judith Jesch, Dr Chris Jones, Dr Katy Layton-Jones, Dr Jill Liddington, Bill Lloyd, Natalie McCaul, Jimmy McGovern, Ian McMillan, Dr Katrina Navickas, Sir Michael Parkinson, Maxine Peake, Dr Robert Poole, Irna Qureshi, Canon Apiarist Adrian Rhodes, Lee Rigg, Jonnie Robinson, Prof Dave Russell, Jonathan Schofield, Rommi Smith, Prof Keith Stringer, Dr James Sumner, Dr Matthew Townend, Jenny Uglow, Matthew Watson, Prof Andy Wood 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 29 August-9 September 2016 
 
In Our Time: Hadrian's Wall 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Victoria Brignell 
With Greg Woolf, David Breeze and Lindsay Allason-Jones. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 12 July 2012 
 
North and South: Across the Great Divide 
Presented by Ian Marchant 
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery 
With Sir Michael Darrington, Prof Danny Dorling, Rachel North, Dominic Watt, Prof David Morley, John Langton. First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21-28 March 2012 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Key philosophers and their theories

A History of Ideas

A major 60-part BBC radio series exploring the questions that have preoccupied philosophers through the ages, presented by Melvyn Bragg. 
 
With his landmark series In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg introduced an audience of over 2 million to big ideas across the realms of science, religion, culture, history and philosophy. Now, in A History of Ideas, he looks at the fundamental concepts that underpin our world, and the great thinkers who explored them - from Plato, Aristotle and Seneca to Freud, Rousseau, David Hume and John Stuart Mill. 
 
He is joined by experts from a wide range of fields to discuss the biggest questions we ask ourselves, such as 'What does it mean to be free?', 'How do I tell wrong from right?', 'What makes us human?' and 'How can I know anything at all?' Each of his guests attempts to answer these questions using their specialist expertise. 
 
Between them, they lead us through some of the most significant themes in philosophy, including morality, beauty, justice, altruism and existentialism. We find out about the evolution of language and technology, are given insights into consciousness and memory, and discover the many aspects of love - as well as learning the Buddha's Four Noble Truths, hearing what put the bang in the Big Bang, and uncovering the link between Wittgenstein and Blade Runner... 
 
Wide-ranging, entertaining and inspiring, this stunning series puts the big ideas in their historical context, showing us that they are not merely academic abstractions, but essential tools for living. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The Written World

In Our Time

Broadcaster and arts presenter Melvyn Bragg fronts 'The Written World', a five-part BBC Radio 4 series following the origins of writing from its first appearance 6,000 years ago and exploring how it has shaped the world's intellectual history.  In the first programme he looks at the technology of writing, and how making signs on clay, wood or parchment enabled the development of human culture. The second programme sees Bragg considering the impact of the invention of the book and examining one of the earliest surviving examples. The third programme examines the role of writing in the spread of religions and the fourth programme looks at how the invention of writing made it possible to record history, and how oral poetry traditions were transformed into the new medium of literature. Bragg concludes his survey of the written word by considering how the invention of writing made the scientific revolution of the Englightenment possible.

Voices Of The Powerless The Complete Series

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with 'Voices of the Powerless', the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. 
 
The Norman Conquest is his starting point, a time when William the Conqueror's 'harrying of the North' affected the poor apprentice, the lowly ploughman and the humble shepherd. He goes on to look at the Peasants' Revolt in 1381 (inspired by a hated Poll Tax) and the religious changes brought about by Henry VIII's Reformation. The so-called 'Plantation' of Ulster, the Siege of Chester, and the plague which ravaged Salisbury in 1627 are later stopping-off points in Bragg's journey, which also finds him traversing the country and speaking to historians and experts about the life of the ordinary citizen in each period. 
 
Next Melvyn visits urban Lancashire to explore the warp and weft of the Industrial Revolution to see how the upheavals of the new mechanisation affected workers who found their traditional trades marginalised by the growth of industrialization. After he travels to the historic dockyard of Chatham to explore the life of a seaman in Nelson's navy, he voyages to Tasmania to find out what a sentence of transportation to Van Diemen’s Land really meant to those who survived the journey 'beyond the seas'. As well as the Highland Clearances - still talked of as one of the harshest pieces of social manipulation in Britain's history - we travel to East Yorkshire to discover the little-known story of the Wolds Wagoners, a regiment drawn up by the local landlord from the men on his estate during World War One. Lastly, Melvyn Bragg visits Merthyr Tydfil to look at the plight of the miners in the Depression and how the disastrous effects of the Wall Street Crash, combined with industrial unrest, left towns like Merthyr Tydfil a mere shadow of its former self. 
 
First broadcast in 2002, this Complete Series contains all 12 episodes of Series One and Two: 'The Norman Conquest', 'The Peasants' Revolt', 'The Reformation', 'The Plantation of Ireland', 'The English Civil War', 'The Great Plague'; 'The Industrial Revolution', 'The Napoleonic Wars', 'The Colonisation of Australia', 'The Highland Clearances', 'The First World War' and 'Coal Mining and the Depression'. 
 
Guidance: due to the archive nature of the recording the sound quality may vary.

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg and guests chart the development of Christian thought, looking at 25 fundamental concepts that emerged throughout history 
 
'In Our Time is a digital Library of Alexandria, a rich seam of commute-enhancing, dinner-party-reviving wisdom' The Economist 
 
Launched into the Thursday morning 'death slot' in 1988, In Our Time defied expectations to become one of Radio 4's best-loved and most popular programmes. In the 25 years it has been on air, it has built up an audience of over 2 million listeners and covered over 1,000 topics, from the Berlin Conference to bird migration. 
 
This specially curated collection sees Melvyn Bragg and his panel of experts considering some of the central tenets of the Christian faith. Its wide-ranging scope incorporates key concepts including Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, angels and devils, prayers and miracles, the Fall of Man, the Apocalypse, the Trinity and the Nicene Creed. Also discussed are the most significant historical developments that shaped and influenced Christianity today, among them Gnosticism, Deism, Calvinism and Fundamentalism, the ontological argument, The Book of Common Prayer, papal infallibility and the Rapture. 
 
Full of fascinating ideas and lively, accessible discussions, this comprehensive compendium will delight religious scholars, theologians and autodidacts alike. 
 
Production credits 
Presented by Melvyn Bragg 
Produced by Thomas Morris, Simon Tillotson, Julia Johnson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
 
Part I: Key Concepts 
The Trinity 13 March 2014 
With Janet Soskice, Martin Palmer and Graham Ward 
 
Heaven 22 December 2005 
With Valery Rees, Martin Palmer and John Carey 
 
Angels 24 March 2005 
With Martin Palmer, Valery Rees and John Haldane 
 
The Devil 11 December 2003 
With Martin Palmer, Alison Rowlands and David Wootton 
 
Hell 21 December 2006 
With Martin Palmer, Margaret Kean and Neil MacGregor 
 
The Fall 8 April 2004 
With Martin Palmer, Griselda Pollock and John Carey 
 
Prayer 23 December 1999 
With Russell Stannard and Andrew Samuels 
 
Miracles 25 September 2008 
With Martin Palmer, Janet Soskice and Justin Champion 
 
Redemption 13 March 2003 
With Richard Harries, Janet Soskice and Stephen Mulhall 
 
Duty 13 November 2003 
With Angie Hobbs, Annabel Brett and Anthony Grayling 
 
The Apocalypse 17 July 2003 
With Martin Palmer, Marina Benjamin and Justin Champion 
 
The Nicene Creed 27 December 2007 
With Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress and Andrew Louth 
 
Purgatory 25 May 2017 
With Laura Ashe, Matthew Treherne and Helen Foxhall Forbes 
 
Part II: Historical Developments 
 
Gnosticism 2 May 2013 
With Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress and Alastair Logan 
 
The Ontological Argument 27 September 2012 
With John Haldane, Peter Millican and Clare Carlisle 
 
Medieval Pilgrimage 18 February 2021 
With Miri Rubin, Kathryn Rudy and Anthony Bale 
 
The Book of Common Prayer 17 October 2013 
With Diarmaid MacCulloch, Alexandra Walsham and Martin Palmer 
 
Deism 8 October 2020 
With Richard Serjeantson, Katie East and Thomas Ahnert 
 
Calvinism 25 February 2010 
With Justin Champion, Susan Hardman Moore and Diarmaid MacCulloch 
 
Papal Infallibility 10 January 2019 
With Tom O'Loughlin, Rebecca Rist and Miles Pattenden 
 
The Rapture 26 September 2019 
With Elizabeth Phillips, Crawford Gribben and Nicholas Guyatt 
 
The Oxford Movement 13 April 2006 
With Sheridan Gilley, Frances Knight and Simon Skinner 
 
The Age of Doubt 9 March 2000 
With A N Wilson and Victoria Glendinning 
 
Science and Religion 25 January 2001 
With Stephen Jay Gould, John Haldane and Hilary Rose 
 
Fundamentalism 22 April 1999 
With Karen Armstrong and Tariq Ali 
 
&copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Melvyn Bragg

Books by Melvyn Bragg

Series by Melvyn Bragg

In Our Time

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