2025

Slime Moulds 2 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss slime mould, a basic organism that grows on logs, cowpats and compost heaps.
570 Biology
The Battle of Valmy 16 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most consequential battles of recent centuries.
940 History of Europe
Socrates in Prison 23 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Plato’s Crito and Phaedo, his accounts of the last days of Socrates in prison in 399 BC as he waited to be executed by drinking hemlock.
180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy
Pope Joan 30 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a story that circulated widely in the middle ages about a highly learned woman who lived in the ninth century, dressed as a man, travelled to Rome, and was elected Pope.
940 History of Europe

Sir John Soane 6 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the architect Sir John Soane (1753 -1837), the son of a bricklayer.
720 Architecture
Catherine of Aragon 13 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the youngest child of the newly dominant Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella.
940 History of Europe
Oliver Goldsmith 20 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the renowned and versatile Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728 - 1774).
820 English and Old English literatures
Kali 27 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Hindu goddess Kali, often depicted as dark blue, fierce, defiant, revelling in her power, and holding in her four or more arms a curved sword and a severed head with a cup underneath to catch the blood.
290 Other religions

Pollination 6 Mar

Since plants have to mate and produce offspring while rooted to the spot, they have to be pollinated - by wind, water, or animals - most commonly insects.
580 Plants
Cyrus the Great 13 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history and reputation of the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.
930 History of the Ancient World
Thomas Middleton 20 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most energetic, varied and innovative playwrights of his time.
820 English and Old English literatures
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 27 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), who was part of the movement known as phenomenology.
140 Philosophical schools of thought

The Gracchi 3 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus whose names are entwined with the end of Rome’s Republic and the rise of the Roman Emperors.
930 History of the Ancient World
The Battle of Clontarf 10 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the best known events and figures in Irish history.
940 History of Europe
Typology 17 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore typology, a method of biblical interpretation that aims to meaningfully link people, places, and events in the Hebrew Bible, what Christians call the Old Testament, with the coming of Christ in the New Testament.
220 The Bible