Karen O'Brien
Vice-Chancellor of Durham University
16 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Judith Hawley
Covers topics in categories such as:
Persuasion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's final completed novel: the story of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, their broken engagement and their chance meeting 8 years later.
22 December 2022
Also featuring: Fiona Stafford, Paddy Bullard
Edward Gibbon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of the writer of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, one of the most celebrated works of its kind.
17 June 2021
Also featuring: David Womersley, Charlotte Roberts
CultureEnglish rhetoriciansFellows of the Royal SocietyEnglish essayistsAlumni of Magdalen College, OxfordBritish MPs 1774–1780British critics of religionsEnglish ProtestantsEnglish male non-fiction writers18th-century English historiansPeople educated at Westminster School, LondonBritish MPs 1780–1784, Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituenciesFreemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England18th-century English non-fiction writersTheorists on Western civilization18th-century English male writersIrony theoristsRhetoric theoristsBritish male essayistsFrankenstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mary Shelley's story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he makes from cadavers and then rejects - only for the monster to take his revenge
16 May 2019
Also featuring: Michael Rossington, Jane Thomas
CultureFrame storiesWorks published anonymouslyNovels about revengeDisability in the artsNovels adapted into video gamesNovels adapted into balletsEpistolary novelsNovels adapted into radio programsBritish novels adapted into filmsBritish novels adapted into television showsNovels set in the 18th centuryBritish novels adapted into playsNovels set in GermanyBritish science fiction novelsCensored booksBritish Gothic novels1818 British novelsVegetarianism in fictionNovels adapted into comicsWuthering Heights
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emily Bronte's story of Heathcliff and Cathy, of love, hatred, revenge and self-destruction across two generations in a remote moorland home.
28 September 2017
Also featuring: John Bowen, Alexandra Lewis
CultureBritish novels adapted into filmsVictorian novels1847 British novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsFrame storiesNonlinear narrative novels1840s fantasy novels, Ghost novelsNovels adapted into operasBritish Gothic novelsNovels set in the 18th centuryNovels adapted into balletsNovels set in YorkshireNovels about revengeWorks published under a pseudonymFiction with unreliable narratorsFiction about suicideLove storiesHarriet 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
Also featuring: Valerie Sanders, 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 novelistsAurora Leigh
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aurora Leigh, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's novel-poem published in 1856, three years before her death in Florence.
24 March 2016
Also featuring: Margaret Reynolds, Daniel Karlin
Jane Eyre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
18 June 2015
Also featuring: Dinah Birch, Sara Lyons
CultureBritish novels adapted into filmsVictorian novels1847 British novelsBritish novels adapted into television showsBritish bildungsromansHarper & Brothers booksBritish Gothic novelsNovels adapted into balletsSmith, Elder & Co. booksWorks published under a pseudonymFemale characters in literatureNovels set in the 19th centuryFiction about suicideLove storiesBritish novels adapted into playsRobinson Crusoe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe. Published in 1719, it was an immediate success and is considered the classic adventure story.
22 December 2011
Also featuring: Judith Hawley, Bob Owens
Malthusianism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Malthusianism, the influential theory of population growth first articulated by the Reverend Thomas Malthus in 1798.
23 June 2011
Also featuring: Mark Philp, Emma Griffin
Women and Enlightenment Science
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the role played by women in Enlightenment science.
4 November 2010
Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Judith Hawley
Edmund Burke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work of the philosopher, politician and writer Edmund Burke, whose views on revolution in America and France were hugely influential.
3 June 2010
Also featuring: Richard Bourke, John Keane
PhilosophyBritish political philosophersEnglish libertariansNatural law ethicistsIrish Freemasons, Irish libertarians, Irish people of English descentBritish MPs 1774–1780Historians of the French RevolutionEnglish people of Irish descent18th-century philosophersClassical liberalismStreathamitesSocial philosophers18th-century English writersPhilosophers of economics18th-century Irish philosophersVirtue ethicistsCritics of deism18th-century English philosophersPhilosophers of cultureIrish AnglicansPhilosophers of education18th-century Irish writersPhilosophers of artBritish MPs 1784–1790, British MPs 1790–1796Writers from Dublin (city)18th-century Anglo-Irish people, 18th-century Irish male writersRectors of the University of GlasgowConservatismPolitical philosophersPhilosophers of religionAnglican philosophersAlumni of Trinity College DublinBritish MPs 1780–1784, Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituenciesPhilosophers of history18th-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
Also featuring: 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 novelistsThe Social Contract
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Social Contract. A key idea in political philosophy, it states that political authority is held through a contract with those to be ruled.
7 February 2008
Also featuring: Melissa Lane, Susan James
Epistolary Literature
Melvyn Bragg discusses the 18th Century fashion for epistolary literature including Aphra Benn, Samuel Richardson and Jane Austen.
15 March 2007
Also featuring: John Mullan, Brean Hammond
The Enlightenment in Scotland
Melvyn Bragg discusses the emergence and impact of the Scottish Enlightenment which was led by the philosopher David Hume and the father of modern economics, Adam Smith.
5 December 2002
Also featuring: Tom Devine, Alexander Broadie