2007

Jorge Luis Borges 4 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the Argentinian master of the short story, Jorge Luis Borges.
860 Spanish, Portuguese, Galician literatures
Mars 11 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Mars.
520 Astronomy
The Jesuits 18 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Jesuits, a Catholic religious order of priests who became known as “the school masters of Europe”.
270 History of Christianity
Archimedes 25 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek mathematician Archimedes.
510 Mathematics

Genghis Khan 1 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Genghis Khan.
950 History of Asia
Popper 8 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most important philosophers of the 20th century, Karl Popper whose ideas about science and politics robustly challenged the accepted ideas of the day.
100 Philosophy
Heart of Darkness 15 Feb

Melvyn Bragg will be discussing Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
820 English and Old English literatures
Wilberforce 22 Feb

In an unusual edition of In Our Time, marking the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade, Melvyn Bragg leaves the studio to examine the life of William Wilberforce.
320 Political science

Optics 1 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of optics.
530 Physics
Microbiology 8 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of microbiology.
570 Biology
Epistolary Literature 15 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great 18th Century fashion for epistolary literature.
820 English and Old English literatures
Bismarck 22 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the original Iron Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck.
940 History of Europe
Anaesthetics 29 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of anaesthetics, from laughing gas in the 1790s to the discovery of “blessed chloroform”.
610 Medicine and health

St Hilda 5 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 7th century saint, Hilda, or Hild as she would have been known then, wielded great religious and political influence in a volatile era.
270 History of Christianity
The Opium Wars 12 Apr

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Opium Wars, a series of conflicts in the 19th Century which had a profound effect on British Chinese relations for generations.
950 History of Asia
Symmetry 19 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss symmetry.
510 Mathematics
Greek and Roman Love Poetry 26 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Greek and Roman love poetry, from the Greek poet Sappho and her erotic descriptions of romance on Lesbos, to the love-hate poems of the Roman writer Catullus.
880 Classical and modern Greek literatures

Spinoza 3 May

Melvyn Bragg discusses the Dutch Jewish Philosopher Spinoza.
190 Modern Western Philosophy
Victorian Pessimism 10 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Victorian Pessimism.
820 English and Old English literatures
Gravitational Waves 17 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss mysterious phenomena called Gravitational Waves in contemporary physics.
530 Physics
The Siege of Orléans 24 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Siege of Orleans, when Joan of Arc came to the rescue of France and routed the English army with the help of God.
940 History of Europe
Ockham’s Razor 31 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosophical ideas of William Ockham including Ockham’s Razor.
190 Modern Western Philosophy

Siegfried Sassoon 7 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the war poet Siegfried Sassoon.
820 English and Old English literatures
Renaissance Astrology 14 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Renaissance Astrology.
130 Parapsychology and occultism
Common Sense Philosophy 21 Jun

Melvyn Bragg looks at an unexpected philosophical subject - the philosophy of common sense.
100 Philosophy
The Permian-Triassic Boundary 28 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Permian-Triassic boundary.
550 Earth sciences and geology

The Pilgrim Fathers 5 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Pilgrim Fathers and their 1620 voyage to the New World on the Mayflower.
970 History of North America
Madame Bovary 12 Jul

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the literary sensation caused by Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary.
840 French and related literatures

Socrates 27 Sep

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek philosopher Socrates, acknowledged as one of the founders of Western philosophy.
180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy

Antimatter 4 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Antimatter, a type of particle predicted by the British physicist, Paul Dirac.
530 Physics
The Divine Right of Kings 11 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Divine Right of Kings.
320 Political science
The Arabian Nights 18 Oct

Melvyn Bragg discusses the myths, tales and legends of the Arabian Nights.
800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
Taste 25 Oct

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th century obsession with taste.
700 Arts

Guilt 1 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss morality by taking a long hard look at the idea of guilt.
170 Ethics
Avicenna 8 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Persian Islamic philosopher, Avicenna.
180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy
Oxygen 15 Nov

Melvyn Bragg discusses the discovery of Oxygen by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier.
540 Chemistry
The Prelude 22 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest long poems in the English language - The Prelude.
820 English and Old English literatures
The Fibonacci Sequence 29 Nov

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Fibonacci Sequence.
510 Mathematics

Genetic Mutation 6 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss mutation in genetics and evolution.
570 Biology
The Sassanid Empire 13 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Sassanian Empire.
930 History of the Ancient World
The Four Humours 20 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests talk about blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm.
610 Medicine and health
The Nicene Creed 27 Dec

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Nicene Creed which established the Divinity of Christ.
270 History of Christianity