
David Wootton
Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York
16 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Justin Champion
Covers topics in categories such as:
Emilie du Châtelet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th-century mathematical genius whose insights into Newton and Leibniz were part of the great advance in science in the Enlightenment.
4 February 2021
Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Judith Zinsser
ScienceFrench physicists18th-century French philosophersDeaths in childbirth18th-century French writersContributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)French women philosophersDeaths from pulmonary embolism18th-century French mathematicians18th-century philosophers18th-century French scientists18th-century French women writersFrench women physicistsThe Fable of the Bees
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Bernard Mandeville's scandalous and influential work on private vices and public benefits, published first as The Grumbling Hive, a poem, in 1705.
25 October 2018
Also featuring: Helen Paul, John Callanan
Johannes Kepler
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German astronomer Johannes Kepler.
29 December 2016
Also featuring: Ulinka Rublack, Adam Mosley
Robert Hooke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Robert Hooke, the 17th-century scientist with a wide variety of interests from elasticity to microscopes who fell out with Newton.
18 February 2016
Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Rob Iliffe
Pascal
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the French polymath Blaise Pascal.
19 September 2013
Also featuring: Michael Moriarty, Michela Massimi
CultureFrench Roman Catholic writersCartesianismChristian humanistsCritics of atheismFrench physicistsCatholic philosophersConverts to Roman CatholicismFrench fluid dynamicists, French mathematicians, French probability theoristsPeople with hypochondriasisRoman Catholic mysticsChristian apologists17th-century Christian mysticsAphoristsMontaigne
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Michel de Montaigne. Best known for his influential Essays, Montaigne is regarded as the father of modern sceptical thought.
25 April 2013
Also featuring: Terence Cave, Felicity Green
Voltaire's Candide
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Voltaire's satirical novel Candide, first published in 1759.
3 May 2012
Also featuring: Nicholas Cronk, Caroline Warman
The Trial of Charles I
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the trial of Charles I, recounting the high drama in Westminster Hall and the ideas that led to the execution.
4 June 2009
Also featuring: Justin Champion, Diane Purkiss
The Four Humours
Melvyn Bragg discusses the four humours, a medical theory that saw the body as a concoction of four essential juices.
20 December 2007
Also featuring: Vivian Nutton, Noga Arikha
The Encyclopédie
Melvyn Bragg discusses the French encyclopédie, one of the great achievements of the Enlightenment with contributors such as Voltaire, Rousseau, D’Alembert and Dennis Diderot.
26 October 2006
Also featuring: Judith Hawley, Caroline Warman
The Heart
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the heart, a symbol to our spiritual, emotional, and moral core.
1 June 2006
Also featuring: Fay Bound Alberti, Jonathan Sawday
Hobbes
Melvyn Bragg discusses Thomas Hobbes, the great 17th century philosopher who famously said that ungoverned man lived a life that was ‘solitary, poor, brutish and short’.
1 December 2005
Also featuring: Quentin Skinner, Annabel Brett
PhilosophyEpistemologistsMaterialistsNatural law ethicistsAlumni of St John's College, Cambridge17th-century English philosophersTheorists on Western civilizationEnglish physicistsPhilosophers of lawSocial philosophersBritish philosophers of educationRhetoric theoristsBritish critics of ChristianityPhilosophers of culturePhilosophers of language17th-century writers in LatinBritish critics of religionsCritics of the Catholic Church17th-century English writersPolitical realistsPhilosophers of mathematicsEnglish theologiansEmpiricistsOntologistsPhilosophers of mindMetaphysiciansPhilosophers of religionThomas HobbesEnglish political philosophersPhilosophers of sciencePhilosophers of history17th-century English male writersPoliteness
Melvyn Bragg discusses politeness, the revolution in manners that transformed the social scene in eighteenth century Britain.
30 September 2004
Also featuring: Amanda Vickery, John Mullan
Toleration
Melvyn Bragg discusses what had happened in England to make diverse religions ‘tolerable’. What was the philosophy and politics behind the idea of toleration, and does it differ from tolerance?
20 May 2004
Also featuring: Justin Champion, Sarah Barber
The Devil
Melvyn Bragg discusses how the Devil came into being and why it took so long for him to become an established figure in Christianity.
11 December 2003
Also featuring: Martin Palmer, Alison Rowlands
Democracy
Melvyn Bragg discusses the origins of democracy, across cultures and centuries of Europe and the Middle East.
18 October 2001
Also featuring: Melissa Lane, Tim Winter