2008

Camus 3 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Algerian-French writer and Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus.
840 French and related literatures
The Charge of the Light Brigade 10 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Charge of the Light - an event of no military significance that has become iconic in the British historical imagination.
940 History of Europe
The Fisher King 17 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests will be delving into the world of medieval legend in pursuit of the powerful and enigmatic Fisher King.
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore
Plate Tectonics 24 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the science of plate tectonics revolutionised our understanding of the planet on which we live.
550 Earth sciences and geology
Rudolph II 31 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the coterie of brilliant thinkers gathered in 16th century Prague by the melancholic emperor Rudolph II.
940 History of Europe

The Social Contract 7 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Social Contract and ask a foundational question of political philosophy - by what authority does a government govern? “Man was born free and he is everywhere in chains”.
320 Political science
The Statue of Liberty 14 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Statue of Liberty.
900 History
The Multiverse 21 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests will be leaving the studio, the planet and indeed, the universe to take a tour of the Multiverse.
520 Astronomy
Lear 28 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss King Lear.
820 English and Old English literatures

Ada Lovelace 6 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace.
000 Computer science, knowledge and systems
The Greek Myths 13 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek myths from Achilles to Zeus.
290 Other religions
Kierkegaard 20 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rich and radical ideas of Soren Kierkegaard, often called the father of Existentialism.
190 Modern Western Philosophy
The Dissolution of the Monasteries 27 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Henry VIII and the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
940 History of Europe

The Laws of Motion 3 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Newton’s Laws of Motion.
530 Physics
The Norman Yoke 10 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ‘the Norman Yoke’ - the idea that the Battle of Hastings sparked years of cruel oppression for the Anglo Saxons by a Norman ruling class.
940 History of Europe
Yeats and Irish Politics 17 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poet W.
820 English and Old English literatures
Materialism 24 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Materialism in Philosophy - the idea that matter and the interactions between matter account for all that exists and all that happens.
100 Philosophy

The Enclosures of the 18th Century 1 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the enclosure movement of the 18th and 19th centuries.
330 Economics
The Brain 8 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the human brain.
610 Medicine and health
The Library at Nineveh 15 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Library at Nineveh, a treasure house of Assyrian ideas from the 7th Century BC.
930 History of the Ancient World
The Black Death 22 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the Black Death influenced the structure and ideas of Medieval Europe.
940 History of Europe
Probability 29 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the strange mathematics of probability where heads or tails is a simple question with a far from simple answer.
510 Mathematics

Lysenkoism 5 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests delve into the dark world of genetics under Joseph Stalin in discussing the career of Trofim Lysenko.
570 Biology
The Riddle of the Sands 12 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discusses the prescient thriller ‘The Riddle of the Sands’ about the decline Anglo-German relations before the First World War.
820 English and Old English literatures
The Music of the Spheres 19 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the music of the spheres, the elegant and poetic idea that the revolution of the planets generates a celestial harmony of profound and transcendent beauty.
780 Music
The Arab Conquests 26 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Arab conquests - an extraordinary period in the 7th and 8th centuries when the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula conquered the Middle East, Persia, North Africa and Southern Europe and spread the ideas of the Islamic religion.
950 History of Asia

The Metaphysical Poets 3 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Metaphysical poets, a diffuse group of 17th century writers including John Donne, Andrew Marvell and George Herbert.
820 English and Old English literatures
Tacitus and the Decadence of Rome 10 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman historian Tacitus who chronicled some of Rome’s most notorious emperors, including Nero and Caligula, and whose portrayal of Roman decadence influences the way we see Rome today.
930 History of the Ancient World

Miracles 25 Sep

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the parting of the Red Sea, the feeding of the five thousand and the general subject of miracles.
200 Religion

The Translation Movement 2 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest intellectual projects in history - the mass translation of Greek ideas into Arabic from the 9th century onwards.
500 Science
Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems 9 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an iconic piece of 20th century maths - Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems.
510 Mathematics
Vitalism 16 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Vitalism, an 18th and 19th century quest for the spark of life.
570 Biology
Dante’s Inferno 23 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Dante’s ‘Inferno’ - a medieval journey through the nine circles of Hell.
800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
Bolivar 30 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and times of Simon Bolivar, hero of the revolutionary wars that liberated Spanish America from Spain.
980 History of South America

Aristotle’s Politics 6 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most important works of political philosophy ever written - Aristotle’s ‘Politics’.
320 Political science
Neuroscience 13 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the relationship between the mind and the brain as they discuss recent developments in Neuroscience.
610 Medicine and health
The Baroque Movement 20 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the culture of the Baroque.
700 Arts
The Great Reform Act 27 Nov

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

Heat 4 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about heat.
530 Physics
The Fire of London 11 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Great Fire of London which destroyed up to a third of the city in 1666.
940 History of Europe
The Physics of Time 18 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of time.
530 Physics