2010

The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1 4 Jan

As part of the BBC’s year of science programming, Melvyn Bragg looks at the history of the oldest scientific learned society of them all: the Royal Society.
500 Science
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2 5 Jan

As part of the BBC’s year of science programming, Melvyn Bragg looks at the history of the oldest scientific learned society of them all: the Royal Society.
500 Science
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3 6 Jan

As part of the BBC’s year of science programming, Melvyn Bragg looks at the history of the oldest scientific learned society of them all: the Royal Society.
500 Science
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4 7 Jan

As part of the BBC’s year of science programming, Melvyn Bragg looks at the history of the oldest scientific learned society of them all: the Royal Society.
500 Science
The Frankfurt School 14 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests Raymond Geuss, Esther Leslie and Jonathan RA(c)e discuss the Frankfurt School.
300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology
The Glencoe Massacre 21 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests Karin Bowie, Murray Pittock and Daniel Szechi discuss the Glencoe Massacre of 1692, why it happened, and its lasting repercussions.
940 History of Europe
Silas Marner 28 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests Rosemary Ashton, Dinah Birch and Valentine Cunningham discuss George Eliot’s novel Silas Marner.
820 English and Old English literatures

Ibn Khaldun 4 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests Robert Hoyland, Robert Irwin and Hugh Kennedy discuss the life and ideas of the 14th-century Arab philosopher of history Ibn Khaldun.
900 History
Mathematics’ Unintended Consequences 11 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests John Barrow, Colva Roney-Dougal and Marcus du Sautoy explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries, from the computer to online encryption, to alternating current and predicting the path of asteroids.
510 Mathematics
The Indian Mutiny 18 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests Faisal Devji, Shruti Kapila and Chandrika Kaul discuss the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the rebellion which followed.
950 History of Asia
Calvinism 25 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests Justin Champion, Susan Hardman Moore and Diarmaid MacCulloch discuss the ideas of the religious reformer John Calvin - the theology known as Calvinism, or Reformed Protestantism - and its impact.
230 Christianity

The Infant Brain 4 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests Usha Goswami, Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Denis Mareschal discuss what new research reveals about the infant brain.
150 Psychology
Boudica 11 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and mythologisation of Boudica.
900 History
Munch and The Scream 18 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests David Jackson, Dorothy Rowe and Alastair Wright discuss the work of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, focusing on his most famous painting, The Scream.
750 Painting
The City - a history, part 1 25 Mar

Melvyn Bragg presents the first of a two-part discussion about the history of the city.
300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology

The City - a history, part 2 1 Apr

Melvyn Bragg presents the second of a two part discussion about the history of the city.
300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology
William Hazlitt 8 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of William Hazlitt.
820 English and Old English literatures
The Zulu Nation’s Rise and Fall 15 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise and fall of the Zulu Nation.
960 History of Africa
Roman Satire 22 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Roman Satire.
870 Latin and Italic literatures
The Great Wall of China 29 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Wall of China.
950 History of Asia

The Cool Universe 6 May

The Cool Universe is the name astronomers give to the matter between the stars.
520 Astronomy
William James’s ‘The Varieties of Religious Experience’ 13 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ‘The Varieties of Religious Experience’ by William James.
200 Religion
The Cavendish Family in Science 20 May

From the 1600s to the 1800s, scientific research in Britain was not yet a professional, publicly-funded career.
500 Science
Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists 27 May

Melvyn Bragg discusses ‘Lives of the Artists’ - the great biographer Giorgio Vasari’s study of Renaissance painters, sculptors and architects.
700 Arts

Edmund Burke 3 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the eighteenth-century philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke.
320 Political science
al-Biruni 10 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Central Asian polymath al-Biruni and his eleventh-century book the India.
900 History
The Neanderthals 17 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Neanderthals.
560 Fossils and prehistoric life
Antarctica 24 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of Antarctica.
990 History of other areas

Athelstan 1 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the reign of King Athelstan.
940 History of Europe
Pliny’s Natural History 8 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Pliny’s Natural History.
500 Science

Imaginary Numbers 23 Sep

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss imaginary numbers.
510 Mathematics
The Delphic Oracle 30 Sep

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Delphic Oracle, the most important source of prophecies in the ancient world.
930 History of the Ancient World

The Spanish Armada 7 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Spanish Armada.
940 History of Europe
Sturm und Drang 14 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the artistic movement known as Sturm und Drang.
830 German and related literatures
Logic 21 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of logic.
160 Philosophical logic
The Unicorn 28 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the unicorn.
390 Customs, etiquette and folklore

Women and Enlightenment Science 4 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the role played by women in Enlightenment science.
300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology
The Volga Vikings 11 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Volga Vikings.
940 History of Europe
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs 18 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss John Foxe and his book Actes and Monuments, better known today as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs.
270 History of Christianity
History of Metaphor 25 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of metaphor.
800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism

Cleopatra 2 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Cleopatra.
930 History of the Ancient World
Thomas Edison 9 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the innovations and influence of Thomas Edison, one of the architects of the modern age.
600 Technology
Daoism 16 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daoism.
290 Other religions
The Industrial Revolution 23 Dec

In the first of two programmes, Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Industrial Revolution.
940 History of Europe
Consequences of the Industrial Revolution 30 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the far-reaching consequences of the Industrial Revolution.
330 Economics