Former Roman Catholics
Former Catholics or ex-Catholics are people who used to be Catholic for some time, but no longer identify as such. This includes both individuals who were at least nominally raised in the Roman Catholic faith, and individuals who converted to it in later life, both of whom later rejected and left it, or converted to other faiths (including the related non-Roman Catholic faiths).
6 episodes
Episodes in this category also belong to the following categories:
Garibaldi and the Risorgimento
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Giuseppe Garibaldi and his role in unifying Italy which, with his Red Shirts, he achieved substantially in 1861 and entirely in 1870.
1 December 2016
Featuring: Lucy Riall, Eugenio Biagini, David Laven
Hitler in History
Melvyn Bragg examines the debate between various historiographical theories. How do Intentionalist, Structralist and Marxist views of history explain events in Nazi Germany?
5 October 2000
Featuring: Ian Kershaw, Niall Ferguson, Mary Fulbrook
HistoryGerman critics of ChristianityPeople with Parkinson's diseaseGerman eugenicistsFormer Roman Catholics20th-century German non-fiction writersAustrian emigrants to Germany20th-century presidents of Germany, German anti-communists, Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st classHeads of state who died by suicideArtists who died by suicideGerman revolutionaries20th-century German male writers20th centuryMedicineMaurice Merleau-Ponty
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the insights of this French philosopher into the relationship between mind and body, the role of language in thought and the value of habits
27 March 2025
Featuring: Komarine Romdenh-Romluc, Thomas Baldwin, Timothy Mooney
PhilosophyAcademic staff of the Collège de FranceFrench magazine foundersFrench philosophers of educationFrench socialistsUniversity of Paris alumniFrench male non-fiction writersFrench philosophers of scienceFormer Roman CatholicsMarxist theoristsÉcole Normale Supérieure alumni20th-century French philosophersFrench political philosophersPhilosophers of psychologyAcademic staff of the University of ParisBurials at Père Lachaise CemeteryFrench philosophers of artFrench humanistsLycée Louis-le-Grand alumniEnactive cognitionOntologistsAction theoristsPhenomenologistsExistentialistsFrench epistemologistsFrench philosophers of culture20th centuryFrancePsychologyProust
Melvyn Bragg discusses the life and achievements of the 19th century French novelist Marcel Proust whose 3000 page work À La Recherche du Temps Perdu has been called the definitive modern novel.
17 April 2003
Featuring: Jacqueline Rose, Malcolm Bowie, Robert Fraser
Lycée Condorcet alumniDeaths from pneumonia in France, Prix Goncourt winnersFrench literary criticsConversationalistsFrench essayistsFrench male non-fiction writersFormer Roman Catholics20th-century mystics20th-century atheistsFrench short story writers20th-century French philosophers19th-century atheistsPeople with hypochondriasisModernist writersBurials at Père Lachaise Cemetery19th-century French philosophersFrench philosophers of art20th-century French novelistsFrench Roman Catholic writersFrench LGBTQ novelistsWriters from Paris19th-century French LGBTQ people, 20th-century French LGBTQ people20th-century French essayists, 20th-century French short story writersLGBTQ Roman CatholicsAphorists19th-century mysticsFrench atheistsPhilosophers of literature19th century20th centuryFranceSimone de Beauvoir
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Simone de Beauvoir - her work on existentialist ethics, philosophy and literature and her influence on feminism.
22 October 2015
Featuring: Christina Howells, Margaret Atack, Ursula Tidd
PhilosophyDeaths from pneumonia in France, Prix Goncourt winnersFrench philosophers of educationFrench literary criticsFrench women memoiristsPhilosophers of sexualityFeminist studies scholarsBisexual novelistsCommunist women writersSocialist feministsUniversity of Paris alumniBisexual memoiristsFrench feministsScholars of feminist philosophyFormer Roman Catholics20th-century French philosophers20th-century French women writersFrench political philosophersBisexual women writersJerusalem Prize recipientsFrench bisexual women, French bisexual writersBurials at Montparnasse CemeteryFrench communistsFrench philosophers of art20th-century French novelistsFrench Marxists, French anti-war activistsFeminist theoristsFrench LGBTQ novelistsWriters from ParisAtheist philosophersFrench women novelists20th-century French memoiristsFrench women philosophersExistentialistsFrench atheists20th centuryFranceThe Curies
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family, Marie and Pierre and their daughter Irene Joliot-Curie, all three of whom won Nobel Prizes.
26 March 2015
Featuring: Patricia Fara, Robert Fox, Steven T Bramwell
HistoryWomen Nobel laureatesUniversity of Paris alumniLegion of Honour refusalsFormer Roman CatholicsDiscoverers of chemical elementsHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalBurials at the Panthéon, ParisNaturalized citizens of FranceCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesCorresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)Nobel laureates in PhysicsWomen nuclear physicistsExperimental physicistsAcademic staff of the University of Paris19th-century French chemistsFrench Nobel laureatesWomen inventorsFrench agnosticsFrench women physicistsFrench atheistsNobel laureates in Chemistry19th centuryFrance