
Burials at Westminster Abbey
Honouring individuals with burials and memorials in Westminster Abbey has a long tradition. == History == Henry III rebuilt Westminster Abbey in honour of the Royal Saint Edward the Confessor, whose relics were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary and now lie in a burial vault beneath the 1268 Cosmati mosaic pavement, in front of the high altar.
11 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Aphra Behn
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Aphra Behn, known for her plays for the Restoration stage such as The Rover and for her novel Oroonoko.
12 October 2017
Featuring: Janet Todd, Ros Ballaster, Claire Bowditch
CultureBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish women poets17th-century English poets17th-century English writersEnglish women novelists17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsFeminism and history17th-century English women writersEnglish women dramatists and playwrightsEnglish spiesTory poetsEnglish feminists, English feminist writersChaucer
Melvyn Bragg discusses Geoffrey Chaucer who immortalised the medieval pilgrimage and the diversity of 14th century English society, in his Canterbury Tales.
9 February 2006
Featuring: Carolyne Larrington, Helen Cooper, Ardis Butterfield
Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin
Melvyn Bragg presents a series about the life and work of Charles Darwin. Darwin's early life and time at Cambridge, where his interests shifted from religion to natural science.
5 January 2009
Featuring: Jim Moore, Steve Jones, David Norman, Colin Higgins
ScienceFellows of the Royal SocietyMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyRecipients of the Copley MedalBurials at Westminster AbbeyMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesEnglish AnglicansMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesEnglish agnosticsRoyal Medal winnersEnglish travel writers19th-century English writersRecipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)Charles DarwinAlumni of the University of EdinburghUtilitariansEnglish abolitionistsIndependent scientists19th-century AnglicansDeaths from coronary thrombosisHuman evolutionTheoretical biologistsMembers of the Lincean AcademyCircumnavigators of the globeEnglish scepticsAlumni of Christ's College, CambridgeFellows of the Royal Geographical Society, 19th-century British biologists, 19th-century English naturalists, British evolutionary biologists, Fellows of the Zoological Society of London, Fellows of the Linnean Society of LondonDickens
Melvyn Bragg discusses the achievements of Charles Dickens What is his political and literary legacy to our age?
12 July 2001
Featuring: Rosemary Ashton, Michael Slater, John Bowen
CultureWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male poetsCritics of the Catholic ChurchEnglish male non-fiction writersBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansBritish male essayists19th-century English poetsEnglish male novelistsVictorian novelistsLiteracy and society theoristsEnglish male dramatists and playwrights19th-century English novelists19th-century pseudonymous writersEnglish male short story writersEnglish travel writersWriters of Gothic fictionEnglish satirists19th-century English non-fiction writersBritish critics of religionsTrope theorists19th-century British short story writers19th-century British philanthropistsEnglish philanthropistsAnglican writers19th-century English dramatists and playwrightsWriters from the London Borough of CamdenBritish social reformersLecturers19th-century English essayists19th-century travel writersEnglish reformersEnglish prisoners and detaineesPeople from Somers Town, London19th-century British journalistsEnglish historical novelists, 19th-century English historiansJohnson
Melvyn Bragg discusses Samuel Johnson, a giant of 18th century literature, language and letters, and perhaps the most quotable Englishman to have ever lifted a pen.
27 October 2005
Featuring: John Mullan, Jim McLaverty, Judith Hawley
CultureAnglican saintsEnglish essayistsBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansEnglish travel writers18th-century English male writersConversationalistsMale essayists18th-century English writersEnglish literary criticsStreathamitesEnglish biographersEnglish sermon writersPeople with mood disorders18th-century English poets18th-century lexicographers, 18th-century writers in LatinMary, Queen of Scots
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, who might have united the French, English and Scottish thrones.
19 January 2017
Featuring: David Forsyth, Anna Groundwater, John Guy
Rudyard Kipling
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Rudyard Kipling, a writer sometimes described as the poet of empire.
16 October 2014
Featuring: Howard Booth, Daniel Karlin, Jan Montefiore
CultureBurials at Westminster AbbeyNobel laureates in LiteratureEnglish people of Scottish descent19th-century English poetsEnglish male novelistsVictorian novelists19th-century English novelistsEnglish male short story writers20th-century English poets20th-century English male writers19th-century English non-fiction writersEnglish Nobel laureates20th-century English novelistsFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureBritish Nobel laureatesMythopoeic writersPeople of the Victorian era19th-century English short story writersMaritime writersEnglish-language poets from India20th-century English memoiristsDeaths from ulcersEnglish children's writersEnglish hymnwritersEnglish science fiction writersFreemasons of the United Grand Lodge of EnglandRectors of the University of St AndrewsEnglish anti-fascistsRutherford
Melvyn Bragg discusses Ernest Rutherford. He is seen as the father of nuclear science, a great charismatic figure who mapped the landscape of the sub-atomic world.
19 February 2004
Featuring: Simon Schaffer, Jim Al-Khalili, Patricia Fara
ScienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyRecipients of the Copley MedalBurials at Westminster AbbeyForeign associates of the National Academy of SciencesEnglish Nobel laureatesBritish Nobel laureates19th-century British physicistsRecipients of Franklin MedalNobel laureates in ChemistryExperimental physicistsKnights BachelorDiscoverers of chemical elementsFellows of Trinity College, CambridgeRadio pioneersAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterRecipients of the Dalton MedalPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)20th-century British scientistsHonorary Fellows of the Royal Society of EdinburghCavendish Professors of PhysicsHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalMembers of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 20th-century British physicistsThe Death of Elizabeth I
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the death of Queen Elizabeth I and its immediate impact, as a foreign monarch became King in the face of plots and plague.
15 October 2009
Featuring: John Guy, Clare Jackson, Helen Hackett
CultureBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansPeople of the Elizabethan eraEnglish women poetsPeople excommunicated by the Catholic ChurchEnglish people of Welsh descentPrisoners in the Tower of LondonFounders of English schools and colleges16th-century queens regnant16th-century English translatorsHouse of TudorThomas Hardy's Poetry
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Hardy's poems, which he prized far above the novels which made him famous and rich, and his ambition to be ranked alongside Shelley and Byron.
13 January 2022
Featuring: Mark Ford, Jane Thomas, Tim Armstrong
CultureBurials at Westminster AbbeyPantheists19th-century English poetsEnglish male novelistsVictorian novelists19th-century English novelistsEnglish male short story writersVictorian poets20th-century English male writersMembers of the Order of Merit19th-century British short story writersEnglish short story writersFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureAlumni of King's College LondonBritish male poetsWilberforce
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.
22 February 2007
Featuring
ReligionAnglican saintsEnglish male non-fiction writersBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansChristian radicalsAlumni of St John's College, Cambridge19th-century English non-fiction writersEnglish religious writersEnglish philanthropistsEnglish abolitionistsAnglican writers19th-century Anglicans19th-century English politicians18th-century evangelicalsBritish reformersFellows of the Royal Society of ArtsMembers of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies, British MPs 1780–1784UK MPs 1820–1826, UK MPs 1818–1820British MPs 1790–1796, British MPs 1784–1790