In Our Time

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Clive Oppenheimer

Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge

Jane Stabler

Professor in Romantic Literature at the University of St Andrews

Lawrence Goldman

Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Juliet John

Professor of English Literature and Dean of Arts and Social Sciences at City, University of London

Jon Mee

Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of York

Dinah Birch

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Cultural Engagement and Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Helen Hackett

Professor of English Literature and Leverhulme Research Fellow at University College London

Tom Healy

Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Sussex

Alison Findlay

Professor of Renaissance Drama at Lancaster University and Chair of the British Shakespeare Association

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

In 1928 Woolf gave two lectures at Cambridge University about women and fiction. In front of an audience at Newnham College, she delivered the following words: `All I could do was offer you an opinion upon one minor point - a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction; and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved`.

These lectures formed the basis of a book she published the following year, and Woolf chose A Room Of One's Own for its title. It is a text that set the scene for the study of women's writing for the rest of the 20th century. Arguably, it initiated the discipline of women's history too.

With

Hermione Lee

Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

Michele Barrett

Emeritus Professor of Modern Literary and Cultural Theory at Queen Mary, University of London

Alexandra Harris

Professor of English at the University of Birmingham

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

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

With:

Simon Schaffer

Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge

Stephen Blundell

Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford

Nicola Wilkin

Lecturer in Theoretical Physics at the University of Birmingham

Producer: Thomas Morris

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

Ada Lovelace has been called many things - the first computer programmer and a prophet of the computer age - but most poetically perhaps by Babbage himself as an ‘enchantress of numbers'.

With Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor at Clare College, Cambridge; Doron Swade, Visiting Professor in the History of Computing at Portsmouth University; John Fuegi, Visiting Professor in Biography at Kingston University.

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

WITH

Pavlos Avlamis, Junior Research Fellow in Classics at Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge

Lucy Grig, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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

Melvyn Bragg looks at the ethical, economic and biological implications of living longer.

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

With:

Catharine Edwards

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London

Alice K怀nig

Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews

Matthew Nicholls

Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Reading

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Pharaoh Akhenaten.

Leslie Ann Goldberg

Professor of Computer Science and Fellow of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford

Simon Schaffer

Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College

Andrew Hodges

Biographer of Turing and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Richard Staley

Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Professor in History of Science at the University of Copenhagen

Diana Kormos Buchwald

Robert M. Abbey Professor of History and Director and General Editor of The Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology

John Heilbron

Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (first published 1971; HarperPaperbacks, 2011)

Albert Einstein (eds. Jurgen Renn and Hanoch Gutfreund), Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - 100th Anniversary Edition (Princeton University Press, 2019)

Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years (first published 1950; Citadel Press, 1974)

Albert Einstein (ed. Paul A. Schilpp), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist: The Library of Living Philosophers Volume VII (first published 1949; Open Court, 1970)

Albert Einstein (eds. Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden), Einstein on Peace (first published 1981; Literary Licensing, 2011)

Albrecht Folsing, Albert Einstein: A Biography (Viking, 1997)

J. L. Heilbron, Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020)

Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton University Press, 2002)

Michel Janssen and Christoph Lehner (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Einstein (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Dennis Overbye, Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance (Viking, 2000)

Abraham Pais, Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (Oxford University Press, 1982)

David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann (eds.), Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (Princeton University Press, 2007)

Matthew Stanley, Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I (Dutton, 2019)

Fritz Stern, Einstein's German World (Princeton University Press, 1999)

A. Douglas Stone, Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian (Princeton University Press, 2013)

Milena Wazeck (trans. Geoffrey S. Koby), Einstein's Opponents: The Public Controversy About the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

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

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

Susan Foister

Deputy Director and Curator of German Paintings at the National Gallery

Giulia Bartrum

Freelance art historian and Former Curator of German Prints and Drawings at the British Museum

Ulinka Rublack

Professor of Early Modern European History and Fellow of St John's College, University of Cambridge

Studio production: John Goudie

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

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

The image above is Alcuin's portrait, found in a copy of the Bible made at his monastery in Tours during the rule of his successor Abbot Adalhard (834-843). Painted in red on gold leaf, it shows Alcuin with a tonsure and a halo, signifying respect for his memory at the monastery where he had died in 804. His name and rank are spelled out alongside: Alcvinvs abba, ‘Alcuin the abbot'. It is held at the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg -Kaiser-Heinrich-Bibliothek - Msc.Bibl.1,fol.5v (photo by Gerald Raab).

Joanna Story

Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester

Andy Orchard

Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Pembroke College

Mary Garrison

Lecturer in History at the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

In Act V Scene I of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the character Miranda declares 'O wonder! How many Godly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O Brave new world! That has such people in it!'. It is perhaps the only line of Shakespeare to be made famous by someone else, for Brave New World is not associated with Prospero's Island of sprites, magic and wondrous noises, but with Aldous Huxley's dystopia of eugenics, soma and zero gravity tennis. A world, incidentally, upon which literary references to Shakespeare would be entirely lost.

Brave New World is a lurid, satirical dystopia in which the hopes and fears of the 1930s are writ large and yet the book seems uncannily prescient about our own time. But why did Huxley feel the need to write it and is Brave New World really as dystopian as we are led to believe?

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

With:

Paul Cartledge

Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Diana Spencer

Professor of Classics at the University of Birmingham

Rachel Mairs

Lecturer in Classics at the University of Reading

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

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

With:

Steve Jones

Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London

George Beccaloni

Curator of Cockroaches and Related Insects and Director of the Wallace Correspondence Project at the Natural History Museum

Ted Benton

Professor of Sociology at the University of Essex

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With:

Peter Adamson

Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the LMU in Munich

Carole Hillenbrand

Professor of Islamic History at Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities

Robert Gleave

Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Exeter

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

Franziska Kohlt

Leverhulme Research Fellow in the History of Science at the University of Leeds and the Inaugural Carrollian Fellow of the University of Southern California

Kiera Vaclavik

Professor of Children's Literature and Childhood Culture at Queen Mary, University of London

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

Professor of English Literature at Magdalen College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Kate Bailey and Simon Sladen (eds), Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser (V&A Publishing, 2021)

Gillian Beer, Alice in Space: The Sideways Victorian World of Lewis Carroll (University of Chicago Press, 2016)

Will Brooker, Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll and Alice in Popular Culture (Continuum, 2004)

Humphrey Carpenter, Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature (first published 1985; Faber and Faber, 2009)

Lewis Carroll (introduced by Martin Gardner), The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, (W. W. Norton & Company, 2000)

Gavin Delahunty and Christoph Benjamin Schulz (eds), Alice in Wonderland Through the Visual Arts (Tate Publishing, 2011)

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland (Harvill Secker, 2015)

Colleen Hill, Fairy Tale Fashion (Yale University Press, 2016)

Franziska Kohlt, Alice through the Wonderglass: The Surprising Histories of a Children's Classic (Reaktion, forthcoming 2025)

Franziska Kohlt and Justine Houyaux (eds.), Alice: Through the Looking-Glass: A Companion (Peter Lang, forthcoming 2024)

Charlie Lovett, Lewis Carroll: Formed by Faith (University of Virginia Press, 2022)

Elizabeth Sewell, The Field of Nonsense (first published 1952; Dalkey Archive Press, 2016)

Kiera Vaclavik, 'Listening to the Alice books' (Journal of Victorian Culture, Volume 26, Issue 1, January 2021)

Diane Waggoner, Lewis Carroll's Photography and Modern Childhood (Princeton University Press 2020)

Edward Wakeling, The Man and his Circle (IB Tauris, 2014)

Edward Wakeling, The Photographs of Lewis Carroll: A Catalogue Raisonné (University of Texas Press, 2015)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's work published in 1865 and inspired by telling stories to Alice Liddell and her sisters on picnics and boating trips in Oxford

With:

Hugh Kennedy

Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London

James Montgomery

Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic Elect at the University of Cambridge

Amira Bennison

Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of anaesthetics.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the political creed of Anarchism.

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

With

Piphal Heng

Postdoctoral scholar at the Cotsen Institute and the Programme for Early Modern Southeast Asia at UCLA

Ashley Thompson

Hiram W Woodward Chair of Southeast Asian Art at SOAS University of London

Simon Warrack

A stone conservator who has worked extensively at Angkor Wat

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is based on 'Portrait of Anna Akhmatova' by N.I. Altman, 1914, Moscow

With

Katharine Hodgson

Professor in Russian at the University of Exeter

Alexandra Harrington

Reader in Russian Studies at Durham University

Michael Basker

Professor of Russian Literature and Dean of Arts at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Later in life she became a follower of theosophy, a belief system bringing together elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions. She moved to India, its main base, and took on a leading role in the Indian self-rule movement, being appointed the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

With:

Lawrence Goldman

Fellow in Modern History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford

David Stack

Reader in History at the University of Reading

Yasmin Khan

Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

With

James Montgomery

Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge

Marl退 Hammond

Senior Lecturer in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at SOAS, University of London

Harry Munt

Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at Durham University

Oliver Taplin

Emeritus Professor of Classics, University of Oxford

Lyndsay Coo

Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek Language and Literature at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses Antimatter in particle physics and cosmology.

The image above is from the Yale Center for British Art and is titled 'Aphra Behn, by Sir Peter Lely, 1618-1680

With

Janet Todd

Former President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge University

Ros Ballaster

Professor of 18th Century Literature at Mansfield College, University of Oxford

Claire Bowditch

Post-doctoral Research Associate in English and Drama at Loughborough University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Greek mathematician Archimedes and his famous cry of \u201ceureka!\u201d

The image above is the ceiling mosaic of the Arian Baptistry in Ravenna, commissioned by Theodoric, ruler of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, around the end of the 5th century

Judith Herrin

Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Emeritus, at King's College London

Robin Whelan

Lecturer in Mediterranean History at the University of Liverpool

Martin Palmer

Visiting Professor in Religion, History and Nature at the University of Winchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of the egg and embryo of a dogfish, one of the animals Aristotle described accurately as he recorded their development.

With

Armand Leroi

Professor of Evolutionary Development Biology at Imperial College London

Myrto Hatzimichali

Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge

Sophia Connell

Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Roger Crisp

Director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Professor of Moral Philosophy and Tutor in Philosophy at St Anne's College, University of Oxford

Sophia Connell

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

J.L. Ackrill, Aristotle the Philosopher (Oxford University Press, 1981)

Aristotle (ed. and trans. Roger Crisp), Nicomachean Ethics (Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Aristotle (trans. Terence Irwin), Nicomachean Ethics (Hackett Publishing Co., 2019)

Aristotle (trans. H. Rackham), Nicomachean Ethics: Loeb Classical Library (William Heinemann Ltd, 1962)

Jonathan Barnes, Aristotle: Past Masters series (Oxford University Press, 1982)

Gerard J. Hughes, Routledge Guidebook to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (Routledge, 2013)

Richard Kraut (ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005)

Michael Pakaluk, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2005)

A. Rorty (ed.), Essays on Aristotle's Ethics (University of California Press, 1981)

Nancy Sherman, The Fabric of Character: Aristotle's Theory of Virtue (Clarendon Press, 1989)

J.O. Urmson, Aristotle's Ethics (John Wiley & Sons, 1988)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's influential approach to the questions of how to live a good life and what happiness means, originally aimed at the elite in Athens.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's Poetics.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's 'Politics'.

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we are near to achieving the thinking, feeling computer.

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

With:

Jessica Frazier

Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Naomi Appleton

Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh

Richard Gombrich

Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

Mark Ford

Poet and Professor of English at University College London

Janet Montefiore

Professor Emerita of 20th Century English Literature at the University of Kent

Jeremy Noel-Tod

Senior Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Kate Cooper

Professor of History at the University of London and Head of History at Royal Holloway

Morwenna Ludlow

Professor of Christian History and Theology at the University of Exeter

Martin Palmer

Visiting Professor in Religion, History and Nature at the University of Winchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Margaret Reynolds

Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London

Daniel Karlin

Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol

Karen O'Brien

Professor of English Literature at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is of Sartre, aged 8 months, perhaps still connected to his inner child.

Sarah Richmond

Associate Professor in Philosophy at University College London

Denis McManus

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton

Irene McMullin

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex

Producer: Simon Tillotson

The image above is Jacques de Vaucanson's mechanical duck (1739), which picked up grain, digested and expelled it. If it looks like a duck...

with

Simon Schaffer

Professor of History of Science at Cambridge University

Elly Truitt

Associate Professor of Medieval History at Bryn Mawr College

Franziska Kohlt

Doctoral Researcher in English Literature and the History of Science at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Persian Islamic philosopher Avicenna.

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

With

Aleks Pluskowski

Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading

Nora Berend

Fellow of St Catharine's College and Reader in European History at the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge

Martin Palmer

Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Peter Heather

Professor of Medieval History at King's College London

Ellen O'Gorman

Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Bristol

Matthew Nicholls

Fellow and Senior Tutor at St John's College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of the Bauhaus Building, Dessau, designed by Gropius and built in 1925-6

Robin Schuldenfrei

Tangen Reader in 20th Century Modernism at The Courtauld Institute of Art

Alan Powers

History Leader at the London School of Architecture

Michael White

Professor of the History of Art at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With

Hilary Marland

Professor of History at the University of Warwick

Justin Champion

Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London and President of the Historical Association

Jonathan Andrews

Reader in the History of Psychiatry at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

(Before the live broadcast, BBC Radio 3's Breakfast programme played selections from Beethoven, with Essential Classics playing more, immediately after, on the same network.)

Laura Tunbridge

Professor of Music and Henfrey Fellow, St Catherine's College, University of Oxford

John Deathridge

Emeritus King Edward Professor of Music at King's College London

Erica Buurman

Senior Lecturer in Music, Canterbury Christchurch University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

What factors influence where and what an animal chooses to eat? Why do some animals mate for life whilst others are promiscuous? Behavioural ecologists approach questions like these using Darwin's theory of natural selection, along with ideas drawn from game theory and the economics of consumer choice.

Scientists had always been interested in why animals behave as they do, but before behavioural ecology this area of zoology never got much beyond a collection of interesting anecdotes. Behavioural ecology gave researchers techniques for constructing rigorous mathematical models of how animals act under different circumstances, and for predicting how they will react if circumstances change. Behavioural ecology emerged as a branch of zoology in the second half of the 20th century and proponents say it revolutionized our understanding of animals in their environments.

Steve Jones, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London

Rebecca Kilner, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge

John Krebs, Principal of Jesus College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss behavioural ecology.

With:

Laura Ashe

Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College

Clare Lees

Professor of Medieval English Literature and History of the Language at King's College London

Andy Orchard

Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Keith Ansell-Pearson

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick

Emily Thomas

Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Durham University

Mark Sinclair

Reader in Philosophy at the University of Roehampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Tamar Garb

Professor of History of Art at University College London

Lois Oliver

Curator at the Royal Academy and Adjunct Professor of Art History at the American University of Notre Dame London.

Claire Moran

Reader in French at Queen's University Belfast

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

In addition to his academic work, Russell played an active role in many social and political campaigns. He supported women's suffrage, was imprisoned for his pacifism during World War I and was a founder of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He wrote a number of books aimed at the general public, including The History of Western Philosophy which became enormously popular, and in 1950 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Russell's many appearances on the BBC also helped to promote the public understanding of ideas.

With:

AC Grayling

Master of the New College of the Humanities and a Supernumerary Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford

Mike Beaney

Professor of Philosophy at the University of York

Hilary Greaves

Lecturer in Philosophy and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell.

Barbara Helm

Reader at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow

Tim Guilford

Professor of Animal Behaviour and Tutorial Fellow of Zoology at Merton College, Oxford

Richard Holland

Senior Lecturer in Animal Cognition at Bangor University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Peter Millican

Gilbert Ryle Fellow and Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford

Tom Stoneham

Professor of Philosophy at the University of York

Michela Massimi

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Black Holes, the ghosts of massive stars.

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

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

The image above is of an organ grinder on a London street, circa 1893, with children dancing to the Pas de Quatre

Emma Griffin

Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia

Sarah Wise

Adjunct Professor at the University of California

Lawrence Goldman

Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

CONTRIBUTORS

Louise Milne, Lecturer in Visual Culture in the School of Art at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University

Jeanne Nuechterlein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History of Art, University of York

Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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

Guests:

Julia Elton, former President of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology

Ben Marsden, Senior Lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen

Crosbie Smith, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Kent

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

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

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

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

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

Marcus du Sautoy

Professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford

Colva Roney-Dougal

Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Nick Evans

Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Andrew Scott

Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London

Jan Zalasiewicz

Senior Lecturer in Geology at the University of Leicester

Leucha Veneer

Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

The image above is of Lesbia and her Sparrow, 1860, artist unknown

With

Gail Trimble

Brown Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Simon Smith

Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Kent, poet and translator of Catullus

Maria Wyke

Professor of Latin at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Alistair Pike

Professor of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Southampton

Chantal Conneller

Senior Lecturer in Early Pre-History at Newcastle University

Paul Pettitt

Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Richard Gameson

Professor of the History of the Book at the University of Durham

Julia Boffey

Professor of Medieval Studies in the English Department at Queen Mary, University of London

David Rundle

Member of the History Faculty at the University of Oxford

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

Louise Allcock

Lecturer in Zoology at the National University of Ireland, Galway

Paul Rodhouse

Emeritus Fellow of the British Antarctic Survey

Jonathan Ablett

Senior Curator of Molluscs at the Natural History Museum

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Linda Woodhead

The FD Maurice Professor and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King's College London

David Bell

The Lapidus Professor in the Department of History at Princeton University

Tom Wright

Reader in Rhetoric at the University of Sussex

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The Chartists, as they came to be known, were the first national mass working-class movement. In the decade that followed, they collected six million signatures for their Petitions to Parliament: all were rejected, but their campaign had a significant and lasting impact.

With

Joan Allen

Visiting Fellow in History at Newcastle University and Chair of the Society for the Study of Labour History

Emma Griffin

Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia and President of the Royal Historical Society

Robert Saunders

Reader in Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London.

The image above shows a Chartist mass meeting on Kennington Common in London in April 1848.

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

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

With:

Catriona Kelly

Professor of Russian at the University of Oxford

Cynthia Marsh

Emeritus Professor of Russian Drama and Literature at the University of Nottingham

Rosamund Bartlett

Founding Director of the Anton Chekhov Foundation and former Reader in Russian at the University of Durham.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Frances Wood

Former Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library

Hilde de Weerdt

Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

Roel Sterckx

Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Miri Rubin

Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

Matthew Strickland

Professor of Medieval History at the University of Glasgow

Laura Ashe

Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss medieval chivalry.

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

The image above, of Christine de Pizan lecturing, is (c)The British Library Board. Harley 4431, f.259v.

With

Helen Swift

Associate Professor of Medieval French at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Hilda's College

Miranda Griffin

Lecturer in French and Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge

Marilynn Desmond

Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Andrea Sella

Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Apryll Stalcup

Professor of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University

Leon Barron

Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at King's College London.

With

Melissa Lane

The Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University

and 2018 Carlyle Lecturer at the University of Oxford

Catherine Steel

Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow

Valentina Arena

Reader in Roman History at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Russell Foster

Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford

Debra Skene

Professor of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Surrey

Steve Jones

Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss circadian rhythms.

The image above is of Kane addressing a public meeting while running for Governor.

With

Stella Bruzzi

Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London

Ian Christie

Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London

John David Rhodes

Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

Cnut inherited a kingdom in a sorry state. The north and east coast had been harried by Viking raiders, and his predecessor King ƀthelred II had struggled to maintain order amongst the Anglo-Saxon nobility too. Cnut proved to be skilful ruler. Not only did he bring stability and order to the kingdom, he exported the Anglo-Saxon style of centralised government to Denmark. Under Cnut, England became the cosmopolitan centre of a multi-national North Atlantic Empire, and a major player in European politics.

With

Erin Goeres

Associate Professor of Old Norse Language and Literature at University College London

Pragya Vohra

Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York

Elizabeth Tyler

Professor of Medieval Literature and Co-Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

Judith Hawley

Professor of 18th Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Markman Ellis

Professor of 18th Century Studies at Queen Mary University of London

Jonathan Morris

Professor in Modern History at the University of Hertfordshire

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Diana Holmes

Professor of French at the University of Leeds

Mich耀le Roberts

Writer, novelist, poet and Emeritus Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia

Belinda Jack

Fellow and Tutor in French Literature and Language at Christ Church, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

The image above is from a portrait of Comenius by Jürgen Ovens, 1650 - 1670, painted while he was living in Amsterdam and held in the Rikjsmuseum

With

Vladimir Urbanek

Senior Researcher in the Department of Comenius Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Suzanna Ivanic

Lecturer in Early Modern European History at the University of Kent

Howard Hotson

Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Anne's College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Monica Grady

Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University

Paul Murdin

Senior Fellow at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Don Pollacco

Professor of Astronomy at the University of Warwick

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss common sense philosophy.

With:

Ian Stewart

Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick

Jeff Johnson

Professor of Complexity Science and Design at the Open University

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly

Director of the Complexity Research Group at the London School of Economics.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss complexity theory.

With

Rachel Hammersley

Professor of Intellectual History at Newcastle University

Richard Whatmore

Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History

Tom Hopkins

Senior Teaching Associate in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Selwyn College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Keith Michael Baker, Condorcet: From Natural Philosophy to Social Mathematics (University of Chicago Press, 1974)

Keith Michael Baker, ‘On Condorcet's Sketch' (Daedalus, summer 2004)

Lorraine Daston, ‘Condorcet and the Meaning of Enlightenment' (Proceedings of the British Academy, 2009)

Dan Edelstein, The Enlightenment: A Genealogy (Chicago University Press, 2010)

Mark Goldie and Robert Wokler (eds), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge University Press, 2006), especially ‘Ideology and the Origins of Social Science' by Robert Wokler

Gary Kates, The Cercle Social, the Girondins, and the French Revolution (Princeton University Press, 1985)

Steven Lukes and Nadia Urbinati (eds.), Condorcet: Political Writings (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Kathleen McCrudden Illert, A Republic of Sympathy: Sophie de Grouchy's Politics and Philosophy, 1785-1815 (Cambridge University Press, 2024)

Iain McLean and Fiona Hewitt (eds.), Condorcet: Foundations of Social Choice and Political Theory (Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, 1994)

Emma Rothschild, Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet and the Enlightenment, (Harvard University Press, 2001)

Richard Whatmore, The End of Enlightenment (Allen Lane, 2023)

David Williams, Condorcet and Modernity (Cambridge University Press, 2004)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential French philosopher and mathematician who tried to apply his Enlightenment ideas on the benefit of education to the French Revolution.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of electrical conduction.

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

With

Christopher Kelly

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Cambridge

and President of Corpus Christi College

Lucy Grig

Senior Lecturer in Roman History at the University of Edinburgh

Greg Woolf

Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With

Steve Jones

Senior Research Fellow in Genetics at University College London

Nicola Foster

Lecturer in Marine Biology at the University of Plymouth

Gareth Williams

Associate Professor in Marine Biology at Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences

Producer Simon Tilllotson.

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

With:

Carolin Crawford

Gresham Professor of Astronomy and a member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Alan Watson

Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Leeds

Tim Greenshaw

Professor of Physics at the University of Liverpool.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The image above is from a portrait of Dostoevsky by Vasili Perov, 1872.

With

Sarah Hudspith

Associate Professor in Russian at the University of Leeds

Oliver Ready

Lecturer in Russian at the University of Oxford, Research Fellow at St Antony's College and a translator of this novel

Sarah Young

Associate Professor in Russian at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The history of crystallography began with the work of Johannes Kepler in the 17th century, but perhaps the most crucial leap in understanding came with the work of the father-and-son team the Braggs in 1912. They built on the work of the German physicist Max von Laue who had proved that X-rays are a form of light waves and that it was possible to scatter these rays using a crystal. The Braggs undertook seminal experiments which transformed our perception of crystals and their atomic arrangements, and led to some of the most significant scientific findings of the last century - such as revealing the structure of DNA.

With:

Judith Howard

Director of the Biophysical Sciences Institute and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Durham

Chris Hammond

Life Fellow in Material Science at the University of Leeds

Mike Glazer

Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Visiting Professor of Physics at the University of Warwick

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

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

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

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

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

Carolin Crawford

Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Astronomy

Carlos Frenk

Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham

Anne Green

Reader in Physics at the University of Nottingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

Matthew Watson

Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick

Helen Paul

Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

Richard Whatmore

Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg examines the development of Western rituals and attitudes to death.

Published in 1912, it's about the fall of the repressed writer Gustav von Aschenbach, when his supposedly objective appreciation of a young boy's beauty becomes sexual obsession.

It explores the link between creativity and self-destruction, and by the end Aschenbach's humiliation is complete, dying on a deckchair in the act of ogling. Aschenbach's stalking of the boy and dreaming of pederasty can appal modern readers, even more than Mann expected.

With

Karolina Watroba, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Modern Languages at All Souls College, University of Oxford

Erica Wickerson, a Former Research Fellow at St Johns College, University of Cambridge

Sean Williams, Senior Lecturer in German and European Cultural History at the University of Sheffield

Sean Williams' series of Radio 3's The Essay, Death in Trieste, can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lzd4

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

With:

Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, Oxford

Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of York

Senior Research Fellow at St Anne's College, Oxford.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Richard Serjeantson

Fellow and Lecturer in History at Trinity College, Cambridge

Katie East

Lecturer in History at Newcastle University

Thomas Ahnert

Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is painted on the dome of the library of the National Assembly, Paris and is by Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863). It depicts Demosthenes haranguing the waves of the sea as a way of strengthening his voice for his speeches.

With

Paul Cartledge

A. G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Kathryn Tempest

Reader in Latin Literature and Roman History at the University of Roehampton

Jon Hesk

Reader in Greek and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Stephen Plant

Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge

Eleanor McLaughlin

Lecturer in Theology and Ethics at the University of Winchester and Lecturer in Ethics at Regent's Park College at the University of Oxford

Tom Greggs

Marischal Chair of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Vince Gaffney

Anniversary Professor of Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bradford

Carol Cotterill

Marine Geoscientist at the British Geological Survey

Rachel Bynoe

Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With

Georgina Ferry

Science writer and biographer of Dorothy Hodgkin

Judith Howard

Professor of Chemistry at Durham University

Patricia Fara

Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Nerys Williams

Associate Professor of Poetry and Poetics at University College Dublin

John Goodby

Professor of Arts and Culture at Sheffield Hallam University

Leo Mellor

The Roma Gill Fellow in English at Murray Edwards College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Colva Roney-Dougal

Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

June Barrow-Green

Senior Lecturer in the History of Maths at the Open University

Vicky Neale

Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

The image above is of The Martyrdom of Saint Blandina (1886) at the Church of Saint-Blandine de Lyon, France

With:

Candida Moss

Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham

Kate Cooper

Professor of History at Royal Holloway, University of London

James Corke-Webster

Senior Lecturer in Classics, History and Liberal Arts at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Kate Jones

Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity at University College London

Gareth Jones

Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol

Dean Waters

Lecturer in the Environment Department at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Carolin Crawford

Public Astronomer based at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and a fellow of Emmanuel College

Frank Close

Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford

Lucie Green

Professor of Physics and a Royal Society University Research Fellow at Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London

Producers: Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson

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

Bridget Bennett

Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds

Erin Forbes

Senior Lecturer in 19th-century African American and US Literature at the University of Bristol

Tom Wright

Reader in Rhetoric at the University of Sussex

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Peter Ackroyd, Poe: A Life Cut Short (Vintage, 2009)

Amy Branam Armiento and Travis Montgomery (eds.), Poe and Women: Recognition and Revision (Lehigh University Press, 2023)

Joan Dayan, Fables of Mind: An Inquiry into Poe's Fiction (Oxford University Press, 1987)

Erin Forbes, ‘Edgar Allan Poe in the Great Dismal Swamp' (Modern Philology, 2016)

Kevin J. Hayes (ed.), Edgar Allan Poe in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2012)

J. Gerald Kennedy and Scott Peeples (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Edgar Allan Poe (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Jill Lepore, 'The Humbug: Poe and the Economy of Horror' (The New Yorker, April 20, 2009)

Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark (Vintage, 1993)

Scott Peeples and Michelle Van Parys, The Man of the Crowd: Edgar Allan Poe and the City (Princeton University Press, 2020)

Edgar Allan Poe, The Portable Edgar Allan Poe (Penguin, 2006)

Shawn Rosenhelm and Stephen Rachman (eds.), The American Face of Edgar Allan Poe (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the writer of The Raven and Gothic horror stories such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ediacara Biota.

With

Dame Hermione Lee

Biographer, former President of Wolfson College, Oxford

Bridget Bennett

Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds

Laura Rattray

Reader in North American Literature at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

The image above is of Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton, oil on mahogany panel, 1773.

With

David Womersley

The Thomas Wharton Professor of English Literature at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford

Charlotte Roberts

Lecturer in English at University College London

Karen O'Brien

Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Lindy Grant

Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading

Nicholas Vincent

Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

Julie Barrau

University Lecturer in British Medieval History at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

She argued that although dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have ended the fighting, it amounted to the murder of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. It was therefore an irredeemably immoral act. And there was something fundamentally wrong with a moral philosophy that didn't see that.

This was the starting point for a body of work that changed the terms in which philosophers discussed moral and ethical questions in the second half of the twentieth century.

A leading student of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Anscombe combined his insights with rejuvenated interpretations of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas that made these ancient figures speak to modern issues and concerns. Anscombe was also instrumental in making action, and the question of what it means to intend to do something, a leading area of philosophical work.

Rachael Wiseman, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool

Constantine Sandis, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire, and Director of Lex Academic

Roger Teichmann, Lecturer in Philosophy at St Hilda's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Luke Mulhall

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

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

Patricia Fara

Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge

David Wootton

Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Judith Zinsser

Professor Emerita of History at Miami University of Ohio and biographer of Emilie du Ch telet.

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Fiona Green

Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College

Linda Freedman

Lecturer in English and American Literature at University College London

Paraic Finnerty

Reader in English and American Literature at the University of Portsmouth

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Janet Todd

Professor Emerita of Literature, University of Aberdeen and Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge

John Mullan

Professor of English at University College, London

Emma Clery

Professor of English at the University of Southampton.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Colva Roney Dougal

Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

David Berman

Professor in Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary, University of London

Elizabeth Mansfield

Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Nigel Richards

Professor of Biological Chemistry at Cardiff University

Sarah Barry

Lecturer in Chemical Biology at King's College London

Jim Naismith

Director of the Research Complex at Harwell

Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of St Andrews

Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Andrew George

Professor of Babylonian at SOAS, University of London

Frances Reynolds

Shillito Fellow in Assyriology at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford and Fellow of St Benet's Hall

Martin Worthington

Lecturer in Assyriology at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of Epicureanism.

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

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

Marcus du Sautoy

Professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford

Serafina Cuomo

Reader in Roman History at Birkbeck University of London

June Barrow-Green

Professor of the History of Mathematics at the Open University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Elements of Euclid.

With

Andrew Kahn

Professor of Russian Literature at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Edmund Hall

Emily Finer

Lecturer in Russian and Comparative Literature at the University of St Andrews

Simon Dixon

The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notion of evil in western philosophy.

With:

Carolin Crawford

Gresham Professor of Astronomy and a member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Don Pollacco

Professor of Astronomy at the University of Warwick

Suzanne Aigrain

Lecturer in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

With

Monica Grady

Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University

Ian Crawford

Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck University of London

Nick Lane

Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss extremophiles and astrobiology.

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

With

Nicole Pohl

Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University

Judith Hawley

Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

John Mullan

Professor of English at University College London.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

Mike Benton

Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Bristol

Steve Brusatte

Reader and Chancellor's Fellow in Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University of Edinburgh

Maria McNamara

Senior Lecturer in Geology at University College, Cork

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Marcus du Sautoy

Professor of Mathematics & Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford

Vicky Neale

Fellow and Director of Studies in Mathematics at Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge

Samir Siksek

Professor at the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Clကudia Pazos-Alonso

Professor of Portuguese and Gender Studies and Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College, University of Oxford

Juliet Perkins

Visiting Senior Research Fellow in Portuguese Studies at King's College London

Paulo de Medeiros

Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

David Moody

Emeritus Professor of English and American Literature at the University of York

Fran Brearton

Professor of Modern Poetry at Queen's University, Belfast

Mark Ford

Professor of English and American Literature at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Jeremy Irons will be reading TS Eliot's greatest poems, from Prufrock to The Waste Land to Four Quartets, across New Year's Day here on Radio 4.

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

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

The image of Mary Shelley, above, was first exhibited in 1840.

Karen O'Brien

Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

Michael Rossington

Professor of Romantic Literature at Newcastle University

Jane Thomas

Professor of Victorian and Early 20th Century Literature at the University of Hull

Producer: Simon Tillotson

This programme is a repeat

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

With

Celeste-Marie Bernier

Professor of Black Studies in the English Department at the University of Edinburgh

Karen Salt

Assistant Professor in Transnational American Studies at the University of Nottingham

Nicholas Guyatt

Reader in North American History at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Tim Blanning

Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge

Katrin Kohl

Professor of German Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College

Thomas Biskup

Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Hull

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Nick Lane

Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London

Anna Croft

Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham

Mike Murphy

Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at Cambridge University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss free will.

Patience Schell

Chair in Hispanic Studies at the University of Aberdeen

Valerie Fraser

Emeritus Professor of Latin American Art at the University of Essex

Alan Knight

Emeritus Professor of the History of Latin America at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Frida Kahlo.

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

Stella Bruzzi

Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London

Joe McElhaney

Professor of Film Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York

Iris Luppa

Senior Lecturer in Film Studies in the Division of Film and Media at London South Bank University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg examines the roots and the consequences of religious fundamentalism.

With:

Lynne Boddy

Professor of Fungal Ecology at Cardiff University

Sarah Gurr

Professor of Food Security in the Biosciences Department at the University of Exeter

David Johnson

N8 Chair in Microbial Ecology at the University of Manchester

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

With:

Vivian Nutton

Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine at University College London

Helen King

Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University

Caroline Petit

Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Classics at the University of Warwick

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

This topic is the one chosen from over 750 different ideas suggested by listeners in October, for our yearly Listener Week.

Lucy Riall

Professor of Comparative History of Europe at the European University Institute

and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London

Eugenio Biagini

Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Cambridge

David Laven

Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses mutation in genetics and evolution.

Melvyn Bragg discusses Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas.

Robert is credited with the main role in the design of their locomotives. George had worked on stationary colliery steam engines and, with Robert, developed the moving steam engine Locomotion No1 for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. They produced the Rocket for the Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829. From there, the success of their designs and engineering led to the expansion of railways across Britain and around the world.

Dr Michael Bailey

Railway historian and editor of the most recent biography of Robert Stephenson

Julia Elton

Past President of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology

Colin Divall

Professor Emeritus of Railway Studies at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

This programme is a repeat

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

With

Belinda Jack

Fellow and Tutor in French at Christ Church, University of Oxford

Angela Ryan

Senior Lecturer in French at University College Cork

Nigel Harkness

Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of French at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Henrietta Leyser

Emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Michelle Brown

Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London

Huw Pryce

Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University

Producer: Thomas Morris.

With

Catherine Phillips

R J Owens Fellow in English at Downing College, University of Cambridge

Jane Wright

Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol

Martin Dubois

Assistant Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Alison Finch, Professor Emerita of French Literature at the University of Cambridge

Katherine Astbury, Associate Professor and Reader in French Studies at the University of Warwick.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Susan Harrow

Ashley Watkins Chair of French at the University of Bristol

Kate Griffiths

Professor in French and Translation at Cardiff University

Edmund Birch

Lecturer in French Literature and Director of Studies at Churchill College & Selwyn College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

David Baguley, Naturalist Fiction: The Entropic Vision (Cambridge University Press, 1990)

William Burgwinkle, Nicholas Hammond and Emma Wilson (eds.), The Cambridge History of French Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2011), particularly ‘Naturalism' by Nicholas White

Kate Griffiths, Emile Zola and the Artistry of Adaptation (Legenda, 2009)

Kate Griffiths and Andrew Watts, Adapting Nineteenth-Century France: Literature in Film, Theatre, Television, Radio, and Print (University of Wales Press, 2013)

Anna Gural-Migdal and Robert Singer (eds.), Zola and Film: Essays in the Art of Adaptation (McFarland & Co., 2005)

Susan Harrow, Zola, The Body Modern: Pressures and Prospects of Representation (Legenda, 2010)

F. W. J. Hemmings, The Life and Times of Emile Zola (first published 1977; Bloomsbury, 2013)

William Dean Howells, Emile Zola (The Floating Press, 2018)

Lida Maxwell, Public Trials: Burke, Zola, Arendt, and the Politics of Lost Causes (Oxford University Press, 2014)

Brian Nelson, Emile Zola: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020)

Brian Nelson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Emile Zola (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Sandy Petrey, Realism and Revolution: Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, and the Performances of History (Cornell University Press, 1988)

Arthur Rose, ‘Coal politics: receiving Emile Zola's Germinal' (Modern & contemporary France, 2021, Vol.29, 2)

Philip D. Walker, Emile Zola (Routledge, 1969)

Emile Zola (trans. Peter Collier), Germinal (Oxford University Press, 1993)

Emile Zola (trans. Roger Pearson), Germinal (Penguin Classics, 2004)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's thirteenth and most successful novel in his Rougon-Macquart series, in which a strike breaks out in a destitute French mining village.

William Burgwinkle, Nicholas Hammond and Emma Wilson (eds.), The Cambridge History of French Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2011), particularly ‘Naturalism' by Nicholas White

Arthur Rose, ‘Coal politics: receiving Emile Zola's Germinal' (Modern & contemporary France, 2021, Vol.29, 2)

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

With:

Martin Palmer

Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Caroline Humfress

Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London

Alastair Logan

Honorary University Fellow of the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Melvyn Bragg examines the origins and significance of the 18th century Gothic movement.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of Gravitational Waves.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Greek and Roman love poetry.

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

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

With:

Greg Woolf

Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

David Breeze

Former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland and Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham

Lindsay Allason-Jones

Former Reader in Roman Material Culture at the University of Newcastle

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall.

The image above is from the 1964 film adaptation, directed by Grigori Kozintsev, with Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Hamlet.

Sir Jonathan Bate

Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford

Carol Rutter

Professor of Shakespeare and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick

Sonia Massai

Professor of Shakespeare Studies at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Lyndsey Stonebridge

Professor of Modern Literature and History at the University of East Anglia

Frisbee Sheffield

Lecturer in Philosophy at Girton College, University of Cambridge

Robert Eaglestone

Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought at Royal Holloway, University London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Ellen O'Gorman

Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Bristol

Mark Woolmer

Senior Tutor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham

Louis Rawlings

Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

With

Valerie Sanders

Professor of English at the University of Hull

Karen O'Brien

Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

Ella Dzelzainis

Lecturer in 19th Century Literature at Newcastle University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Elizabeth Frood

Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford

Kate Spence

Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Cambridge

Campbell Price

Curator of Egypt and Sudan at The Manchester Museum

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the female Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut.

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

With

Sally Sedgwick

Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Boston University

Robert Stern

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Stephen Houlgate

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Fay Dowker

Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London

Harry Cliff

Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Philip Ball, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (Vintage, 2018)

John Bell, ‘Against 'measurement' (Physics World, Vol 3, No 8, 1990)

Mara Beller, Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2001)

David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, And The Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, 2010)

Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (first published 1958; Penguin Classics, 2000)

Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: The Strange and Beautiful Story of Quantum Physics (Penguin, 2022)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Werner Heisenberg's breakthrough, aged 23, that led to Nobel Prize judges celebrating him as the creator of quantum mechanics.

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

Tore Rem

Professor of English Literature at the University of Oslo

Kirsten Shepherd-Barr

Professor of English and Theatre Studies and Tutorial Fellow, St Catherine's College at the University of Oxford

Dinah Birch

Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Cultural Engagement at the University of Liverpool

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Tom Harrison

Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

Esther Eidinow

Professor of Ancient History at the University of Bristol

Paul Cartledge

A. G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

With:

Miri Rubin

Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

William Flynn

Lecturer in Medieval Latin at the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds

Almut Suerbaum

Professor of Medieval German and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With:

Jessica Frazier

Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University

Gavin Flood

Professor of Hindu Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Oxford.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of metaphor.

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

Angus Lockyer

Lecturer in Japanese History at SOAS University of London

Rosina Buckland

Senior Curator of Japanese Collections at the National Museum of Scotland

Ellis Tinios

Honorary Lecturer in the School of History, University of Leeds

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Susan Foister

Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery

John Guy

A fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Maria Hayward

Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is from a diorama at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark, depicting the Turkana Boy referred to in the programme.

With

Peter Kj怀rgaard

Director of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and Professor of Evolutionary History at the University of Copenhagen

Jos退 Joordens

Senior Researcher in Human Evolution at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre and Professor of Human Evolution at Maastricht University

Mark Maslin

Professor of Earth System Science at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Beatrice Han-Pile

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex

Robert Stern

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Judith Wolfe

Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Emily Gowers

Professor of Latin Literature at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College

William Fitzgerald

Professor of Latin Language and Literature at King's College London

Ellen O'Gorman

Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Sadaf Farooqi

Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge

Rebecca Reynolds

Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh

Andrew Bicknell

Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading

Produced by Victoria Brignell

Reading list:

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (first published 1962; Penguin Classics, 2000)

Stephen Nussey and Saffron Whitehead, Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach (BIOS Scientific Publishers; 2001)

Aylinr Y. Yilmaz, Comprehensive Introduction to Endocrinology for Novices (Independently published, 2023)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay of chemical signals that keep our bodies going from moment to moment throughout our lives without us being immediately aware

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

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

Sandra Knapp

Tropical Botanist at the Natural History Museum

Nicola Nadeau

Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Sheffield

Steve Jones

Senior Research Fellow in Genetics at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

With:

Professor of Paleoclimatology at the University of Leeds

Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at Oxford University

Senior Lecturer in Palaeoceanography at Cardiff University.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ice ages.

With:

Carolyne Larrington

Fellow and Tutor in Medieval English Literature at St John's College, Oxford

Elizabeth Ashman Rowe

University Lecturer in Scandinavian History at the University of Cambridge

Emily Lethbridge

Post-Doctoral Researcher at the @rni Magnússon Manuscripts Institute in Reykjav퀀k

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Anil Gomes

Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Trinity College, University of Oxford

Anne Rowe

Visiting Professor at the University of Chichester and Emeritus Research Fellow with the Iris Murdoch Archive Project at Kingston University

Miles Leeson

Director of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre and Reader in English Literature at the University of Chichester

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of Richard Burton (1925 - 1984) as Henry V in the Shakespeare play of the same name, from 1951

Emma Smith

Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Gordon McMullan

Professor of English at King's College London and Director of the London Shakespeare Centre

Katherine Lewis

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of Marlon Brando playing Mark Antony in a scene from the film version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, 1953

Sir Jonathan Bate

Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford

Catherine Steel

Professor of Classics and Dean of Research in the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow

Patrick Gray

Associate Professor of English Studies at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

Dinah Birch

Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Liverpool

Karen O'Brien

Vice Principal and Professor of English Literature at King's College London

Sara Lyons

Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Richard Bowring

Emeritus Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge

Andrew Cobbing

Associate Professor of History at the University of Nottingham

Rebekah Clements

Research Fellow of Queens' College and Research Associate at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

David Wootton

Professor of History at the University of York

Ulinka Rublack

Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College

Adam Mosley

Associate Professor in the Department of History at Swansea University

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss astronomer Johannes Kepler.

The image above is by William Charles, a Scottish engraver who emigrated to the United States, and dates from 1814 during the Anglo-American War of 1812.

Judith Hawley

Professor of 18th Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Miles Taylor

Professor of British History and Society at Humboldt, University of Berlin

Mark Knights

Professor of History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Sir Jonathan Bate

Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford

Mina Gorji

Senior Lecturer in the English Faculty and fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge

Simon K怀vesi

Professor of English Literature at Oxford Brookes University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Jim Bennett

Former Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum

Aileen Fyfe

Reader in British History at the University of St Andrews

James Sumner

Lecturer in the History of Technology at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss scientist John Dalton.

The image above is from a miniature in the Royal Collection and was painted in 1616 by Isaac Oliver (1565-1617)

Mary Ann Lund

Associate Professor in Renaissance English Literature at the University of Leicester

Sue Wiseman

Professor of Seventeenth Century Literature at Birkbeck, University of London

Hugh Adlington

Professor of English Literature at the University of Birmingham

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

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

Stephen Plant

Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge

Eryn White

Reader in Early Modern History at Aberystwyth University

William Gibson

Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford Brookes University and Director of the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History

Produced by Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson

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

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

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

With

Tessa Rajak

Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, University of Reading

Philip Alexander

Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies, University of Manchester

Martin Goodman

Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford and President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above, from the caricature series Yoshitoshi ryakuga or Sketches by Yoshitoshi, is of Monkey creating an army by plucking out his fur and blowing it into the air, and each hair becomes a monkey-warrior.

Julia Lovell

Professor of Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London

Chiung-yun Evelyn Liu

Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

Craig Clunas

Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at Trinity College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

The image of Judith, above is from a tapestry in the Duomo, Milan, by Giovanni or Nicola Carcher, 1555

Susan Foister

Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery

John Gash

Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Aberdeen

Ela Nutu Hall

Research Associate at the Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Katherine Lewis

Professor of Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

Philip Sheldrake

Professor of Christian Spirituality at the Oblate School of Theology, Texas and Senior Research Associate of the Von Hugel Institute, University of Cambridge

Laura Kalas

Senior Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Swansea University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

John H. Arnold and Katherine Lewis (eds.), A Companion to the Book of Margery Kempe (D.S. Brewer, 2004)

Ritamary Bradley, Julian's Way: A Practical Commentary on Julian of Norwich (Harper Collins, 1992)

E. Colledge and J. Walsh (eds.), Julian of Norwich: Showings (Classics of Western Spirituality series, Paulist Press, 1978)

Liz Herbert McAvoy (ed.), A Companion to Julian of Norwich (D.S. Brewer, 2008)

Liz Herbert McAvoy, Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (D.S. Brewer, 2004)

Grace Jantzen, Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian (new edition, Paulist Press, 2010)

Julian of Norwich (trans. Barry Windeatt), Revelations of Divine Love (Oxford World's Classics, 2015)

Julian of Norwich (ed. Nicholas Watson and Jacqueline Jenkins), The Writings of Julian of Norwich: A Vision Showed to a Devout Woman and a Revelation of Love, (Brepols, 2006)

Laura Kalas, Margery Kempe's Spiritual Medicine: Suffering, Transformation and the Life-Course (D.S. Brewer, 2020)

Laura Kalas and Laura Varnam (eds.), Encountering the Book of Margery Kempe (Manchester University Press, 2021)

Laura Kalas and Roberta Magnani (eds.), Women in Christianity in the Medieval Age: 1000-1500 (Routledge, forthcoming 2024)

Ken Leech and Benedicta Ward (ed.), Julian the Solitary (SLG, 1998)

Denise Nowakowski Baker and Sarah Salih (ed.), Julian of Norwich's Legacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

Joan M. Nuth, Wisdom's Daughter: The Theology of Julian of Norwich (Crossroad Publishing, 1999)

Philip Sheldrake, Julian of Norwich: “In God's Sight ?: Her Theology in Context (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019)

E. Spearing (ed.), Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin Books, 1998)

Denys Turner, Julian of Norwich, Theologian (Yale University Press, 2011)

Wolfgang Riehle, The Secret Within: Hermits, Recluses and Spiritual Outsiders in Medieval England (Cornell University Press, 2014)

Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (University of California Press, 1982)

Ann Warren, Anchorites and their Patrons in Medieval England (University of California Press, 1985)

Hugh White (trans.), Ancrene Wisse: Guide for Anchoresses (Penguin Classics, 1993)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the anchoress, who is probably the earliest named woman writer in English, and her celebrated work on her visions of the suffering of Christ.

Philip Sheldrake, Julian of Norwich: `In God's Sight`: Her Theology in Context (Wiley-Blackwell, 2019)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the last pagan ruler of the Roman Empire. Fifty years after Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and introduced a policy of tolerating the faith across the empire, Julian (c.331 - 363 AD) aimed to promote paganism instead, branding Constantine the worst of all his predecessors. Julian was a philosopher-emperor in the mould of Marcus Aurelius and was noted in his lifetime for his letters and his satires, and it was his surprising success as a general in his youth in Gaul that had propelled him to power barely twenty years after a rival had slaughtered his family. Julian's pagan mission and his life were brought to a sudden end while on campaign against the Sasanian Empire in the east, but he left so much written evidence of his ideas that he remains one of the most intriguing of all the Roman emperors and a hero to the humanists of the Enlightenment.

With

James Corke-Webster
Reader in Classics, History and Liberal Arts at King’s College, London

Lea Niccolai
Assistant Professor in Classics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics, Trinity College

And

Shaun Tougher
Professor of Late Roman and Byzantine History at Cardiff University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Polymnia Athanassiadi, Julian: An Intellectual Biography (first published 1981; Routledge, 2014)

Nicholas Baker-Brian and Shaun Tougher (eds.), Emperor and Author: The Writings of Julian the Apostate (Classical Press of Wales, 2012)

Nicholas Baker-Brian and Shaun Tougher (eds.), The Sons of Constantine, AD 337-361: In the Shadows of Constantine and Julian, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

G.W. Bowersock, Julian the Apostate (first published 1978; Harvard University Press, 1997)

Susanna Elm, Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome (University of California Press, 2012)

Ari Finkelstein, The Specter of the Jews: Emperor Julian and the Rhetoric of Ethnicity in Syrian Antioch (University of California Press, 2018)

David Neal Greenwood, Julian and Christianity: Revisiting the Constantinian Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2021)

Lea Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Stefan Rebenich and Hans-Ulrich Wiemer (eds), A Companion to Julian the Apostate (Brill, 2020)

Rowland Smith, Julian’s Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (Routledge, 1995)

H.C. Teitler, The Last Pagan Emperor: Julian the Apostate and the War against Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2017)

Shaun Tougher, Julian the Apostate (Edinburgh University Press, 2007)

W. C. Wright, The Works of Emperor Julian of Rome (Loeb, 1913-23)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

With:

Christopher Pelling

Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford

Catherine Steel

Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow

Maria Wyke

Professor of Latin at University College London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Michele Dougherty, Professor of Space Physics and Head of the Department of Physics at Imperial College London, and principle investigator of the magnetometer instrument on the JUICE spacecraft (JUICE is the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, a mission launched by the European Space Agency in April 2023)

Leigh Fletcher, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester, and interdisciplinary scientist for JUICE

Carolin Crawford, Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

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

With

Caroline Humfress

Professor of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews

Simon Corcoran

Lecturer in Ancient History at Newcastle University

Paul du Plessis

Senior Lecturer in Civil law and European legal history at the School of Law, University of Edinburgh

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Kafka was a German-speaking Jew who lived in the Czech city of Prague, during the turbulent years which followed the First World War. He spent his days working as a lawyer for an insurance company, but by night he wrote stories and novels considered some of the high points of twentieth century literature. His explorations of power and alienation have chimed with existentialists, Marxists, psychoanalysts, postmodernists - and Radio 4 listeners, who suggested this as our topic for listener week on In Our Time.

Elizabeth Boa, Professor Emerita of German at the University of Nottingham

Steve Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge

Ritchie Robertson, Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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

With

Alison Hills

Professor of Philosophy at St John's College, Oxford

David Oderberg

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading

John Callanan

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College, London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is a portrait of Immanuel Kant by Friedrich Wilhelm Springer

Fiona Hughes

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex

Anil Gomes

Associate Professor and Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy at Trinity College, Oxford

John Callanan

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Stephen Plant

Dean and Runcie Fellow at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge

Christiane Tietz

Professor for Systematic Theology at the University of Zurich

Tom Greggs

Marischal Professor of Divinity at the University of Aberdeen

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Karl Barth, God Here and Now (Routledge, 2003)

Karl Barth (trans. G. T. Thomson), Dogmatics in Outline (SCM Press, 1966)

Eberhard Busch (trans. John Bowden), Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts (Grand Rapids, 1994)

George Hunsinger, How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theology (Oxford University Press, 1993)

Joseph L. Mangina, Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness (Routledge, 2004)

Paul T. Nimmo, Karl Barth: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2013)

Christiane Tietz, Karl Barth: A Life in Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2021)

John Webster, Karl Barth: Outstanding Christian Thinkers (Continuum, 2004)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential Swiss protestant theologian.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Swiss theologian who aimed to put God and Christ at the heart of Christianity when he saw others making humanity and self-revelation its focus.

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

The image above is of Ludwig Boltzmann from a lithograph by Rudolf Fenzl, 1898

Steven Bramwell

Professor of Physics at University College London

Isobel Falconer

Reader in History of Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Ted Forgan

Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biblical king Solomon.

Jessica Frazier

Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent

Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at the University of Oxford

Jacqueline Suthren-Hirst

Senior Lecturer in South Asian Studies at the University of Manchester

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the goddess Lakshmi.

In previous Listener Weeks, we've discussed Kafka's The Trial, The Voyages of Captain Cook, Garibaldi and the Risorgimento, Moby Dick and The Thirty Years War.

Hussein Omar

Lecturer in Modern Global History at University College Dublin

Catriona Pennell

Associate Professor of Modern History and Memory Studies at the University of Exeter

Neil Faulkner

Director of Military History Live and Editor of the magazine Military History Matters

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Malory died shortly after his release in 1470 and it was to be another fifteen years before 'Le Morte Darthur' was published by William Caxton, to immediate popular acclaim. Although the book fell from favour in the seventeenth century, it was revived again in Victorian times and became an inspiration for the Pre-Raphaelite movement who were entranced by the chivalric and romantic world that Malory portrayed.

The Arthurian legend is one of the most enduring and popular in western literature and its characters - Sir Lancelot, Guinevere, Merlin and King Arthur himself, are as well-known today as they were then; and the book's themes - chivalry, betrayal, love and honour - remain as compelling.

With:

Helen Cooper

Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge

Helen Fulton

Professor of Medieval Literature and Head of Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York

Laura Ashe

CUF Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow at Worcester College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

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

With:

Adam Kuper

Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Boston University

Christina Howells

Professor of French at Oxford University

Vincent Debaene

Associate Professor of French Literature at Columbia University

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Craig Clunas

Professor Emeritus in the History of Art at the University of Oxford

Anne Gerritsen

Professor in History at the University of Warwick

Roel Sterckx

Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The son of a parson, Linnaeus grew up in an impoverished part of Sweden but managed to gain a place at university. He went on to transform biology by making two major innovations. He devised a simpler method of naming species and he developed a new system for classifying plants and animals, a system that became known as the Linnaean hierarchy. He was also one of the first people to grow a banana in Europe.

With

Staffan Muller-Wille

University Lecturer in History of Life, Human and Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge

Stella Sandford

Professor of Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University, London

Steve Jones

Senior Research Fellow in Genetics at University College, London

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

Modernism claimed to be revolutionary, and has been accused of being wilfully obscure. Some modernist writers campaigned for the rites of working women, others embraced fascism. What were the movements defining features, and do the questions that exercised the genre at the start of the twentieth century have relevance to us at the beginning of the twenty-first?

With John Carey, Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford University; Laura Marcus, Reader in English at the University of Sussex; Valentine Cunningham, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford.

Melvyn Bragg examines the movement that embraced Joyce, DH Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.

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

With

Rebekah Higgitt

Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland

Jim Bennett

Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum

Simon Schaffer

Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Maria Delgado

Professor of Creative Arts at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

Federico Bonaddio

Reader in Modern Spanish at King's College London

Sarah Wright

Professor of Hispanic Studies and Screen Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Andrew Mendelsohn

Reader in the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London

Anne Hardy

Honorary Professor at the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Michael Worboys

Emeritus Professor in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

So began the personal rule of Louis XIV, which lasted a further 54 years until his death in 1715. From his newly-built palace at Versailles, Louis was able to project an image of himself as the centre of gravity around which all of France revolved: it's no accident that he became known as the Sun King. He centralized power to the extent he was able to say - ?L'etat c'est moi': I am the state. Under his rule France became the leading diplomatic, military and cultural power in Europe.

Catriona Seth

Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Guy Rowlands

Professor of Early Modern History at the University of St Andrews

Penny Roberts

Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Luke Mulhall

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

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

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

With

Paul Cartledge

AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Sarah Miles

Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University

James Robson

Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristophanes' outrageous comedy from 411BC in which the women of Athens and Sparta bring their warring husbands to peace by staging a sex strike.

The image above shows Nicol Williamson as Macbeth in a 1983 BBC TV adaptation.

With:

Emma Smith

Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Kiernan Ryan

Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

David Schalkwyk,

Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of Global Shakespeare at Queen Mary, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

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

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

The image above shows part of a bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.

With

Simon Goldhill

Professor of Greek Literature and Culture and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Catharine Edwards

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is from the Talbot Shrewsbury Book, showing John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, presenting Margaret with that book on her betrothal to Henry

Katherine Lewis

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Huddersfield

James Ross

Reader in Late Medieval History at the University of Winchester

Joanna Laynesmith

Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Reading

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image (above), of an unknown woman, comes from a pew at Margery Kempe's parish church, St Margaret's, Kings Lynn and dates from c1375.

Miri Rubin

Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London

Katherine Lewis

Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield

Anthony Bale

Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Sara Barker

Associate Professor of Early Modern History and Director of the Centre for the Comparative History of Print at the University of Leeds

Emily Butterworth

Professor of Early Modern French at King's College London

Emma Herdman

Lecturer in French at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Giovanni Boccaccio (trans. Wayne A. Rebhorn), The Decameron (Norton, 2013)

Emily Butterworth, Marguerite de Navarre: A Critical Companion (Boydell &Brewer, 2022)

Patricia Cholakian and Rouben Cholakian, Marguerite de Navarre: Mother of the Renaissance (Columbia University Press, 2006)

Gary Ferguson, Mirroring Belief: Marguerite de Navarre's Devotional Poetry (Edinburgh University Press, 1992)

Gary Ferguson and Mary B. McKinley (eds.), A Companion to Marguerite de Navarre (Brill, 2013)

Mark Greengrass, The French Reformation (John Wiley & Sons, 1987)

R.J. Knecht, The Rise and Fall of Renaissance France (Fontana Press, 2008)

R.J. Knecht, Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

John D. Lyons and Mary B. McKinley (eds.), Critical Tales: New Studies of the ‘Heptaméron' and Early Modern Culture (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993)

Marguerite de Navarre (trans. Paul Chilton), The Heptameron (Penguin, 2004)

Marguerite de Navarre (trans. Rouben Cholakian and Mary Skemp), Selected Writings: A Bilingual Edition (University of Chicago Press, 2008)

Marguerite de Navarre (trans. Hilda Dale), The Coach and The Triumph of the Lamb (Elm Press, 1999)

Marguerite de Navarre (trans. Hilda Dale), The Prisons (Whiteknights, 1989)

Marguerite de Navarre (ed. Gisèle Mathieu-Castellani), L'Heptaméron (Libraririe générale française, 1999)

Jonathan A. Reid, King's Sister – Queen of Dissent: Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549) and her Evangelical Network (Brill, 2009)

Paula Sommers, ‘The Mirror and its Reflections: Marguerite de Navarre's Biblical Feminism' (Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, 5, 1986)

Kathleen Wellman, Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France (Yale University Press, 2013)

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

Catriona Seth

Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Martyn Rady

Professor of Central European History at University College London

Thomas Biskup

Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Hull

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Catriona Seth

Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Katherine Astbury

Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick

David McCallam

Reader in French Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

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

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

The image above is from Astell's 'Reflections upon Marriage', 3rd edition, 1706, held by the British Library (Shelfmark 8415.bb.27)

With:

Hannah Dawson

Senior Lecturer in the History of Ideas at King's College London

Mark Goldie

Professor Emeritus of Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge

Teresa Bejan

Associate Professor of Political Theory at Oriel College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Joanne Anderson

Lecturer in Art History at the Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Eamon Duffy

Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College

Joan Taylor

Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College London

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

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

With

David Forsyth

Principal Curator, Scottish Medieval-Early Modern Collections at National Museums Scotland

Anna Groundwater

Teaching Fellow in Historical Skills and Methods at the University of Edinburgh

John Guy

Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Materialism in Philosophy.

Melvyn Bragg examines the importance of mathematics in relation to other sciences.

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

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

With

Colva Roney-Dougal

Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Peter Pormann

Professor of Classics & Graeco-Arabic Studies at the University of Manchester

Jim Al-Khalili

Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Mary Laven

Reader in Early Modern History at the University of Cambridge

Craig Clunas

Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford

Anne Gerritsen

Reader in History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

The image above is of a badge of St Thomas of Canterbury, worn by pilgrims who had journeyed to his shrine.

Miri Rubin

Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London

Kathryn Rudy

Professor of Art History at the University of St Andrews

Anthony Bale

Professor of Medieval Studies and Dean of the School of Arts at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Such stone monuments in Britain and Ireland mostly date from the Neolithic period, and the most ancient are up to 6,000 years old. In recent decades, scientific advances have enabled archaeologists to learn a large amount about megalithic structures and the people who built them, but much about these stones remains unknown and mysterious.

With

Vicki Cummings

Professor of Neolithic Archaeology at the University of Central Lancashire

Julian Thomas

Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester

Susan Greaney

Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter.

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

The image above is of the coronation of Fulk with Melisende, from Livre d'Eracles, Guillaume de Tyr (1130?-1186)

Source: Biblioth耀que nationale de France

Natasha Hodgson

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Nottingham Trent University

Katherine Lewis

Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield

Danielle Park

Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

For more than 300 years, almost every ruler and political thinker was a mercantilist. Eventually, economists including Adam Smith, in his ground-breaking work of 1776 The Wealth of Nations, declared that mercantilism was a flawed concept and it became discredited. However, a mercantilist economic approach can still be found in modern times and today's politicians sometimes still use rhetoric related to mercantilism.

With

D'Maris Coffman

Professor in Economics and Finance of the Built Environment at University College London

Craig Muldrew

Professor of Social and Economic History at the University of Cambridge and a Member of Queens' College

Helen Paul, Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton.

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

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

With:

Geoffrey Cantor

Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Leeds

Laura Herz

Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford

Frank James

Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientist Michael Faraday.

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

The image above shows Rufus Sewell and Juliet Aubrey in the BBC adaptation, from 1994

Rosemary Ashton

Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature at University College London

Kathryn Hughes

Professor of Life Writing at the University of East Anglia

John Bowen

Professor of Nineteenth-Century Literature at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of miracles.

Inside each cell of every complex organism there are structures known as mitochondria. The 19th century scientists who first observed them thought they were bacteria which had somehow invaded the cells they were studying. We now understand that mitochondria take components from the food we eat and convert them into energy.

Mitochondria are essential for complex life, but as the components that run our metabolisms they can also be responsible for a range of diseases - and they probably play a role in how we age. The DNA in mitochondria is only passed down the maternal line. This means it can be used to trace population movements deep into human history, even back to an ancestor we all share: mitochondrial Eve.

Mike Murphy

Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at the University of Cambridge

Florencia Camus

NERC Independent Research Fellow at University College London

Nick Lane

Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London

Producer Luke Mulhall

With

Bridget Bennett

Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds

Katie McGettigan

Lecturer in American Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Graham Thompson

Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

David Wootton

Anniversary Professor of History at York University

Terence Cave

Emeritus Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Felicity Green

Chancellor's Fellow in History at the University of Edinburgh.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Richard Bourke

Professor in the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary, University of London

Rachel Hammersley

Senior Lecturer in Intellectual History at Newcastle University

Richard Whatmore

Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With:

Professor Dame Hermione Lee

President of Wolfson College, Oxford

Jane Goldman

Reader in English Literature at the University of Glasgow

Kathryn Simpson

Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

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

Janet Hartley

Professor Emeritus of International History, LSE

Michael Rowe

Reader in European History, King's College London

Michael Rapport

Reader in Modern European History, University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Aidan Dodson

Honorary Professor of Egyptology at the University of Bristol

Joyce Tyldesley

Professor of Egyptology at the University of Manchester

Kate Spence

Senior Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the discovery of the bust of Nefertiti in 1912 has shaped ideas about her and about life in ancient Egypt and the royal city of Amarna.

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

Maria Wyke

Professor of Latin at University College London

Matthew Nicholls

Fellow and Senior Tutor at St John's College, University of Oxford

Shushma Malik

Lecturer in Classics at the University of Roehampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg examines whether we are in a new era in the history of modern warfare.

Stephen Mulhall

Professor of Philosophy and a Fellow and Tutor at New College, University of Oxford

Fiona Hughes

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex

Keith Ansell-Pearson

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Simon Schaffer

Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge

Jill Jonnes

Historian and author of “Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World”

Iwan Morus

Professor of History at Aberystwyth University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

W. Bernard Carlson, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age (Princeton University Press, 2013)

Margaret Cheney and Robert Uth, Tesla: Master of Lightning (Barnes & Noble Books, 1999)

Thomas P. Hughes, Networks of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)

Carolyn Marvin, When Old Technologies Were New (Open University Press, 1988)

Iwan Rhys Morus, Nikola Tesla and the Electrical Future (Icon Books, 2019)

Iwan Rhys Morus, How The Victorians Took Us To The Moon (Icon, 2022)

David E. Nye, Electrifying America: Social Meanings of a New Technology (MIT Press, 1991)

John J. O'Neill, Prodigal Genius: The Life of Nikola Tesla (first published 1944; Cosimo Classics, 2006)

Marc J. Seifer, Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla, Biography of a Genius (first published 1996; Citadel Press, 2016)

Nikola Tesla, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla (first published 1919; Martino Fine Books, 2011)

Nikola Tesla, My Inventions and other Writings (Penguin, 2012)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio production

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the inventor who helped the advance of electrification in America at the end of the 19th century and cultivated his reputation as a visionary genius

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas.

David Dwan

Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Oxford

Lisa Mullen

Teaching Associate in Modern Contemporary Literature at the University of Cambridge

John Bowen

Professor of English Literature at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Sally Shuttleworth

Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford

Dinah Birch

Pro-vice Chancellor for Research and Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool

Jenny Uglow

Biographer of Elizabeth Gaskell

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Guests:

Philippa Browning, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester

Steve Cowley, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority

Justin Wark, Professor of Physics and fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

His investigations lead to a devastating conclusion. Not only is Oedipus himself the killer, but Laius was his father, and Laius' wife Jocasta, who Oedipus has married, is his mother.

Oedipus Rex was composed during the golden age of Athens, in the 5th century BC. Sophocles probably wrote it to explore the dynamics of power in an undemocratic society. It has unsettled audiences from the very start: it is the only one of Sophocles' plays that didn't win first prize at Athens' annual drama festival. But it's had exceptionally good write-ups from the critics:

Aristotle called it the greatest example of the dramatic arts. Freud believed it laid bare the deepest structures of human desire.

With:

Nick Lowe, Reader in Classical Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Fiona Macintosh, Professor of Classical Reception and Fellow of St Hilda's College at the University of Oxford

Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University

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

Catriona Seth

Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford

Katherine Astbury

Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick

Sanja Perovic

Reader in 18th century French studies at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of the science of optics

With:

Stephen Mulhall

Professor of Philosophy at New College, Oxford

Ray Monk

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton

Julia Tanney

Reader in Philosophy of Mind at the University of Kent

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ordinary Language Philosophy.

Maria Wyke

Professor of Latin at University College London

Gail Trimble

Brown Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Dunstan Lowe

Senior Lecturer in Latin Literature at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Huw Pryce

Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University

Helen Fulton

Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol

Chris Given-Wilson

Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Colva Roney-Dougal

Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Timothy Gowers

Royal Society Research Professor in Mathematics at the University of Cambridge

Leslie Ann Goldberg

Professor of Computer Science and Fellow of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With

Tim Crane

Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Rector at the Central European University

Director of Research, FWF Cluster of Excellence, Knowledge in Crisis

Joanna Leidenhag,

Associate Professor in Theology and Philosophy at the University of Leeds

Philip Goff

Professor of Philosophy at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Anthony Freeman (ed.), Consciousness and Its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism? (Imprint Academic, 2006), especially 'Realistic Monism' by Galen Strawson

Philip Goff, Galileo's Error: Foundations for A New Science of Consciousness (Pantheon, 2019)

Philip Goff, Why? The Purpose of the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2023)

David Ray Griffin, Unsnarling the World-Knot: Consciousness, Freedom and the Mind-Body Problem (Wipf & Stock, 2008)

Joanna Leidenhag, Minding Creation: Theological Panpsychism and the Doctrine of Creation (Bloomsbury, 2021)

Joanna Leidenhag, ‘Panpsychism and God' (Philosophy Compass Vol 17, Is 12, e12889)

Hedda Hassel Mørch, Non-physicalist Theories of Consciousness (Cambridge University Press, 2024)

Thomas Nagel, Mortal Questions (Cambridge University Press, 2012), especially the chapter 'Panpsychism

David Skrbina, Panpsychism in the West (MIT Press, 2007)

James van Cleve, 'Mind-Dust or Magic? Panpsychism versus Emergence' (Philosophical Perspectives Vol. 4, Action Theory and Philosophy of Mind, Ridgeview Publishing Company, 1990)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that there is a third way between those who say we have a material body and a separate soul or psyche and those who say we are matter alone

Tom O'Loughlin

Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham

Rebecca Rist

Professor in Medieval History at the University of Reading

Miles Pattenden

Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson

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

With

Steve Jones

Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College, London

Wendy Gibson

Professor of Protozoology at the University of Bristol

Kayla King

Associate Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

David Wootton

Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Michael Moriarty

Drapers Professor of French at the University of Cambridge

Michela Massimi

Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Graham Farmelo

Biographer of Dirac and Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge

Valerie Gibson

Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College

David Berman

Professor of Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

He was born into a Jewish family in Hungary just before the outbreak of World War I, and his life was shaped by the rise of fascism in Europe, anti-Semitism and the Cold War. His reputation for mathematical problem solving is unrivalled and he was extraordinarily prolific. He produced more than 1,500 papers and collaborated with around 500 other academics.

He also had an unconventional lifestyle. Instead of having a long-term post at one university, he spent much of his life travelling around visiting other mathematicians, often staying for just a few days.

Colva Roney-Dougal

Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Timothy Gowers

Professor of Mathematics at the College de France in Paris and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Andrew Treglown

Associate Professor in Mathematics at the University of Birmingham

The image above shows a graph occurring in Ramsey Theory. It was created by Dr Katherine Staden, lecturer in the School of Mathematics at the Open University.

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

Frank Close

Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College, University of Oxford

Michela Massimi

Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh

Graham Farmelo

Bye-Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Laura Piddock

Professor of Microbiology at the University of Birmingham

Christoph Tang

Professor of Cellular Pathology and Professorial Fellow at Exeter College at the University of Oxford

Steve Jones

Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College, London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of penicillin.

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

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at King's College London.

Paul Cartledge

AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Peter Liddel

Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Manchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Ruth Gregory

Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Durham University

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford

Steven Bramwell

Professor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss perpetual motion.

The image above is a detail from a relief at the Apadana, the huge audience hall, and shows a lion attacking a bull.

With

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis

Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum

Lindsay Allen

Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is from a 1995 BBC adaptation of the novel, with Amanda Root and Ciarကn Hinds

Karen O'Brien

Vice-Chancellor of Durham University

Fiona Stafford

Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford

Paddy Bullard

Associate Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Reading

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Ruth Kinna

Professor of Political Theory at Loughborough University

Lee Dugatkin

Professor of Biology at the University of Louisville

Simon Dixon

The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at University College London

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

Phenomenology has been a remarkably adaptable approach to philosophy. It has given its proponents a platform to expose and critique the basic assumptions of past philosophy, and to talk about everything from the foundations of geometry to the difference between fear and anxiety. It has also been instrumental in getting philosophy out of the seminar room and making it relevant to the lives people actually lead.

Simon Glendinning, Professor of European Philosophy in the European Institute at the London School of Economics

Joanna Hodge, Professor of Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University

Stephen Mulhall, Professor of Philosophy and Tutor at New College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophical movement phenomenology.

The image above is of male and female ladybirds that have clustered together in response to pheromones.

With

Tristram Wyatt

Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford

Jane Hurst

William Prescott Professor of Animal Science at the University of Liverpool

Francis Ratnieks

Professor of Apiculture and Head of the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Nick Lane

Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London

Sandra Knapp

Botanist at the Natural History Museum

John Allen

Professor of Biochemistry at Queen Mary, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis.

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

With

Mary Vincent

Professor of Modern European History at the University of Sheffield

Gijs van Hensbergen

Historian of Spanish Art and Fellow of the LSE Caကada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies

Dacia Viejo Rose

Lecturer in Heritage in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge

Fellow of Selwyn College

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Marcus du Sautoy

Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford

Timothy Gowers

Professor of Mathematics at the College de France

Colva Roney-Dougal

Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Laura Ashe

Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford

Lawrence Warner

Professor of Medieval English at King's College London

Alastair Bennett

Lecturer in Medieval Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Adam Kuper

Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Boston University

Richard Bradley

Professor in Archaeology at the University of Reading

Dan Hicks

University Lecturer & Curator of Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Carol Robinson

Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of East Anglia

Abigail McQuatters-Gollop

Associate Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth

Christopher Lowe

Lecturer in Marine Biology at Swansea University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Juli Berwald, Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone (Riverhead Books, 2018)

Sir Alister Hardy, The Open Sea: The World of Plankton (first published 1959; Collins New Naturalist Library, 2009)

Richard Kirby, Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves (Studio Cactus Ltd, 2010)

Robert Kunzig, Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science (Sort Of Books, 2000)

Christian Sardet, Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World (University of Chicago Press, 2015)

Helen Scales, The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2022)

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

Justin Wark

Professor of Physics and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Kate Lancaster

Research Fellow for Innovation and Impact at the York Plasma Institute at the University of York

Bill Graham

Professor of Physics at Queens University, Belfast

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

The image above is from an engraving of the legendary island of Atlantis after a description by Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680).

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at Durham University

Christopher Gill

Emeritus Professor of Ancient Thought at the University of Exeter

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Frisbee Sheffield

University Lecturer in Classics and Fellow of Downing College, University of Cambridge

Fiona Leigh

Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

MM McCabe

Professor of Ancient Philosophy Emerita at King's College London

James Warren

Fellow of Corpus Christi College and a Reader in Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Richard Hunter

Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge

Frisbee Sheffield

Director of Studies in Philosophy at Christ's College, University of Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Plato's Symposium.

With:

Catharine Edwards

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London

Roy Gibson

Professor of Latin at the University of Manchester

Alice K怀nig

Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

With:

Susan Castillo

Harriet Beecher Stowe Emeritus Professor of American Studies at King's College London

Tim Lockley

Reader in American Studies at the University of Warwick

Jacqueline Fear-Segal

Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

The image above is of Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) as Count Mora in Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer's 'Vampires of Prague' (1935)

Nick Groom

Professor of Literature in English at the University of Macau

Samantha George

Associate Professor of Research in Literature at the University of Hertfordshire

Martyn Rady

Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Karl Popper.

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the American philosophy of pragmatism.

Erik Mathisen

Lecturer in US History at the University of Kent

Susan-Mary Grant

Professor of American History at Newcastle University

Robert Cook

Professor of American History at the University of Sussex

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Marianne O'Doherty

Associate Professor in English at the University of Southampton

Martin Palmer

Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Amanda Power

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legend of Prester John.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the strange mathematics of probability.

With:

Mona Siddiqui

Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh

Justin Meggitt

University Senior Lecturer in the Study of Religion and the Origins of Christianity at the University of Cambridge

Jonathan St怀kl

Post-Doctoral Researcher at Leiden University.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Melvyn Bragg assesses the role of Freudian analysis in understanding literature.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ptolemy and ancient astronomy.

Laura Ashe

Associate Professor of English and fellow of Worcester College at the University of Oxford

Matthew Treherne

Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Leeds

Helen Foxhall Forbes

Associate Professor of Early Medieval History at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With:

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at King's College, London

Kate Cooper

Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester

Richard Stoneman

Honorary Visiting Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss mathematical randomness and pseudorandomness.

With

Fabienne Peter

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick

Martin O'Neill

Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of York

Jonathan Wolff

The Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford and Fellow of Wolfson College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With:

Ruth Gregory

Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Durham University

Martin Rees

Astronomer Royal and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge

Roger Penrose

Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

With:

Simon Schaffer

Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge

Michael Hunter

Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London

Anna Marie Roos

Senior Lecturer in the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Lincoln

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Robert Crawford

Professor of Modern Scottish Literature and Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews

Fiona Stafford

Professor of English at the University of Oxford

Murray Pittock

Bradley Professor of English Literature and Pro Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

David Wootton

Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Patricia Fara

President Elect of the British Society for the History of Science

Rob Iliffe

Professor of History of Science at Oxford University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With:

Jack Cunningham

Academic Coordinator for Theology at Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln

Amanda Power

Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Oxford

Elly Truitt

Associate Professor of Medieval History at Bryn Mawr College

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval scholar Roger Bacon.

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

The system became so entrenched that no-one appeared to question it, following Aristotle's view that slavery was a natural state. Whole populations could be marched into slavery after military conquests, and the freedom that Roman citizens prized for themselves, even in poverty, was partly defined by how it contrasted with enslavement. Slaves could be killed or tortured with impunity, yet they could be given great responsibility and, once freed, use their contacts to earn fortunes. The relationship between slave and master informed early Christian ideas of how the faithful related to God, informing debate for centuries.

Neville Morley

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter

Ulrike Roth

Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh

Myles Lavan

Senior lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Frances Wood

Former Lead Curator of Chinese Collections at the British Library

Craig Clunas

Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford

Margaret Hillenbrand

University Lecturer in Modern Chinese Literature at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Wadham College

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

The image above is of Mrs Patrick Campbell ('Mrs Pat') as Juliet and Johnson Forbes-Robinson as Romeo in a scene from the 1895 production at the Lyceum Theatre, London

Helen Hackett

Professor of English Literature at University College London

Paul Prescott

Professor of English and Theatre at the University of California Merced

Emma Smith

Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The myth has been at the core of Roman identity since the 1st century AD, although the details vary in different versions of the story. For many Roman writers, the story embodied the ethos and institutions of their civilisation. The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins remains a potent icon of the city even today.

With:

Mary Beard

Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge

Peter Wiseman

Emeritus Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter

Tim Cornell

Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Manchester.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Jacqueline Rose

Co-Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck, University of London

Mark Jones

Irish Research Council fellow at the Centre for War Studies, University College Dublin

Nadine Rossol

Senior lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Essex

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Patricia Fara

President of the British Society for the History of Science

Jim Naismith

Interim lead of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, Director of the Research Complex at Harwell and Professor at the University of Oxford

Judith Howard

Professor of Chemistry at Durham University

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin.

The image above is of Emile playing with a mask on his mother's lap, from a Milanese edition published in 1805.

Richard Whatmore

Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews and Co-Director of the St Andrews Institute of Intellectual History

Caroline Warman

Professor of French Literature and Thought at Jesus College, Oxford

Denis McManus

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Contributors:

Howard Booth, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Manchester

Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol

Jan Montefiore, Professor of Twentieth Century English Literature at the University of Kent

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

Alan Williams

British Academy Wolfson Research Professor at the University of Manchester

Carole Hillenbrand

Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews and Professor Emerita of Edinburgh University

Lloyd Ridgeon

Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

The image above is from a stained glass window in the south aisle of the nave in Durham Cathedral: 'St Cuthbert praying before his cell in the Farne Island

With

Jane Hawkes

Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of York

Sarah Foot

The Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford and Canon of Christ Church Cathedral

John Hines

Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Steven Connor

Professor of English at the University of Cambridge

Laura Salisbury

Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Exeter

Mark Nixon

Associate Professor in Modern Literature at the University of Reading and co-director of the Beckett International Foundation

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at King's College, London

Margaret Reynolds

Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London

Dirk Obbink

Professor of Papyrology and Greek Literature at the University of Oxford

Fellow and tutor at Christ Church, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

Carolin Crawford

Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

Michele Dougherty

Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London

Andrew Coates

Deputy Director in charge of the Solar System at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn.

With:

Peter Millican

Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford

Melissa Lane

Professor of Politics at Princeton University

Jill Kraye

Professor of the History of Renaissance Philosophy and Librarian at the Warburg Institute, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

Rebecca Bell

Senior lecturer in Geology and Geophysics at Imperial College London

Zoe Mildon

Lecturer in Earth Sciences and Future Leaders Fellow at the University of Plymouth

James Hammond

Reader in Geophysics at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Mary Beard

Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge

Catharine Edwards

Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London

Alessandro Schiesaro

Professor of Classics at the University of Manchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

The Shahnameh took Ferdowsi thirty years to write and, consisting of over 50,000 verses, is said to be the longest poem ever written by a single author. Laced with tragedy, Ferdowsi's epic chronicles battles, romances, family rifts and Man's interior struggle with himself. Although the stories may not always be true they have a profound resonance with Iranians even today, and the poem has been referred to as both the 'encyclopaedia of Iranian culture' and the identity card of the Persian people.

With:

Narguess Farzad

Senior Fellow in Persian at SOAS, University of London

Charles Melville

Professor of Persian History at Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge

Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis

Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

With:

Hannah Crawforth

Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at King's College London

Don Paterson

Poet and Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews

Emma Smith

Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Hertford College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg examines what it is about Shakespeare's work that makes it universal.

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

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

Christina Howells

Professor of French and Fellow of Wadham College at the University of Oxford

Margaret Atack

Professor of French at the University of Leeds

Ursula Tidd

Professor of Modern French Literature and Thought at the University of Manchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Weil rejected her comfortable background and chose to work in fields and factories to experience the life of the working classes at first hand. She was acutely sensitive to human suffering and devoted her life to helping those less fortunate than herself. Despite her belief in pacifism she volunteered on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and later joined the French Resistance movement in England.

Her philosophy was both complex and intense. She argued that the presence of evil and suffering in the world was evidence of God's love and that Man has no right to ask anything of God or of anyone whom they love. Love which expects reward was not love at all in Weil's eyes.

Weil died of TB in Kent at the age of only 34. Her strict lifestyle and self-denial may have contributed to her early death. T.S Eliot said 'she was not just a woman of genius, but was a genius akin to that of a saint'; Albert Camus believed she was 'the only great spirit of our time.

With:

Beatrice Han-Pile

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex

Stephen Plant

Runcie Fellow and Dean of Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge

David Levy

Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

The illustration above is ©British Library Board Cotton MS Nero A.x, article 3, ff.94v95

Laura Ashe

Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford

Ad Putter

Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Bristol

Simon Armitage

Poet and Professor of Poetry at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Claire Preston

Professor of Renaissance Literature at Queen Mary University of London

Jessica Wolfe

Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Kevin Killeen

Professor of English at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Adam Kuper

Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the LSE, University of London

Gregory Radick

Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds

Charlotte Sleigh

Reader in the History of Science at the University of Kent.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Andrew Coates

Professor of Physics and Deputy Director in charge of the Solar System at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London

Helen Mason OBE

Reader in Solar Physics at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Fellow at St Edmund's College

Tim Horbury

Professor of Physics at Imperial College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

In the first years of the 6th century BC, the city state of Athens was in crisis. The lower orders of society were ravaged by debt, to the point where some were being forced into slavery. An oppressive law code mandated the death penalty for everything from murder to petty theft. There was a real danger that the city could fall into either tyranny or civil war.

Solon instituted a programme of reforms that transformed Athens' political and legal systems, its society and economy, so that later generations referred to him as Solon the Lawgiver.

With

Melissa Lane

Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University

Hans van Wees

Grote Professor of Ancient History at University College London

William Allan

Professor of Greek and McConnell Laing Tutorial Fellow in Greek and Latin Languages and Literature at University College, University of Oxford

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

Sir Jonathan Bate

Provost of Worcester College, University of Oxford

Sarah Haggarty

Lecturer at the Faculty of English and Fellow of Queens' College, University of Cambridge

Jon Mee

Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Roel Sterckx

Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge

Tim Barrett

Professor of East Asian History at SOAS, University of London

Hilde de Weerdt

Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

Producer: Thomas Morris.

With

Melissa Lane

Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University

Richard Bourke

Professor in the History of Political Thought at Queen Mary University of London

Tim Stanton

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With:

Mary Beard

Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge

Maria Wyke

Professor of Latin at University College, London

Theresa Urbainczyk

Associate Professor of Classics at University College, Dublin.

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss St Thomas Aquinas.

With:

Andrea Sella

Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Athene Donald

Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge

Justin Wark

Professor of Physics and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Its success has overshadowed her wider work as the author of more than half a dozen collections of poetry and three novels, mostly written while she worked as a secretary. Her poems, printed with her pen and ink sketches, can seem simple and comical, but often beneath the surface lurk themes of melancholy, loneliness, love and death.

Jeremy Noel-Tod

Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia

Noreen Masud

Lecturer in Twentieth Century Literature at the University of Bristol

Will May

Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature at the University of Southampton

The photograph above shows Stevie Smith recording her story Sunday at Home, a finalist in the BBC Third Programme Short Story competition in 1949.

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

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

With:

Paul Cartledge

AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge

Maria Pretzler

Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University

Benet Salway

Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

The image above is of a terracotta warrior from the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor, who unified China after the Warring States period.

With

Hilde De Weerdt

Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

Tim Barrett

Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at SOAS, University of London

Imre Galambos

Reader in Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

The image above is from a photograph taken by Stephen Blundell of a piece of superconductor levitating above a magnet.

With

Nigel Hussey

Professor of Experimental Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Bristol and Radbout University

Suchitra Sebastian

Professor of Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge

Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Mansfield College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

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

With

Chandrika Kaul

Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews

Bashabi Fraser

Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University

John Stevens

Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow at SOAS, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Rabindranath Tagore.

The image above is intended to depict Du Fu.

With

Tim Barrett

Professor Emeritus of East Asian History at SOAS, University of London

Tian Yuan Tan

Shaw Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow at University College

Frances Wood

Former Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

The image above, from the 1891 edition, is captioned 'It Was Not Till About Three O'clock That Tess Raised Her Eyes And Gave A Momentary Glance Round. She Felt But Little Surprise At Seeing That Alec D'urberville Had Come Back, And Was Standing Under The Hedge By The Gate'.

Dinah Birch

Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool

Francis O'Gorman

Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds

Jane Thomas

Reader in Victorian and early Twentieth Century literature at the University of Hull

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is part of Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verri耀re, Chartres Cathedral, from 1180.

Laura Ashe

Associate Professor of English at Worcester College, University of Oxford

Elisabeth van Houts

Honorary Professor of European Medieval History at the University of Cambridge

Giles Gasper

Reader in Medieval History at Durham University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

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

The image above shows the interior of the cupola, Almoravid Koubba, Marrakesh (C11th)

With

Amira K Bennison

Professor in the History and Culture of the Maghreb at the University of Cambridge

Nicola Clarke

Lecturer in the History of the Islamic World at Newcastle University

Hugh Kennedy

Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With:

Paul Cartledge

A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University

Chiara Franceschini

Teaching Fellow at University College London and an Academic Assistant at the Warburg Institute

Caroline Vout

University Senior Lecturer in Classics and Fellow and Director of Studies at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

The caricature above is of William Jennings Bryan, Populist-backed Presidential candidate.

Lawrence Goldman

Professor of History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London

Mara Keire

Lecturer in US History at the University of Oxford

Christopher Phelps

Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Nottingham

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the An Lushan Rebellion.

The Anarchy dragged on for nearly twenty years and is so called because of the chaos and lawlessness that characterised the period. Yet only one major battle ever took place, the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, and any other fighting associated with the conflict was fairly localised. This has led historians to question the accuracy of labelling the civil war as The Anarchy, a name only bestowed on the era in the 19th century. But why did Matilda fail to become the monarch, and what impact did it have on the way England was ruled in centuries to come?

With:

John Gillingham

Emeritus Professor of History at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Louise Wilkinson

Reader in Medieval History at Canterbury Christ Church University

David Carpenter

Professor of Medieval History at Kings College London.

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

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

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

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

Jessica Frazier

Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

James Hegarty

Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions at Cardiff University

Deven Patel

Associate Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Augustan Age in Rome.

The image above is a detail of a Red-Figure Cup showing the death of Pentheus (exterior) and a Maenad (interior), painted c. 480 BC by the Douris painter. This object can be found at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at King's College London

Emily Wilson

Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Rosie Wyles

Lecturer in Classical History and Literature at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Joanna Nolan

Research Associate at SOAS, University of London

Claire Norton

Former Associate Professor of History at St Mary's University, Twickenham

And Michael Talbot

Associate Professor in the History of the Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East at the University of Greenwich

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1970)

Des Ekin, The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates (O'Brien Press, 2008)

Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1450-1580 (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018)

Colin Heywood, The Ottoman World: The Mediterranean and North Africa, 1660-1760 (Routledge, 2019)

Alan Jamieson, Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs (Reaktion Books, 2013)

Julie Kalman, The Kings of Algiers: How Two Jewish Families Shaped the Mediterranean World during the Napoleonic Wars and Beyond (Princeton University Press, 2023)

Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Barbary Corsairs (T. Unwin, 1890)

Sally Magnusson, The Sealwoman's Gift (A novel - Two Roads, 2018)

Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (John Murray, 2010)

Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery (Columbia University Press, 1999)

Nabil Matar, Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689 (University Press of Florida, 2005)

Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (Hodder and Stoughton, 2004)

Claire Norton (ed.), Conversion and Islam in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Lure of the Other (Routledge, 2017)

Claire Norton, ‘Lust, Greed, Torture and Identity: Narrations of Conversion and the Creation of the Early Modern 'Renegade' (Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 29/2, 2009)

Daniel Panzac, The Barbary Corsairs: The End of a Legend, 1800-1820 (Brill, 2005)

Rafael Sabatini, The Sea Hawk (a novel - Vintage Books, 2011)

Adrian Tinniswood, Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the 17th century (Vintage Books, 2010)

D. Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England (Columbia University Press, 2001)

J. M. White, Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean (Stanford University Press, 2018)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the sailors from around Europe and North Africa, licensed by the Barbary States to capture people to be sold into slavery until the 19th century.

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

Although the French, led by Philip VI, massively outnumbered the English, under the command of Edward III, the English won the battle, and French casualties were huge. The English victory is often attributed to the success of their longbowmen against the heavy cavalry of the French.

The Battle of Cr退cy was the result of years of simmering tension between Edward III and Philip VI, and it led to decades of further conflict between England and France, a conflict that came to be known as the Hundred Years War.

With

Anne Curry

Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of Southampton

Andrew Ayton

Senior Research Fellow in History at Keele University

Erika Graham-Goering

Lecturer in Late Medieval History at Durham University

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford

Kate Fleet

Director of the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies and Fellow of Newnham College, University of Cambridge

Noel Malcolm

A Senior Research Fellow in History at All Soul's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is by Matthew Paris (c1200-1259) from his Chronica Majora (MS 16, f. 55v) and appears with the kind permission of the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

Louise Wilkinson

Professor of Medieval History at Canterbury Christ Church University

Stephen Church

Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

Thomas Asbridge

Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Professor in Ancient History at Cardiff University

Lindsay Allen

Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History, King's College London

Paul Cartledge

Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Hilde de Weerdt, Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University

Michael H怀ckelmann, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at King's College London

Hugh Kennedy, Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With:

Hugh Kennedy

Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London

Rosamond McKitterick

Professor of Medieval History at the University of Cambridge

Matthew Innes

Vice-Master and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London.

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

The image above is from 'The Battle of Trafalgar' by JMW Turner (1824).

With

James Davey

Lecturer in Naval and Maritime History at the University of Exeter

Marianne Czisnik

Independent researcher on Nelson and editor of his letters to Lady Hamilton

Kenneth Johnson

Research Professor of National Security at Air University, Alabama

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Richard Drayton

Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King's College London

Richard Rathbone

Emeritus Professor of African History at SOAS, University of London

Joanna Lewis

Assistant Professor of Imperial History at the LSE, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

With:

Karen O'Brien

Vice-Principal and Professor of English at King's College London

Elizabeth Eger

Reader in English Literature at King's College London

Nicole Pohl

Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With:

Diarmaid MacCulloch

Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford

Alexandra Walsham

Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge

Martin Palmer

Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Murder, intrigue and power politics characterised their rule, but many of the stories now told about their depraved behaviour and evil ways emerged after their demise and gave rise to the so-called 'Black Legend'. The sullied reputation of the Borgia dynasty endures even today and their lives have provided a major theme for plays, novels and over forty films.

With:

Evelyn Welch

Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London

Catherine Fletcher

Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield

Christine Shaw

Honorary Research Fellow at Swansea University

Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg examines the impact of Britain's colonial past on its current identity.

With

John Bennet

Director of the British School at Athens and Professor of Aegean Archaeology at the University of Sheffield

Linda Hulin

Fellow of Harris Manchester College and Research Officer at the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford

Simon Stoddart

Fellow of Magdalene College and Reader in Prehistory at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Bronze Age collapse.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the building of St Petersburg.

With:

Kathleen Burk

Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London

Jacqueline Fear-Segal

Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia

Frank Cogliano

Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh.

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

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

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

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

The first life on Earth was a single-celled organism which is thought to have appeared around three and a half billion years ago. That simple cell resembled today's bacteria. But eventually these microscopic entities evolved into something far more complex, and single-celled life gave rise to much larger, complex multicellular organisms. But how did the first cell appear, and how did that prototype evolve into the sophisticated, highly specialised cells of the human body?

With:

Steve Jones

Professor of Genetics at University College London

Nick Lane

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London

Cathie Martin

Group Leader at the John Innes Centre and Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

The image above is from the journal of Pelham Aldrich R.N. who served on the Challenger Surveying Expedition from 1872-5.

Erika Jones

Curator of Navigation and Oceanography at Royal Museums Greenwich

Sam Robinson

Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute Research Fellow at the University of Southampton

Giles Miller

Principal Curator of Micropalaeontology at the Natural History Museum London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the city.

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

Kathleen Burk

Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London

Tim Blanning

Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge

John Bew

Professor in History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cool Universe.

With:

Lawrence Goldman

Fellow in Modern History at St Peter's College, Oxford

Boyd Hilton

Former Professor of Modern British History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College

Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey

Reader in Political Science at the London School of Economics

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Roger Mason

Professor of Scottish History at the University of St Andrews

Laura Stewart

Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of York

Scott Spurlock

Professor of Scottish and Early Modern Christianities at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Followers of Mithras are thought to have taken part in various rituals, most notably communal meals and a complex seven-stage initiation system. Typical depictions of Mithras show him being born from a rock, enjoying food with the sun god Sol and stabbing a bull. Mithraic places of worship have been found throughout the Roman world, including an impressive example in London. However, Mithraism went into decline in the 4th century AD with the rise of Christianity and eventually completely disappeared. In recent decades, many aspects of the cult have provoked debate, especially as there are no written accounts by its members. As a result, archaeology has been of great importance in the study of Mithraism and has provided new insights into the religion and its adherents.

With:

Greg Woolf

Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

Almut Hintze

Zartoshty Professor of Zoroastrianism at SOAS, University of London

John North

Acting Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London.

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

The image above is of Red Guards, holding The Little Red Book, cheering Mao during a meeting to celebrate the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, August 1966

Rana Mitter

Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford

Sun Peidong

Visiting Professor at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po, Paris

Julia Lovell

Professor in Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London

Produced by Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson

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

With:

Patricia Fara

Senior Tutor of Clare College, University of Cambridge

Robert Fox

Emeritus Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford

Steven T Bramwell

Professor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Judith Jesch

Professor of Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham

John Hines

Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University

Jane Kershaw

ERC Principal Investigator in Archaeology at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Richard Oram

Professor of Medieval and Environmental History at the University of Stirling

Alice Taylor

Professor of Medieval History at King's College London

Alex Woolf

Senior Lecturer in History at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

In 1946 a Bedouin shepherd boy was looking for a goat he'd lost in the hills above the Dead Sea. He threw a rock into a cave and heard a hollow sound. He'd hit a ceramic jar containing an ancient manuscript. This was the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of about a thousand texts dating from around 250 BC to AD 68. It is the most substantial first hand evidence we have for the beliefs and practices of Judaism in and around the lifetime of Jesus.

The Dead Sea Scrolls have transformed our understanding of how the texts that make up the Hebrew Bible were edited and collected. They also offer a tantalising window onto the world from which Christianity eventually emerged.

With

Sarah Pearce

Ian Karten Professor of Jewish Studies and Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Southampton

Charlotte Hempel

Professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Birmingham

George Brooke

Rylands Professor Emeritus of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester

Producer Luke Mulhall

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

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

The image above is of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, approximately 10,000 light years away, from a once massive star that died in a supernova explosion that was first seen from Earth in 1690

With

Martin Rees

Astronomer Royal, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Carolin Crawford

Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy and Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

Mark Sullivan

Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The illustration above, by Beardsley, is from the cover of the first edition of The Yellow Book in April 1894.

Neil Sammells

Professor of English and Irish Literature and Deputy Vice Chancellor at Bath Spa University

Kate Hext

Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Exeter

Alex Murray

Senior Lecturer in English at Queen's University, Belfast

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Delphic Oracle.

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

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

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

With:

Stephen Baxter

Reader in Medieval History at Kings College London

Elisabeth van Houts

Honorary Professor of Medieval European History at the University of Cambridge

David Bates

Professorial Fellow in Medieval History at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Domesday Book.

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

With:

Barry Cunliffe

Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford

Miranda Aldhouse-Green

Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University

Justin Champion

Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Druids of ancient Europe.

Anne Goldgar

Reader in Early Modern European History at King's College London

Chris Nierstrasz

Lecturer in Global History at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, formerly at the University of Warwick

Helen Paul

Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Dutch East India Company.

Stephen Blundell

Professor of Physics and Fellow of Mansfield College at the University of Oxford

Arwen Deuss

Associate Professor in Seismology at Utrecht University

Simon Redfern

Professor of Mineral Physics at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Earth's core.

With

Margaret MacMillan

Emeritus Professor of International History at the University of Oxford

Michael Cox

Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Founding Director of LSE IDEAS

Patricia Clavin

Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Manfred F. Boemeke, Gerald D. Feldman and Elisabeth Glaser (eds.), The Treaty of Versailles: A Reassessment after 75 Years (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Zachary D. Carter, The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy and the Life of John Maynard Keynes (Random House, 2020)

Peter Clarke, Keynes: The Twentieth Century's Most Influential Economist (Bloomsbury, 2009)

Patricia Clavin et al (eds.), Keynes's Economic Consequences of the Peace after 100 Years: Polemics and Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2023)

Patricia Clavin, ‘Britain and the Making of Global Order after 1919: The Ben Pimlott Memorial Lecture' (Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 31:3, 2020)

Richard Davenport-Hines, Universal Man; The Seven Lives of John Maynard Keynes (William Collins, 2015)

R. F. Harrod, John Maynard Keynes (first published 1951; Pelican, 1972)

Jens Holscher and Matthias Klaes (eds), Keynes's Economic Consequences of the Peace: A Reappraisal (Pickering & Chatto, 2014)

John Maynard Keynes (with an introduction by Michael Cox), The Economic Consequences of the Peace (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019)

Margaret MacMillan, Peacemakers: Six Months that Changed the World (John Murray Publishers, 2001)

Etienne Mantoux, The Carthaginian Peace or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes (Oxford University Press, 1946)

D. E. Moggridge, Maynard Keynes: An Economist's Biography (Routledge, 1992)

Alan Sharp, Versailles 1919: A Centennial Perspective (Haus Publishing Ltd, 2018)

Robert Skidelsky, John Maynard Keynes, 1883-1946 (Pan Macmillan, 2004)

Jürgen Tampke, A Perfidious Distortion of History: The Versailles Peace Treaty and the Success of the Nazis (Scribe UK, 2017)

Adam Tooze, The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931 (Penguin Books, 2015)

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

With

John Taylor

Curator at the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum

Kate Spence

Senior Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at Cambridge University and Fellow of Emmanuel College

Richard Parkinson

Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford and Fellow of the Queen's College

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Victoria Martin

Professor of Collider Physics at the University of Edinburgh

Harry Cliff

Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Sarah Hudspith

Associate Professor in Russian at the University of Leeds

Simon Dixon

The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at UCL

Shane O'Rourke

Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Amira Bennison

Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge

Marie Rodet

Senior Lecturer in the History of Africa at SOAS

Kevin MacDonald

Professor of African Archaeology

Chair of the African Studies Programme at University College, London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the empire of Mali.

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

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

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

With:

Karen Radner

Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London

Shaun Tougher

Reader in Ancient History at Cardiff University

Michael Hoeckelmann

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at King's College London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Anjali Goswami

Research Leader in Life Sciences and Dean of Postgraduate Education at the Natural History Museum

Philip Mannion

Lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London

Steve Brusatte

Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh

Producer Simon Tillotson

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

With

Alan Outram

Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Exeter

Christine Janis

Honorary Professor in Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol and Professor Emerita in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University

John Hutchinson

Professor in Evolutionary Biomechanics at the Royal Veterinary College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With

Gareth Fraser

Assistant Professor in Biology at the University of Florida

Zerina Johanson

Merit Researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the Natural History Museum

Philip Donoghue

Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

With:

Patricia Fara

Senior Tutor of Clare College, University of Cambridge

William Ayliffe

Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College

Robert Iliffe

Professor of Intellectual History and History of Science at the University of Sussex

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

David Wootton

Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Helen Paul

Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

John Callanan

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at King's College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With

Frank Cogliano

Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh and Interim Saunders Director of the International Centre for Jefferson Studies at Monticello

Kathleen Burk

Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London

Nicholas Guyatt

Professor of North American History at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Bernard Bailyn, To Begin the World Anew: The Genius and Ambiguities of the American Founders (Knopf, 2003)

Mary Sarah Bilder, Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention (Harvard University Press, 2015)

Noah Feldman, The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President (Random House, 2017)

Jonathan Gienapp, The Second Creation: Fixing the American Constitution in the Founding Era (Harvard University Press, 2018)

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison (eds. George W. Carey and James McClellan), The Federalist: The Gideon Edition (Liberty Fund, 2001)

Alison L. LaCroix, The Ideological Origins of American Federalism (Harvard University Press, 2010)

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (Penguin, 1987)

Pauline Maier, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 (Simon and Schuster, 2010)

Michael I. Meyerson, Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World (Basic Books, 2008)

Jack Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (Knopf, 1996)

Jack N. Rakove and Colleen A. Sheehan, The Cambridge Companion to The Federalist (Cambridge University Press, 2020)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the essays written in 1787/8 by some of the authors of the US Constitution which offer insight into the interpretation of the Constitution.

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 'The Fighting Temeraire', one of Turner's greatest works and the one he called his 'darling'. It shows one of the most famous ships of the age, a hero of Trafalgar, being towed up the Thames to the breakers' yard, sail giving way to steam. Turner displayed this masterpiece to a public which, at the time, was deep in celebration of the Temeraire era, with work on Nelson's Column underway, and it was an immediate success, with Thackeray calling the painting 'a national ode'.

Susan Foister

Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery

David Blayney Brown

Manton Curator of British Art 1790-1850 at Tate Britain

James Davey

Curator of Naval History at the National Maritime Museum

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

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

The image above is a representation of Tiktaalik Roseae, a fish with some features of a tetrapod but not one yet, based on a fossil collected in the Canadian Arctic.

Emily Rayfield

Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol

Michael Coates

Chair and Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago

Steve Brusatte

Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the four humours in medical history.

The image above is a detail of Bataille de Yorktown by Auguste Couder, with Rochambeau commanding the French expeditionary force in 1781

Frank Cogliano

Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh

Kathleen Burk

Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London

Michael Rapport

Reader in Modern European History at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the geological formation of Britain.

Catherine Clinton

Denman Chair of American History at the University of Texas and International Professor at Queen's University, Belfast

Susan-Mary Grant

Professor of American History at Newcastle University

Tim Lockley

Professor of American History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Angela McShane

Research Fellow in History at the Victoria and Albert Museum and University of Sheffield

Judith Hawley

Professor of 18th century literature at Royal Holloway, University of London

Emma Major

Senior Lecturer in English at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Glencoe Massacre of 1692.

Melvyn Bragg considers whether the events of 1688 were really glorious or revolutionary.

Catherine Schenk

Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Oxford

Helen Paul

Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton

Matthias Morys

Senior Lecturer in Economic History at the University of York

Produced by Eliane Glaser and Simon Tillotson

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

The image above shows a crowd setting fire to Newgate Prison and freeing prisoners by the authority of 'His Majesty, King Mob.

With

Ian Haywood

Professor of English at the University of Roehampton

Catriona Kennedy

Senior Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York

Mark Knights

Professor of History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

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

The image above is of Robert Redford as Gatsby in a scene from the film 'The Great Gatsby', 1974.

Sarah Churchwell

Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at the University of London

Philip McGowan

Professor of American Literature at Queen's University, Belfast

William Blazek

Associate Professor and Reader in American Literature at Liverpool Hope University

Produced by Simon Tillotson and Julia Johnson

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

The image above is from The Illustrated London News, Dec. 29, 1849, showing a scalp or shelter, 'a hole, surrounded by pools, and three sides of the scalp were dripping with water, which ran in small streams over the floor and out by the entrance. The poor inhabitants said they would be thankful if the landlord would leave them there, and the Almighty would spare their lives. Its principal tenant is Margaret Vaughan.

Cormac O'Grada

Professor Emeritus in the School of Economics at University College Dublin

Niamh Gallagher

University Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History at the University of Cambridge

Enda Delaney

Professor of Modern History and School Director of Research at the University of Edinburgh

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is from Punch, July 10th 1858 and it has this caption: The 'Silent Highway'-Man. 'Your Money or your Life!

With

Rosemary Ashton

Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature at University College London

Stephen Halliday

Author of ‘The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis

Paul Dobraszczyk

Lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London

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

Contributors

Kate Hodgson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in French at the University of Liverpool

Tim Lockley, Reader in American Studies at the University of Warwick

Karen Salt, Fellow in History in the School of Language and Literature at the University of Aberdeen

Producer: Luke Mulhall.

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

Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz

Associate Professor of Medieval History at the University of Amsterdam

Georg Christ

Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Manchester

Sheilagh Ogilvie

Chichele Professor of Economic History at All Souls College, University of Oxford

Producer: Victoria Brignell

Reading list:

James S. Amelang and Siegfried Beer, Public Power in Europe: Studies in Historical Transformations (Plus-Pisa University Press, 2006), especially `Trade and Politics in the Medieval Baltic: English Merchants and England's Relations to the Hanseatic League 1370–1437`

Nicholas R. Amor, Late Medieval Ipswich: Trade and Industry (Boydell & Brewer, 2011)

B. Ayers, The German Ocean: Medieval Europe around the North Sea (Equinox, 2016)

H. Brand and P. Brood, The German Hanse in Past & Present Europe: A medieval league as a model for modern interregional cooperation? (Castel International Publishers, 2007)

Wendy R. Childs, The Trade and Shipping of Hull, 1300-1500 (East Yorkshire Local History Society, 1990)

Alexander Cowan, Hanseatic League: Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford University Press, 2010)

Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa (Macmillan, 1970)

John D. Fudge, Cargoes, Embargoes and Emissaries: The Commercial and Political Interaction of England and the German Hanse, 1450-1510 (University of Toronto Press, 1995)

Donald J. Harreld, A Companion to the Hanseatic League (Brill, 2015)

T.H. Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, 1157 – 1611: A Study of their Trade and Commercial Diplomacy (first published 1991; Cambridge University Press, 2002)

Giampiero Nigro (ed.), Maritime networks as a factor in European integration (Fondazione Istituto Internazionale Di Storia Economica “F. Datini ? Prato, University of Firenze, 2019), especially ‘Maritime Networks and Premodern Conflict Management on Multiple Levels. The Example of Danzig and the Giese Family' by Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz

Sheilagh Ogilvie, Institutions and European Trade: Merchant Guilds, 1000-1800 (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

Paul Richards (ed.), Six Essays in Hanseatic History (Poppyland Publishing, 2017)

Paul Richards, King's Lynn and The German Hanse 1250-1550: A Study in Anglo-German Medieval Trade and Politics (Poppyland Publishing, 2022)

Stephen H. Rigby, The Overseas Trade of Boston, 1279-1548 (Böhlau Verlag, 2023)

Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz and Stuart Jenks (eds.), The Hanse in Medieval & Early Modern Europe (Brill, 2012)

Justyna Wubs-Mrozewicz, ‘The late medieval and early modern Hanse as an institution of conflict management' (Continuity and Change 32/1, Cambridge University Press, 2017)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Hanseatic League or Hansa which dominated North European and Baltic trade in the medieval period.

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

The image above is a detail from a print of 'Lochaber No More' by John Watson Nicol 1856-1926

Sir Tom Devine

Professor Emeritus of Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh

Marjory Harper

Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen and Visiting Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands

Murray Pittock

Bradley Professor of English Literature and Pro Vice Principal at the University of Glasgow

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Claudia Glatz

Professor of Archaeology at the University of Glasgow

Ilgi Gercek

Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and History at Bilkent University

Christoph Bachhuber

Lecturer in Archaeology at St John's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Edith Hall

Professor of Classics at King's College London

Barbara Graziosi

Professor of Classics at Princeton University

Paul Cartledge

A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture at Clare College, Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Frank Meddens

Visiting Scholar at the University of Reading

Helen Cowie

Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York

Bill Sillar

Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Industrial Revolution.

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

The Dutch image of Oliver Cromwell, above, was published by Joost Hartgers c1649

Clare Jackson

Senior Tutor at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge

Micheကl Ӏ Siochrú

Professor in Modern History at Trinity College Dublin

Laura Stewart

Professor in Early Modern History at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Simon Schaffer

Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge

Elizabeth Edwards

Emeritus Professor of Photographic History at De Montfort University

Alison Morrison-Low,

Research Associate at National Museums Scotland

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the invention of photography.

With:

Simon Schaffer

Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge

Elizabeth Bruton

Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Leeds

John Liffen

Curator of Communications at the Science Museum, London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The image above is of Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763 - 1798), prominent member of the United Irishmen

Ian McBride

Foster Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, University of Oxford

Catriona Kennedy

Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of York

Liam Chambers

Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Jesuits, \u201cthe school masters of Europe\u201d.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Finnish epic poem that first appeared in print in 1835 in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire and until recently part of Sweden. The compiler of this epic was a doctor, Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who had travelled the land to hear traditional poems about mythical heroes being sung in Finnish, the language of the peasantry, and writing them down in his own order to create this landmark work. In creating The Kalevala, Lönnrot helped the Finns realise they were a distinct people apart from Sweden and Russia, who deserved their own nation state and who came to demand independence, which they won in 1917.

With

Riitta Valijärvi
Associate Professor in Finnish and Minority Languages at University College London

Thomas Dubois
The Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Folklore and Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

And

Daniel Abondolo
Formerly Reader in Hungarian at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Nigel Fabb, What is Poetry? Language and Memory in the Poems of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2015)

Frog, Satu Grünthal, Kati Kallio and Jarkko Niemi (eds), Versification: Metrics in Practice (Finnish Literature Society, 2021)

Riho Grünthal et al., ‘Drastic demographic events triggered the Uralic spread’ (Diachronica, Volume 39, Issue 4, Aug 2022)

Lauri Honko (ed.), The Kalevala and the World's Traditional Epics (Finnish Literature Society, 2002)

The Kalevala Heritage: Archive Recordings of Ancient Finnish Songs. Online Catalogue no. ODE8492.

Mauri Kunnas, The Canine Kalevala (Otava Publishing, 1992)

Kuusi, Matti, et al. (eds.), Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic (Finnish Literature Society, 1977)

Elias Lönnrot (trans. John Martin Crawford), Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland (first published 1887; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017)

Elias Lönnrot (trans. W. F. Kirby), Kalevala: The Land of the Heroes (first published by J.M. Dent & Sons, 1907, 2 vols.; ‎ Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2000)

Elias Lönnrot (trans. Francis Peabody Magoun Jr.), The Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District (Harvard University Press, 1963)

Elias Lönnrot (trans. Eino Friberg), The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People (Otava Publishing, 1988)

Elias Lönnrot (trans. Keith Bosley), The Kalevala: An Epic Poem after Oral Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1989)

Kirsti Mäkinen, Pirkko-Liisa Surojegin, Kaarina Brooks, An Illustrated Kalevala: Myths and Legends from Finland (Floris Books, 2020)

Sami Makkonen, Kalevala: The Graphic Novel (Ablaze, 2024)

Juha Y. Pentikäinen (trans. Ritva Poom), Kalevala Mythology, (Indiana University Press, 1999)

Tina K. Ramnarine, Ilmatar’s Inspirations: Nationalism, Globalization and the Changing Soundscapes of Finnish Folk Music (University of Chicago Press, 2003)
Jonathan Roper (ed.), Alliteration in Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), especially chapter 12 ‘Alliteration in (Balto-) Finnic Languages’ by Frog and Eila Stepanova

Karl Spracklen, Metal Music and the Re-imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation (Emerald Publishing, 2020), especially the chapter ‘Finnish Folk Metal: Raising Drinking Horns in Mainstream Metal’

Leea Virtanen and Thomas A. DuBois, Finnish Folklore: Studia Fennica Folkloristica 9 (Finnish Literature Society, 2000)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Kama Sutra.

Helen Nicholson

Professor of Medieval History at Cardiff University

Mike Carr

Lecturer in Late Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh

Jonathan Phillips

Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Carolin Crawford

Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

Monica Grady

Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University

Stephen Lowry

Reader in Planetary and Space Sciences, University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With

Lawrence Goldman

Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London

Emma Griffin

Professor of History at the University of East Anglia

David Brown

Senior Lecturer in American Studies at University of Manchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The image above is an abstract group of the huge, armoured Dunkleosteus fish, lost in the Late Devonian Extinction

Jessica Whiteside

Associate Professor of Geochemistry in the Department of Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton

David Bond

Professor of Geology at the University of Hull

Mike Benton

Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the School of Life Sciences, University of Bristol.

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

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

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Library of Alexandria.

With

Rana Mitter

Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford

Sun Shuyun

Historian, writer of 'The Long March' and film maker

Julia Lovell

Professor in Modern Chinese History and Literature at Birkbeck, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of Cynon ap Clydno approaching the Castle of Maidens from the tale of Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain

Sioned Davies

Professor in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University

Helen Fulton

Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol

Juliette Wood

Associate Lecturer in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Magna Carta.

With:

Amira Bennison

Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College

Robert Irwin

Former Senior Research Associate in the Department of History at SOAS, University of London

Doris Behrens-Abouseif

Nasser D Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

The image above is of Robert Oppenheimer and General Groves examining the remains of one the bases of the steel test tower, at the atomic bomb Trinity Test site, in September 1945.

Bruce Cameron Reed

The Charles A. Dana Professor of Physics Emeritus at Alma College, Michigan

Cynthia Kelly

Founder and President of the Atomic Heritage Foundation

Frank Close

Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above is of students from Peking University marching with banners during the May Fourth demonstrations in 1919.

Rana Mitter

Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China and Fellow of St Cross College, University of Oxford

Elisabeth Forster

Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Southampton

Song-Chuan Chen

Associate Professor in History at the University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Elizabeth Graham

Professor of Mesoamerican Archaeology at University College London

Matthew Restall

Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Latin American History and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University

Benjamin Vis

Eastern ARC Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Kent

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the measurement problem in physics.

With:

Evelyn Welch

Professor of Renaissance Studies at King's College, University of London

Robert Black

Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Leeds

Catherine Fletcher

Lecturer in Public History at the University of Sheffield

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

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

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

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

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

With

Frank Cogliano

Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh

Jacqueline Fear-Segal

Professor of American and Indigenous Histories at the University of East Anglia

Thomas Rath

Lecturer in Latin American History at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

The microscope became an essential component of scientific enquiry by the nineteenth century, but in the 1930s a German physicist, Ernst Ruska, discovered that by using a beam of electrons he could view structures much tinier than was possible using visible light. Today light and electron microscopy are among the most powerful tools at the disposal of modern science, and new techniques are still being developed.

With:

Jim Bennett

Visiting Keeper at the Science Museum in London

Sir Colin Humphreys

Professor of Materials Science and Director of Research at the University of Cambridge

Michelle Peckham

Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Leeds

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

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

Natalya Benkhaled-Vince

Associate Professor of the History of Modern France and the Francophone World, Fellow of University College, University of Oxford

Hannah-Louise Clark

Senior Lecturer in Global Economic and Social History at the University of Glasgow

Jim House

Senior Lecturer in French and Francophone History at the University of Leeds

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Mahfoud Bennoune, The Making of Contemporary Algeria: 1830-1987 (Cambridge University Press, 1988)

Julia Clancy-Smith, Rebel and Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters, Algeria and Tunisia 1800–1904 (University of California Press, 1994)

Hannah-Louise Clark, ‘The Islamic Origins of the French Colonial Welfare State: Hospital Finance in Algeria' (European Review of History, vol. 28, nos 5-6, 2021)

Hannah-Louise Clark, ‘Of jinn theories and germ theories: translating microbes, bacteriological medicine, and Islamic law in Algeria' (Osiris, vol. 36, 2021)

Brock Cutler, Ecologies of Imperialism in Algeria (University of Nebraska Press, 2023)

Didier Guignard, 1871: L'Algérie sous Séquestre (CNRS Éditions, 2023)

Idir Hachi, ‘Histoire social de l'insurrection de 1871 et du procès de ses chefs (PhD diss., University of Aix-Marseille, 2017)

Abdelhak Lahlou, Idir Hachi, Isabelle Guillaume, Amélie Gregório and Peter Dunwoodie, ‘L'insurrection kabyle de 1871' (Etudes françaises volume 57, no 1, 2021)

James McDougall, A History of Algeria (Cambridge University Press (2017)

John Ruedy, Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation (Indiana University Press, 2005, 2nd edition)

Jennifer E Sessions, By Sword and Plow: France and the Conquest of Algeria (Cornell University Press, 2011)

Samia Touati, ‘Lalla Fatma N'Soumer, 1830–1863: Spirituality, Resistance and Womanly Leadership in Colonial Algeria (Societies vol. 8, no. 4, 2018)

Natalya Vince, Our Fighting Sisters: Nation, Memory and Gender in Algeria, 1954-2012 (Manchester University Press, 2015)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss when Algerians tried to take advantage of French defeat in Europe in 1871 and drive the colonists out, inspiring the later independence movement.

The image above is from a Jamaican $2 banknote, printed after Paul Bogle became a National Hero in 1969.

With

Matthew J Smith

Professor of History and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at University College London

Diana Paton

The William Robertson Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh

Lawrence Goldman

Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Multiverse.

Paul Cartledge

Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge

Angie Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield

Penelope Murray

Founder member and retired Senior Lecturer, Department of Classics, University of Warwick

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Image: 'Apollo and the Muses (Parnassus)', 1631-1632. Oil on canvas. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).

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

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

With

Angela Hobbs

Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield

Lisa Irene Hau

Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow

Paul Cartledge

Emeritus AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge and Senior Research Fellow of Clare College

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether it is appropriate to think of the UK as a nation.

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

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

Most animals have a nervous system, a network of nerve tissues which allows parts of the body to communicate with each other. In humans the most significant parts of this network are the brain, spinal column and retinas, which together make up the central nervous system. But there is also a peripheral nervous system, which enables sensation, movement and the regulation of the major organs.

Scholars first described the nerves of the human body over two thousand years ago. For 1400 years it was believed that they were animated by 'animal spirits', mysterious powers which caused sensation and movement. In the eighteenth century scientists discovered that nerve fibres transmitted electrical impulses; it was not until the twentieth century that chemical agents - neurotransmitters - were first identified.

With:

Colin Blakemore

Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford

Vivian Nutton

Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine at University College, London

Tilli Tansey

Professor of the History of Modern Medical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With

Val Gibson

Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge and fellow of Trinity College

Andrew Harrison

Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Light Source and Professor in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutron.

The image above is of Siegfried seeing Kriemhild for the first time, a miniature from the Hundeshagenschen Code manuscript dating from 15th Century.

Sarah Bowden

Reader in German and Medieval Studies at King's College London

Mark Chinca

Professor of Medieval German and Comparative Literature at the University of Cambridge

Bettina Bildhauer

Professor of Modern Languages at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 'the Norman Yoke'.

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the observatory at Jaipur.

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

With:

John Haldane

Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews

Peter Millican

Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford

Clare Carlisle

Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at King's College London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

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

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

Dame Jane Francis

Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the British Antarctic Survey

Mark Maslin

Professor of Palaeoclimatology at University College London

Tracy Aze

Lecturer in Marine Micropaleontology at the University of Leeds

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

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

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

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

With:

Melissa Lane

Professor of Politics at Princeton University

Simon Blackburn

Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

John Haldane

Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Thomas Morris.

With:

Mark Woolmer

Assistant Principal at Collingwood College, Durham University

Josephine Quinn

Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Oxford

Cyprian Broodbank

Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at University College London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

With:

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford

Wendy Flavell

Professor of Surface Physics at the University of Manchester

Susan Cartwright

Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

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

With:

Richard Whatmore

Professor of Intellectual History & the History of Political Thought at the University of Sussex

Joel Felix

Professor of History at the University of Reading

Helen Paul

Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Katherine Forsyth

Reader in the Department of Celtic and Gaelic at the University of Glasgow

Alex Woolf

Senior Lecturer in Dark Age Studies at the University of St Andrews

Gordon Noble

Reader in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

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

With

John Haldon

Professor of Byzantine History and Hellenic Studies Emeritus at Princeton University

Rebecca Flemming

Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge

Greg Woolf

Director of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

The image above is Jan III Sobieski (1629-1696), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, at the Battle of Vienna 1683, by Marcello Bacciarelli (1731-1818)

Robert Frost

The Burnett Fletcher Chair of History at the University of Aberdeen

Katarzyna Kosior

Lecturer in Early Modern History at Northumbria University

Norman Davies

Professor Emeritus in History and Honorary Fellow of St Antony's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The image above was published in 1897 as New Year's Day in the Workhouse.

Emma Griffin

Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia

Samantha Shave

Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Lincoln

Steven King

Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Leicester

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Frank Close

Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford

Helen Heath

Reader in Physics at the University of Bristol

Simon Jolly

Lecturer in High Energy Physics at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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

With:

Justin Champion

Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London

Ann Hughes

Professor of Early Modern History at Keele University

Kate Peters

Fellow in History at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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

Written in Sanskrit, it tells the story of the legendary prince and princess Rama and Sita, and the many challenges, misfortunes and choices that they face. About 24,000 verses long, the Ramayana is also one of the longest ancient epics. It's a text that's been hugely influential and it continues to be popular in India and elsewhere in Asia.

With

Jessica Frazier

Lecturer in the Study of Religion at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies

Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University

Naomi Appleton

Senior Lecturer in Asian Religions at the University of Edinburgh

The image above shows Rama, Sita, Hanuman, Lakshmana and devotees, from the Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Leicester.

Producer Luke Mulhall

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ancient Sanskrit epic.

Elizabeth Phillips

Research Fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute at the University of Cambridge and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University

Crawford Gribben

Professor of Early Modern British History at Queen's University Belfast

Nicholas Guyatt

Reader in North American History at the University of Cambridge

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

The image above is from Gustave Dor退's illustration of the mariner's shooting of the albatross, for an 1877 German language edition of the poem

Sir Jonathan Bate

Professor of Environmental Humanities at Arizona State University

Tom Mole

Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Edinburgh

Rosemary Ashton

Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

The causes and events of the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century.

With

Penelope Wilson

Associate Professor of Egyptian Archaeology at Durham University

Campbell Price

Curator of Egypt and Sudan at the Manchester Museum

Richard Bruce Parkinson

Professor of Egyptology and Fellow of The Queen's College, University of Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

With:

Charles Melville

Professor of Persian History at the University of Cambridge

Daniel Karlin

Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol

Kirstie Blair

Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling

Producer: Thomas Morris.

With

Simon Dixon

The Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at University College London

Naoko Shimazu

Professor of Humanities at Yale NUS College, Singapore

Oleg Benesch

Reader in Modern History at the University of York

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

Stephen Bowd

Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Edinburgh

Jessica Goethals

Associate Professor of Italian at the University of Alabama

Catherine Fletcher

Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Stephen Bowd, Renaissance Mass Murder: Civilians and Soldiers during the Italian Wars (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Benvenuto Cellini, Autobiography (Penguin Classics, 1999)

Benvenuto Cellini (trans. Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter Bondanella), My Life (Oxford University Press, 2009)

André Chastel (trans. Beth Archer), The Sack of Rome 1527 (Princeton University Press, 1983

Catherine Fletcher, The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance (Bodley Head, 2020)

Kenneth Gouwens and Sheryl E. Reiss (eds), The Pontificate of Clement VII: History, Politics, Culture (Routledge, 2005)

Francesco Guicciardini (trans. Sidney Alexander), The History of Italy (first published 1561; Princeton University Press, 2020)

Luigi Guicciardini (trans. James H. McGregor), The Sack of Rome (first published 1537; Italica Press, 2008)

Judith Hook, The Sack of Rome (2nd edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)

Geoffrey Parker, Emperor: A New Life of Charles V (Yale University Press, 2019)

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

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the slaughter and chaos as a hungry army of the Holy Roman Emperor swarmed through Rome, holding the pope hostage and weakening the Papal States.

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

Susan Castillo-Street

Harriet Beecher Stowe Professor Emerita of American Studies at King's College London

Simon Middleton

Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Sheffield

Marion Gibson

Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at Exeter University, Penryn Campus.

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Salem witch trials.

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

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

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

With:

Dame Athene Donald

Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge

Jim Bennett

Former Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum

Paul McMillan

Professor of Chemistry at University College London

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the puzzling science of glass.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method.

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

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

David Carpenter

Professor of Medieval History at King's College London

Louise Wilkinson

Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Lincoln

Sophie Th退r耀se Ambler

Lecturer in Later Medieval British and European History at Lancaster University

Producer: Simon Tillotson

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

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

Jan Holmberg

Director of the Ingmar Bergman Foundation, Stockholm

Claire Thomson

Professor of Cinema History and Director of the School of European Languages, Culture and Society at University College London

Laura Hubner

Professor of Film at the University of Winchester

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

Alexander Ahndoril (trans. Sarah Death), The Director (Granta, 2008)

Ingmar Bergman (trans. Marianne Ruuth), Images: My Life in Film (Faber and Faber, 1995)

Ingmar Bergman (trans. Joan Tate), The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography (Viking, 1988)

Ingmar Bergman (trans. Joan Tate), The Best Intentions (Vintage, 2018)

Ingmar Bergman (trans. Joan Tate), Sunday's Children (Vintage, 2018)

Ingmar Bergman (trans. Joan Tate), Private Confessions (Vintage, 2018)

Stig Bj怀rkman, Torsten Manns and Jonas Sima (trans. Paul Britten Austin), Bergman on Bergman: Interviews with Ingmar Bergman (Da Capo Press, 1993)

Melvyn Bragg, The Seventh Seal: BFI Film Classics (British Film Institute, 1993)

Paul Duncan and Bengt Wanselius (eds.), The Ingmar Bergman Archives (Taschen/Max Str怀m, 2018)

Erik Hedling (ed.), Ingmar Bergman: An Enduring Legacy (Lund University Press, 2021)

Laura Hubner, The Films of Ingmar Bergman: Illusions of Light and Darkness (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

Daniel Humphrey, Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and the European Art Cinema (University of Texas Press, 2013)

Maaret Koskinen (ed.), Bergman Revisited: Performance, Cinema, and the Arts (Wallflower Press, 2008)

Selma Lagerl怀f (trans. Peter Graves), The Phantom Carriage (Norvik Press, 2011)

Mariah Larsson and Anders Marklund (eds.), Swedish Film: An Introduction and Reader (Nordic Academic Press, 2010)

Paisley Livingston, Ingmar Bergman and the Rituals of Art (Cornell University Press, 2019)

Birgitta Steene (ed.), Focus on The Seventh Seal (Prentice Hall, 1972)

Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide (Amsterdam University Press, 2014)