Filtrer par genre
- 1688 - The Kalevala
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Finnish epic poem that first appeared in print in 1835 in what was then the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire and until recently part of Sweden. The compiler of this epic was a doctor, Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), who had travelled the land to hear traditional poems about mythical heroes being sung in Finnish, the language of the peasantry, and writing them down in his own order to create this landmark work. In creating The Kalevala, Lönnrot helped the Finns realise they were a distinct people apart from Sweden and Russia, who deserved their own nation state and who came to demand independence, which they won in 1917.
With
Riitta Valijärvi Associate Professor in Finnish and Minority Languages at University College London
Thomas Dubois The Halls-Bascom Professor of Scandinavian Folklore and Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
And
Daniel Abondolo Formerly Reader in Hungarian at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Nigel Fabb, What is Poetry? Language and Memory in the Poems of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Frog, Satu Grünthal, Kati Kallio and Jarkko Niemi (eds), Versification: Metrics in Practice (Finnish Literature Society, 2021)
Riho Grünthal et al., ‘Drastic demographic events triggered the Uralic spread’ (Diachronica, Volume 39, Issue 4, Aug 2022)
Lauri Honko (ed.), The Kalevala and the World's Traditional Epics (Finnish Literature Society, 2002)
The Kalevala Heritage: Archive Recordings of Ancient Finnish Songs. Online Catalogue no. ODE8492.
Mauri Kunnas, The Canine Kalevala (Otava Publishing, 1992)
Kuusi, Matti, et al. (eds.), Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic (Finnish Literature Society, 1977)
Elias Lönnrot (trans. John Martin Crawford), Kalevala: The Epic Poem of Finland (first published 1887; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017)
Elias Lönnrot (trans. W. F. Kirby), Kalevala: The Land of the Heroes (first published by J.M. Dent & Sons, 1907, 2 vols.; Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, 2000)
Elias Lönnrot (trans. Francis Peabody Magoun Jr.), The Kalevala, or Poems of the Kaleva District (Harvard University Press, 1963)
Elias Lönnrot (trans. Eino Friberg), The Kalevala: Epic of the Finnish People (Otava Publishing, 1988)
Elias Lönnrot (trans. Keith Bosley), The Kalevala: An Epic Poem after Oral Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1989)
Kirsti Mäkinen, Pirkko-Liisa Surojegin, Kaarina Brooks, An Illustrated Kalevala: Myths and Legends from Finland (Floris Books, 2020)
Sami Makkonen, Kalevala: The Graphic Novel (Ablaze, 2024)
Juha Y. Pentikäinen (trans. Ritva Poom), Kalevala Mythology, (Indiana University Press, 1999)
Tina K. Ramnarine, Ilmatar’s Inspirations: Nationalism, Globalization and the Changing Soundscapes of Finnish Folk Music (University of Chicago Press, 2003) Jonathan Roper (ed.), Alliteration in Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), especially chapter 12 ‘Alliteration in (Balto-) Finnic Languages’ by Frog and Eila Stepanova
Karl Spracklen, Metal Music and the Re-imagining of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation (Emerald Publishing, 2020), especially the chapter ‘Finnish Folk Metal: Raising Drinking Horns in Mainstream Metal’
Leea Virtanen and Thomas A. DuBois, Finnish Folklore: Studia Fennica Folkloristica 9 (Finnish Literature Society, 2000)
Thu, 25 Apr 2024 - 1687 - Julian the Apostate
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the last pagan ruler of the Roman Empire. Fifty years after Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and introduced a policy of tolerating the faith across the empire, Julian (c.331 - 363 AD) aimed to promote paganism instead, branding Constantine the worst of all his predecessors. Julian was a philosopher-emperor in the mould of Marcus Aurelius and was noted in his lifetime for his letters and his satires, and it was his surprising success as a general in his youth in Gaul that had propelled him to power barely twenty years after a rival had slaughtered his family. Julian's pagan mission and his life were brought to a sudden end while on campaign against the Sasanian Empire in the east, but he left so much written evidence of his ideas that he remains one of the most intriguing of all the Roman emperors and a hero to the humanists of the Enlightenment.
With
James Corke-Webster Reader in Classics, History and Liberal Arts at King’s College, London
Lea Niccolai Assistant Professor in Classics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics, Trinity College
And
Shaun Tougher Professor of Late Roman and Byzantine History at Cardiff University
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Polymnia Athanassiadi, Julian: An Intellectual Biography (first published 1981; Routledge, 2014)
Nicholas Baker-Brian and Shaun Tougher (eds.), Emperor and Author: The Writings of Julian the Apostate (Classical Press of Wales, 2012)
Nicholas Baker-Brian and Shaun Tougher (eds.), The Sons of Constantine, AD 337-361: In the Shadows of Constantine and Julian, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)
G.W. Bowersock, Julian the Apostate (first published 1978; Harvard University Press, 1997)
Susanna Elm, Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome (University of California Press, 2012)
Ari Finkelstein, The Specter of the Jews: Emperor Julian and the Rhetoric of Ethnicity in Syrian Antioch (University of California Press, 2018)
David Neal Greenwood, Julian and Christianity: Revisiting the Constantinian Revolution (Cornell University Press, 2021)
Lea Niccolai, Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power: Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
Stefan Rebenich and Hans-Ulrich Wiemer (eds), A Companion to Julian the Apostate (Brill, 2020)
Rowland Smith, Julian’s Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (Routledge, 1995)
H.C. Teitler, The Last Pagan Emperor: Julian the Apostate and the War against Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2017)
Shaun Tougher, Julian the Apostate (Edinburgh University Press, 2007)
W. C. Wright, The Works of Emperor Julian of Rome (Loeb, 1913-23)
Thu, 18 Apr 2024 - 1686 - The Waltz
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dance which, from when it reached Britain in the early nineteenth century, revolutionised the relationship between music, literature and people here for the next hundred years. While it may seem formal now, it was the informality and daring that drove its popularity, with couples holding each other as they spun round a room to new lighter music popularised by Johann Strauss, father and son, such as The Blue Danube. Soon the Waltz expanded the creative world in poetry, ballet, novellas and music, from the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev to Moon River and Are You Lonesome Tonight.
With
Susan Jones Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford
Derek B. Scott Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Leeds
And
Theresa Buckland Emeritus Professor of Dance History and Ethnography at the University of Roehampton
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Egil Bakka, Theresa Jill Buckland, Helena Saarikoski, and Anne von Bibra Wharton (eds.), Waltzing Through Europe: Attitudes towards Couple Dances in the Long Nineteenth Century, (Open Book Publishers, 2020)
Theresa Jill Buckland, ‘How the Waltz was Won: Transmutations and the Acquisition of Style in Early English Modern Ballroom Dancing. Part One: Waltzing Under Attack’ (Dance Research, 36/1, 2018); ‘Part Two: The Waltz Regained’ (Dance Research, 36/2, 2018)
Theresa Jill Buckland, Society Dancing: Fashionable Bodies in England, 1870-1920 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
Erica Buurman, The Viennese Ballroom in the Age of Beethoven (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Paul Cooper, ‘The Waltz in England, c. 1790-1820’ (Paper presented at Early Dance Circle conference, 2018)
Sherril Dodds and Susan Cook (eds.), Bodies of Sound: Studies Across Popular Dance and Music (Ashgate, 2013), especially ‘Dancing Out of Time: The Forgotten Boston of Edwardian England’ by Theresa Jill Buckland
Zelda Fitzgerald, Save Me the Waltz (first published 1932; Vintage Classics, 2001)
Hilary French, Ballroom: A People's History of Dancing (Reaktion Books, 2022)
Susan Jones, Literature, Modernism, and Dance (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Mark Knowles, The Wicked Waltz and Other Scandalous Dances: Outrage at Couple Dancing in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries (McFarland, 2009)
Rosamond Lehmann, Invitation to the Waltz (first published 1932; Virago, 2006)
Eric McKee, Decorum of the Minuet, Delirium of the Waltz: A Study of Dance-Music Relations in 3/4 Time (Indiana University Press, 2012)
Eduard Reeser, The History of the Walz (Continental Book Co., 1949)
Stanley Sadie (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 27 (Macmillan, 2nd ed., 2000), especially ‘Waltz’ by Andrew Lamb
Derek B. Scott, Sounds of the Metropolis: The 19th-Century Popular Music Revolution in London, New York, Paris and Vienna (Oxford University Press, 2008), especially the chapter ‘A Revolution on the Dance Floor, a Revolution in Musical Style: The Viennese Waltz’
Joseph Wechsberg, The Waltz Emperors: The Life and Times and Music of the Strauss Family (Putnam, 1973)
Cheryl A. Wilson, Literature and Dance in Nineteenth-century Britain (Cambridge University Press, 2009)
Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out (first published 1915; William Collins, 2013)
Virginia Woolf, The Years (first published 1937; Vintage Classics, 2016)
David Wyn Jones, The Strauss Dynasty and Habsburg Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
Sevin H. Yaraman, Revolving Embrace: The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound (Pendragon Press, 2002)
Rishona Zimring, Social Dance and the Modernist Imagination in Interwar Britain (Ashgate Press, 2013)
Thu, 11 Apr 2024 - 1685 - The Gettysburg Address
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, ten sentences long, delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg after the Union forces had won an important battle with the Confederates. Opening with " Four score and seven years ago," it became one of the most influential statements of national purpose, asserting that America was "conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" and "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Among those inspired were Martin Luther King Jr whose "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial 100 years later, echoed Lincoln's opening words.
With
Catherine Clinton Denman Chair of American History at the University of Texas and International Professor at Queen's University, Belfast
Susan-Mary Grant Professor of American History at Newcastle University
And
Tim Lockley Professor of American History at the University of Warwick
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 26 May 2016 - 1684 - The Muses
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Muses and their role in Greek mythology, when they were goddesses of poetry, song, music and dance: what the Greeks called mousike, 'the art of the Muses' from which we derive our word 'music.' While the number of Muses, their origin and their roles varied in different accounts and at different times, they were consistently linked with the nature of artistic inspiration. This raised a question for philosophers then and since: was a creative person an empty vessel into which the Muses poured their gifts, at their will, or could that person do something to make inspiration flow?
With
Paul Cartledge Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge
Angie Hobbs Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy, University of Sheffield
And
Penelope Murray Founder member and retired Senior Lecturer, Department of Classics, University of Warwick
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Image: 'Apollo and the Muses (Parnassus)', 1631-1632. Oil on canvas. Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).
Thu, 19 May 2016 - 1683 - Titus Oates and his 'Popish Plot'
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Titus Oates (1649-1705) who, with Israel Tonge, spread rumours of a Catholic plot to assassinate Charles II. From 1678, they went to great lengths to support their scheme, forging evidence and identifying the supposed conspirators. Fearing a second Gunpowder Plot, Oates' supposed revelations caused uproar in London and across the British Isles, with many Catholics, particularly Jesuit priests, wrongly implicated by Oates and then executed. Anyone who doubted him had to keep quiet, to avoid being suspected a sympathiser and thrown in prison. Oates was eventually exposed, put on trial under James II and sentenced by Judge Jeffreys to public whipping through the streets of London, but the question remained: why was this rogue, who had faced perjury charges before, ever believed?
With
Clare Jackson Senior Tutor and Director of Studies in History at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge
Mark Knights Professor of History at the University of Warwick
And
Peter Hinds Associate Professor of English at Plymouth University
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 12 May 2016 - 1682 - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, originally serialised in The Graphic in 1891 and, with some significant changes, published as a complete novel in 1892. The book was controversial even before serialisation, rejected by one publisher as too overtly sexual, to which a second added it did not publish 'stories where the plot involves frequent and detailed reference to immoral situations.' Hardy's description of Tess as 'A Pure Woman' in 1892 incensed some Victorian readers. He resented having to censor some of his scenes in the early versions, including references to Tess's baby following her rape by Alec d'Urberville, and even to a scene where Angel Clare lifted four milkmaids over a flooded lane (substituting transportation by wheelbarrow).
The image above, from the 1891 edition, is captioned 'It Was Not Till About Three O'clock That Tess Raised Her Eyes And Gave A Momentary Glance Round. She Felt But Little Surprise At Seeing That Alec D'urberville Had Come Back, And Was Standing Under The Hedge By The Gate'.
With
Dinah Birch Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool
Francis O'Gorman Professor of Victorian Literature at the University of Leeds
And
Jane Thomas Reader in Victorian and early Twentieth Century literature at the University of Hull
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 05 May 2016 - 1681 - Euclid's Elements
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Euclid's Elements, a mathematical text book attributed to Euclid and in use from its appearance in Alexandria, Egypt around 300 BC until modern times, dealing with geometry and number theory. It has been described as the most influential text book ever written. Einstein had a copy as a child, which he treasured, later saying "If Euclid failed to kindle your youthful enthusiasm, then you were not born to be a scientific thinker."
With
Marcus du Sautoy Professor of Mathematics and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford
Serafina Cuomo Reader in Roman History at Birkbeck University of London
And
June Barrow-Green Professor of the History of Mathematics at the Open University
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 28 Apr 2016 - 1680 - 1816, the Year Without a Summer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of the eruption of Mt Tambora, in 1815, on the Indonesian island of Sambawa. This was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history and it had the highest death toll, devastating people living in the immediate area. Tambora has been linked with drastic weather changes in North America and Europe the following year, with frosts in June and heavy rains throughout the summer in many areas. This led to food shortages, which may have prompted westward migration in America and, in a Europe barely recovered from the Napoleonic Wars, led to widespread famine.
With
Clive Oppenheimer Professor of Volcanology at the University of Cambridge
Jane Stabler Professor in Romantic Literature at the University of St Andrews
And
Lawrence Goldman Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 21 Apr 2016 - 1679 - The Neutron
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutron, one of the particles found in an atom's nucleus. Building on the work of Ernest Rutherford, the British physicist James Chadwick won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. Neutrons play a fundamental role in the universe and their discovery was at the heart of developments in nuclear physics in the first half of the 20th century.
With
Val Gibson Professor of High Energy Physics at the University of Cambridge and fellow of Trinity College
Andrew Harrison Chief Executive Officer of Diamond Light Source and Professor in Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh
And
Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford.
Thu, 14 Apr 2016 - 1678 - The Sikh Empire
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the Sikh Empire at the end of the 18th Century under Ranjit Singh, pictured above, who unified most of the Sikh kingdoms following the decline of the Mughal Empire. He became Maharaja of the Punjab at Lahore in 1801, capturing Amritsar the following year. His empire flourished until 1839, after which a decade of unrest ended with the British annexation. At its peak, the Empire covered the Punjab and stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to the edge of Tibet in the east, up to Kashmir and down to Mithankot on the Indus River. Ranjit Singh is still remembered as "The Lion of the Punjab."
With
Gurharpal Singh Professor in Inter-Religious Relations and Development at SOAS, University of London
Chandrika Kaul Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews
And
Susan Stronge Senior Curator in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 07 Apr 2016 - 1677 - Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina the Younger was one of the most notorious and influential of the Roman empresses in the 1st century AD. She was the sister of the Emperor Caligula, a wife of the Emperor Claudius and mother of the Emperor Nero. Through careful political manoeuvres, she acquired a dominant position for herself in Rome. In 39 AD she was exiled for allegedly participating in a plot against Caligula and later it was widely thought that she killed Claudius with poison. When Nero came to the throne, he was only 16 so Agrippina took on the role of regent until he began to exert his authority. After relations between Agrippina and Nero soured, he had her murdered.
With:
Catharine Edwards Professor of Classics and Ancient History at Birkbeck, University of London
Alice König Lecturer in Latin and Classical Studies at the University of St Andrews
Matthew Nicholls Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Reading
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 - 1676 - Aurora Leigh
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Elizabeth Barrett Browning's epic "Aurora Leigh" which was published in 1856. It is the story of an orphan, Aurora, born in Italy to an English father and Tuscan mother, who is brought up by an aunt in rural Shropshire. She has a successful career as a poet in London and, when living in Florence, is reunited with her cousin, Romney Leigh, whose proposal she turned down a decade before. The poem was celebrated by other poets and was Elizabeth Barrett Browning's most commercially successful. Over 11,000 lines, she addressed many Victorian social issues, including reform, illegitimacy, the pressure to marry and what women must overcome to be independent, successful writers, in a world dominated by men.
With
Margaret Reynolds Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London
Daniel Karlin Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol
And
Karen O'Brien Professor of English Literature at King's College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 24 Mar 2016 - 1675 - Bedlam
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the early years of Bedlam, the name commonly used for the London hospital of St Mary of Bethlehem outside Bishopsgate, described in 1450 by the Lord Mayor of London as a place where may "be found many men that be fallen out of their wit. And full honestly they be kept in that place; and some be restored onto their wit and health again. And some be abiding therein for ever." As Bethlem, or Bedlam, it became a tourist attraction in the 17th Century at its new site in Moorfields and, for its relatively small size, made a significant impression on public attitudes to mental illness. The illustration, above, is from the eighth and final part of Hogarth's 'A Rake's Progress' (1732-3), where Bedlam is the last stage in the decline and fall of a young spendthrift,Tom Rakewell.
With
Hilary Marland Professor of History at the University of Warwick
Justin Champion Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London and President of the Historical Association
And
Jonathan Andrews Reader in the History of Psychiatry at Newcastle University
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 17 Mar 2016 - 1674 - The Maya Civilization
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Maya Civilization, developed by the Maya people, which flourished in central America from around 250 AD in great cities such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal with advances in mathematics, architecture and astronomy. Long before the Spanish Conquest in the 16th Century, major cities had been abandoned for reasons unknown, although there are many theories including overpopulation and changing climate. The hundreds of Maya sites across Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico raise intriguing questions about one of the world's great pre-industrial civilizations.
With
Elizabeth Graham Professor of Mesoamerican Archaeology at University College London
Matthew Restall Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Latin American History and Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University
And
Benjamin Vis Eastern ARC Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at the University of Kent
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 - 1673 - The Dutch East India Company
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC, known in English as the Dutch East India Company. The VOC dominated the spice trade between Asia and Europe for two hundred years, with the British East India Company a distant second. At its peak, the VOC had a virtual monopoly on nutmeg, mace, cloves and cinnamon, displacing the Portuguese and excluding the British, and were the only European traders allowed access to Japan.
With
Anne Goldgar Reader in Early Modern European History at King's College London
Chris Nierstrasz Lecturer in Global History at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, formerly at the University of Warwick
And
Helen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 03 Mar 2016 - 1672 - Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is one of the best-known figures in the Bible and has been a frequent inspiration to artists and writers over the last 2000 years. According to the New Testament, she was at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified and was one of the first people to see Jesus after the resurrection. However, her identity has provoked a large amount of debate and in the Western Church she soon became conflated with two other figures mentioned in the Bible, a repentant sinner and Mary of Bethany. Texts discovered in the mid-20th century provoked controversy and raised further questions about the nature of her relations with Jesus.
With:
Joanne Anderson Lecturer in Art History at the Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Eamon Duffy Emeritus Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College
Joan Taylor Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College London
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 - 1671 - Robert Hooke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Robert Hooke (1635-1703) who worked for Robert Boyle and was curator of experiments at the Royal Society. The engraving of a flea, above, is taken from his Micrographia which caused a sensation when published in 1665. Sometimes remembered for his disputes with Newton, he studied the planets with telescopes and snowflakes with microscopes. He was an early proposer of a theory of evolution, discovered light diffraction with a wave theory to explain it and felt he was rarely given due credit for his discoveries.
With
David Wootton Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York
Patricia Fara President Elect of the British Society for the History of Science
And
Rob Iliffe Professor of History of Science at Oxford University
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 18 Feb 2016 - 1670 - Rumi's Poetry
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry of Rumi, the Persian scholar and Sufi mystic of the 13th Century. His great poetic works are the Masnavi or "spiritual couplets" and the Divan, a collection of thousands of lyric poems. He is closely connected with four modern countries: Afghanistan, as he was born in Balkh, from which he gains the name Balkhi; Uzbekistan from his time in Samarkand as a child; Iran as he wrote in Persian; and Turkey for his work in Konya, where he spent most of his working life and where his followers established the Mevlevi Order, also known as the Whirling Dervishes.
With
Alan Williams British Academy Wolfson Research Professor at the University of Manchester
Carole Hillenbrand Professor of Islamic History at the University of St Andrews and Professor Emerita of Edinburgh University
And
Lloyd Ridgeon Reader in Islamic Studies at the University of Glasgow
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 - 1669 - Chromatography
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins, development and uses of chromatography. In its basic form, it is familiar to generations of schoolchildren who put a spot of ink at the bottom of a strip of paper, dip it in water and then watch the pigments spread upwards, revealing their separate colours. Chemists in the 19th Century started to find new ways to separate mixtures and their work was taken further by Mikhail Tsvet, a Russian-Italian scientist who is often credited with inventing chromatography in 1900. The technique has become so widely used, it is now an integral part of testing the quality of air and water, the levels of drugs in athletes, in forensics and in the preparation of pharmaceuticals.
With
Andrea Sella Professor of Chemistry at University College London
Apryll Stalcup Professor of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University
And
Leon Barron Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at King's College London.
Thu, 04 Feb 2016 - 1668 - Eleanor of Aquitaine
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, times and influence of Eleanor of Aquitaine (c1122-1204) who was one of the most powerful women in Twelfth Century Europe, possibly in the entire Middle Ages. She inherited land from the Loire down to the Pyrenees, about a third of modern France. She married first the King of France, Louis VII, joining him on the Second Crusade. She became stronger still after their marriage was annulled, as her next husband, Henry Plantagenet became Henry II of England. Two of their sons, Richard and John, became kings and she ruled for them when they were abroad. By her death in her eighties, Eleanor had children and grandchildren in power across western Europe. This led to competing claims of inheritance and, for much of the next 250 years, the Plantagenet and French kings battled over Eleanor's land.
With
Lindy Grant Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading
Nicholas Vincent Professor of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia
And
Julie Barrau University Lecturer in British Medieval History at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 28 Jan 2016 - 1667 - Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Thomas Paine and his pamphlet "Common Sense" which was published in Philadelphia in January 1776 and promoted the argument for American independence from Britain. Addressed to The Inhabitants of America, it sold one hundred and fifty thousand copies in the first few months and is said, proportionately, to be the best-selling book in American history. Paine had arrived from England barely a year before. He vigorously attacked monarchy generally and George the Third in particular. He argued the colonies should abandon all hope of resolving their dispute with Britain and declare independence immediately. Many Americans were scandalised. More were inspired and, for Paine's vision of America's independent future, he has been called a Founding Father of the United States.
With
Kathleen Burk Professor Emerita of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London
Nicholas Guyatt University Lecturer in American History at the University of Cambridge
And
Peter Thompson Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 21 Jan 2016 - 1666 - Saturn
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn with its rings of ice and rock and over 60 moons. In 1610, Galileo used an early telescope to observe Saturn, one of the brightest points in the night sky, but could not make sense of what he saw: perhaps two large moons on either side. When he looked a few years later, those supposed moons had disappeared. It was another forty years before Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens solved the mystery, realizing the moons were really a system of rings. Successive astronomers added more detail, with the greatest leaps forward in the last forty years. The Pioneer 11 spacecraft and two Voyager missions have flown by, sending back the first close-up images, and Cassini is still there, in orbit, confirming Saturn, with its rings and many moons, as one of the most intriguing and beautiful planets in our Solar System.
With
Carolin Crawford Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Michele Dougherty Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London
And
Andrew Coates Deputy Director in charge of the Solar System at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.
Thu, 14 Jan 2016 - 1665 - Tristan and Iseult
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Tristan and Iseult, one of the most popular stories of the Middle Ages. From roots in Celtic myth, it passed into written form in Britain a century after the Norman Conquest and almost immediately spread throughout northern Europe. It tells of a Cornish knight and an Irish queen, Tristan and Iseult, who accidentally drink a love potion, at the same time, on the same boat, travelling to Cornwall. She is due to marry Tristan's king, Mark. Tristan and Iseult seemed ideally matched and their love was heroic, but could that excuse their adultery, in the minds of medieval listeners, particularly when the Church was so clear they were wrong?
With
Laura Ashe Associate Professor of English at Worcester College, University of Oxford
Juliette Wood Associate Lecturer in the School of Welsh at Cardiff University
And
Mark Chinca Reader in Medieval German Literature at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 31 Dec 2015 - 1664 - Michael Faraday
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the eminent 19th-century scientist Michael Faraday. Born into a poor working-class family, he received little formal schooling but became interested in science while working as a bookbinder's apprentice. He is celebrated today for carrying out pioneering research into the relationship between electricity and magnetism. Faraday showed that if a wire was turned in the presence of a magnet or a magnet was turned in relation to a wire, an electric current was generated. This ground-breaking discovery led to the development of the electric generator and ultimately to modern power stations. During his life he became the most famous scientist in Britain and he played a key role in founding the Royal Institution's Christmas lectures which continue today.
With:
Geoffrey Cantor Professor Emeritus of the History of Science at the University of Leeds
Laura Herz Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford
Frank James Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 24 Dec 2015 - 1663 - Circadian Rhythms
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the evolution and role of Circadian Rhythms, the so-called body clock that influences an organism's daily cycle of physical, behavioural and mental changes. The rhythms are generated within organisms and also in response to external stimuli, mainly light and darkness. They are found throughout the living world, from bacteria to plants, fungi to animals and, in humans, are noticed most clearly in sleep patterns.
With
Russell Foster Professor of Circadian Neuroscience at the University of Oxford
Debra Skene Professor of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Surrey
And
Steve Jones Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London.
Thu, 17 Dec 2015 - 1662 - Chinese Legalism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and rise of Legalism in China, from the start of the Warring States Period (c475 - 221 BC) to the time of The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (pictured), down to Chairman Mao and the present day. Advanced by the Qin statesman Shang Yang and later blended together by Han Fei, the three main aspects of Legalism were the firm implementation of laws, use of techniques such as responsibility and inscrutability, and taking advantage of the ruler's position. The Han dynasty that replaced the Qin discredited this philosophy for its apparent authoritarianism, but its influence continued, re-emerging throughout Chinese history.
With
Frances Wood Former Curator of the Chinese Collections at the British Library
Hilde de Weerdt Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University
And
Roel Sterckx Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History at the University of Cambridge.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 10 Dec 2015 - 1661 - Voyages of James Cook
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientific advances made in the three voyages of Captain James Cook, from 1768 to 1779. Cook's voyages astonished Europeans, bringing back detailed knowledge of the Pacific and its people, from the Antarctic to the Bering Straits. This topic is one of more than a thousand different ideas suggested by listeners in October and came from Alysoun Hodges in the UK, Fiachra O'Brolchain in Ireland, Mhairi Mackay in New Zealand, Enzo Vozzo in Australia, Jeff Radford in British Columbia and Mark Green in Alaska.
With
Simon Schaffer Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge
Rebekah Higgitt Lecturer in the History of Science at the University of Kent
And
Sophie Forgan Retired Principle Lecturer at the University of Teesside Chairman of Trustees of the Captain Cook Museum, Whitby
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 03 Dec 2015 - 1660 - The Salem Witch Trials
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the outbreak of witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692-3, centred on Salem, which led to the execution of twenty people, with more dying in prison before or after trial. Some were men, including Giles Corey who died after being pressed with heavy rocks, but the majority were women. At its peak, around 150 people were suspected of witchcraft, including the wife of the governor who had established the trials. Many of the claims of witchcraft arose from personal rivalries in an area known for unrest, but were examined and upheld by the courts at a time of mass hysteria, belief in the devil, fear of attack by Native Americans and religious divisions.
With
Susan Castillo-Street Harriet Beecher Stowe Professor Emerita of American Studies at King's College London
Simon Middleton Senior Lecturer in American History at the University of Sheffield
And
Marion Gibson Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at Exeter University, Penryn Campus.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 26 Nov 2015 - 1659 - Emma
"Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her." So begins Emma by Jane Austen, describing her leading character who, she said, was "a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this, one of Austen's most popular novels and arguably her masterpiece, a brilliantly sparkling comedy of manners published in December 1815 by John Murray, the last to be published in Austen's lifetime. This followed Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Mansfield Park (1814), with her brother Henry handling publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (1817).
With
Janet Todd Professor Emerita of Literature, University of Aberdeen and Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge
John Mullan Professor of English at University College, London
And
Emma Clery Professor of English at the University of Southampton.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 19 Nov 2015 - 1658 - The Battle of Lepanto
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Battle of Lepanto, 1571, the last great sea battle between galleys, in which the Catholic fleet of the Holy League of principally Venice, Spain, the Papal States, Malta, Genoa, and Savoy defeated the Ottoman forces of Selim II. When much of Europe was divided over the Reformation, this was the first major victory of a Christian force over a Turkish fleet. The battle followed the Ottoman invasion of Venetian Cyprus and decades in which the Venetians had been trying to stop the broader westward expansion of the Ottomans into the Mediterranean. The outcome had a great impact on morale in Europe and Pope Pius V established a feast day of Our Lady of Victory. Some historians call it the most significant sea battle since Actium (31 BC). However, the Ottomans viewed the loss as less significant than their victory in Cyprus and, within two years, the Holy League had broken up.
With
Diarmaid MacCulloch Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford
Kate Fleet Director of the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies and Fellow of Newnham College, University of Cambridge
And
Noel Malcolm A Senior Research Fellow in History at All Soul's College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 12 Nov 2015 - 1657 - P v NP
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the problem of P versus NP, which has a bearing on online security. There is a $1,000,000 prize on offer from the Clay Mathematical Institute for the first person to come up with a complete solution. At its heart is the question "are there problems for which the answers can be checked by computers, but not found in a reasonable time?" If the answer to that is yes, then P does not equal NP. However, if all answers can be found easily as well as checked, if only we knew how, then P equals NP. The area has intrigued mathematicians and computer scientists since Alan Turing, in 1936, found that it's impossible to decide in general whether an algorithm will run forever on some problems. Resting on P versus NP is the security of all online transactions which are currently encrypted: if it transpires that P=NP, if answers could be found as easily as checked, computers could crack passwords in moments.
With
Colva Roney-Dougal Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews
Timothy Gowers Royal Society Research Professor in Mathematics at the University of Cambridge
And
Leslie Ann Goldberg Professor of Computer Science and Fellow of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 - 1656 - The Empire of Mali
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Empire of Mali which flourished from 1200 to 1600 and was famous in the wider world for the wealth of rulers such as Mansa Musa. Mali was the largest empire in west Africa and for almost 400 years controlled the flow of gold from mines in the south up to the Mediterranean coast and across to the Middle East. These gold mines were the richest known deposits in the 14th Century and produced around half of the world's gold. When Mansa Musa journeyed to Cairo in 1324 as part of his Hajj, he distributed so much gold that its value depreciated by over 10%. Some of the mosques he built on his return survive, albeit rebuilt, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Great Mosque of Djenne.
With
Amira Bennison Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge
Marie Rodet Senior Lecturer in the History of Africa at SOAS
And
Kevin MacDonald Professor of African Archaeology Chair of the African Studies Programme at University College, London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 29 Oct 2015 - 1655 - Simone de Beauvoir
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Simone de Beauvoir. "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman," she wrote in her best known and most influential work, The Second Sex, her exploration of what it means to be a woman in a world defined by men. Published in 1949, it was an immediate success with the thousands of women who bought it. Many male critics felt men came out of it rather badly. Beauvoir was born in 1908 to a high bourgeois family and it was perhaps her good fortune that her father lost his money when she was a girl. With no dowry, she pursued her education in Paris to get work and in a key exam to allow her to teach philosophy, came second only to Jean Paul Sartre. He was retaking. They became lovers and, for the rest of their lives together, intellectual sparring partners. Sartre concentrated on existentialist philosophy; Beauvoir explored that, and existentialist ethics, plus the novel and, increasingly in the decades up to her death in 1986, the situation of women in the world.
With Christina Howells Professor of French and Fellow of Wadham College at the University of Oxford
Margaret Atack Professor of French at the University of Leeds
And
Ursula Tidd Professor of Modern French Literature and Thought at the University of Manchester
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 22 Oct 2015 - 1654 - Holbein at the Tudor Court
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) during his two extended stays in England, when he worked at the Tudor Court and became the King's painter. Holbein created some of the most significant portraits of his age, including an image of Henry VIII, looking straight at the viewer, hands on hips, that has dominated perceptions of him since. The original at Whitehall Palace was said to make visitors tremble at its majesty. Holbein was later sent to Europe to paint the women who might be Henry's fourth wife; his depiction of Anne of Cleves was enough to encourage Henry to marry her, a decision Henry quickly regretted and for which Thomas Cromwell, her supporter, was executed. His paintings still shape the way we see those in and around the Tudor Court, including Cromwell, Thomas More, the infant Prince Edward (of which there is a detail, above), The Ambassadors and, of course, Henry the Eighth himself.
With
Susan Foister Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery
John Guy A fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge
And
Maria Hayward Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 15 Oct 2015 - 1653 - Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great is one of the most celebrated military commanders in history. Born into the Macedonian royal family in 356 BC, he gained control of Greece and went on to conquer the Persian Empire, defeating its powerful king, Darius III. At its peak, Alexander's empire covered modern Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and part of India. As a result, Greek culture and language was spread into regions it had not penetrated before, and he is also remembered for founding a number of cities. Over the last 2,000 years, the legend of Alexander has grown and he has influenced numerous generals and politicians.
With:
Paul Cartledge Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge
Diana Spencer Professor of Classics at the University of Birmingham
Rachel Mairs Lecturer in Classics at the University of Reading
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 01 Oct 2015 - 1652 - Perpetual Motion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the idea of perpetual motion and its decline, in the 19th Century, with the Laws of Thermodynamics. For hundreds of years, some of the greatest names in science thought there might be machines that could power themselves endlessly. Leonardo Da Vinci tested the idea of a constantly-spinning wheel and Robert Boyle tried to recirculate water from a draining flask. Gottfried Leibniz supported a friend, Orffyreus, who claimed he had built an ever-rotating wheel. An increasing number of scientists voiced their doubts about perpetual motion, from the time of Galileo, but none could prove it was impossible. For scientists, the designs were a way of exploring the laws of nature. Others claimed their inventions actually worked, and promised a limitless supply of energy. It was not until the 19th Century that the picture became clearer, with the experiments of James Joule and Robert Mayer on the links between heat and work, and the establishment of the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics.
With
Ruth Gregory Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Durham University
Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford
and
Steven Bramwell Professor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 24 Sep 2015 - 1651 - Frida Kahlo
Born near Mexico City in 1907, Frida Kahlo is considered one of Mexico's greatest artists. She took up painting after a bus accident left her severely injured, was a Communist, married Diego Rivera, a celebrated muralist, became friends with Trotsky and developed an iconic series of self-portraits. Her work brings together elements such as surrealism, pop culture, Aztec and Indian mythology and commentary on Mexican culture. In 1938, artist and poet Andre Breton organised an exhibition of her work in New York, writing in the catalogue, "The Art of Frida Kahlo is a ribbon around a bomb." She was not as widely appreciated during her lifetime as she has since become, but is now one of the most recognised artists of the 20th century.
With
Patience Schell Chair in Hispanic Studies at the University of Aberdeen
Valerie Fraser Emeritus Professor of Latin American Art at the University of Essex
And
Alan Knight Emeritus Professor of the History of Latin America at the University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 - 1650 - Frederick the Great
Frederick the Great ruled Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. Born in 1712, he increased the power of the state, he made Prussia the leading military power in Europe and his bold campaigns had great implications for the European political landscape. An absolute monarch in the age of enlightenment, he was a prolific writer, attracted figures such as Voltaire to his court, fostered education and put Berlin firmly on the cultural map. He was much admired by Napoleon and was often romanticised by German historians, becoming a hero for many in united Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries. Others, however, vilified him for aspects such as his militarism and the partition of Poland.
With
Tim Blanning Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge
Katrin Kohl Professor of German Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College
And
Thomas Biskup Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Hull
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 02 Jul 2015 - 1649 - Extremophiles
In 1977, scientists in the submersible "Alvin" were exploring the deep ocean bed off the Galapagos Islands. In the dark, they discovered hydrothermal vents, like chimneys, from which superheated water flowed. Around the vents there was an extraordinary variety of life, feeding on microbes which were thriving in the acidity and extreme temperature of the vents. While it was already known that some microbes are extremophiles, thriving in extreme conditions, such as the springs and geysers of Yellowstone Park (pictured), that had not prepared scientists for what they now found. Since the "Alvin" discovery, the increased study of extremophile microbes has revealed much about what is and is not needed to sustain life on Earth and given rise to new theories about how and where life began. It has also suggested forms and places in which life might be found elsewhere in the Universe.
With
Monica Grady Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University
Ian Crawford Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck University of London
And
Nick Lane Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 - 1648 - Jane Eyre
The story of Jane Eyre is one of the best-known in English fiction. Jane is the orphan who survives a miserable early life, first with her aunt at Gateshead Hall and then at Lowood School. She leaves the school for Thornfield Hall, to become governess to the French ward of Mr Rochester. She and Rochester fall in love but, at their wedding, it is revealed he is married already and his wife, insane, is kept in Thornfield's attic. When Jane Eyre was published in 1847, it was a great success and brought fame to Charlotte Bronte. Combined with Gothic mystery and horror, the book explores many themes, including the treatment of children, relations between men and women, religious faith and hypocrisy, individuality, morality, equality and the nature of true love.
With
Dinah Birch Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Liverpool
Karen O'Brien Vice Principal and Professor of English Literature at King's College London
And
Sara Lyons Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Kent
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 - 1647 - Utilitarianism
A moral theory that emphasises ends over means, Utilitarianism holds that a good act is one that increases pleasure in the world and decreases pain. The tradition flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and has antecedents in ancient philosophy. According to Bentham, happiness is the means for assessing the utility of an act, declaring "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong." Mill and others went on to refine and challenge Bentham's views and to defend them from critics such as Thomas Carlyle, who termed Utilitarianism a "doctrine worthy only of swine."
With
Melissa Lane The Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton University
Janet Radcliffe Richards Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Oxford
and
Brad Hooker A Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 11 Jun 2015 - 1646 - Prester John
In the Middle Ages, Prester John was seen as the great hope for Crusaders struggling to hold on to, then regain, Jerusalem. He was thought to rule a lost Christian kingdom somewhere in the East and was ready to attack Muslim opponents with his enormous armies. There was apparent proof of Prester John's existence, in letters purportedly from him and in stories from travelers who claimed they had met, if not him, then people who had news of him. Most pointed to a home in the earthly paradise in the Indies, outside Eden, with fantastical animals and unimaginable riches. Later, Portuguese explorers thought they had found him in Ethiopia, despite the mystified denials of people there. Melvyn Bragg asks why the legend was so strongly believed for so long, and what facts helped sustain the myths.
With
Marianne O'Doherty Associate Professor in English at the University of Southampton
Martin Palmer Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture
And
Amanda Power Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Sheffield.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 - 1645 - The Science of Glass
While glass items have been made for at least 5,000 years, scientists are yet to explain, conclusively, what happens when the substance it's made from moves from a molten state to its hard, transparent phase. It is said to be one of the great unsolved problems in physics. While apparently solid, the glass retains certain properties of a liquid. At times, ways of making glass have been highly confidential; in Venice in the Middle Ages, disclosure of manufacturing techniques was a capital offence. Despite the complexity and mystery of the science of glass, glass technology has continued to advance from sheet glass to crystal glass, optical glass and prisms, to float glasses, chemical glassware, fibre optics and metal glasses.
With:
Dame Athene Donald Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and Master of Churchill College, Cambridge
Jim Bennett Former Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford and Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum
Paul McMillan Professor of Chemistry at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 28 May 2015 - 1644 - Josephus
It is said that, in Britain from the 18th Century, copies of Josephus' works were as widespread and as well read as The Bible. Christians valued "The Antiquities of the Jews" in particular, for the retelling of parts of the Old Testament and apparently corroborating the historical existence of Jesus. Born Joseph son of Matthias, in Jerusalem, in 37AD, he fought the Romans in Galilee in the First Jewish-Roman War. He was captured by Vespasian's troops and became a Roman citizen, later describing the siege and fall of Jerusalem. His actions and writings made him a controversial figure, from his lifetime to the present day.
With
Tessa Rajak Professor Emeritus of Ancient History, University of Reading
Philip Alexander Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies, University of Manchester
And
Martin Goodman Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford and President of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 21 May 2015 - 1643 - The Lancashire Cotton Famine
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cotton Famine in Lancashire from 1861-65. The Famine followed the blockade of Confederate Southern ports during the American Civil War which stopped the flow of cotton into mills in Britain and Europe. Reports at the time told of starvation, mass unemployment and migration. Abraham Lincoln wrote, "I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working-men of Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis." While the full cause and extent of the Famine in Lancashire are disputed, the consequences of this and the cotton blockade were far reaching.
With
Lawrence Goldman Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London
Emma Griffin Professor of History at the University of East Anglia
And
David Brown Senior Lecturer in American Studies at University of Manchester
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 14 May 2015 - 1642 - Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize for Literature. He has been called one of the outstanding thinkers of the 20th century and the greatest poet India has ever produced. His Nobel followed publication of Gitanjali, his English version of some of his Bengali poems. WB Yeats and Ezra Pound were great supporters. Tagore was born in Calcutta in 1861 and educated partly in Britain; King George V knighted him, but Tagore renounced this in 1919 following the Amritsar Massacre. A key figure in Indian nationalism, Tagore became a friend of Gandhi, offering criticism as well as support. A polymath and progressive, Tagore painted, wrote plays, novels, short stories and many songs. The national anthems of India and Bangladesh are based on his poems.
With
Chandrika Kaul Lecturer in Modern History at the University of St Andrews
Bashabi Fraser Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University
And
John Stevens Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellow at SOAS, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 07 May 2015 - 1641 - The Earth's Core
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Earth's Core. The inner core is an extremely dense, solid ball of iron and nickel, the size of the Moon, while the outer core is a flowing liquid, the size of Mars. Thanks to the magnetic fields produced within the core, life on Earth is possible. The magnetosphere protects the Earth from much of the Sun's radiation and the flow of particles which would otherwise strip away the atmosphere. The precise structure of the core and its properties have been fascinating scientists from the Renaissance. Recent seismographs show the picture is even more complex than we might have imagined, with suggestions that the core is spinning at a different speed and on a different axis from the surface.
With
Stephen Blundell Professor of Physics and Fellow of Mansfield College at the University of Oxford
Arwen Deuss Associate Professor in Seismology at Utrecht University
and
Simon Redfern Professor of Mineral Physics at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 - 1640 - Fanny Burney
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the 18th-century novelist, playwright and diarist Fanny Burney, also known as Madame D'Arblay and Frances Burney. Her first novel, Evelina, was published anonymously and caused a sensation, attracting the admiration of many eminent contemporaries. In an era when very few women published their work she achieved extraordinary success, and her admirers included Dr Johnson and Edmund Burke; later Virginia Woolf called her 'the mother of English fiction'.
With
Nicole Pohl Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University
Judith Hawley Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London
and
John Mullan Professor of English at University College London.
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 23 Apr 2015 - 1639 - Matteo Ricci and the Ming Dynasty
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest who in the 16th century led a Christian mission to China. An accomplished scholar, Ricci travelled extensively and came into contact with senior officials of the Ming Dynasty administration. His story is one of the most important encounters between Renaissance Europe and a China which was still virtually closed to outsiders.
With
Mary Laven Reader in Early Modern History at the University of Cambridge
Craig Clunas Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford
and
Anne Gerritsen Reader in History at the University of Warwick
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 - 1638 - Sappho
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Greek poet Sappho. Born in the late seventh century BC, Sappho spent much of her life on the island of Lesbos. In antiquity she was famed as one of the greatest lyric poets, but owing to a series of accidents the bulk of her work was lost to posterity. The fragments that do survive, however, give a tantalising glimpse of a unique voice of Greek literature. Her work has lived on in other languages, too, translated by such major poets as Ovid, Christina Rossetti and Baudelaire.
With
Edith Hall Professor of Classics at King's College, London
Margaret Reynolds Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London
and
Dirk Obbink Professor of Papyrology and Greek Literature at the University of Oxford Fellow and tutor at Christ Church, Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 09 Apr 2015 - 1637 - The California Gold Rush
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the California Gold Rush. In 1849 the recent discovery of gold at Coloma, near Sacramento in California, led to a massive influx of prospectors seeking to make their fortunes. Within a couple of years the tiny settlement of San Francisco had become a major city, with tens of thousands of immigrants, the so-called Forty-Niners, arriving by boat and over land. The gold rush transformed the west coast of America and its economy, but also uprooted local populations of Native Americans and made irreversible changes to natural habitats.
With:
Kathleen Burk Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London
Jacqueline Fear-Segal Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia
Frank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh.
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 - 1636 - The Curies
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family. In 1903 Marie and Pierre Curie shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity, a term which Marie coined. Marie went on to win a Nobel in Chemistry eight years later; remarkably, her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie would later share a Nobel with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie for their discovery that it was possible to create radioactive materials in the laboratory. The work of the Curies added immensely to our knowledge of fundamental physics and paved the way for modern treatments for cancer and other illnesses.
With:
Patricia Fara Senior Tutor of Clare College, University of Cambridge
Robert Fox Emeritus Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oxford
Steven T Bramwell Professor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 - 1635 - Al-Ghazali
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Al-Ghazali, a major philosopher and theologian of the late 11th century. Born in Persia, he was one of the most prominent intellectuals of his age, working in such centres of learning as Baghdad, Damascus and Jerusalem. He is now seen as a key figure in the development of Islamic thought, not just refining the theology of Islam but also building on the existing philosophical tradition inherited from the ancient Greeks.
With:
Peter Adamson Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the LMU in Munich
Carole Hillenbrand Professor of Islamic History at Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities
Robert Gleave Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of Exeter
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 19 Mar 2015 - 1634 - Dark Matter
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance which is believed to make up most of the Universe. In 1932 the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort noticed that the speed at which galaxies moved was at odds with the amount of material they appeared to contain. He hypothesized that much of this 'missing' matter was simply invisible to telescopes. Today astronomers and particle physicists are still fascinated by the search for dark matter and the question of what it is.
With
Carolin Crawford Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Astronomy
Carlos Frenk Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of Durham
Anne Green Reader in Physics at the University of Nottingham
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 - 1633 - Beowulf
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic poem Beowulf, one of the masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon literature. Composed in the early Middle Ages by an anonymous poet, the work tells the story of a Scandinavian hero whose feats include battles with the fearsome monster Grendel and a fire-breathing dragon. It survives in a single manuscript dating from around 1000 AD, and was almost completely unknown until its rediscovery in the nineteenth century. Since then it has been translated into modern English by writers including William Morris, JRR Tolkien and Seamus Heaney, and inspired poems, novels and films.
With:
Laura Ashe Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College
Clare Lees Professor of Medieval English Literature and History of the Language at King's College London
Andy Orchard Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 05 Mar 2015 - 1632 - The Eunuch
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and significance of eunuchs, castrated men who were a common feature of many civilisations for at least three thousand years. Eunuchs were typically employed as servants in royal households in the ancient Middle East, China and classical antiquity. In some civilisations they were used as administrators or senior military commanders, sometimes achieving high office. The tradition lingered until surprisingly recently, with castrated singers remaining a feature of Vatican choirs until the nineteenth century, while the last Chinese eunuch of the imperial court died in 1996.
With:
Karen Radner Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London
Shaun Tougher Reader in Ancient History at Cardiff University
Michael Hoeckelmann British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at King's College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 - 1631 - The Wealth of Nations
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations. Smith was one of Scotland's greatest thinkers, a moral philosopher and pioneer of economic theory whose 1776 masterpiece has come to define classical economics. Based on his careful consideration of the transformation wrought on the British economy by the Industrial Revolution, and how it contrasted with marketplaces elsewhere in the world, the book outlined a theory of wealth and how it is accumulated that has arguably had more influence on economic theory than any other.
With:
Richard Whatmore Professor of Modern History and Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St Andrews
Donald Winch Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Sussex
Helen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of Southampton
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 19 Feb 2015 - 1630 - The Photon
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the photon, one of the most enigmatic objects in the Universe. Generations of scientists have struggled to understand the nature of light. In the late nineteenth century it seemed clear that light was an electromagnetic wave. But the work of physicists including Planck and Einstein shed doubt on this theory. Today scientists accept that light can behave both as a wave and a particle, the latter known as the photon. Understanding light in terms of photons has enabled the development of some of the most important technology of the last fifty years.
With:
Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Oxford
Wendy Flavell Professor of Surface Physics at the University of Manchester
Susan Cartwright Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 - 1629 - Ashoka the Great
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Indian Emperor Ashoka. Active in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka conquered almost all of the landmass covered by modern-day India, creating the largest empire South Asia had ever known. After his campaign of conquest he converted to Buddhism, and spread the religion throughout his domain. His edicts were inscribed on the sides of an extraordinary collection of stone pillars spread far and wide across his empire, many of which survive today. Our knowledge of ancient India and its chronology, and how this aligns with the history of Europe, is largely dependent on this important set of inscriptions, which were deciphered only in the nineteenth century.
With:
Jessica Frazier Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
Naomi Appleton Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Edinburgh
Richard Gombrich Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 - 1628 - Thucydides
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. In the fifth century BC Thucydides wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War, an account of a conflict in which he had himself taken part. This work is now seen as one of the first great masterpieces of history writing, a book which influenced writers for centuries afterwards. Thucydides was arguably the first historian to make a conscious attempt to be objective, bringing a rational and impartial approach to his scholarship. Today his work is still widely studied at military colleges and in the field of international relations for the insight it brings to bear on complex political situations.
With:
Paul Cartledge Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge
Katherine Harloe Associate Professor in Classics and Intellectual History at the University of Reading
Neville Morley Professor of Ancient History at the University of Bristol
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 - 1627 - Phenomenology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss phenomenology, a style of philosophy developed by the German thinker Edmund Husserl in the first decades of the 20th century. Husserl's initial insights underwent a radical transformation in the work of his student Martin Heidegger, and played a key role in the development of French philosophy at the hands of writers like Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Phenomenology has been a remarkably adaptable approach to philosophy. It has given its proponents a platform to expose and critique the basic assumptions of past philosophy, and to talk about everything from the foundations of geometry to the difference between fear and anxiety. It has also been instrumental in getting philosophy out of the seminar room and making it relevant to the lives people actually lead.
GUESTS
Simon Glendinning, Professor of European Philosophy in the European Institute at the London School of Economics
Joanna Hodge, Professor of Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University
Stephen Mulhall, Professor of Philosophy and Tutor at New College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 22 Jan 2015 - 1626 - Bruegel's The Fight Between Carnival and Lent
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting of 1559, 'The Fight Between Carnival And Lent'. Created in Antwerp at a time of religious tension between Catholics and Protestants, the painting is rich in detail and seems ripe for interpretation. But Bruegel is notoriously difficult to interpret. His art seems to reject the preoccupations of the Italian Renaissance, drawing instead on techniques associated with the new technology of the 16th century, print. Was Bruegel using his art to comment on the controversies of his day? If so, what comment was he making?
CONTRIBUTORS
Louise Milne, Lecturer in Visual Culture in the School of Art at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University
Jeanne Nuechterlein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History of Art, University of York
Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 15 Jan 2015 - 1625 - Truth
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of truth. Pontius Pilate famously asked: what is truth? In the twentieth century, the nature of truth became a subject of particular interest to philosophers, but they preferred to ask a slightly different question: what does it mean to say of any particular statement that it is true? What is the difference between these two questions, and how useful is the second of them?
With:
Simon Blackburn Fellow of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities
Jennifer Hornsby Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London
Crispin Wright Regius Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen, and Professor of Philosophy at New York University
Producer: Victoria Brignell and Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 18 Dec 2014 - 1624 - Behavioural Ecology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Behavioural Ecology, the scientific study of animal behaviour.
What factors influence where and what an animal chooses to eat? Why do some animals mate for life whilst others are promiscuous? Behavioural ecologists approach questions like these using Darwin's theory of natural selection, along with ideas drawn from game theory and the economics of consumer choice.
Scientists had always been interested in why animals behave as they do, but before behavioural ecology this area of zoology never got much beyond a collection of interesting anecdotes. Behavioural ecology gave researchers techniques for constructing rigorous mathematical models of how animals act under different circumstances, and for predicting how they will react if circumstances change. Behavioural ecology emerged as a branch of zoology in the second half of the 20th century and proponents say it revolutionized our understanding of animals in their environments.
GUESTS
Steve Jones, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London
Rebecca Kilner, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge
John Krebs, Principal of Jesus College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 11 Dec 2014 - 1623 - Zen
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Zen. It's often thought of as a form of Buddhism that emphasises the practice of meditation over any particular set of beliefs. In fact Zen belongs to a particular intellectual tradition within Buddhism that took root in China in the 6th century AD. It spread to Japan in the early Middle Ages, where Zen practitioners set up religious institutions like temples, monasteries and universities that remain important today.
GUESTS
Tim Barrett, Emeritus Professor in the Department of the Study of Religions at SOAS, University of London
Lucia Dolce, Numata Reader in Japanese Buddhism at SOAS, University of London
Eric Greene, Lecturer in East Asian Religions at the University of Bristol
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 04 Dec 2014 - 1622 - Kafka's The Trial
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Franz Kafka's novel of power and alienation 'The Trial', in which readers follow the protagonist Joseph K into a bizarre, nightmarish world in which he stands accused of an unknown crime; courts of interrogation convene in obscure tenement buildings; and there seems to be no escape from a crushing, oppressive bureaucracy.
Kafka was a German-speaking Jew who lived in the Czech city of Prague, during the turbulent years which followed the First World War. He spent his days working as a lawyer for an insurance company, but by night he wrote stories and novels considered some of the high points of twentieth century literature. His explorations of power and alienation have chimed with existentialists, Marxists, psychoanalysts, postmodernists - and Radio 4 listeners, who suggested this as our topic for listener week on In Our Time.
GUESTS
Elizabeth Boa, Professor Emerita of German at the University of Nottingham Steve Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge Ritchie Robertson, Taylor Professor of the German Language and Literature at the University of Oxford
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 27 Nov 2014 - 1621 - Aesop
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aesop. According to some accounts, Aesop was a strikingly ugly slave who was dumb until granted the power of speech by the goddess Isis. In stories of his life he's often found outwitting his masters using clever wordplay, but he's best known today as the supposed author of a series of fables that are some of the most enduringly popular works of Ancient Greek literature. Some modern scholars question whether he existed at all, but the body of work that has come down to us under his name gives us a rare glimpse of the popular culture of the Ancient World.
WITH
Pavlos Avlamis, Junior Research Fellow in Classics at Trinity College at the University of Oxford
Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge
Lucy Grig, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Edinburgh
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 - 1620 - Brunel
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Victorian engineer responsible for bridges, tunnels and railways still in use today more than 150 years after they were built. Brunel represented the cutting edge of technological innovation in Victorian Britain, and his life gives us a window onto the social changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. Yet his work was not always successful, and his innovative approach to engineering projects was often greeted with suspicion from investors.
Guests:
Julia Elton, former President of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology
Ben Marsden, Senior Lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen
Crosbie Smith, Professor of the History of Science at the University of Kent
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 - 1619 - Hatshepsut
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut, whose name means 'foremost of noble ladies'. She ruled Egypt from about 1479 - 1458 BC and some scholars argue that she was one of the most successful and influential pharaohs. When she came to the throne, Egypt was still recovering from a period of turbulence known as the Second Intermediate Period a few generations earlier. Hatshepsut reasserted Egyptian power by building up international trade and commissioned buildings considered masterpieces of Egyptian architecture. She also made significant changes to the ideology surrounding the pharaoh and the gods. However, following her death, her name was erased from the records and left out of ancient lists of Egyptian kings.
With:
Elizabeth Frood Associate Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford
Kate Spence Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Cambridge
Campbell Price Curator of Egypt and Sudan at The Manchester Museum
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 06 Nov 2014 - 1618 - Nuclear Fusion
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars. In the 1920s physicists predicted that it might be possible to generate huge amounts of energy by fusing atomic nuclei together, a reaction requiring enormous temperatures and pressures. Today we know that this complex reaction is what keeps the Sun shining. Scientists have achieved fusion in the laboratory and in nuclear weapons; today it is seen as a likely future source of limitless and clean energy.
Guests:
Philippa Browning, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Manchester
Steve Cowley, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Justin Wark, Professor of Physics and fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 30 Oct 2014 - 1617 - The Haitian Revolution
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Haitian Revolution. In 1791 an uprising began in the French colonial territory of St Domingue. Partly a consequence of the French Revolution and partly a backlash against the brutality of slave owners, it turned into a complex struggle involving not just the residents of the island but French, English and Spanish forces. By 1804 the former slaves had won, establishing the first independent state in Latin America and the first nation to be created as a result of a successful slave rebellion. But the revolution also created one of the world's most impoverished societies, a legacy which Haiti has struggled to escape.
Contributors
Kate Hodgson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in French at the University of Liverpool
Tim Lockley, Reader in American Studies at the University of Warwick
Karen Salt, Fellow in History in the School of Language and Literature at the University of Aberdeen
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 23 Oct 2014 - 1616 - Rudyard Kipling
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Rudyard Kipling. Born in Bombay in 1865, Kipling has been described as the poet of Empire, celebrated for fictional works including Kim and The Jungle Book. Today his poem 'If--' remains one of the best known in the English language. Kipling was amongst the first writers in English to develop the short story as a literary form in its own right, and was the first British recipient of a Nobel Prize for Literature. A literary celebrity of the Edwardian era, Kipling's work for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission played a major role in Britain's cultural response to the First World War.
Contributors:
Howard Booth, Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Manchester
Daniel Karlin, Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol
Jan Montefiore, Professor of Twentieth Century English Literature at the University of Kent
Producer: Luke Mulhall.
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 - 1615 - The Battle of Talas
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Talas, a significant encounter between Arab and Chinese forces which took place in central Asia in 751 AD. It brought together two mighty empires, the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tang Dynasty, and although not well known today the battle had profound consequences for the future of both civilisations. The Arabs won the confrontation, but the battle marks the point where the Islamic Empire halted its march eastwards, and the Chinese stopped their expansion to the west. It was also a point of cultural exchange: some historians believe that it was also the moment when the technology of paper manufacture found its way from China to the Western world.
GUESTS
Hilde de Weerdt, Professor of Chinese History at Leiden University
Michael Höckelmann, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at King's College London
Hugh Kennedy, Professor of Arabic at SOAS, University of London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 09 Oct 2014 - 1614 - Julius Caesar
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life, work and reputation of Julius Caesar. Famously assassinated as he entered the Roman senate on the Ides of March, 44 BC, Caesar was an inspirational general who conquered much of Europe. He was a ruthless and canny politician who became dictator of Rome, and wrote The Gallic Wars, one of the most admired and studied works of Latin literature. Shakespeare is one of many later writers to have been fascinated by the figure of Julius Caesar.
With:
Christopher Pelling Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford
Catherine Steel Professor of Classics at the University of Glasgow
Maria Wyke Professor of Latin at University College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 - 1613 - e
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Euler's number, also known as e. First discovered in the seventeenth century by the Swiss mathematician Jacob Bernoulli when he was studying compound interest, e is now recognised as one of the most important and interesting numbers in mathematics. Roughly equal to 2.718, e is useful in studying many everyday situations, from personal savings to epidemics. It also features in Euler's Identity, sometimes described as the most beautiful equation ever written.
With:
Colva Roney-Dougal Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews
June Barrow-Green Senior Lecturer in the History of Maths at the Open University
Vicky Neale Whitehead Lecturer at the Mathematical Institute and Balliol College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 25 Sep 2014 - 1612 - The Sun
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sun. The object that gives the Earth its light and heat is a massive ball of gas and plasma 93 million miles away. Thanks to the nuclear fusion reactions taking place at its core, the Sun has been shining for four and a half billion years. Its structure, and the processes that keep it burning, have fascinated astronomers for centuries. After the invention of the telescope it became apparent that the Sun is not a placid, steadily shining body but is subject to periodic changes in its appearance and eruptions of dramatic violence, some of which can affect us here on Earth. Recent space missions have revealed fascinating new insights into our nearest star.
With:
Carolin Crawford Gresham Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Yvonne Elsworth Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham
Louise Harra Professor of Solar Physics at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 10 Jul 2014 - 1611 - Mrs Dalloway
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway. First published in 1925, it charts a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a prosperous member of London society, as she prepares to throw a party. Writing in her diary during the writing of the book, Woolf explained what she had set out to do: 'I want to give life and death, sanity and insanity. I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work at its most intense.' Celebrated for its innovative narrative technique and distillation of many of the preoccupations of 1920s Britain, Mrs Dalloway is now seen as a landmark of twentieth-century fiction, and one of the finest products of literary modernism.
With:
Professor Dame Hermione Lee President of Wolfson College, Oxford
Jane Goldman Reader in English Literature at the University of Glasgow
Kathryn Simpson Senior Lecturer in English Literature at Cardiff Metropolitan University.
Thu, 03 Jul 2014 - 1610 - Hildegard of Bingen
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss one of the most remarkable figures of the Middle Ages, Hildegard of Bingen. The abbess of a Benedictine convent, Hildegard experienced a series of mystical visions which she documented in her writings. She was an influential person in the religious world and much of her extensive correspondence with popes, monarchs and other important figures survives. Hildegard was also celebrated for her wide-ranging scholarship, which as well as theology covered the natural world, science and medicine. Officially recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church in 2012, Hildegard is also one of the earliest known composers. Since their rediscovery in recent decades her compositions have been widely recorded and performed.
With:
Miri Rubin Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London
William Flynn Lecturer in Medieval Latin at the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds
Almut Suerbaum Professor of Medieval German and Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 26 Jun 2014 - 1609 - The Philosophy of Solitude
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of solitude. The state of being alone can arise for many different reasons: imprisonment, exile or personal choice. It can be prompted by religious belief, personal necessity or a philosophical need for solitary contemplation. Many thinkers have dealt with the subject, from Plato and Aristotle to Hannah Arendt. It's a philosophical tradition that takes in medieval religious mystics, the work of Montaigne and Adam Smith, and the great American poets of solitude Thoreau and Emerson.
With:
Melissa Lane Professor of Politics at Princeton University
Simon Blackburn Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
John Haldane Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 19 Jun 2014 - 1608 - Robert Boyle
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Robert Boyle, a pioneering scientist and a founder member of the Royal Society. Born in Ireland in 1627, Boyle was one of the first natural philosophers to conduct rigorous experiments, laid the foundations of modern chemistry and derived Boyle's Law, describing the physical properties of gases. In addition to his experimental work he left a substantial body of writings about philosophy and religion; his piety was one of the most important factors in his intellectual activities, prompting a celebrated dispute with his contemporary Thomas Hobbes.
With:
Simon Schaffer Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge
Michael Hunter Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London
Anna Marie Roos Senior Lecturer in the History of Science and Medicine at the University of Lincoln
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 - 1607 - The Bluestockings
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Bluestockings. Around the middle of the eighteenth century a small group of intellectual women began to meet regularly to discuss literature and other matters, inviting some of the leading thinkers of the day to take part in informal salons. In an age when women were not expected to be highly educated, the Bluestockings were sometimes regarded with suspicion or even hostility. But prominent members such as Elizabeth Montagu - known as 'the Queen of the Bluestockings', and author of an influential essay about Shakespeare - and the classicist Elizabeth Carter were highly regarded for their scholarship. Their accomplishments led to far greater acceptance of women as the intellectual equal of men, and furthered the cause of female education.
With:
Karen O'Brien Vice-Principal and Professor of English at King's College London
Elizabeth Eger Reader in English Literature at King's College London
Nicole Pohl Reader in English Literature at Oxford Brookes University
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 05 Jun 2014 - 1606 - The Talmud
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and contents of the Talmud, one of the most important texts of Judaism. The Talmud was probably written down over a period of several hundred years, beginning in the 2nd century. It contains the authoritative text of the traditional Jewish oral law, and also an account of early Rabbinic discussion of, and commentary on, these laws. In later centuries scholars wrote important commentaries on these texts, which remain central to most strands of modern Judaism.
With:
Philip Alexander Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester
Rabbi Norman Solomon Former Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Jewish and Hebrew Studies
Laliv Clenman Lecturer in Rabbinic Literature at Leo Baeck College and a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 29 May 2014 - 1605 - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. In 1859 the poet Edward FitzGerald published a long poem based on the verses of the 11th-century Persian scholar Omar Khayyam. Not a single copy was sold in the first few months after the work's publication, but after it came to the notice of members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood it became enormously influential. Although only loosely based on the original, the Rubaiyat made Khayyam the best-known Eastern poet in the English-speaking world. FitzGerald's version is itself one of the most admired works of Victorian literature, praised and imitated by many later writers.
With:
Charles Melville Professor of Persian History at the University of Cambridge
Daniel Karlin Winterstoke Professor of English Literature at the University of Bristol
Kirstie Blair Professor of English Studies at the University of Stirling
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 22 May 2014 - 1604 - Photosynthesis
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis, the process by which green plants and many other organisms use sunlight to synthesise organic molecules. Photosynthesis arose very early in evolutionary history and has been a crucial driver of life on Earth. In addition to providing most of the food consumed by organisms on the planet, it is also responsible for maintaining atmospheric oxygen levels, and is thus almost certainly the most important chemical process ever discovered.
With:
Nick Lane Reader in Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London
Sandra Knapp Botanist at the Natural History Museum
John Allen Professor of Biochemistry at Queen Mary, University of London.
Producer: Thomas Morris
Thu, 15 May 2014 - 1603 - The Sino-Japanese War
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45. After several years of rising tension, and the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, full-scale war between Japan and China broke out in the summer of 1937. The Japanese captured many major Chinese ports and cities, but met with fierce resistance, despite internal political divisions on the Chinese side. When the Americans entered the war following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese found themselves fighting on several fronts simultaneously, and finally capitulated in August 1945. This notoriously brutal conflict left millions dead and had far-reaching consequences for international relations in Asia.
With:
Rana Mitter Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford
Barak Kushner Senior Lecturer in Japanese History at the University of Cambridge
Tehyun Ma Lecturer in Chinese History at the University of Exeter
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 08 May 2014 - 1602 - The Tale of Sinuhe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Tale of Sinuhe, one of the most celebrated works of ancient Egyptian literature. Written around four thousand years ago, the poem narrates the story of an Egyptian official who is exiled to Syria before returning to his homeland some years later. The number of versions of the poem, which is known from several surviving papyri and inscriptions, suggests that it was seen as an important literary work; although the story is set against a backdrop of real historical events, most scholars believe that the poem is a work of fiction.
With:
Richard Parkinson Professor of Egyptology and Fellow of Queen's College at the University of Oxford
Roland Enmarch Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool.
Aidan Dodson Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Bristol
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 01 May 2014 - 1601 - Tristram Shandy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Laurence Sterne's novel Tristram Shandy. Sterne's comic masterpiece is an extravagantly inventive work which was hugely popular when first published in 1759. Its often bawdy humour, and numerous digressions, are combined with bold literary experiment, such as a page printed entirely black to mark the death of one of the novel's characters. Dr Johnson wrote that "Nothing odd will do long. Tristram Shandy did not last" - but two hundred and fifty years after the book's publication, Tristram Shandy remains one of the most influential and widely admired books of the eighteenth century.
With:
Judith Hawley Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London
John Mullan Professor of English at University College London
Mary Newbould Bowman Supervisor in English at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 24 Apr 2014 - 1600 - The Domesday Book
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Domesday Book, a vast survey of the land and property of much of England and Wales completed in 1086. Twenty years after the Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror sent officials to most of his new territories to compile a list of land holdings and to gather information about settlements, the people who lived there and even their farm animals. Almost without parallel in European history, the resulting document was of immense importance for many centuries, and remains a central source for medieval historians.
With:
Stephen Baxter Reader in Medieval History at Kings College London
Elisabeth van Houts Honorary Professor of Medieval European History at the University of Cambridge
David Bates Professorial Fellow in Medieval History at the University of East Anglia
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 - 1599 - Strabo's Geographica
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica. Written almost exactly two thousand years ago by a Greek scholar living in Rome, the Geographica is an ambitious attempt to describe the entire world known to the Romans and Greeks at that time. Strabo seems to have based his book on accounts of distant lands given to him by contemporary travellers and imperial administrators, and on earlier works of scholarship by other Greek writers. One of the earliest systematic works of geography, Strabo's book offers a revealing insight into the state of ancient scholarship, and remained influential for many centuries after the author's death.
With:
Paul Cartledge AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge
Maria Pretzler Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University
Benet Salway Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 10 Apr 2014 - 1598 - States of Matter
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the science of matter and the states in which it can exist. Most people are familiar with the idea that a substance like water can exist in solid, liquid and gaseous forms. But as much as 99% of the matter in the universe is now believed to exist in a fourth state, plasma. Today scientists recognise a number of other exotic states or phases, such as glasses, gels and liquid crystals - many of them with useful properties that can be exploited.
With:
Andrea Sella Professor of Chemistry at University College London
Athene Donald Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge
Justin Wark Professor of Physics and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 03 Apr 2014 - 1597 - Weber's The Protestant Ethic
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Max Weber's book the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Published in 1905, Weber's essay proposed that Protestantism had been a significant factor in the emergence of capitalism, making an explicit connection between religious ideas and economic systems. Weber suggested that Calvinism, with its emphasis on personal asceticism and the merits of hard work, had created an ethic which had enabled the success of capitalism in Protestant countries. Weber's essay has come in for some criticism since he published the work, but is still seen as one of the seminal texts of twentieth-century sociology.
With:
Peter Ghosh Fellow in History at St Anne's College, Oxford
Sam Whimster Honorary Professor in Sociology at the University of New South Wales
Linda Woodhead Professor of Sociology of Religion at Lancaster University.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 27 Mar 2014 - 1596 - Bishop Berkeley
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop who was one of the most important philosophers of the eighteenth century. Bishop Berkeley believed that objects only truly exist in the mind of somebody who perceives them - an idea he called immaterialism. His interests and writing ranged widely, from the science of optics to religion and the medicinal benefits of tar water. His work on the nature of perception was a spur to many later thinkers, including David Hume and Immanuel Kant. The clarity of Berkeley's writing, and his ability to pose a profound problem in an easily understood form, has made him one of the most admired early modern thinkers.
With:
Peter Millican Gilbert Ryle Fellow and Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford
Tom Stoneham Professor of Philosophy at the University of York
Michela Massimi Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 20 Mar 2014 - 1595 - The Trinity
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Trinity. The idea that God is a single entity, but one known in three distinct forms - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - has been a central belief for most Christians since the earliest years of the religion. The doctrine was often controversial in the early years of the Church, until clarified by the Council of Nicaea in the late 4th century. Later thinkers including St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas recognised that this religious mystery posed profound theological questions, such as whether the three persons of the Trinity always acted together, and whether they were of equal status. The Trinity's influence on Christian thought and practice is considerable, although it is interpreted in different ways by different Christian traditions.
With:
Janet Soskice Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College
Martin Palmer Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture
The Reverend Graham Ward Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a Canon of Christ Church.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 13 Mar 2014 - 1594 - Spartacus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Spartacus, the gladiator who led a major slave rebellion against the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. He was an accomplished military leader, and the campaign he led contributed significantly to the instability of the Roman state in this period. Spartacus was celebrated by some ancient historians and reviled by others, and became a hero to revolutionaries in 19th-century Europe. Modern perceptions of his character have been influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film - but ancient sources give a rather more complex picture of Spartacus and the aims of his rebellion.
With:
Mary Beard Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge
Maria Wyke Professor of Latin at University College, London
Theresa Urbainczyk Associate Professor of Classics at University College, Dublin.
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
Thu, 06 Mar 2014 - 1593 - The Eye
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the eye. Humans have been attempting to understand the workings and significance of the organ for at least 2500 years. Some ancient philosophers believed that the eye enabled creatures to see by emitting its own light. The function and structures of the eye became an area of particular interest to doctors in the Islamic Golden Age. In Renaissance Europe the work of thinkers including Kepler and Descartes revolutionised thinking about how the organ worked, but it took several hundred years for the eye to be thoroughly understood. Eyes have long attracted more than purely scientific interest, known even today as the 'windows on the soul'.
With:
Patricia Fara Senior Tutor of Clare College, University of Cambridge
William Ayliffe Gresham Professor of Physic at Gresham College
Robert Iliffe Professor of Intellectual History and History of Science at the University of Sussex
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 - 1592 - Social Darwinism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Social Darwinism. After the publication of Charles Darwin's masterpiece On the Origin of Species in 1859, some thinkers argued that Darwin's ideas about evolution could also be applied to human society. One thinker particularly associated with this movement was Darwin's near-contemporary Herbert Spencer, who coined the phrase 'survival of the fittest'. He argued that competition among humans was beneficial, because it ensured that only the healthiest and most intelligent individuals would succeed. Social Darwinism remained influential for several generations, although its association with eugenics and later adoption as an ideological position by Fascist regimes ensured its eventual downfall from intellectual respectability.
With:
Adam Kuper Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the LSE, University of London
Gregory Radick Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds
Charlotte Sleigh Reader in the History of Science at the University of Kent.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 - 1591 - Chivalry
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss chivalry, the moral code observed by knights of the Middle Ages. Chivalry originated in the military practices of aristocratic French and German soldiers, but developed into an elaborate system governing many different aspects of knightly behaviour. It influenced the conduct of medieval military campaigns and also had important religious and literary dimensions. It gave rise to the phenomenon of courtly love, the subject of much romance literature, as well as to the practice of heraldry. The remnants of the chivalric tradition linger in European culture even today.
Miri Rubin Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London
Matthew Strickland Professor of Medieval History at the University of Glasgow
Laura Ashe Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 13 Feb 2014 - 1590 - The Phoenicians
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Phoenicians. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote about a people from the Levant who were accomplished sailors and traders, and who taught the Greeks their alphabet. He called them the Phoenicians, the Greek word for purple, although it is not known what they called themselves. By about 700 BC they were trading all over the Mediterranean, taking Egyptian and Syrian goods as far as Spain and North Africa. Although they were hugely influential in the ancient world, they left few records of their own; some contemporary scholars believe that the Phoenicians were never a unified civilisation but a loose association of neighbouring city-states.
With:
Mark Woolmer Assistant Principal at Collingwood College, Durham University
Josephine Quinn Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Oxford
Cyprian Broodbank Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at University College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 - 1589 - Catastrophism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Catastrophism, the idea that natural disasters have had a significant influence in moulding the Earth's geological features. In 1822 William Buckland, the first reader of Geology at the University of Oxford, published his famous Reliquae Diluvianae, in which he ascribed most of the fossil record to the effects of Noah's flood. Charles Lyell in his Principles of Geology challenged these writings, arguing that geological change was slow and gradual, and that the processes responsible could still be seen at work today - a school of thought known as Uniformitarianism. But in the 1970s the idea that natural catastrophes were a major factor in the Earth's geology was revived and given new respectability by the discovery of evidence of a gigantic asteroid impact 65 million years ago, believed by many to have resulted in the extinction of the dinosaurs.
With:
Andrew Scott Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London
Jan Zalasiewicz Senior Lecturer in Geology at the University of Leicester
Leucha Veneer Visiting Scholar at the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Thu, 30 Jan 2014
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