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
Molière 24 Apr

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great figures in world literature.
840 French and related literatures

The Korean Empire 1 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Korea’s brief but significant period as an empire as it moved from the 500-year-old dynastic Joseon monarchy towards modernity.
950 History of Asia
Lise Meitner 8 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the decisive role of one of the great 20th Century physicists in solving the question of nuclear fission.
530 Physics
Copyright 15 May

In 1710, the British Parliament passed a piece of legislation entitled An Act for the Encouragement of Learning.
340 Law
Paul von Hindenburg 22 May

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and role of one of the most significant figures in early 20th Century German history.
940 History of Europe
Hypnosis 29 May

Ever since Franz Anton Mesmer induced trance-like states in his Parisian subjects in the late eighteenth century, dressed in long purple robes, hypnosis has been associated with performance, power and the occult.
150 Psychology

The Vienna Secession 5 Jun

In 1897, Gustav Klimt led a group of radical artists to break free from the cultural establishment of Vienna and found a movement that became known as the Vienna Secession.
700 Arts
The Evolution of Lungs 12 Jun

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of lungs and of the first breaths, which can be traced back 400 million years to when animal life spread from rock pools and swamps onto land, as some fish found an evolutionary advantage in getting their oxygen from air rather than water.
570 Biology