The Invention of the Circus Ring

Matthew Sweet looks at the career of impresario Philip Astley and 250 years of the circus.

• 44 mins

Diving Deep

Diving as metaphor, occupation and study from Tudor times to the present.

• 45 mins

Landmark: The Odyssey

Amit Chaudhuri, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Daniel Mendelsohn and Emily Wilson join Philip Dodd.

• 45 mins

The In Between

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough considers airport lounges railway stations and liminal spaces

• 45 mins

Counterculture and Protest

Matthew Sweet with Paul Hartnoll, Tony White, Tessa DeCarlo and Paul Cronin on uprisings.

• 45 mins

Australian novelist Peter Carey

Peter Carey talks to Rana Mitter about race and racing, on the subject of his latest novel

• 45 mins

French writing and politics

Leila Slimani, President Macron's champion of French culture and language, is interviewed.

• 45 mins

Frankenstein and AI now

Fiona Sampson, Daisy Hay, Christopher Frayling and David H.Guston with Matthew Sweet.

• 45 mins

Oscar Contenders, Movie Moguls and Silent Film Stars

Matthew Sweet looks at the films nominated for the 2018 Academy Awards.

• 45 mins

Royalty, art and patronage

Craig Brown, Afua Hirsch, Joe Moshenska and Philip Dodd discuss Charles I's art.

• 45 mins

Burns the Radical; Exploration

Humboldt as Ecuadorian explorer, plus the territory between Scotland and England.

• 45 mins

The Working Class in Culture

Philip Dodd and guests ask has culture forgotten the working class?

• 45 mins

Trade, Davos, Ocean travel and Mermaids.

Anne McElvoy on Davos discussions, Ocean liner style at the V&A and mermaids in fiction.

• 45 mins

Landmark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

A Landmark edition in which Philip Dodd and guests examine The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

• 45 mins

Celebrating Buchi Emecheta

Shahidha Bari leads a discussion of Nigerian-born novelist Buchi Emecheta (1944-2017).

• 45 mins

Tariq Ali

Rana Mitter talks to Tariq Ali, novelist, historian and political activist.

• 45 mins

Michael Ignatieff and Central Europe

Philip Dodd talks to Michael Ignatieff about the political landscape of central Europe.

• 45 mins

Mark Dion; Colour, Insects, Virginia Woolf

Anne McElvoy meets artist Mark Dion and biologist Menno Schilthuizen.

• 45 mins

Reflecting Rural Life

Film maker Clio Barnard and novelist Amanda Craig on rural life. Matthew Sweet presents.

• 45 mins

Napoleon in Fact and Fiction

Anne McElvoy looks at Napoleon impersonators, ballads and what if he didn't die in exile?

• 45 mins

Steven Pinker on Progress

Steven Pinker explains to Philip Dodd why we should ignore headlines + be more optimistic.

• 45 mins

The Joy of Bureaucracy

Matthew Sweet with guests including Lord Butler, Andre Spicer and Eliane Glaser.

• 45 mins

How Big Should the State Be?

David Willetts, Polly Toynbee, Simone Finn, Julia Black, Adrian Wooldridge + Anne McElvoy.

• 45 mins

What Lies Beneath; Neanderthal Cave Art to Fatbergs

Francis Pryor, Paul Pettitt, Ruth Whitehouse; Sean Borodale; Sharon Robinson-Calver.

• 45 mins

A Sentimental Journey

Sean Williams rereads Laurence Sterne's subjective travel book and talks to Philip Hensher

• 45 mins

Landmark: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Lara Feigel, David Aaronovitch, Melissa Benn, Xiaolu Guo, Matthew Sweet on Doris Lessing.

• 44 mins

New Research into the UK Women's Suffrage Movement

Helen Pankhurst, Jane Robinson, Fern Riddell and others discuss women's suffrage.

• 45 mins

Festival 2018 - The One and the Many

The Free Thinking Lecture: Linda Yueh on Globalisation

Economist Linda Yueh delivers her vision for restoring faith in the free market.

• 60 mins

Festival 2018 - The One and the Many

The Population Bomb

Danny Dorling, Lionel Shriver and Stephen Emmott debate with Matthew Sweet.

• 45 mins

Festival 2018 - The One and the Many

The Dance of Nature

Jim Al-Khalili, Melissa Bateson, Andrew Mcbain and Richard Bevan explore group behaviour.

• 45 mins