The Enclosures of the 18th Century

Melvyn Bragg examines the enclosure movement that fenced in the British countryside.

• 45 mins

The Brain

The history of cultural, medical, artistic and philosophical ideas about the human brain.

• 45 mins

The Library at Nineveh

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a treasure house of Assyrian ideas.

• 45 mins

The Black Death

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine the Black Death and its effect on medieval society.

• 45 mins

Probability

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the strange mathematics of probability.

• 45 mins

Lysenkoism

Melvyn Bragg examines the destructive career of the Soviet geneticist Trofim Lysenko.

• 45 mins

The Riddle of the Sands

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the prescient thriller about Anglo-German relations.

• 45 mins

The Music of the Spheres

Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient astrological idea of the music of the spheres.

• 45 mins

The Arab Conquests

Melvyn Bragg examines the Arab conquests which helped communicate Islam to the world.

• 45 mins

The Metaphysical Poets

Melvyn Bragg examines the Metaphysical poets, including John Donne and Andrew Marvell.

• 45 mins

Tacitus and the Decadence of Rome

Melvyn Bragg examines the life and chronicles of the the Roman historian Tacitus.

• 45 mins

Miracles

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of miracles.

• 45 mins

The Translation Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss classical Greek ideas in the Arabic and the Islamic world.

• 45 mins

Godel's Incompleteness Theorems

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mathematician Kurt Godel and his work.

• 45 mins

Vitalism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th and 19th century quest for the spark of life.

• 45 mins

Dante's Inferno

Melvyn Bragg examines Dante’s ‘Inferno’, a medieval journey through Hell’s nine circles

• 45 mins

Bolivar

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America.

• 45 mins

Aristotle's Politics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle’s ‘Politics’.

• 45 mins

Neuroscience

Melvyn Bragg examines neuroscience, the relationship between the mind and the brain.

• 45 mins

The Baroque Movement

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the culture of the Baroque.

• 45 mins

The Great Reform Act

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Reform Act of 1832.

• 45 mins

Heat

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about Heat.

• 45 mins

The Fire of London

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Great Fire of London and the rebuilding of the city.

• 45 mins

The Physics of Time

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of time.

• 45 mins

The Consolations of Philosophy

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the consolation of Philosophy.

• 45 mins

Thoreau and the American Idyll

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau.

• 45 mins

History of History

Melvyn Bragg examines how the writing of history has changed over the years.

• 45 mins

Swift's A Modest Proposal

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jonathan Swift's satirical 1729 pamphlet A Modest Proposal

• 45 mins

The Brothers Grimm

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm.

• 45 mins

Carthage's Destruction

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Destruction of Carthage

• 45 mins