2023

John Donne 12 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Donne (1573-1631), known now as one of England’s finest poets of love and notable in his own time as an astonishing preacher.
820 English and Old English literatures
Rawls’ Theory of Justice 19 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss A Theory of Justice by John Rawls (1921 - 2002) which has been called the most influential book in twentieth century political philosophy.
320 Political science
Superconductivity 26 Jan

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery made in 1911 by the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926).
530 Physics

Tycho Brahe 2 Feb

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601) whose charts offered an unprecedented level of accuracy.
520 Astronomy
Chartism 9 Feb

On 21 May 1838 an estimated 150,000 people assembled on Glasgow Green for a mass demonstration.
320 Political science
Stevie Smith 16 Feb

In 1957 Stevie Smith published a poetry collection called Not Waving But Drowning - and its title poem gave us a phrase which has entered the language.
820 English and Old English literatures
Paul Erdős 23 Feb

Paul Erdos (1913 - 1996) is one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the 20th century.
510 Mathematics

Megaliths 2 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss megaliths - huge stones placed in the landscape, often visually striking and highly prominent.
930 History of the Ancient World
The Ramayana 9 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic which is regarded as one of the greatest works of world literature.
290 Other religions
Mercantilism 16 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how, between the 16th and 18th centuries, Europe was dominated by an economic way of thinking called mercantilism.
330 Economics
Solon the Lawgiver 23 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Solon, who was elected archon or chief magistrate of Athens in 594 BC: some see him as the father of Athenian democracy.
930 History of the Ancient World
A Room of One’s Own 30 Mar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Virginia Woolf’s highly influential essay on women and literature, which considers both literary history and future opportunity.
820 English and Old English literatures

Cnut 6 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Danish prince who became a very effective King of England in 1016.
940 History of Europe
The Battle of Crécy 13 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the brutal events of 26 August 1346, when the armies of France and England met in a funnel-shaped valley outside the town of Crecy in northern France.
940 History of Europe
Linnaeus 20 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, ideas and legacy of the pioneering Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778).
590 Animals (Zoology)
Walt Whitman 27 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highly influential American poet Walt Whitman.
810 American literature in English

The Dead Sea Scrolls 4 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the revelatory collection of Biblical texts, legal documents, community rules and literary writings.
220 The Bible
The Shimabara Rebellion 11 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Christian uprising in Japan and its profound and long-term consequences.
200 Religion
Virgil’s Georgics 18 May

In the year 29 BC the great Roman poet Virgil published these lines: Blessed is he who has succeeded in learning the laws of nature’s working, has cast beneath his feet all fear and fate’s implacable decree, and the howl of insatiable Death.
870 Latin and Italic literatures
Louis XIV: The Sun King 25 May

In 1661 the 23 year-old French king Louis the XIV had been on the throne for 18 years when his chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, died.
940 History of Europe