2012

January

• Episode 1 2 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg investigates the development of the written word and how it has shaped our intellectual history.
  410 Linguistics
• Episode 2 3 Jan
  In the second instalment of his survey of the written word, Melvyn Bragg traces the evolution of writing technology from the time of classical antiquity to the invention of printing.
  800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• Episode 3 4 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg continues his survey of the history of the written word by investigating how writing has influenced the spread of religion.
  200 Religion
• Literature 5 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg investigates how the written word, a technology originally used for accountancy, gave rise to all of human literature.
  800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• Episode 5 6 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg concludes his survey of the written word by considering how the invention of writing made the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment possible - and examines influential documents, including the student notebooks of Sir Isaac Newton.
  500 Science
• The Safavid Dynasty 12 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Safavid Dynasty, rulers of the Persian empire between the 16th and 18th centuries.
  950 History of Asia
• 1848: Year of Revolution 19 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss 1848, the year that saw Europe engulfed in revolution.
  900 History
• The Scientific Method 26 Jan
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the evolution of the Scientific Method, the systematic and analytical approach to scientific thought.
  500 Science

February

• The Kama Sutra 2 Feb
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Kama Sutra, one of the most celebrated and often misunderstood texts of Indian literature.
  290 Other religions
• Erasmus 9 Feb
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
  270 History of Christianity
• The An Lushan Rebellion 16 Feb
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the An Lushan Rebellion, a major uprising against the imperial rule of the Chinese Tang Dynasty.
  950 History of Asia
• Conductors and Semiconductors 23 Feb
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the physics of electrical conduction.
  530 Physics

March

• Benjamin Franklin 1 Mar
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Benjamin Franklin.
  970 History of North America
• Lyrical Ballads 8 Mar
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Lyrical Ballads, the collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge first published in 1798.
  820 English and Old English literatures
• Vitruvius and De Architectura 15 Mar
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Vitruvius’ De Architectura.
  720 Architecture
• Moses Mendelssohn 22 Mar
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work and influence of the eighteenth-century philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
  100 Philosophy
• The Measurement of Time 29 Mar
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the measurement of time.
  520 Astronomy

April

• George Fox and the Quakers 5 Apr
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of Quakerism.
  270 History of Christianity
• Early Geology 12 Apr
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the emergence of geology as a scientific discipline.
  550 Earth sciences and geology
• Neoplatonism 19 Apr
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Neoplatonism, the school of thought founded in the 3rd century AD by the philosopher Plotinus.
  180 Ancient, medieval, and Eastern philosophy
• The Battle of Bosworth Field 26 Apr
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Bosworth Field, the celebrated encounter between Lancastrian and Yorkist forces in August 1485.
  940 History of Europe

May

• Voltaire’s Candide 3 May
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Voltaire’s novel Candide.
  840 French and related literatures
• Game Theory 10 May
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss game theory, the mathematical study of decision-making.
  510 Mathematics
• Clausewitz and On War 17 May
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss On War, a treatise on the theory and practice of warfare written by the Prussian soldier and intellectual Carl von Clausewitz.
  350 Public administration and military science
• Marco Polo 24 May
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo.
  910 Geography and travel
• The Trojan War 31 May
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Trojan War, one of the best known events of Greek mythology.
  930 History of the Ancient World

June

• King Solomon 7 Jun
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biblical king Solomon, celebrated for his wisdom and as the architect of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
  220 The Bible
• James Joyce’s Ulysses 14 Jun
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss James Joyce’s novel Ulysses.
  820 English and Old English literatures
• Annie Besant 21 Jun
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of the prominent 19th-century social reformer Annie Besant.
  320 Political science
• Al-Kindi 28 Jun
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Arab philosopher al-Kindi.
  190 Modern Western Philosophy

July

• Scepticism 5 Jul
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Scepticism, the idea that it may be impossible to know anything with complete certainty.
  100 Philosophy
• Hadrian’s Wall 12 Jul
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian’s Wall, the largest Roman structure and one of the most important archaeological monuments in Britain.
  930 History of the Ancient World

September

• The Cell 13 Sep
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cell, the fundamental building block of life.
  570 Biology
• The Druids 20 Sep
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Druids, the priests of ancient Europe.
  290 Other religions
• The Ontological Argument 27 Sep
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ontological Argument.
  100 Philosophy

October

• Gerald of Wales 4 Oct
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales.
  940 History of Europe
• Hannibal 11 Oct
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and achievements of Hannibal.
  930 History of the Ancient World
• Caxton and the Printing Press 18 Oct
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and influence of William Caxton, the merchant who brought the printing press to the British Isles.
  680 Manufacture for specific uses
• Fermat’s Last Theorem 25 Oct
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat’s Last Theorem.
  510 Mathematics

November

• The Anarchy 1 Nov
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Anarchy, the civil war that took place in mid-twelfth century England.
  940 History of Europe
• The Upanishads 8 Nov
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Upanishads, the ancient sacred texts of Hinduism.
  290 Other religions
• Simone Weil 15 Nov
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the French philosopher and social activist Simone Weil.
  190 Modern Western Philosophy
• The Borgias 22 Nov
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Borgias, the most notorious family in Renaissance Italy.
  940 History of Europe
• Crystallography 29 Nov
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of crystallography, the study of crystals and their structure.
  540 Chemistry

December

• Bertrand Russell 6 Dec
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell.
  190 Modern Western Philosophy
• Shahnameh of Ferdowsi 13 Dec
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic poem the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, the ‘Book of Kings’, which has been at the heart of Persian culture for the past thousand years.
  890 Other literatures
• The South Sea Bubble 20 Dec
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The South Sea Bubble, the speculation mania in early 18th-century England which ended in the financial ruin of many of its investors.
  330 Economics
• The Cult of Mithras 27 Dec
  Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cult of Mithras, a mystery religion that existed in the Roman Empire from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD.
  290 Other religions