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
CultureEnglish feminist writers, English feministsTory poetsBurials at Westminster Abbey17th-century English writersEnglish women poets17th-century English dramatists and playwrightsFeminism and historyEnglish women dramatists and playwrights17th-century English poets17th-century English women writersEnglish spiesEnglish women novelistsChaucer
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
ScienceEnglish travel writersTheoretical biologistsFellows of the Royal SocietyMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesEnglish AnglicansUtilitariansEnglish abolitionists19th-century British biologists, 19th-century English naturalists, British evolutionary biologists, Fellows of the Linnean Society of London, Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, Fellows of the Zoological Society of LondonBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish sceptics19th-century AnglicansRecipients of the Copley MedalAlumni of Christ's College, CambridgeEnglish agnosticsCharles DarwinAlumni of the University of Edinburgh19th-century English writersCircumnavigators of the globeRecipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)Members of the American Philosophical SocietyDeaths from coronary thrombosisMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesMembers of the Lincean AcademyIndependent scientistsHuman evolutionRoyal Medal winnersDickens
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
English travel writersEnglish prisoners and detaineesEnglish male dramatists and playwrightsEnglish AnglicansLiteracy and society theoristsAnglican writersEnglish male short story writersWriters of Gothic fictionEnglish philanthropistsEnglish historical novelistsTrope theoristsBurials at Westminster AbbeyVictorian novelists19th-century English novelists19th-century travel writers19th-century English non-fiction writers19th-century British journalists19th-century English historians19th-century British philanthropistsEnglish male novelistsBritish critics of religionsCritics of the Catholic ChurchPeople from Somers Town, LondonEnglish male poets19th-century pseudonymous writersLecturersEnglish reformers19th-century English dramatists and playwrights19th-century English poets19th-century British short story writersEnglish satiristsWriters about activism and social changeEnglish male non-fiction writersWriters from the London Borough of Camden19th-century English essayistsBritish social reformersBritish male essayistsJohnson
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
English sermon writersEnglish travel writersEnglish literary critics18th-century lexicographers, 18th-century writers in LatinConversationalistsEnglish essayistsAnglican saintsStreathamitesBurials at Westminster AbbeyMale essayistsEnglish Anglicans18th-century English writersPeople with mood disorders18th-century English poetsEnglish biographers18th-century English male writersMary, 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
Culture20th-century English novelistsMythopoeic writers19th-century English short story writersNobel laureates in Literature20th-century English male writers20th-century English poetsEnglish male short story writersBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish hymnwritersVictorian novelists19th-century English novelistsEnglish-language poets from IndiaMaritime writers19th-century English non-fiction writersEnglish children's writersFreemasons of the United Grand Lodge of EnglandRectors of the University of St AndrewsEnglish science fiction writersEnglish male novelistsFellows of the Royal Society of Literature20th-century English memoiristsBritish Nobel laureates19th-century English poetsDeaths from ulcersEnglish Nobel laureatesEnglish anti-fascistsEnglish people of Scottish descentPeople of the Victorian eraRutherford
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
ScienceHonorary Fellows of the Royal Society of EdinburghPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences19th-century British physicistsKnights BachelorAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterBurials at Westminster AbbeyExperimental physicistsRecipients of Franklin MedalNobel laureates in ChemistryRecipients of the Copley MedalFellows of Trinity College, Cambridge20th-century British physicists, Members of the Pontifical Academy of SciencesRadio pioneersCorresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)Honorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalBritish Nobel laureatesDiscoverers of chemical elementsRecipients of the Dalton MedalCavendish Professors of PhysicsMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyEnglish Nobel laureates20th-century British scientistsThe 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
CultureFounders of English schools and collegesPeople excommunicated by the Catholic ChurchEnglish people of Welsh descentHouse of TudorPrisoners in the Tower of LondonBurials at Westminster AbbeyEnglish AnglicansPeople of the Elizabethan eraEnglish women poets16th-century queens regnant16th-century English women16th-century English translatorsThomas 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
CultureMembers of the Order of MeritBritish male poetsPantheistsEnglish male novelists19th-century English poets19th-century British short story writersBurials at Westminster Abbey20th-century English male writersFellows of the Royal Society of LiteratureVictorian novelistsAlumni of King's College London19th-century English novelistsEnglish male short story writersVictorian poetsEnglish short story writersWilberforce
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
ReligionEnglish AnglicansEnglish religious writersAlumni of St John's College, CambridgeFellows of the Royal Society of ArtsAnglican writers18th-century evangelicalsEnglish abolitionistsEnglish philanthropistsBurials at Westminster Abbey19th-century Anglicans19th-century English non-fiction writersUK MPs 1818–1820, UK MPs 1820–1826British MPs 1784–1790, British MPs 1790–1796Christian radicals19th-century English politiciansAnglican saintsEnglish male non-fiction writersBritish MPs 1780–1784, Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituenciesBritish reformers