The Haymarket Affair
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the bombing at a Chicago workers' rally in 1886 and the trial, execution and subsequent pardoning of anarchists blamed for inciting the attack.
HistoryHistory of socialismHistory of social movements
Wormholes
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins of the idea that there might be shortcuts between galaxies and the challenges when proving these are not just unlikely but impossible.
ScienceExotic matterAlbert EinsteinBlack holesGeneral relativityTheory of relativityConjecturesHypothetical astronomical objects, Astronomical hypotheses
Benjamin Disraeli
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most famous politicians of the Victorian age, who broadened his fame and spread his ideas through popular novels.
HistoryFellows of the Royal SocietyEnglish Anglicans19th-century English poetsEnglish male novelistsEnglish non-fiction writersVictorian novelists19th-century English novelistsVictorian era19th-century Anglicans19th-century English dramatists and playwrightsKnights of the GarterWriters from the London Borough of Camden19th-century English politiciansEnglish biographersLords Privy SealMembers of the Privy Council of the United KingdomPeople of the Victorian eraRectors of the University of GlasgowUK MPs 1865–1868
Bacteriophages
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the growing understanding of the viruses that kill bacteria is helping with the tracing of diseases and their potential cure.
Monet in England
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why the French impressionist Claude Monet painted the foggy Thames in central London more often than water lilies, haystacks or Rouen Cathedral.
CultureFrench atheistsLegion of Honour refusals20th-century male artistsFrench Impressionist painters, 19th-century French painters
Karma
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development of the doctrine of Karma, broadly of reaping what you sow, from the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism down to today.
ReligionSpiritualityHindu philosophical concepts
Fielding's Tom Jones
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Henry Fielding's influential comic novel in which the hero Jones has such a fundamentally good nature that even his critics forgive his faults.
CultureBritish novels adapted into filmsBritish novels adapted into playsNovels adapted into operasEnglish novelsPicaresque novels18th-century British novels
The Orkneyinga Saga
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the myth and history in the Saga of the Earls of Orkney as they fought to control some of the most strategically important islands around Britain.
Marsilius of Padua
Melvyn Bragg & guests discuss one of the first to argue that political power came from the people, not from God or hereditary monarchy, and they could elect or remove their rulers.
HistoryUniversity of Paris alumniScholastic philosophersPeople excommunicated by the Catholic Church14th-century writers in Latin14th-century Italian philosophers
Empress Dowager Cixi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman who arrived at the Chinese court as a concubine only to become its most powerful figure for the final 50 years of Qing imperial rule.
Philippa Foot
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the most notable philosophers of the 20th century, who explored why it mattered to be moral and why humans needed virtues to flourish.
PhilosophyPhilosophy writersAtheist philosophersAristotelian philosophersPhilosophers of loveAnalytic philosophersVirtue ethicistsEnglish atheists20th-century English philosophersFellows of the British AcademyAlumni of Somerville College, OxfordEnglish women philosophersFellows of Somerville College, OxfordWittgensteinian philosophersBritish atheistsMoral realistsUniversity of California, Los Angeles faculty
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Tudor courtier who found a way to write extraordinary and enduring poetry while under the intense scrutiny of Henry VIII's machinery of state.
CultureEnglish male poetsSonneteersAlumni of St John's College, Cambridge16th-century English poetsPrisoners in the Tower of LondonEnglish MPs 1542–1544Latin–English translators
Mercury
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the smallest planet in our solar system, what the Mariner 10 and Messenger missions have revealed and the hopes for the new BepiColombo mission.
ScienceSolar SystemAstronomical objects known since antiquityPlanets of the Solar System, Terrestrial planets
Bertolt Brecht
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works and ideas of this great German playwright from the Weimar Republic to his exile under the Nazis and return to Berlin after World War Two.
CultureModernist theatreMarxist theoristsGerman Marxist writersProtestants in the German ResistanceGerman opera librettistsExilliteratur writersGerman literary criticsGerman theatre directorsBurials at the Dorotheenstadt CemeteryNaturalised citizens of AustriaGerman male poets, German male dramatists and playwrights
Napoleon's Hundred Days
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Napoleon Bonaparte's astonishing return to power in France from exile on Elba in 1815 and how that galvanised the Allies into facing him at Waterloo
Lysistrata
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristophanes' outrageous comedy from 411BC in which the women of Athens and Sparta bring their warring husbands to peace by staging a sex strike.
CultureCensored booksPlays set in ancient GreeceGreek plays adapted into filmsPlays set in Athens
Nikola Tesla
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the inventor who helped the advance of electrification in America at the end of the 19th century and cultivated his reputation as a visionary genius
ScienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyPeople associated with electricityNaturalized citizens of the United StatesAmerican humanistsDeaths from coronary thrombosisMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsMental calculators20th-century American engineersRadio pioneersAmerican electrical engineers, People from Manhattan
The Kalevala
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Finnish epic poem, compiled by Elias Lönnrot in 1835 from runic songs, which helped the cause of Finland's independence from the Russian Empire.
CultureEpic poems1849 poemsInfluences on J. R. R. Tolkien
Super interesting discussion about language and the Kalevala, which I was completely unfamiliar with even though it is so influential. Espeically loved Professor Valijärvi's commentary.
Julian the Apostate
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher-emperor of Rome who sought to undo the empire's ties with Christianity in the 4th century AD and promote paganism
HistoryCritics of the Catholic ChurchAncient Roman philhellenesCritics of ChristianityPersecution of ChristiansAncient occultistsClaudiiRoman-era students in Athens4th-century Roman consuls, Constantinian dynasty, 4th-century Roman emperors, Flavii
The Waltz
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the waltz changed the relationship between music, people and the wider culture in Britain from its arrival in the early 19th century onwards.
The Mokrani Revolt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss when Algerians tried to take advantage of French defeat in Europe in 1871 and drive the colonists out, inspiring the later independence movement.
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Werner Heisenberg's breakthrough, aged 23, that led to Nobel Prize judges celebrating him as the creator of quantum mechanics.
SciencePrinciplesScientific lawsQuantum mechanics
The Sack of Rome 1527
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the slaughter and chaos as a hungry army of the Holy Roman Emperor swarmed through Rome, holding the pope hostage and weakening the Papal States.
HistoryLast standsRenaissanceSieges involving SpainSieges involving the Holy Roman EmpireCharles V, Holy Roman EmperorMassacres committed by Spain
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's work published in 1865 and inspired by telling stories to Alice Liddell and her sisters on picnics and boating trips in Oxford
CultureBritish novels adapted into filmsBritish novels adapted into playsVictorian novelsNovels adapted into video gamesNovels set in one dayNovels set in fictional countriesBooks illustrated by John TennielBooks illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Hormones
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay of chemical signals that keep our bodies going from moment to moment throughout our lives without us being immediately aware
The Hanseatic League
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Hanseatic League or Hansa which dominated North European and Baltic trade in the medieval period.
HistoryFormer confederationsEarly modern history of GermanyHistory of international tradeTrade monopolies, Former monopolies16th century in Europe, 15th century in Europe, 14th century in Europe
Panpsychism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea that there is a third way between those who say we have a material body and a separate soul or psyche and those who say we are matter alone
PhilosophyNondualityPantheismTheory of mind
Nefertiti
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the discovery of the bust of Nefertiti in 1912 has shaped ideas about her and about life in ancient Egypt and the royal city of Amarna.
HistoryAtenismFemale pharaohsQueens consort of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Condorcet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential French philosopher and mathematician who tried to apply his Enlightenment ideas on the benefit of education to the French Revolution.
PhilosophyFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesPhilosophers of religionEnlightenment philosophersAtheist philosophersAge of EnlightenmentMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences18th-century philosophersFrench atheistsUniversity of Paris alumniHonorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesMembers of the French Academy of SciencesMembers of the Académie FrançaiseTheoretical historiansFrench philosophers of educationFrench philosophers of historyFrench philosophers of scienceRationalistsScholars of feminist philosophyFrench feministsFrench male non-fiction writers18th-century French mathematicians18th-century French writers18th-century French male writersBurials at the Panthéon, ParisDeputies to the French National ConventionFrench abolitionistsFrench political scientistsProto-feministsPeople killed in the French RevolutionVoting theoristsFrench philosophers of culture, French sociologistsFrench ethicists, French biographers
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great comedies of world literature in which love and desire in Illyria sit uneasily alongside thwarted dreams and compromise.
CultureEnglish Renaissance playsBritish plays adapted into filmsShakespearean comedies1600s plays
Vincent van Gogh
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the career of the Dutch artist celebrated after his death for his paintings of sunflowers and starry nights but selling only one work in his life.
CultureDutch expatriates in FranceDutch landscape paintersArtists who died by suicide
Tiberius
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the means by which Tiberius became the first Roman to succeed an Emperor and his reputation for financial prudence, cruelty and breeding paranoia.
HistoryJulio-Claudian dynasty1st-century BC RomansAncient Roman adopteesJulii CaesaresRoman pharaohs1st-century Roman emperorsPeople in the canonical gospelsRoman quaestorsAncient Roman triumphatorsBurials at the Mausoleum of Augustus, Ancient Roman military personnelClaudii Nerones, Roman-era Olympic competitors
Karl Barth
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Swiss theologian who aimed to put God and Christ at the heart of Christianity when he saw others making humanity and self-revelation its focus.
ReligionFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesChristian ethicistsAcademic staff of the University of GöttingenProtestants in the German ResistanceFilioquePeople associated with the University of BaselDuke University facultyExistentialist theologiansSystematic theologians20th-century Swiss writers
Edgar Allan Poe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the writer of The Raven and Gothic horror stories such as The Tell-Tale Heart and The Fall of the House of Usher.
CultureHall of Fame for Great Americans inducteesAmerican male non-fiction writers19th-century pseudonymous writersAmerican people of English descentEpic poets19th-century American poetsRomantic poetsWriters of Gothic fiction19th-century American male writers19th-century American essayistsSurrealist writers19th-century American non-fiction writersAmerican male novelistsUnited States Military Academy alumniWriters from BaltimoreAmerican male essayists, American male poetsNovelists from New York (state), 19th-century American novelistsGhost story writers, 19th-century American short story writersAmerican male dramatists and playwrights, American literary criticsWriters from Philadelphia, Recreational cryptographers, Writers from Boston
Marguerite de Navarre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Marguerite, Queen of Navarre (1492 – 1549), author of the Heptaméron, a major literary landmark in the French Renaissance.
CultureFrench Roman CatholicsProto-feministsNavarrese royal consortsFrench short story writersFrench women dramatists and playwrightsFrench salon-holders
The Theory of the Leisure Class
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thorstein Veblen's critique of wasteful capitalism, as he saw it, in America's Gilded Age with conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption.
The Barbary Corsairs
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the sailors from around Europe and North Africa, licensed by the Barbary States to capture people to be sold into slavery until the 19th century.
HistoryWars involving the United StatesUnited States Marine Corps in the 18th and 19th centuries19th-century conflictsHistory of international relationsHistory of the foreign relations of the United States
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's influential approach to the questions of how to live a good life and what happiness means, originally aimed at the elite in Athens.
PhilosophyWorks by AristotleEthics books
Germinal
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emile Zola's thirteenth and most successful novel in his Rougon-Macquart series, in which a strike breaks out in a destitute French mining village.
CultureNovels first published in serial formFrench novels adapted into filmsFrench philosophical novelsNovels set in 19th-century France
Julian of Norwich
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the anchoress, who is probably the earliest named woman writer in English, and her celebrated work on her visions of the suffering of Christ.
ReligionWomen religious writersWomen mysticsEnglish religious writersWriters from Norwich15th-century English writersMedieval English theologians15th-century English women writers, 15th-century deaths, English Catholic mystics, 14th-century English women writers, Middle English literature, 14th-century Christian mystics
The Federalist Papers
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the essays written in 1787/8 by some of the authors of the US Constitution which offer insight into the interpretation of the Constitution.
HistoryWorks published under a pseudonymWorks published anonymouslyDemocracyUnited States documents
Plankton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny organisms drifting in the oceans which created half the oxygen on which we depend and sustain the food chain for much of the life on earth.
The Economic Consequences of the Peace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the book that popularised the idea the Treaty of Versailles was disastrous, supporting the argument of Germany in the 1930s and feeding appeasement.
The Seventh Seal (1000th program)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ingmar Bergman's influential film from 1957 in which a knight plays chess with Death in the hope of living long enough to do something meaningful
Albert Einstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Einstein's impact on the world of physics after his 'miraculous year' in 1905 and why he went on to become so very famous after World War One.
SciencePhilosophers of scienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyGerman male non-fiction writersPantheistsPhilosophers of mathematicsMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesPhilosophy of scienceAmerican male non-fiction writersJewish agnosticsAnti-nationalistsJewish socialistsNaturalized citizens of the United StatesEuropean democratic socialistsAlbert EinsteinAmerican humanists20th-century American male writersGerman agnosticsGerman Ashkenazi JewsJewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United StatesNobel laureates in PhysicsRecipients of Franklin MedalStateless peopleNaturalised citizens of Austria20th-century American engineersAcademic staff of ETH ZurichWinners of the Max Planck Medal20th-century American inventors, Members of the United States National Academy of SciencesGerman Zionists, American Ashkenazi Jews, American agnostics, American ZionistsJewish German physicists, Jewish scientists
Jupiter
ScienceSolar SystemAstronomical objects known since antiquityGas giants, Outer planets
Elizabeth Anscombe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential thinker who rejuvenated moral philosophy in the postwar period.
PhilosophyFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesCatholic philosophersAnalytic philosophersVirtue ethicistsChristian ethicistsFellows of the British Academy20th-century British philosophersAlumni of Newnham College, CambridgeBritish philosophers of mindFellows of Somerville College, OxfordWittgensteinian philosophersBritish philosophers of languageCambridge University Moral Sciences ClubPresidents of the Aristotelian SocietyRoman Catholic writersAction theoristsBertrand Russell Professors of PhilosophyBritish women philosophersConverts to Roman CatholicismDeaths from kidney failure in the United Kingdom
Death in Venice
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mann's infamous novella of 1912, exploring the link between creativity and self-destruction.
CultureNovels adapted into operasNovels adapted into balletsModernist novelsRoman à clef novels
Oedipus Rex
Melvyn Bragg and guests on Sophocles' tragedy, sometimes called the best play ever written. With Edith Hall, Nick Lowe and Fiona Macintosh.
CulturePlays adapted into operasFiction about suicidePlays set in ancient GreeceGreek plays adapted into filmsFiction about regicidePlays based on classical mythologyTheban mythology