English travel writers
The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century AD. In the early modern period, James Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786) helped shape travel memoir as a genre. == History == Early examples of travel literature include the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (generally considered a 1st century CE work; authorship is debated), Pausanias' Description of Greece in the 2nd century CE, Safarnama (book of Travels) of Nasir Khusraw (1003-1077) the Journey Through Wales (1191) and Description of Wales (1194) by Gerald of Wales, and the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (1145–1214) and Ibn Battuta (1304–1377), both of whom recorded their travels across the known world in detail.
6 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Aldous Huxley's Brave New World
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aldous Huxley's dystopian 1932 novel Brave New World and its vision of a future of test tube babies, free love and round-the-clock surveillance.
9 April 2009
Featuring: David Bradshaw, Daniel Pick, Michèle Barrett
Culture20th-century English novelistsEnglish travel writersPhilosophers of literatureEnglish male short story writersJames Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients20th-century English philosophersPhilosophers of technologyMale essayistsEnglish emigrants to the United StatesBritish philosophers of culture, English pacifistsEnglish science fiction writersEnglish male novelistsBritish philosophers of mindPeople educated at Eton CollegeEnglish male poetsAnti-consumerists20th-century mysticsAlumni of Balliol College, OxfordEnglish short story writersNew Age predecessorsEnglish essayistsEnglish satirists20th-century British essayistsLost Generation writersEnglish agnosticsDuke University facultyDarwin: 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 essayistsHarriet Martineau
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Harriet Martineau who wrote extensively in the C19th on a wide range of subjects including abolition, and is called the mother of sociology.
8 December 2016
Featuring: Valerie Sanders, Karen O'Brien, Ella Dzelzainis
History19th-century English short story writersEnglish travel writersEnglish atheistsPositivistsFeminism and historyEnglish suffragistsEnglish women philosophersEnglish writers with disabilitiesEnglish abolitionistsEnglish historical novelistsWriters from NorwichVictorian novelists19th-century English novelists19th-century English historiansBritish women essayists19th-century British economists19th-century English philosophers19th-century atheists19th-century English women writersEnglish UnitariansVictorian women writersEnglish people of French descentBritish atheism activistsBritish scientists with disabilitiesEnglish women novelistsJohnson
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 Wollstonecraft
Melvyn Bragg and guests John Mullan, Karen O'Brien and Barbara Taylor discuss the life and ideas of the pioneering British Enlightenment thinker Mary Wollstonecraft.
31 December 2009
Featuring: Karen O'Brien, John Mullan, Barbara Taylor
PhilosophyEnglish travel writersFeminist theorists18th-century British essayists18th-century English novelistsHistorians of the French RevolutionEnglish women philosophersFrench–English translatorsWriters of Gothic fictionEnglish feminist writers, English feministsBurials at St Pancras Old ChurchBritish philosophers of educationGodwin familyBritish women essayists18th-century British philosophersEnglish philosophersDeaths in childbirthGerman–English translatorsPeople from Somers Town, LondonEnglish UnitariansFounders of English schools and collegesEnglish essayistsEnlightenment philosophersEnglish educational theorists18th-century English historiansEnglish republicansScholars of feminist philosophyEnglish women novelists