Landladies

Historical accounts and fictional depictions of the women who ran boarding houses.

• 44 mins

1922: Reader's Digest

The "agreggator" of stories - we look at how it launched and revolutionised reading

• 14 mins

1922:Food fads

John Gallagher talks to Annie Gray and Elsa Richardson about iguana soup and protein bars

• 14 mins

1922: The Hollywood Bowl

From a series of starlit concerts in the 20s to America's principle outdoor concert venue

• 13 mins

1922: Leisure and Sport

From Agatha Christie surfing to weight-lifting '20s style. John Gallagher looks at sports

• 14 mins

1922: Wimbledon and tennis fashions

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough finds out about the All England Club's move to a new home

• 14 mins

Wilkie Collins & disability

How the Victorian author’s own pain and drug dependency fed into his sensational novels.

• 44 mins

Amílcar Cabral

Rana Mitter and guests discuss the pan-Africanist poet and anti-colonial leader.

• 44 mins

Katherine Mansfield & Mavis Gallant

Claire Harman, Kirsty Gunn, Laurence Scott and Shahidha Bari discuss short story writing

• 44 mins

Anna Kavan

Matthew Sweet reads Ice and other works of this experimental writer who died in 1968

• 44 mins

Phillis Wheatley

The enslaved African American woman, Phillis Wheatley who became a celebrated poet.

• 44 mins

New Thinking: Language Loss and revival

John Gallagher is joined by Gwenno, who writes and sings in Cornish, and others

• 43 mins

The Wife of Bath

Marion Turner talks to Shahidha Bari about different versions of Chaucer's heroine

• 44 mins

Higher Education for women and working class students

Anne McElvoy hosts a conversation about higher education and the history of its expansion

• 45 mins

Audrey Hepburn

Matthew Sweet marks the 30th anniversary of the death of this icon of film and fashion.

• 45 mins

William Stukeley

Rana Mitter considers the life and legacy of the first person to survey Stonehenge

• 44 mins

Holocaust Memorial Day 2023

Matthew Sweet looks at the experiences of Portuguese Jewish and Roma communities.

• 45 mins

The English Civil War

Rana Mitter talks about politics, religion and divisions in 17th-century England.

• 45 mins

Crossroads and TV soaps

Russell T Davies and Paula Milne on the power of soap operas

• 44 mins

The mermaid-like Mélusine

The fish-tailed woman of medieval folklore is discussed by Shahidha Bari and guests.

• 44 mins

Gwendolyn Brooks

Shahidha Bari looks at the writing of the Pulitzer prize winning American poet 1917-2000

• 45 mins

Berji Kristin: Tales from the Garbage Hills

Sarah Jilani on Latife Tekin’s magical realist novel about 1960’s Istanbul shanty towns.

• 14 mins

Lady Macbeth

From Kurosawa and Shostakovich to Zinnie Harris. New takes on the Scottish play.

• 44 mins

The Heir of Redclyffe

Clare Walker-Gore revisits Charlotte M. Yonge's best-selling novel from 1853.

• 14 mins

Donkeys

From Aesop and the bible to the film EO which looks at a donkey born in a Polish circus.

• 44 mins

Stories of Love

Romeo and Juliet reworked, Proust and Rita Mae Brown's coming of age tale Rubyfruit Jungle

• 44 mins

Idrissa Ouédraogo

The work of the Burkinabé filmmaker explored by Matthew Sweet and guests.

• 44 mins

Phaedra, Cretan palaces and the minotaur

Knossos - birthplace of myths and tragedies - explored by Rana Mitter and Natalie Haynes

• 44 mins

Climate change and empire building

The long history of climate change and empire: historians Nandini Das and Peter Frankopan

• 44 mins

Ghosts of Caribbean History

New writing by Colin Grant and Kevin Jared Hosein; art by Mary Evans and Michael Elliott

• 44 mins