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In Our Time — History
In Our Time

A world-class seminar, every week.

In Our Time explores the ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world, spanning history, philosophy, religion, science, literature, art and culture.

On Thursdays, hear brand-new episodes hosted by Misha Glenny and leading academics. On Mondays, discover Misha’s Archive Picks: classic conversations from the In Our Time archive, originally presented by Melvyn Bragg.

Recent episodes have featured topics as wide-ranging as the Roman Arena, Handel’s Messiah, John Keats, On Liberty and the Mariana Trench, bringing expert insight to pivotal events, influential thinkers and remarkable discoveries.

Throughout the archive, you can hear discussions on historical figures such as Marie Antoinette, Nefertiti, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx and Albert Einstein; explore great works of literature such as Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the poetry of John Donne; uncover the stories behind cultural masterpieces including Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel; or journey from Jupiter and the death of stars, to the theories of Plato and Aristotle.

In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas.

Copyright: © (C) BBC 2025

Latest Episodes:

Pocahontas Nov 21, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Pocahontas, the Native American woman who to English eyes became a symbol of the New World. During the colonisation of Virginia in the first years of the seventeenth century, Pocahontas famously saved the life of an English prisoner, John Smith. Later captured, she converted to Christianity, married a settler and travelled to England where she was regarded as a curiosity. She died in 1617 at the age of 22 and was buried in Gravesend; her story has fascinated generations on both sides of the Atlantic, and has been reinterpreted and retold by many writers and artists.

With:

Susan Castillo Harriet Beecher Stowe Emeritus Professor of American Studies at King's College London

Tim Lockley Reader in American Studies at the University of Warwick

Jacqueline Fear-Segal Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East Anglia

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The Tempest Nov 14, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Written in around 1610, it is thought to be one of the playwright's final works and contains some of the most poetic and memorable passages in all his output. It was influenced by accounts of distant lands written by contemporary explorers, and by the complex international politics of the early Jacobean age.

The Tempest is set entirely on an unnamed island inhabited by the magician Prospero, his daughter Miranda and the monstrous Caliban, one of the most intriguing characters in Shakespeare's output. Its themes include magic and the nature of theatre itself - and some modern critics have seen it as an early meditation on the ethics of colonialism.

With:

Jonathan Bate Provost of Worcester College, Oxford

Erin Sullivan Lecturer and Fellow at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham

Katherine Duncan-Jones Emeritus Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Ordinary Language Philosophy Nov 07, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ordinary Language Philosophy, a school of thought which emerged in Oxford in the years following World War II. With its roots in the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ordinary Language Philosophy is concerned with the meanings of words as used in everyday speech. Its adherents believed that many philosophical problems were created by the misuse of words, and that if such 'ordinary language' were correctly analysed, such problems would disappear. Philosophers associated with the school include some of the most distinguished British thinkers of the twentieth century, such as Gilbert Ryle and JL Austin.

With:

Stephen Mulhall Professor of Philosophy at New College, Oxford

Ray Monk Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton

Julia Tanney Reader in Philosophy of Mind at the University of Kent

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The Berlin Conference Oct 31, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Berlin Conference of 1884. In the 1880s, as colonial powers attempted to increase their spheres of influence in Africa, tensions began to grow between European nations including Britain, Belgium and France. In 1884 the German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, brought together many of Europe's leading statesmen to discuss trade and colonial activities in Africa. Although the original purpose of the summit was to settle the question of territorial rights in West Africa, negotiations eventually dealt with the entire continent. The conference was part of the process known as the Scramble for Africa, and the decisions reached at it had effects which have lasted to the present day. The conference is commonly seen as one of the most significant events of the so-called Scramble for Africa; in the following decades, European nations laid claim to most of the continent.

With:

Richard Drayton Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King's College London

Richard Rathbone Emeritus Professor of African History at SOAS, University of London

Joanna Lewis Assistant Professor of Imperial History at the LSE, University of London.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The Corn Laws Oct 24, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Corn Laws. In 1815 the British Government passed legislation which artificially inflated the price of corn. The measure was supported by landowners but strongly opposed by manufacturers and the urban working class. In the 1830s the Anti-Corn Law League was founded to campaign for their repeal, led by the Radical Richard Cobden. The Conservative government of Sir Robert Peel finally repealed the laws in 1846, splitting his party in the process, and the resulting debate had profound consequences for the political and economic future of the country.

With:

Lawrence Goldman Fellow in Modern History at St Peter's College, Oxford

Boyd Hilton Former Professor of Modern British History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College

Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey Reader in Political Science at the London School of Economics

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The Book of Common Prayer Oct 17, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Book of Common Prayer. In 1549, at the height of the English Reformation, a new prayer book was published containing versions of the liturgy in English. Generally believed to have been supervised by Thomas Cranmer, the Book of Common Prayer was at the centre of the decade of religious turmoil that followed, and disputes over its use were one of the major causes of the English Civil War in the 1640s. The book was revised several times before the celebrated final version was published in 1662. It is still in use in many churches today, and remains not just a liturgical text of great importance but a literary work of profound beauty and influence.

With:

Diarmaid MacCulloch Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford

Alexandra Walsham Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge

Martin Palmer Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Galen Oct 10, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Roman physician and medical theorist Galen. The most celebrated doctor in the ancient world, Galen was Greek by birth but spent most of his career in Rome, where he was personal physician to three Emperors. He was one of the most prolific authors of his age, and a sixth of all surviving ancient literature in Greek was written by him. Celebrated in his own lifetime, he was regarded as the preeminent medical authority for centuries after his death, both in the Arab world and in medieval Europe. It was only the discoveries of Renaissance science which removed Galen from his dominant position in the pantheon of medicine.

With:

Vivian Nutton Emeritus Professor of the History of Medicine at University College London

Helen King Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University

Caroline Petit Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Classics at the University of Warwick

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Exoplanets Oct 03, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss exoplanets. Astronomers have speculated about the existence of planets beyond our solar system for centuries. Although strenuous efforts were made to find such planets orbiting distant stars, it was not until the 1990s that instruments became sophisticated enough to detect such remote objects. In 1992 Dale Frail and Aleksander Wolszczan discovered the first confirmed exoplanets: two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12. Since then, astronomers have discovered more than 900 exoplanets, and are able to reach increasingly sophisticated conclusions about what they look like - and whether they might be able to support life. Recent data from experiments such as NASA's space telescope Kepler indicates that such planets may be far more common than previously suspected.

With:

Carolin Crawford Gresham Professor of Astronomy and a member of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Don Pollacco Professor of Astronomy at the University of Warwick

Suzanne Aigrain Lecturer in Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

The Mamluks Sep 26, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Mamluks, who ruled Egypt and Syria from about 1250 to 1517. Originally slave soldiers who managed to depose their masters, they went on to repel the Mongols and the Crusaders to become the dominant force in the medieval Islamic Middle Eastern world. Although the Mamluks were renowned as warriors, under their rule art, crafts and architecture blossomed. Little known by many in the West today, the Mamluks remained in power for almost 300 years until they were eventually overthrown by the Ottomans.

With:

Amira Bennison Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College

Robert Irwin Former Senior Research Associate in the Department of History at SOAS, University of London

Doris Behrens-Abouseif Nasser D Khalili Professor of Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS, University of London

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Pascal Sep 19, 2013

Show notes

Melvyn Bragg and his guests begin a new series of the programme with a discussion of the French polymath Blaise Pascal. Born in 1623, Pascal was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, inventing one of the first mechanical calculators and making important discoveries about fluids and vacuums while still a young man. In his thirties he experienced a religious conversion, after which he devoted most of his attention to philosophy and theology. Although he died in his late thirties, Pascal left a formidable legacy as a scientist and pioneer of probability theory, and as one of seventeenth century Europe's greatest writers.

With:

David Wootton Anniversary Professor of History at the University of York

Michael Moriarty Drapers Professor of French at the University of Cambridge

Michela Massimi Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.

Producer: Thomas Morris.

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