The Alphabet

Melvyn Bragg investigates how sounds turned into signs and signs became the alphabet.

• 45 mins

Lamarck and Natural Selection

Melvyn Bragg discusses Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the 18th century French precursor to Darwin.

• 45 mins

Cryptography

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and history of codes.

• 45 mins

Thermopylae

Melvyn Bragg examines the Battle of Thermopylae, a defining clash between East and West.

• 45 mins

The Sublime

Melvyn Bragg explores a transcendental idea that took hold on the Age of Enlightenment.

• 45 mins

Rutherford

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear science.

• 45 mins

The Mughal Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests examine how much the British Raj owed to the Mughal Emperors.

• 45 mins

Dreams

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the function and interpretation of dreams.

• 40 mins

The Norse Gods

Melvyn Bragg examines the myths and theology that inspired the Vikings.

• 45 mins

Theories of Everything

Melvyn Bragg explores the 30 year search to solve all the biggest questions in physics.

• 45 mins

China's Warring States period

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the astonishing productivity of the Chinese Golden Age.

• 45 mins

The Fall

Melvyn Bragg examines the concept of original sin and its influence in Christian Europe.

• 45 mins

The Later Romantics

Melvyn Bragg examines the poetry, tragedy and idealism of Byron, Shelley and Keats.

• 45 mins

Hysteria

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how emotional experiences can become physical symptoms.

• 45 mins

Tea

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss tea, the first truly global commodity.

• 150 mins

Heroism

Melvyn Bragg explores what defines a hero, and their place in classical society.

• 45 mins

Zero

Melvyn Bragg examines the number between 1 and -1, once denounced as the devil's work.

• 45 mins

Toleration

Melvyn Bragg looks at the politics behind the rise of religious freedom in England.

• 45 mins

The Planets

Melvyn Bragg examines our knowledge of the planets in both our and other solar systems.

• 45 mins

Babylon

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the truth behind the empire of Babylon.

• 45 mins

Empiricism

Melvyn Bragg examines the 17th century idea that all knowledge arises from experience.

• 45 mins

Renaissance Magic

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Renaissance obsession with Magic.

• 45 mins

Washington and the American Revolution

Melvyn Bragg examines the first President of the US and what drove him to revolution.

• 45 mins

Pi

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of the longest and most detailed number in nature.

• 45 mins

The Odyssey

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the monster filled epic, Homer’s Odyssey.

• 45 mins

Agincourt

The history and legacy of the English army's defeat of the French at Agincourt in 1415.

• 45 mins

The Origins of Life

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss when and how life on earth originated.

• 45 mins

Politeness

Melvyn Bragg examines the cultural effect of the eighteenth century idea of Politeness.

• 45 mins

Sartre

The life and work of French novelist, playwright and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

• 45 mins

The Han Synthesis

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Han Synthesis philosophies of China.

• 45 mins