In Our Time

In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)

In Our Time is a live BBC radio discussion series exploring the history of ideas, presented by Melvyn Bragg since 15 October 1998.. It is one of BBC radio's most successful discussion programmes, acknowledged to have "transformed the landscape for serious ideas at peak listening time"...

is a discussion programme on the history of ideas; it has been hosted since 1998 by Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...

 on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

The show's website allows listeners to repeat any of the hundreds of shows from the programme's archive.

2012-2011

Next programme: Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems...

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
24 November 2011	Judas Maccabeus Judas Maccabeus Judah Maccabee was a Kohen and a son of the Jewish priest Mattathias...	Helen Bond, Tessa Rajak, Philip Alexander
17 November 2011	Ptolemy Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...  and Ancient Astronomy	Liba Taub, Jim Bennett Jim Bennett (historian) James Arthur Bennett PhD is a museum curator and historian of science.Jim Bennett is Director of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University. he was appointed on 1 October 1994, on the retirement of the previous director, Francis Maddison. He is also a member of the Faculty of... , Charles Burnett
10 November 2011	The Continental-Analytic Split	Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall is a philosopher and Fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are Ludwig Wittgenstein and post-Kantian philosophy.-Life:... , Beatrice Han-Pile, Hans Johann-Glock
3 November 2011	The Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...	Paul Murdin, Carolin Crawford Carolin Crawford Carolin Susan Crawford is a British communicator of science, astrophysicist researcher, lecturer and academic based at the Institute of Astronomy and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.-Biography:... , Ian Crawford
27 October 2011	The Siege of Tenochtitlan Siege of Tenochtitlan The siege of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire, came about in 1521 through the manipulation of local factions and divisions by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés...	Alan Knight Alan Knight (historian) Alan Knight is Professor of History of Latin America academy at the University of Oxford, England, where he is a Fellow at St. Antony's College and Director of the Latin American Centre... , Elizabeth Graham, Caroline Dodds Pennock
20 October 2011	Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People Liberty Leading the People Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled Charles X of France. A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the tricouleur flag of the French Revolution in one hand and...
13 October 2011	The Ming Voyages	Rana Mitter, Julia Lovell Julia Lovell Dr. Julia Lovell, born in 1975, is a prize-winning translator who has also written on China for The Guardian, The Times , The Economist, and The Times Literary Supplement.Her translations include works by Lu Xun, Han Shaogong, Eileen Chang and Zhu Wen... , Craig Clunas Craig Clunas Craig Clunas is Professor of History of Art at the University of Oxford. As a historian of the art and history of China, Professor Clunas has focussed particularly on the Ming Dynasty .-Life:...
06 October 2011	David Hume David Hume David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...	Peter Millican Peter Millican Peter Millican is Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. His primary interests include the philosophy of David Hume, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, and epistemology. Millican is particularly well known for his work on David Hume, and... , Helen Beebee, James Harris
29 September 2011	The Etruscan Civilisation	Phil Perkins, David Ridgway David Ridgway (scholar) -Life:Ridgway studied Classics at University College London under Professors Webster, Skutch and Robertson. After graduating in 1960 he went on to post graduate studies in European and Mediterranean Archaeology in Oxford under Professor C.F.C. Hawkes... , Corinna Riva
22 September 2011	Shinto Shinto or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...	Martin Palmer, Richard Bowring Richard Bowring Professor Richard John Bowring PhD, Litt.D is Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow of Downing College.-Education:*1960-64 Blundell's School... , Lucia Dolce
15 September 2011	The Hippocratic Oath Hippocratic Oath The Hippocratic Oath is an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is widely believed to have been written by Hippocrates, often regarded as the father of western medicine, or by one of his students. The oath is written in...	Vivian Nutton Vivian Nutton Vivian Nutton is a British historian of medicine and Professor at the UCL Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London.Nutton acquired a BA in Classics at Cambridge in 1965 and subsequently taught there as a Fellow of Selwyn College . He received his PhD in 1970... , Helen King Helen King (professor) Dr Helen King is Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University. She was previously professor of the History of Classical Medicine and head of the department of Classics at the University of Reading, England... , Peter Pormann

2011-2010

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
7 July 2011	The Minoan Civilisation	John Bennet, Ellen Adams, Yannis Hamilakis
30 June 2011	Tennyson's "In Memoriam" In Memoriam A.H.H. In Memoriam A.H.H. is a poem by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, completed in 1849. It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833...	Dinah Birch,Seamus Perry, Jane Wright
23 June 2011	Malthusianism Malthusianism Malthusianism refers primarily to ideas derived from the political/economic thought of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, as laid out initially in his 1798 writings, An Essay on the Principle of Population, which describes how unchecked population growth is exponential while the growth of the food...	Karen O'Brien, Mark Philp Mark Philp Mark Philp is a British political philosopher and historian of political thought who specialises in British political thought in the late 18th and early 19th centuries... , Emma Griffin
16 June 2011	John Wycliff and the Lollards	Sir Anthony Kenny Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion... , Anne Hudson, Rob Lutton
9 June 2011	The Origins of Infectious Disease Infectious disease Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...	Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Sir Roy Anderson Roy Anderson (zoologist) Sir Roy Malcolm Anderson FRS is a leading British expert on epidemiology. He has mathematically modelled the spread of diseases such as new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and AIDS... ,Mark Pallen
2 June 2011	Battle of Stamford Bridge Battle of Stamford Bridge The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place at the village of Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire in England on 25 September 1066, between an English army under King Harold Godwinson and an invading Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway and the English king's brother Tostig...	John Hines, Elizabeth Rowe, Stephen Baxter
26 May 2011	Xenophon Xenophon Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge...
19 May 2011	Custer's Last Stand	Kathleen Burk, Adam Smith, Saul David
12 May 2011	Anatomy of Melancholy	Julie Sanders, Mary Ann Lund, Erin Sullivan
5 May 2011	The Origins of Islamic Law Islamic law Islamic law can refer to:*Sharia: The code of conduct enjoined upon Muslims in the Quran*Fiqh: Muslim jurisprudence...	Hugh Kennedy, Robert Gleave, Mona Siddiqui
28 April 2011	Cogito ergo sum Cogito ergo sum is a philosophical Latin statement proposed by . The simple meaning of the phrase is that someone wondering whether or not they exist is, in and of itself, proof that something, an "I", exists to do the thinking — However this "I" is not the more or less permanent person we call "I"...	Susan James, John Cottingham John Cottingham John Cottingham is an English philosopher, educated at Merchant Taylors’ School near London, and St John’s College, Oxford. He is a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Reading, Professorial Research Fellow, Heythrop College, University of London, Honorary Fellow of St John’s College,... , Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall is a philosopher and Fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are Ludwig Wittgenstein and post-Kantian philosophy.-Life:...
21 April 2011	The Pelagian Controversy Pelagianism Pelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...	Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress, John Milbank John Milbank Alasdair John Milbank is a Christian theologian and the Professor of Religion, Politics and Ethics at the University of Nottingham where he also directs the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. Milbank previously taught at the University of Virginia and before that at the University of Cambridge...
14 April 2011	The Neutrino Neutrino A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...	Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:... , Susan Cartwright, David Wark
7 April 2011	Octavia Hill Octavia Hill Octavia Hill was an English social reformer, whose main concern was the welfare of the inhabitants of cities, especially London, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Born into a family with a strong commitment to alleviating poverty, she herself grew up in straitened circumstances owing...	Dinah Birch, Lawrence Goldman Lawrence Goldman Lawrence Goldman is an historian and current editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has an M.A. from the University of Oxford and a M.A. and PhD. from University of Cambridge... , Gillian Darley
31 March 2011	The Bhagavad Gita Bhagavad Gita The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...	Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Julius Lipner, Jessica Frazier
24 March 2011	The Dawn of the Iron Age Iron Age The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...	Sir Barry Cunliffe Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, known professionally as Barry Cunliffe is a former Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a position held from 1972 to 2007... , Sue Hamilton Sue Hamilton (archaeologist) Sue Hamilton is an English archaeologist who is currently a Professor of Prehistory at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. A specialist in Later European Prehistory, she has published various papers and academic books on the subject based upon her own research.A director of the... , Timothy Champion
17 March 2011	The Medieval University Medieval university Medieval university is an institution of higher learning which was established during High Middle Ages period and is a corporation.The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of...	Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Ian Wei, Peter Denley
10 March 2011	Free Will Free will "To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long... (500th programme)	Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn is a British academic philosopher known for his work in quasi-realism and his efforts to popularise philosophy. He recently retired as professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North... , Helen Beebee, Galen Strawson Galen Strawson Galen John Strawson is a British philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics , John Locke, David Hume and Kant. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford , from where he won a scholarship to Winchester College...
3 March 2011	The Age of the Universe Age of the universe The age of the universe is the time elapsed since the Big Bang posited by the most widely accepted scientific model of cosmology. The best current estimate of the age of the universe is 13.75 ± 0.13 billion years within the Lambda-CDM concordance model...	Martin Rees, Carolin Crawford Carolin Crawford Carolin Susan Crawford is a British communicator of science, astrophysicist researcher, lecturer and academic based at the Institute of Astronomy and Emmanuel College, Cambridge.-Biography:... , Carlos Frenk Carlos Frenk Professor Carlos Silvestre Frenk is a Mexican-British cosmologist. His main interests lie in the field of cosmology, galaxy formation and computer simulations of cosmic structure formation....
24 February 2011	The Taiping Rebellion Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...	Rana Mitter, Frances Wood Frances Wood Frances Wood is an English historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China... , Julia Lovell Julia Lovell Dr. Julia Lovell, born in 1975, is a prize-winning translator who has also written on China for The Guardian, The Times , The Economist, and The Times Literary Supplement.Her translations include works by Lu Xun, Han Shaogong, Eileen Chang and Zhu Wen...
17 February 2011	Maimonides Maimonides Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...	John Haldane, Sarah Stroumsa, Peter Adamson
10 February 2011	The Nervous System Central nervous system The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...	Colin Blakemore Colin Blakemore Professor Colin Blakemore, Ph.D., FRS, FMedSci, HonFSB, HonFRCP, is a British neurobiologist who is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick specialising in vision and the development of the brain. He was formerly Chief Executive of the British Medical... , Vivian Nutton Vivian Nutton Vivian Nutton is a British historian of medicine and Professor at the UCL Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London.Nutton acquired a BA in Classics at Cambridge in 1965 and subsequently taught there as a Fellow of Selwyn College . He received his PhD in 1970... , Tilli Tansey
03 February 2011	The Battle of Bannockburn Battle of Bannockburn The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...	Matthew Strickland, Fiona Watson, Michael Brown
27 January 2011	Aristotle's Poetics	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Nick Lowe Nick Lowe (classicist) Dr Nick Lowe is a Reader in Classics in the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, with interests including narratology and reception of Greek antiquity in historical fiction. He is also an award-winning film reviewer for science fiction magazine, Interzone... , Stephen Halliwell
20 January 2011	The Mexican Revolution Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...	Alan Knight Alan Knight (historian) Alan Knight is Professor of History of Latin America academy at the University of Oxford, England, where he is a Fellow at St. Antony's College and Director of the Latin American Centre... , Paul Garner,Patience Schell
13 January 2011	Random and Pseudorandom	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Colva Roney-Dougal, Timothy Gowers
6 January 2011	Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. It was published between 1812 and 1818 and is dedicated to "Ianthe". The poem describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man who, disillusioned with a life of pleasure and revelry, looks...	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Jane Stabler, Emily Bernhard Jackson
30 December 2010	Consequences of the Industrial Revolution	Jane Humphries, Emma Griffin, Lawrence Goldman Lawrence Goldman Lawrence Goldman is an historian and current editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He has an M.A. from the University of Oxford and a M.A. and PhD. from University of Cambridge...
23 December 2010	The Industrial Revolution Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...	Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute... , Pat Hudson, William Ashworth
16 December 2010	Daoism	Tim Barrett, Martin Palmer,Hilde De Weerdt
9 December 2010	Thomas Edison Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Kathleen Burk, Iwan Morus
2 December 2010	Cleopatra	Catharine Edwards,Maria Wyke, Susan Walker
25 November 2010	The History of Metaphor Metaphor A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...	Steven Connor Steven Connor Steven Connor is the Academic Director of the London Consortium and Professor of Modern Literature and Theory at Birkbeck, University of London.- Biography :* Born: Bognor Regis, Sussex, in 1955.... , Tom Healy, Julie Sanders
18 November 2010	Foxe's Book of Martyrs Foxe's Book of Martyrs The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...	Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford... , Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history... , Elizabeth Evenden
11 November 2010	The Volga Vikings	James Montgomery, Neil Price, Elizabeth Rowe
4 November 2010	Women and Enlightenment Science	Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Karen O'Brien, Judith Hawley
28 October 2010	The Unicorn Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary animal from European folklore that resembles a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard...	Juliette Wood, Lauren Kassell, David Ekserdjian
21 October 2010	History of Logic History of logic The history of logic is the study of the development of the science of valid inference . Formal logic was developed in ancient times in China, India, and Greece...	A.C. Grayling, Peter Millican Peter Millican Peter Millican is Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. His primary interests include the philosophy of David Hume, philosophy of religion, philosophy of language, and epistemology. Millican is particularly well known for his work on David Hume, and... , Rosanna Keefe
14 October 2010	Sturm und Drang Sturm und Drang Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...	T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College... , Susanne Kord, Maike Oergel
7 October 2010	The Spanish Armada Spanish Armada This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...	Diane Purkiss Diane Purkiss Diane Purkiss is Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War.... , Mia Rodriguez-Salgado, Nicholas Rodger Nicholas Rodger Professor Nicholas Andrew Martin Rodger FBA is a historian of the British navy and Senior Research Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.-Life and academia:...
30 September 2010	The Delphic Oracle	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Nick Lowe Nick Lowe (classicist) Dr Nick Lowe is a Reader in Classics in the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, with interests including narratology and reception of Greek antiquity in historical fiction. He is also an award-winning film reviewer for science fiction magazine, Interzone...
23 September 2010	Imaginary numbers	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Caroline Series

2010-2009

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
8 July 2010	Pliny Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian... 's Natural History (Pliny)	Serafina Cuomo, Aude Doody, Liba Taub
1 July 2010	Athelstan	Sarah Foot Sarah Foot Sarah Foot is a British early medieval historian and currently holds the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford.... , John Hines, Richard Gameson
24 June 2010	Antarctica	Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:... , Julian Dowdeswell, David Walton
17 June 2010	The Neanderthals Neanderthal The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...	Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould... , Chris Stringer Chris Stringer Christopher Brian Stringer FRS, better known as Chris Stringer, is a British anthropologist.He is one of the leading proponents of the recent single-origin hypothesis or "Out of Africa" theory, which hypothesizes that modern humans originated in Africa over 100,000 years ago and replaced the... , Danielle Schreve
10 June 2010	Al-Biruni Al-Biruni Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-BīrūnīArabic spelling. . The intermediate form Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī is often used in academic literature...	James Montgomery, Hugh Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972... , Amira Bennison
3 June 2010	Edmund Burke Edmund Burke Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....	Karen O'Brien, Richard Bourke, John Keane
27 May 2010	Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times, or Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori da Cimabue insino a' tempi nostri, as it was originally known in Italian, is a series of artist biographies written by 16th century...	Evelyn Welch, David Ekserdjian, Martin Kemp Martin Kemp (art historian) Martin Kemp is Emeritus Research Professor in the History of Art at Oxford University. He has written and broadcast extensively on imagery in art and science from the Renaissance to the present day...
20 May 2010	The Cavendish Family House of Cavendish Cavendish is the surname of a British noble family, also known as the House of Cavendish, descended from Sir John Cavendish of Cavendish in the county of Suffolk Cavendish is the surname of a British noble family, also known as the House of Cavendish, descended from Sir John Cavendish of Cavendish...	Jim Bennett Jim Bennett (historian) James Arthur Bennett PhD is a museum curator and historian of science.Jim Bennett is Director of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University. he was appointed on 1 October 1994, on the retirement of the previous director, Francis Maddison. He is also a member of the Faculty of... , Patricia Fara, Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean...
13 May 2010	The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James William James William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...	Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , John Haldane John Joseph Haldane John Joseph Haldane is a leading Scottish philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a Papal Adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term Analytical Thomism, and is himself a Thomist in the analytic tradition.... , Gwen Griffith-Dickson
6 May 2010	The Cool Universe	Carolin Crawford, Paul Murdin, Michael Rowan-Robinson Michael Rowan-Robinson Michael Rowan-Robinson is an astronomer and astrophysicist. He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge and is Professor of Astrophysics and until May 2007 was Head of the Astrophysics Group at Imperial College London. From 1981 to 1982, he gave public lectures as professor of astronomy at...
29 April 2010	The Great Wall of China	Julia Lovell, Rana Mitter, Frances Wood Frances Wood Frances Wood is an English historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China...
22 April 2010	Roman Satire Satire Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...	Mary Beard Mary Beard Mary Beard may refer to:* Mary Ritter Beard , United States historian and campaigner for woman's suffrage* Mary Beard , British classicist, literary critic, and journalist... , Denis Feeney Denis Feeney Denis C. Feeney is Professor of Classics and Giger Professor of Latin at Princeton University. He was born in New Zealand and educated at St Peter's College, Auckland and Auckland Grammar School. He received his B.A. , MA in Latin and MA in Greek from the University of Auckland and a D.Phil.... , Duncan Kennedy Duncan Kennedy Duncan Kennedy is the Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence at Harvard Law School and a founder of critical legal studies as movement and school of thought. Kennedy has been a member of the ACLU since 1967. According to his own testimony, he has never forgotten to pay his dues.-Education and...
15 April 2010	The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation Zulu Kingdom The Zulu Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or, rather imprecisely, Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa that extended along the coast of the Indian Ocean from the Tugela River in the south to Pongola River in the north....	Saul David Saul David Julian Saul David, known popularly as Saul David, was born in 1966 in Monmouth, Wales and is an academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on British television... , Saul Dubow, Shula Marks Shula Marks Shula Eta Marks, OBE, FBA is emeritus professor of history at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London....
8 April 2010	William Hazlitt William Hazlitt William Hazlitt was an English writer, remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, and as a grammarian and philosopher. He is now considered one of the great critics and essayists of the English language, placed in the company of Samuel Johnson and George Orwell. Yet his work is...	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Uttara Natarajan
1 April 2010	The History of the City, part 2	Peter Hall Peter Hall (urbanist) Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall, FBA is an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He is the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association.He is... , Tristram Hunt Tristram Hunt Tristram Julian William Hunt, FRHistS MP is a British politician, historian, broadcaster and newspaper columnist, who is currently the Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central. He also teaches and lectures on Modern British History at Queen Mary, University of London in Mile End, East London... , Ricky Burdett
25 March 2010	The History of the City, part 1	Peter Hall Peter Hall (urbanist) Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall, FBA is an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He is the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association.He is... , Julia Merritt , Greg Woolfis
18 March 2010	The Scream The Scream Scream is the title of Expressionist paintings and prints in a series by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, showing an agonized figure against a blood red sky...  and Edvard Munch Edvard Munch Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...	David Jackson, Dorothy Rowe, Alastair Wright
11 March 2010	Boudica Boudica Boudica , also known as Boadicea and known in Welsh as "Buddug" was queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire....	Juliette Wood, Richard Hingley, Miranda Aldhouse-Green
5 March 2010	The Infant Brain	Usha Goswami, Annette Karmiloff-Smith Annette Karmiloff-Smith Annette Karmiloff-Smith is a professorial research fellow at the Developmental Neurocognition Lab at Birkbeck, University of London. Before moving to Birbeck, she was Head of the Neurocognitive Development Unit at Institute of Child Health, University College, London... , Denis Mareschal
25 February 2010	Calvinism Calvinism Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...	Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history... , Susan Hardman Moore, Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford...
19 February 2010	The Indian Rebellion	Chandrika Kaul, Faisal Devji, Shruti Kapila
11 February 2010	The Unintended Consequences of Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...	John D. Barrow John D. Barrow -External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************... , Colva Roney-Dougal, Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College...
4 February 2010	Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldūn or Ibn Khaldoun was an Arab Tunisian historiographer and historian who is often viewed as one of the forerunners of modern historiography, sociology and economics...	Robert Hoyland, Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin is a British historian, novelist, and writer on Arabic literature.He read modern history at the University of Oxford, and did graduate research at SOAS. From 1972 he was a lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews. He gave up academic life in 1977 in order... , Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972...
28 January 2010	Silas Marner Silas Marner Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is a dramatic novel by George Eliot. Her third novel, it was first published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a reclusive weaver, in its strong realism it represents one of Eliot's most sophisticated treatments of her attitude to religion.-Plot summary:The... - George Eliot George Eliot Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era... 's 1861 novel	Rosemary Ashton, Dinah Birch, Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham is a professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford. He tutors English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he is a Senior Fellow and Vice President. His specialism is modern English literature and literary theory. He has written a number of books,...
21 January 2010	The Glencoe Massacre Massacre of Glencoe Early in the morning of 13 February 1692, in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and the Jacobite uprising of 1689 led by John Graham of Claverhouse, an infamous massacre took place in Glen Coe, in the Highlands of Scotland. This incident is referred to as the Massacre of Glencoe, or in... - "Murder Under Trust"	Murray Pittock, Karin Bowie, Daniel Szechi
14 January 2010	The Frankfurt School Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School refers to a school of neo-Marxist interdisciplinary social theory, particularly associated with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt am Main... - why no Revolution?	Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Esther Leslie, Raymond Geuss Raymond Geuss Raymond Geuss , a Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, is a political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy.-Life:...
4-7 January 2010	The History of the Royal Society Royal Society The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...	Four daily programmes in documentary format
31 December 2009	Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft was an eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book, and a children's book... - the Vindicator of the Rights of Woman	Karen O’Brien, John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Barbara Taylor
24 December 2009	The Samurai Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau... - from civil warriors to civil servants	Angus Lockyer, Nicola Liscutin, Gregory Irvine
10 December 2009	Pythagoras Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos was an Ionian Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. Most of the information about Pythagoras was written down centuries after he lived, so very little reliable information is known about him...  and the Pythagoreans - maths and mysticism	Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Serafina Cuomo, John O’Connor
3 December 2009	The Silk Road Silk Road The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa... - from Dunhuang Dunhuang Dunhuang is a city in northwestern Gansu province, Western China. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. It was also known at times as Shāzhōu , or 'City of Sands', a name still used today...  to Samarkand Samarkand Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...	Frances Wood Frances Wood Frances Wood is an English historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China... , Tim Barrett, Naomi Standen
26 November 2009	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialised in the magazine The Egoist from 1914 to 1915, and published first in book format in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch, New York. The first English edition was published by the Egoist Press in February 1917... - James Joyce James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century... 's early masterpiece	Roy Foster R. F. Foster (historian) Robert Fitzroy Foster FBA FRHistS FRSL - generally known as Roy Foster - is the Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford in the UK.-Background and education:... , Katherine Mullin, Jeri Johnson
19 November 2009	Sparta Sparta Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c... - the anti-Athens	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from...
12 November 2009	The Discovery of Radiation Radiation In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing... - from radio Radio Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...  waves to gamma rays	Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:... , Frank James
5 November 2009	The Siege of Münster Münster Rebellion The Münster Rebellion was an attempt by radical Anabaptists to establish a communal sectarian government in the German city of Münster. The city became an Anabaptist center from 1534 to 1535, and fell under Anabaptist rule for 18 months — from February 1534, when the city hall was seized and... - Apocalypse 1535	Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford... , Charlotte Methuen, Lucy Wooding
29 October 2009	Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal... - the tyranny of the Will Will (philosophy) Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Christopher Janaway Christopher Janaway Christopher Janaway , is a philosopher and author. Before moving to Southampton in 2005, Chris Janaway taught at the University of Sydney and Birkbeck, University of London. His recent research has been on Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and aesthetics... , Béatrice Han-Pile
22 October 2009	The Geological Formation of Britain - our long journey north	Richard Corfield, Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:... , Sanjeev Gupta
15 October 2009	The Death of Elizabeth I Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty... - plots, plague and politics	John Guy John Guy (historian) John Guy is a British historian and biographer.Born in Australia, he moved to Britain with his parents in 1952. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Lytham, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking a First. At Cambridge, Guy studied under the Tudor specialist Geoffrey... , Clare Jackson, Helen Hackett
8 October 2009	The Dreyfuss Affair - the scandal that tore France apart	Robert Gildea Robert Gildea Robert Nigel Gildea is professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and is the author of several influential books on 20th century French history. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, before attending St Antony's for a D.Phil under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin. His D.Phil... , Robert Tombs, Ruth Harris
1 October 2009	Akhenaten Akhenaten Akhenaten also spelled Echnaton,Ikhnaton,and Khuenaten;meaning "living spirit of Aten") known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV , was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt who ruled for 17 years and died perhaps in 1336 BC or 1334 BC... - history's first individual	Richard Parkinson Richard B. Parkinson Richard Bruce Parkinson is a British academic of Egyptology.Parkinson studied at The Queen's College, Oxford, his D.Phil thesis being a commentary on The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant and submitted in 1988.... , Elizabeth Frood, Kate Spence
24 September 2009	Leibniz vs Newton - who first calculated the calculus Calculus Calculus is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. This subject constitutes a major part of modern mathematics education. It has two major branches, differential calculus and integral calculus, which are related by the fundamental theorem... ?	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Jackie Stedall
17 September 2009	St Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis... - his profound influence on Western faith and philosophy	Martin Palmer, John Haldane John Joseph Haldane John Joseph Haldane is a leading Scottish philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a Papal Adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term Analytical Thomism, and is himself a Thomist in the analytic tradition.... , Annabel Brett

2009-2008

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
9 July 2009	Ediacara Biota Ediacara biota The Ediacara biota consisted of enigmatic tubular and frond-shaped, mostly sessile organisms which lived during the Ediacaran Period . Trace fossils of these organisms have been found worldwide, and represent the earliest known complex multicellular organisms.Simple multicellular organisms such as... - the first animal?	Richard Corfield, Martin Brasier, Rachel Wood
2 July 2009	Logical Positivism Logical positivism Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic... - or is it?	Barry Smith, Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (philosopher) Nancy Cartwright FBA is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California at San Diego, and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship... , Thomas Uebel
25 June 2009	The Sunni-Shia Split: after Muhammad	Amira Bennison, Robert Gleave, Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972...
18 June 2009	Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy Revenge play The revenge play or revenge tragedy is a form of tragedy which was extremely popular in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. The best-known of these are Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and William Shakespeare's Hamlet... - theatre of blood	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Julie Sanders, Janet Clare
11 June 2009	The Augustan Age Augustus Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian... - art and propaganda at the birth of the Roman Empire Roman Empire The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....	Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column... , Catharine Edwards, Duncan Kennedy
4 June 2009	The Trial of Charles I - the original courtroom drama	Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history... , Diane Purkiss, David Wootton
28 May 2009	Saint Paul - the first Christian	John Haldane, John Barclay, Helen Bond
21 May 2009	The Whale Whale Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga... : A History	Steve Jones, Eleanor Weston, Bill Amos
14 May 2009	The Siege of Vienna Siege of Vienna The Siege of Vienna in 1529 was the first attempt by the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, to capture the city of Vienna, Austria. The siege signalled the pinnacle of the Ottoman Empire's power, the maximum extent of Ottoman expansion in central Europe, and was the result of a... - a clash of civilisations?	Jeremy Black, Andrew Wheatcroft, Claire Norton
7 May 2009	Magna Carta Magna Carta Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225... - foundation of law or rich man's charter?	Nicholas Vincent, David Carpenter, Michael Clanchy Michael Clanchy Michael T. Clanchy is a Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy....
30 April 2009	The Vacuum of Space Vacuum In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in... - a programme about nothing?	Frank Close, Jocelyn Bell Burnell Jocelyn Bell Burnell Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS , is a British astrophysicist. As a postgraduate student she discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. She was president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president... , Ruth Gregory
23 April 2009	The Building of St Petersburg - "a window through which Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...  looks on Europe"	Simon Dixon, Janet Hartley, Anthony Cross
16 April 2009	Suffragism Women's suffrage Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or... - the long march towards votes for women Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom as a national movement began in 1872. Women were not prohibited from voting in the United Kingdom until the 1832 Reform Act and the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act...	Krista Cowman, June Purvis, Julia Bush
9 April 2009	Brave New World Brave New World Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of... - would Soma Soma Soma , or Haoma , from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities... , free love Free love The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...  and the feelies be so bad?	David Bradshaw, Daniel Pick, Michèle Barrett
2 April 2009	Baconian Science Baconian method The Baconian method is the investigative method developed by Sir Francis Bacon. The method was put forward in Bacon's book Novum Organum , or 'New Method', and was supposed to replace the methods put forward in Aristotle's Organon... - Francis Bacon Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...  and the birth of modern science History of science The history of science is the study of the historical development of human understandings of the natural world and the domains of the social sciences....	Stephen Pumfrey, Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Rhodri Lewis
26 March 2009	The School of Athens The School of Athens The School of Athens, or in Italian, is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the , in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican... - picturing Greece in Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...  minds	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Valery Rees, Jill Kraye
19 March 2009	The Boxer Rebellion Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between... - "Kill all Foreigners!"	Frances Wood Frances Wood Frances Wood is an English historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China... , Rana Mitter, Gary Tiedemann
12 March 2009	The Library of Alexandria Library of Alexandria The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest and most significant great library of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the... - of all the books in all the world...	Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge... , Matthew Nicholls, Serafina Cuomo
5 March 2009	The Measurement Problem Measurement problem The measurement problem in quantum mechanics is the unresolved problem of how wavefunction collapse occurs. The inability to observe this process directly has given rise to different interpretations of quantum mechanics, and poses a key set of questions that each interpretation must answer...  in Physics - Man is not the measure of all things	Basil Hiley Basil Hiley Basil Hiley, born 1935, is a British quantum physicist and professor emeritus of the University of London.- Work :Hiley published a paper in 1961 on the random walk of a macromolecule, which was followed by further papers on the Ising model, and lattice constant systems defined in graph theoretical... , Simon Saunders, Sir Roger Penrose Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...
26 February 2009	The Waste Land The Waste Land The Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...  and Modernity Modernity Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance... - "I will show you fear in a handful of dust"	Steve Connor, Fran Brearton, Lawrence Rainey
19 February 2009	The Observatory at Jaipur Jantar Mantar (Jaipur) The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1734. It is modeled after the one that he had built for him at the Mughal capital of Delhi. He had constructed a total of five such... - Indian astronomy on the cusp of colonialism	Chandrika Kaul, David Arnold, Chris Minkowski
12 February 2009	The Destruction of Carthage - "Delenda Carthago!" Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...	Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column... , Jo Quinn, Ellen O’Gorman
5 February 2009	The Brothers Grimm: fairy tales, Grimm Grimm's Fairy Tales Children's and Household Tales is a collection of German origin fairy tales first published in 1812 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, the Brothers Grimm. The collection is commonly known today as Grimms' Fairy Tales .-Composition:...  - but not as we know them	Juliette Wood, Marina Warner, Tony Phelan
29 January 2009	A Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in...  by Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St... - 18th century satire gets close to the bone	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Judith Hawley, Ian McBride
22 January 2009	A History of History History History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians... - how the writing of history has evolved	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , John Burrow, Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate....
15 January 2009	Thoreau Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...  and the American Idyll - America in the Wilderness Wilderness Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...	Kathleen Burk, Tim Morris, Stephen Fender
5-8 January 2009	Darwin Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory... Programme 1: On the Origins of Charles Darwin Programme 2: The Beagle HMS Beagle HMS Beagle was a Cherokee-class 10-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 11 May 1820 from the Woolwich Dockyard on the River Thames, at a cost of £7,803. In July of that year she took part in a fleet review celebrating the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom in which... , the Mockingbird Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. There are about 17 species in three genera...  and the Megatherium Megatherium Megatherium was a genus of elephant-sized ground sloths endemic to Central America and South America that lived from the Pliocene through Pleistocene existing approximately... Programme 3: On the Origin of Species Programme 4: Life After the Origin	Special series of four daily programmes in documentary format
1 January 2009	The Consolation of Philosophy - a new year's message from Boethius	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Melissa Lane Melissa Lane Melissa Lane is a full professor of politics at Princeton University. Before becoming a professor at Princeton University in 2008, she was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Associate Director of their Centre for History and Economics.-Academic career:... , Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...
18 December 2008	The Physics Time in physics Time in physics is defined by its measurement: time is what a clock reads. It is a scalar quantity and, like length, mass, and charge, is usually described as a fundamental quantity. Time can be combined mathematically with other physical quantities to derive other concepts such as motion, kinetic...  of Time Time Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects.... - does time even exist?	Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Monica Grady Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University.... , Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...
11 December 2008	The Great Fire of London Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall... - London's burning, fetch the engines...	Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority... , Vanessa Harding, Jonathan Sawday
4 December 2008	Heat Heat In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between... : A History -from fire to thermodynamics Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Hasok Chang, Joanna Haigh
27 November 2008	The Great Reform Act Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales... : reform - but was it great?	Dinah Birch, Michael Bentley, Catherine Hall
20 November 2008	The Baroque Baroque The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music... - - the misshapen pearl of Europe	T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College... , Nigel Aston, Helen Hills
13 November 2008	Neuroscience Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,... - does the brain rule the mind?	Martin Conway, Gemma Calvert, David Papineau David Papineau David Papineau is an academic philosopher. He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London, having previously taught for several years at Cambridge University and been a fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge...
6 November 2008	Aristotle's Politics Politics (Aristotle) Aristotle's Politics is a work of political philosophy. The end of the Nicomachean Ethics declared that the inquiry into ethics necessarily follows into politics, and the two works are frequently considered to be parts of a larger treatise, or perhaps connected lectures, dealing with the... - a perfect society?	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Paul Cartledge, Annabel Brett
30 October 2008	Simon Bolivar Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader... - the liberator of Spanish America	Anthony McFarlane, John Fisher, Catherine Davies
23 October 2008	Dante's Inferno Inferno (Dante) Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as... - to Hell Hell In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...  and back	Margaret Kean, John Took, Claire Honess
16 October 2008	Vitalism Vitalism Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions... - the spark of life	Patricia Fara, Andrew Mendelsohn, Pietro Corsi
9 October 2008	Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems Gödel's incompleteness theorems Gödel's incompleteness theorems are two theorems of mathematical logic that establish inherent limitations of all but the most trivial axiomatic systems capable of doing arithmetic. The theorems, proven by Kurt Gödel in 1931, are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of... - the dirty secret of maths	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , John D. Barrow John D. Barrow -External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************... , Philip Welch
2 October 2008	The Translation Movement - the movement in Baghdad Baghdad Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...  which translated Aristotle Aristotle Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...  and other Greek classics into Arabic	Peter Adamson, Amira Bennison, Peter Pormann
25 September 2008	Miracles - will they never cease?	Martin Palmer, Janet Soskice, Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history...

2008-2007

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
10 July 2008	Tacitus Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors... - The Decadence of Rome Ancient Rome Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....	Catharine Edwards, Ellen O’Gorman, Maria Wyke
3 July 2008	The Metaphysical Poets Metaphysical poets The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterized by inventiveness of metaphor... - sex and death in the 17th century	Thomas Healy, Julie Sanders, Tom Cain
26 June 2008	The Arab Conquests Muslim conquests Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They... - the 7th century new world order	Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972... , Amira Bennison, Robert Hoyland
19 June 2008	The Music of the Spheres Musica universalis Musica universalis is an ancient philosophical concept that regards proportions in the movements of celestial bodies—the Sun, Moon, and planets—as a form of musica . This 'music' is not usually thought to be literally audible, but a harmonic and/or mathematical and/or religious concept... - a dose of heavenly harmonies	Peter Forshaw, Jim Bennett, Angela Voss
12 June 2008	The Riddle of the Sands The Riddle of the Sands The Riddle of the Sands: A Record of Secret Service is a 1903 novel by Erskine Childers. It is an early example of the espionage novel, with a strong underlying theme of militarism... - how Britain learned to fear the Germans	Richard J. Evans Richard J. Evans Richard John Evans is a British academic and historian, prominently known for his history of Germany.-Life:Evans was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and President of Wolfson College... , Rosemary Ashton, T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College...
5 June 2008	Trofim Lysenko Trofim Lysenko Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was a Soviet agronomist of Ukrainian origin, who was director of Soviet biology under Joseph Stalin. Lysenko rejected Mendelian genetics in favor of the hybridization theories of Russian horticulturist Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, and adopted them into a powerful... - Joseph Stalin Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee... 's chief geneticist	Robert Service Robert Service (historian) Robert John Service is a British historian, academic, and author who has written extensively on the history of Soviet Russia, particularly the era from the October Revolution to Stalin's death... , Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Catherine Merridale
29 May 2008	Probability Probability Probability is ordinarily used to describe an attitude of mind towards some proposition of whose truth we arenot certain. The proposition of interest is usually of the form "Will a specific event occur?" The attitude of mind is of the form "How certain are we that the event will occur?" The... - heads or tails?	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Colva Roney-Dougal, Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...
22 May 2008	The Black Death Black Death The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have... - a plague on all our houses	Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Samuel Cohn, Paul Binski
15 May 2008	The Library at Nineveh Nineveh Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq.... -	Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.... , Karen Radner, Andrew R. George
8 May 2008	The Brain: A History History of the brain Early views on the function of the brain, regarded it to be a form of “cranial stuffing” of sorts. In ancient Egypt, from the late Middle Kingdom onwards, in preparation for mummification, the brain was regularly removed, for it was the heart that was assumed to be the seat of intelligence... - food for thought	Vivian Nutton, Jonathan Sawday, Marina Wallace
1 May 2008	The Enclosure Enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the... s - dividing the country	Rosemary Sweet, Murray Pittock, Mark Overton
April 24 2008	Materialism Materialism In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance... - are we living in a material world?	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Caroline Warman, Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Head of the Department of Education.He is the editor of the journal Philosophy and Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy...
April 17 2008	Yeats William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...  and Irish Politics - "a terrible beauty is born"	Roy Foster R. F. Foster (historian) Robert Fitzroy Foster FBA FRHistS FRSL - generally known as Roy Foster - is the Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford in the UK.-Background and education:... , Fran Brearton, Warwick Gould
April 10 2008	The Norman Yoke Norman yoke The Norman yoke is a term that emerged in English nationalist discourse in the mid-17th century. It was a shorthand phrase, useful for attributing the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England to the impositions of William I of England, his retainers and their descendants.- History :The medieval... - 1067 and all that 1066 and All That 1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates is a tongue-in-cheek reworking of the history of England. Written by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman and illustrated by John Reynolds, it first...	Sarah Foot Sarah Foot Sarah Foot is a British early medieval historian and currently holds the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford.... , Richard Gameson, Matthew Strickland
April 3 2008	Newton's Laws of Motion Newton's laws of motion Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces... - they put a man on the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Raymond Flood, Rob Iliffe
March 27 2008	The Dissolution of the Monasteries Dissolution of the Monasteries The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their... - religion in ruins	Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford... , Diane Purkiss, George Bernard
March 20 2008	Soren Kierkegaard - fear and trembling in Copenhagen	Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Clare Carlisle, John Lippitt
March 13 2008	The Greek Myths Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece... - soap opera of the gods	Nick Lowe Nick Lowe (classicist) Dr Nick Lowe is a Reader in Classics in the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, with interests including narratology and reception of Greek antiquity in historical fiction. He is also an award-winning film reviewer for science fiction magazine, Interzone... , Richard Buxton, Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column...
March 6 2008	Ada Lovelace Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was an English writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine... - prophet of the computer age	Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Doron Swade Doron Swade Doron Swade MBE is a museum curator and author, specialising in the history of computing. He is especially known for his work on the computer pioneer Charles Babbage and his Difference Engine.Swade was originally from South Africa... , John Fuegi
February 28 2008	King Lear King Lear King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological... - Shakespeare's finest fairy tale	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Katherine Duncan-Jones, Catherine Belsey
February 21 2008	The Multiverse Multiverse The multiverse is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes that together comprise all of reality.Multiverse may also refer to:-In fiction:* Multiverse , the fictional multiverse used by DC Comics... - the universe Universe The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...  is not enough	Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004... , Fay Dowker Fay Dowker Helen Fay Dowker is a British Theoretical Physicist at Imperial College London.As a student, she was interested in wormholes and quantum cosmology... , Bernard Carr
February 14 2008	The Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886... - From France with love...	Robert Gildea Robert Gildea Robert Nigel Gildea is professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and is the author of several influential books on 20th century French history. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, before attending St Antony's for a D.Phil under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin. His D.Phil... , Kathleen Burk, John Keane
February 7 2008	The Social Contract Social contract The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept... - Hobbes Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy... , Locke John Locke John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social... , Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...  and the Origins of Society Society A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...	Melissa Lane Melissa Lane Melissa Lane is a full professor of politics at Princeton University. Before becoming a professor at Princeton University in 2008, she was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Associate Director of their Centre for History and Economics.-Academic career:... , Susan James, Karen O’Brien
January 31 2008	The Court of Rudolf II - the lost powerhouse of Renaissance ideas	Peter Forshaw, Howard Hotson, Adam Mosley
January 24 2008	Plate Tectonics Plate tectonics Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere... - the day the Earth moved	Richard Corfield, Joe Cann, Lynne Frostick
17 January 2008	The Fisher King Fisher King The Fisher King, or the Wounded King, figures in Arthurian legend as the latest in a line charged with keeping the Holy Grail. Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own... - the wound that does not heal	Carolyne Larrington, Stephen Knight, Juliette Wood
10 January 2008	The Charge of the Light Brigade Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective... - "All in the valley of Death rode the six hundred"	Mike Broers, Trudi Tate, Saul David Saul David Julian Saul David, known popularly as Saul David, was born in 1966 in Monmouth, Wales and is an academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on British television...
3 January 2008	Albert Camus Albert Camus Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957... - Rebel with a Cause	Peter Dunwoodie, David Walker, Christina Howells
27 December 2007	The Nicene Creed Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the... - when Christ became God	Martin Palmer, Caroline Humfress, Andrew Louth
20 December 2007	The Four Humours Humorism Humorism, or humoralism, is a now discredited theory of the makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers, positing that an excess or deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person directly influences their temperament and health... - yellow bile Bile Bile or gall is a bitter-tasting, dark green to yellowish brown fluid, produced by the liver of most vertebrates, that aids the process of digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In many species, bile is stored in the gallbladder and upon eating is discharged into the duodenum... , blood Blood Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.... , choler and phlegm Phlegm Phlegm is a liquid secreted by the mucous membranes of mammalians. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing . Phlegm is in essence a water-based gel consisting of...  in the original theory of everything	David Wootton, Vivian Nutton, Noga Arikha
13 December 2007	The Sassanian Empire - - in the shadow of Ancient Persia	Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972... , Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, James Howard-Johnston
6 December 2007	Genetic Mutation Mutation In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic... - the error-strewn secrets of life	Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Adrian Woolfson, Linda Partridge Linda Partridge Dame Linda Partridge DBE is a British geneticist, who studies the biology and genetics of ageing and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease....
29 November 2007	The Fibonacci Sequence - - the numbers in nature	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Jackie Stedall, , Ron Knott
22 November 2007	The Prelude The Prelude The Prelude; or, Growth of a Poet's Mind is an autobiographical, "philosophical" poem in blank verse by the English poet William Wordsworth. Wordsworth wrote the first version of the poem when he was 28, and worked over the rest of it for his long life without publishing it...  - the greatest poem in the English language?	Rosemary Ashton, Stephen Gill, Emma Mason
15 November 2007	The Discovery of Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition... - feuds and revolutions at the birth of modern chemistry	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Jenny Uglow Jenny Uglow Jennifer Sheila Uglow OBE is a British biographer, critic and publisher. The editorial director of Chatto & Windus, she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick and the Lunar Society, among others, and has also compiled a women's... , Hasok Chang
8 November 2007	Avicenna Avicenna Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā , commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived... - wine, women and philosophy	Peter Adamson, Amira Bennison, Nader El-Bizri
1 November 2007	Guilt Guilt Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that... - what is it good for?	Stephen Mulhall, Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker is an English philosopher. She currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.-Career:... , Oliver Davies
25 October 2007	Taste Taste (sociology) Taste as an aesthetic, sociological, economic and anthropological concept refers to a cultural patterns of choice and preference. While taste is often understood as a biological concept, it can also be reasonably studied as a social or cultural phenomenon. Taste is about drawing distinctions... - the good, the bad and the ugly in 18th century	Amanda Vickery Amanda Vickery Amanda Vickery is a British historian and television presenter.She graduated from the former Bedford College, London where she completed her PhD in Modern History... , John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute...
18 October 2007	The Arabian Nights - The art of story-telling	Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin is a British historian, novelist, and writer on Arabic literature.He read modern history at the University of Oxford, and did graduate research at SOAS. From 1972 he was a lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews. He gave up academic life in 1977 in order... , Marina Warner, Gerard van Gelder Geert Jan van Gelder Gerard Jan Henk van Gelder FBA is a Dutch academic who has been Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford since 1998.-Life:...
11 October 2007	Divine Right of Kings Divine Right of Kings The divine right of kings or divine-right theory of kingship is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God... - "there's such divinity doth hedge a king"	Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history... , Thomas Healy, Clare Jackson
4 October 2007	Antimatter Antimatter In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles... - where has it all gone?	Val Gibson, Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:... , Ruth Gregory
27 September 2007	Socrates Socrates Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ... - the man and the myth	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , David Sedley, Paul Millett

2007-2006

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
12 July 2007	The Trial of Madame Bovary Madame Bovary Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life... - "Madame Bovary, c'est moi!"	Andy Martin Andy Martin (author) Andy Martin is a British author and academic. He is a regular contributor to BBC radio programmes and sometimes writes for "The Stone" and "Opinionator" columns in The New York Times . He has also written articles for the web broadcasting service SBS Broadcasting Group... , Mary Orr, Robert Gildea Robert Gildea Robert Nigel Gildea is professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and is the author of several influential books on 20th century French history. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, before attending St Antony's for a D.Phil under the supervision of Theodore Zeldin. His D.Phil...
5 July 2007	The Pilgrim Fathers - the original American dream	Kathleen Burk, Harry Bennett, Tim Lockley
28 June 2007	Permian-Triassic Boundary Permian-Triassic extinction event The Permian–Triassic extinction event, informally known as the Great Dying, was an extinction event that occurred 252.28 Ma ago, forming the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geologic periods, as well as the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras... - when 95% of life was killed off	Richard Corfield, Mike Benton, Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:...
21 June 2007	Common Sense Common sense Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Thus, "common sense" equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have...  Philosophy - "there is no statement so absurd that no philosopher will make it"	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Melissa Lane Melissa Lane Melissa Lane is a full professor of politics at Princeton University. Before becoming a professor at Princeton University in 2008, she was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Associate Director of their Centre for History and Economics.-Academic career:... , Alexander Broadie
14 June 2007	Renaissance Astrology - "we are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and bandied which way please them"	Peter Forshaw, Lauren Kassell, Jonathan Sawday
7 June 2007	Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Sassoon Siegfried Loraine Sassoon CBE MC was an English poet, author and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoon's... - the poet who survived	Jean Moorcroft Wilson Jean Moorcroft Wilson Dr Jean Moorcroft Wilson is a British academic and writer, best known as a biographer and critic of First World War poets and poetry.... , Fran Brearton, Max Egremont Max Wyndham, 2nd Baron Egremont John Max Henry Scawen Wyndham, 7th Baron Leconfield, 2nd Baron Egremont , generally known simply as Max Egremont, is a British biographer and novelist....
31 May 2007	Occam's Razor Occam's razor Occam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae , is a principle that generally recommends from among competing hypotheses selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions.-Overview:The principle is often summarized as "simpler explanations... - cutting medieval philosophy down to size	Sir Anthony Kenny Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion... , Marilyn McCord Adams Marilyn McCord Adams Marilyn McCord Adams is an American philosopher working in philosophy of religion, philosophical theology and medieval philosophy.-Family:Adams is the daughter of William Clark McCord and Wilmah Brown McCord... , Richard Alan Cross
24 May 2007	The Siege of Orleans Siege of Orléans The Siege of Orléans marked a turning point in the Hundred Years' War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory and the first major French success to follow the crushing defeat at Agincourt in 1415. The outset of this siege marked the pinnacle of English power... - did Joan of Arc Joan of Arc Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...  really rescue France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... ?	Anne Curry Anne Curry Anne Elizabeth Curry is a British historian. She is Professor of Medieval history at the University of Southampton, former editor of the Journal of Medieval History, and a specialist in the Hundred Years' War, especially the Battle of Agincourt. She is also President of the Historical Association... , Malcolm Vale, Matthew Bennett
17 May 2007	Gravitational Waves - a new window on the universe	Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Carolin Crawford, Sheila Rowan
10 May 2007	Victorian Pessimism Pessimism Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"... - fear and loathing in the late 19th century	Dinah Birch, Rosemary Ashton, Peter Mandler Peter Mandler Peter Mandler is an historian at the University of Cambridge. He focuses on 19th and 20th century British history, particularly cultural history and the history of the social sciences...
3 May 2007	Spinoza Baruch Spinoza Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death... - believed that God and Nature were the same thing	Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Sarah Hutton, John Cottingham
26 April 2007	Greek and Roman Love Poetry - the pursuit of the Beloved from Sappho Sappho Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...  to Catullus Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.-Biography:...	Nick Lowe Nick Lowe (classicist) Dr Nick Lowe is a Reader in Classics in the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, with interests including narratology and reception of Greek antiquity in historical fiction. He is also an award-winning film reviewer for science fiction magazine, Interzone... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Maria Wyke
19 April 2007	Symmetry Symmetry Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection... - the pattern at the heart of our physical world	Fay Dowker Fay Dowker Helen Fay Dowker is a British Theoretical Physicist at Imperial College London.As a student, she was interested in wormholes and quantum cosmology... , Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...
12 April 2007	The Opium Wars Opium Wars The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, divided into the First Opium War from 1839 to 1842 and the Second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, were the climax of disputes over trade and diplomatic relations between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire... - a conflict that was to affect British-Chinese relations for generations	Yangwen Zheng, Lars Laamann, Xun Zhou
5 April 2007	St Hilda Hilda of Whitby Hilda of Whitby or Hild of Whitby was a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby... - the life and times of the Abbess Abbess An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....  of Whitby Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a combined maritime, mineral and tourist heritage, and is home to the ruins of Whitby Abbey where Caedmon, the...	John Blair, Rosemary Cramp, Sarah Foot Sarah Foot Sarah Foot is a British early medieval historian and currently holds the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford....
29 March 2007	Anaesthetics Anesthesia Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away... - from ether frolics to pain free surgery Surgery Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...	David Wilkinson, Stephanie Snow, Anne Hardy
22 March 2007	Bismarck Otto von Bismarck Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of... - The Iron Chancellor	Richard J. Evans Richard J. Evans Richard John Evans is a British academic and historian, prominently known for his history of Germany.-Life:Evans was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and President of Wolfson College... , Christopher Clark Christopher Clark Christopher M. Clark is an Australian historian working in England. He was educated at Sydney Grammar School, the University of Sydney and the Freie Universität Berlin.-Life:... , Katharine Lerman
15 March 2007	Epistolary Literature Epistolary novel An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used. Recently, electronic "documents" such as recordings and radio, blogs, and e-mails have also come into use... - great novels of fictional letters	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Karen O'Brien, Brean Hammond
8 March 2007	Microbiology Microbiology Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes... - the story of the invisible masters of the universe	John Dupré John Dupré John Dupré is a professional philosopher of science. He is the director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society and professor of philosophy at the University of Exeter. Dupré was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge and taught at Oxford, Stanford University and... , Anne Glover, Andrew Mendelsohn
1 March 2007	The History of Optics Optics Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light... - from telescopes to microscopes, a new way of seeing the world	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Jim Bennett Jim Bennett (historian) James Arthur Bennett PhD is a museum curator and historian of science.Jim Bennett is Director of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University. he was appointed on 1 October 1994, on the retirement of the previous director, Francis Maddison. He is also a member of the Faculty of... , Emily Winterburn
22 February 2007	William Wilberforce William Wilberforce William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire... - the man and his legacy	This broadcast was a documentary rather than a discussion
15 February 2007	Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. Before its 1903 publication, it appeared as a three-part series in Blackwood's Magazine. It was classified by the Modern Library website editors as one of the "100 best novels" and part of the Western canon.The story centres on Charles... - one of the most influential novels of the 20th century	Susan Jones, Robert Hampson, Laurence Davies
8 February 2007	Karl Popper Karl Popper Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics... - his ideas challenged our approach to the philosophy of science	John Worrall John Worrall (philosopher) John Worrall is a professor of philosophy of science at the London School of Economics. He is also associated with the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the same institution.... , Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Head of the Department of Education.He is the editor of the journal Philosophy and Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy... , Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (philosopher) Nancy Cartwright FBA is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California at San Diego, and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship...
1 February 2007	Genghis Khan Genghis Khan Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.... - founder of one of the world's largest ever land-based empires	Peter Jackson Peter Jackson (historian) Peter Jackson is a scholar and historian, specializing on the Crusades, particularly the contacts between the Europeans and the Mongols as well as medieval Muslim India... , Naomi Standen, George Lane
25 January 2007	Archimedes Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics, statics and an... - the Greek mathematician and his Eureka moments	Jackie Stedall, Serafina Cuomo, George Phillips
18 January 2007	The Jesuits - the school masters of Europe	Nigel Aston, Simon Ditchfield, Dame Olwen Hufton Olwen Hufton Dame Olwen H. Hufton, DBE, FBA, FRHistS is a historian of early modern Europe and a pioneer of social history and of women's history. Hufton is an expert on Early Modern, western European comparative socio-cultural history with special emphasis on gender, poverty, social relations, religion and work...
11 January 2007	Mars Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance... - the search for life on the Red Planet	John Zarnecki John Zarnecki John C. Zarnecki is an English Sir Arthur Clarke Award winning professor and researcher in space science. Currently working at the Open University since 2000, he was previously a professor and researcher at the University of Kent... , Colin Pillinger Colin Pillinger Colin Trevor Pillinger, CBE, is a planetary scientist at the Open University in the UK. He was the principal investigator for the British Beagle 2 Mars lander project, and has done much work studying a group of Martian meteorites.In May 2005 Pillinger was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.-Early... , Monica Grady Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University....
4 January 2007	Borges - the life and work of Argentina Argentina Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires... 's best loved short story writer	Edwin Williamson, Efraín Kristal, Evelyn Fishburn
28 December 2006	The Siege of Constantinople Fall of Constantinople The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI... - the end of a thousand years of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...	Roger Crowley, Judith Herrin Judith Herrin Judith Herrin is Emeritus Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College London. She studied history at the University of Cambridge and did her PhD at the University of Birmingham. She trained in Paris and Munich, worked as an archaeologist with the and on the site of... , Colin Imber
21 December 2006	Hell Hell In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations... - its representation through the ages	Martin Palmer, Margaret Kean, Neil MacGregor Neil MacGregor Robert Neil MacGregor, OM, FSA is an art historian and museum director. He was the Editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, the Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, and was appointed Director of the British Museum in 2002...
14 December 2006	Indian Maths - laying the foundations for modern numerals and zero as a number	George Gheverghese Joseph, Colva Roney-Dougal, Dennis Almeida
7 December 2006	Anarchism Anarchism Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations... - a question of authority?	John Keane, Ruth Kinna Ruth Kinna Ruth Ellen Kinna is a politics lecturer at Loughborough University, working in the Department of Politics, History and International Relations where she specialises in political philosophy. Since 2007 she has been the editor of the journal Anarchist Studies.... , Peter Marshall Peter Marshall (author) Peter Marshall is an English philosopher, historian, biographer, travel writer and poet. He has written fifteen books which are being translated into fourteen different languages. He wrote, presented and partly filmed the 6-part HTV series 'Voyage Around Africa', first shown in 1994...
30 November 2006	The Speed of Light Speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time... - a cosmic speed limit?	John D. Barrow John D. Barrow -External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************... , Iwan Morus, Jocelyn Bell Burnell Jocelyn Bell Burnell Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS , is a British astrophysicist. As a postgraduate student she discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. She was president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president...
23 November 2006	Altruism Altruism Altruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of... - how can evolutionary biology explain it?	Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker is an English philosopher. She currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.-Career:... , Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author... , John Dupré John Dupré John Dupré is a professional philosopher of science. He is the director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society and professor of philosophy at the University of Exeter. Dupré was educated at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge and taught at Oxford, Stanford University and...
16 November 2006	The Peasants' Revolt Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, Wat Tyler's Rebellion, or the Great Rising of 1381 was one of a number of popular revolts in late medieval Europe and is a major event in the history of England. Tyler's Rebellion was not only the most extreme and widespread insurrection in English history but also the... - a lasting legacy for popular uprising?	Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Caroline Barron, Alastair Dunn
9 November 2006	Alexander Pope Alexander Pope Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson... - "short is my date, but deathless my renown"	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Jim McLaverty, Valerie Rumbold
2 November 2006	The Poincaré conjecture Poincaré conjecture In mathematics, the Poincaré conjecture is a theorem about the characterization of the three-dimensional sphere , which is the hypersphere that bounds the unit ball in four-dimensional space... - how a 19th century mathematician changed how we think about the shape of the universe	June Barrow-Green, Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College...
26 October 2006	The Encyclopédie Encyclopédie Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert... - the great project of the Enlightenment Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...	Judith Hawley, Caroline Warman, David Wootton
19 October 2006	The Needham Question - did China lay the foundations of modern science?	Chris Cullen, Tim Barrett, Frances Wood
12 October 2006	The Diet of Worms Diet of Worms The Diet of Worms 1521 was a diet that took place in Worms, Germany, and is most memorable for the Edict of Worms , which addressed Martin Luther and the effects of the Protestant Reformation.It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding.Other Imperial diets at... - Luther Martin Luther Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517... 's stand against the Church	Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford... , David Bagchi, Charlotte Methuen
5 October 2006	Averroes Averroes ' , better known just as Ibn Rushd , and in European literature as Averroes , was a Muslim polymath; a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Arabic music theory, and the sciences of medicine, astronomy,... - the battle between faith and reason	Amira Bennison, Peter Adamson, Sir Anthony Kenny Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion...
28 September 2006	Alexander von Humboldt Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt... - the remarkable career of the Prussian naturalist	Jason Wilson, Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Jim Secord

2006-2005

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
13 July 2006	Greek Comedy Ancient Greek comedy Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece . Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy... - sing as you revel and rout	Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Nick Lowe Nick Lowe (classicist) Dr Nick Lowe is a Reader in Classics in the Department of Classics and Philosophy at Royal Holloway University of London, with interests including narratology and reception of Greek antiquity in historical fiction. He is also an award-winning film reviewer for science fiction magazine, Interzone...
6 July 2006	Pastoral Literature - the romantic idealisation of the countryside	Helen Cooper, Laurence Lerner Laurence Lerner Laurence Lerner is a South African born British literary critic and poet and novelist. He was born in Cape Town to parents of Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry, and educated at the University of Cape Town and Pembroke College, Cambridge.... , Julie Sanders
29 June 2006	Galaxies - extra-galactic nebulae, black holes, stars and dark matter	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also... , Carolin Crawford, Robert Kennicutt Robert Kennicutt Robert Charles Kennicutt, Jr. FRS is an American astronomer. He is the Plumian Professor of Astronomy at the Institute of Astronomy in the University of Cambridge. He was formerly Editor-in-Chief of the Astrophysical Journal...
22 June 2006	The Spanish Inquisition Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval... - one of the most barbaric episodes in European history	John Edwards, Alexander Murray, Michael Alpert
15 June 2006	Carbon Carbon Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds... - the basis of life	Harry Kroto, Monica Grady Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University.... , Ken Teo
8 June 2006	Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....  - the novel that started the American Civil War	Celeste-Marie Bernier, Sarah Meer, Clive Webb
1 June 2006	The Heart Heart The heart is a myogenic muscular organ found in all animals with a circulatory system , that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions... - its anatomical and cultural history	David Wootton, Fay Bound Alberti, Jonathan Sawday
25 May 2006	Mathematics and Music - the science behind sound and composition	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Robin Wilson Robin Wilson (mathematician) Robin James Wilson is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford and, , Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, where he has also been a visiting professor... , Ruth Tatlow
18 May 2006	John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of... - one of the most influential philosophers of the 19th Century	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards is a British philosopher who has written about feminism and bioethics.She was Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University 1979-1999, and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London until 2007... , Alan Ryan Alan Ryan Alan James Ryan, FBA was Warden of New College, Oxford, and Professor of Politics at the University of Oxford and currently a lecturer at Princeton University....
11 May 2006	Faeries - supernatural creatures that are neither gods nor humans	Juliette Wood, Diane Purkiss Diane Purkiss Diane Purkiss is Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War.... , Nicola Bown
4 May 2006	Astronomy Astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...  and Empire Empire The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy.... - the link between colonial expansion and scientific discovery	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Kristen Lippincott, Allan Chapman
27 April 2006	The Great Exhibition - a wonder of the Victorian world	Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute... , Hermione Hobhouse, Clive Emsley Clive Emsley Clive Emsley is a British historian and criminologist. He is a research director and lecturer at the Open University.-Biography:...
20 April 2006	The Search for Immunisation - and the battle against smallpox	Nadja Durbach, Chris Dye, Sanjoy Bhattacharya
13 April 2006	The Oxford Movement Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy... - Anglicans and Catholics in the 19th century	Sheridan Gilley, Frances Knight, Simon Skinner
6 April 2006	Goethe - formation of a German cultural icon	T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College... , Sarah Colvin, W. Daniel Wilson
30 March 2006	The Carolingian Renaissance Carolingian Renaissance In the history of ideas the Carolingian Renaissance stands out as a period of intellectual and cultural revival in Europe occurring from the late eighth century, in the generation of Alcuin, to the 9th century, and the generation of Heiric of Auxerre, with the peak of the activities coordinated... - the revival of early medieval Western Europe	Matthew Innes, Julia Smith, Mary Garrison
23 March 2006	The Royal Society Royal Society The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"... - the first club for experimental science	Stephen Pumfrey, Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority... , Michael Hunter Michael Hunter (historian) Michael Cyril William Hunter is Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, specializing in the history of science in seventeenth-century England, particularly the work of Robert Boyle...
16 March 2006	Don Quixote - Spanish romance and the first novel	Barry Ife, Edwin Williamson, Jane Whetnall
9 March 2006	Negative numbers - how they spread across civilizations	Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Colva Roney-Dougal, Raymond Flood
2 March 2006	Friendship Friendship Friendship is a form of interpersonal relationship generally considered to be closer than association, although there is a range of degrees of intimacy in both friendships and associations. Friendship and association are often thought of as spanning across the same continuum... - thinking philosophically about our close companions	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Mark Vernon Mark Vernon Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster and journalist. He writes for The Guardian, The Philosophers' Magazine, Financial Times and New Statesman. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time. He used to be a Church of England priest... , John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History....
23 February 2006	Catherine the Great - the Enlightened Despot of Eighteenth Century Russia	Janet Hartley, Simon Dixon, Tony Lentin
16 February 2006	Human Evolution Human evolution Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals... - from early hominids to Homo sapiens	Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Fred Spoor, Margaret Clegg
9 February 2006	Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey... - the first Great English Poet	Carolyne Larrington, Helen Cooper Helen Cooper (professor) Helen Cooper is Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.Helen Cooper studied at New Hall, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1968 and PhD in 1971.... , Ardis Butterfield
2 February 2006	The Abbasid Caliphs - when Baghdad ruled the Muslim world.	Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy Hugh N. Kennedy MA, PhD is Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He was formerly a professor of history at University of St Andrews, a position he had held since 1972... , Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin Robert Graham Irwin is a British historian, novelist, and writer on Arabic literature.He read modern history at the University of Oxford, and did graduate research at SOAS. From 1972 he was a lecturer in Medieval History at the University of St. Andrews. He gave up academic life in 1977 in order... , Amira Bennison
26 January 2006	Seventeenth Century Print Culture Print culture Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and other printed forms of visual communication. One prominent scholar in the field is Elizabeth Eisenstein, who contrasted print culture, which appeared in Europe in the centuries after the advent of the Western printing-press , to scribal culture... - piety, populism and political protest	Kevin Sharpe, Ann Hughes, Joad Raymond
19 January 2006	Relativism Relativism Relativism is the concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration.... - the battle against transcendent knowledge	Barry Smith Barry Smith (ontologist) Barry Smith is a Julian Park Distinguished Professor of Philosophy in the University at Buffalo and Research Scientist in the New York State . From 2002 to 2006 he was Director of the Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science in Leipzig and Saarbrücken, GermaUny... , Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Kathleen Lennon Kathleen Lennon Kathleen Lennon is Ferens Professor of Philosophy, Director of Postgraduate Studies, and Research Director at the University of Hull, England.-Career:...
12 January 2006	Prime Numbers - the building blocks of mathematics	Marcus du Sautoy Marcus du Sautoy Marcus Peter Francis du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Formerly a Fellow of All Souls College, and Wadham College, he is now a Fellow of New College... , Robin Wilson Robin Wilson (mathematician) Robin James Wilson is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Open University, a Stipendiary Lecturer at Pembroke College, Oxford and, , Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, London, where he has also been a visiting professor... , Jackie Stedall
5 January 2006	The Oath Oath An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow... - guaranteeing law, government and the army in the Classical world	Alan Sommerstein, Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.... , Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column...
29 December 2005	Aeschylus Aeschylus Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"... ' Oresteia - the birth of tragedy	Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge... , Thomas Healy
22 December 2005	Heaven Heaven Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit... - a journey through the afterlife	Valery Rees, Martin Palmer, John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East...
15 December 2005	The Peterloo Massacre Peterloo Massacre The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.... - democratic protest and brutal repression	Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute... , Sarah Richardson, Clive Emsley Clive Emsley Clive Emsley is a British historian and criminologist. He is a research director and lecturer at the Open University.-Biography:...
8 December 2005	Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its... - the quest for a machine that can think	Jon Agar, Alison Adam, Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander FREng is an emeritus professor of Neural Systems Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London...
1 December 2005	Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...  and the political philosophy of Leviathan Leviathan (book) Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil — commonly called simply Leviathan — is a book written by Thomas Hobbes and published in 1651. Its name derives from the biblical Leviathan...	Quentin Skinner Quentin Skinner Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner is the Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London.-Biography:... , David Wootton, Annabel Brett
24 November 2005	The Graviton Graviton In physics, the graviton is a hypothetical elementary particle that mediates the force of gravitation in the framework of quantum field theory. If it exists, the graviton must be massless and must have a spin of 2... - the quest for the theoretical gravity particle	Roger Cashmore Roger Cashmore Roger John Cashmore CMG is the Chair of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Previously he was Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford and Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford.... , Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Sheila Rowan
17 November 2005	Pragmatism Pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice... - a practical philosophy fit for 20th century America	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Julian Baggini Julian Baggini Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine... , Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker is an English philosopher. She currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.-Career:...
10 November 2005	Greyfriars Franciscan Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....  and Blackfriars Dominican Order The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France... - philosophy, evangelism and fund-raising in the 13th century Church	Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the role of women. She is currently tutor for welfare at St Peter's College, Oxford.... , Alexander Murray, Sir Anthony Kenny Anthony Kenny Sir Anthony John Patrick Kenny FBA is an English philosopher whose interests lie in the philosophy of mind, ancient and scholastic philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein and the philosophy of religion...
3 November 2005	Asteroids - celestial bodies from the beginning of time	Monica Grady Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University.... , Carolin Crawford, John Zarnecki John Zarnecki John C. Zarnecki is an English Sir Arthur Clarke Award winning professor and researcher in space science. Currently working at the Open University since 2000, he was previously a professor and researcher at the University of Kent...
27 October 2005	Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...  and His Circle - life with the professional man of letters	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Jim McLaverty, Judith Hawley
20 October 2005	Cynicism - bold and populist, the history of a shocking philosophy	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Miriam Griffin, John Moles
13 October 2005	The Rise of the Mammals - life in a cold climate	Richard Corfield, Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:...
6 October 2005	Field of the Cloth of Gold Field of the Cloth of Gold The Field of Cloth of Gold is the name given to a place in Balinghem, between Guînes and Ardres, in France, near Calais. It was the site of a meeting that took place from 7 June to 24 June 1520, between King Henry VIII of England and King Francis I of France. The meeting was arranged to increase... - a Renaissance entente cordiale	Steven Gunn, John Guy John Guy (historian) John Guy is a British historian and biographer.Born in Australia, he moved to Britain with his parents in 1952. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Lytham, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking a First. At Cambridge, Guy studied under the Tudor specialist Geoffrey... , Penny Roberts
29 September 2005	Magnetism Magnetism Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...  - an attractive history	Stephen Pumfrey, John Heilbron, Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority...

2005-2004

In 2005 listeners were invited to vote in a poll for the greatest philosopher in history. The winner was the subject of the final programme before the summer break. The vote was won by Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

 with 27.9% of the votes. Other shortlisted figures were David Hume

David Hume

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...

 (12.7%), Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...

 (6.8%), Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

 (6.5%), Plato

Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

 (5.6%), Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....

 (5.6%), Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...

 (4.8%), Socrates

Socrates

Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...

 (4.8%), Aristotle

Aristotle

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...

 (4.5%) and Karl Popper

Karl Popper

Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...

 (4.2%).

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
14 July 2005	Karl Marx Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement... - In Our Time's Greatest Philosopher	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Francis Wheen Francis Wheen Francis James Baird Wheen is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster.-Early life and education:Wheen was born into an army family and educated at two independent schools: Copthorne Preparatory School near Crawley, West Sussex and Harrow School in north west London.-Life and career:Running... , Gareth Stedman Jones Gareth Stedman Jones Professor Gareth Stedman Jones is a British academic and historian.Educated at St Paul's School and Lincoln College, Oxford, where he read History, Stedman Jones went on to Nuffield College, Oxford to take a DPhil....
7 July 2005	Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May... - poet, spy, atheist, murder victim?	Katherine Duncan-Jones, Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Emma Smith
30 June 2005	Merlin Merlin Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures... - the original Welsh wizard	Juliette Wood, Stephen Knight Stephen Thomas Knight Stephen Thomas Knight MA PhD . F.A.H.A., F.E.A. currently holds the position of Distinguished Research Professor at Cardiff University in the School of English, Communications and Philosophy. His areas of expertise include English literature, Medieval literature, Cultural studies, Crime fiction,... , Peter Forshaw
23 June 2005	The K–T boundary K–T boundary The K–T boundary is a geological signature, usually a thin band, dated to 65.5 ± 0.3 Ma ago. K is the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous period, and T is the abbreviation for the Tertiary period... - did the dinosaurs burn out or fade away?	Simon Kelley, Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:... , Mike Benton
16 June 2005	Paganism Paganism Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....  in the Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not... - how the classical gods returned to the Christian cities	Thomas Healy, Charles Hope, Evelyn Welch
9 June 2005	The Scriblerus Club Scriblerus Club The Scriblerus Club was an informal group of friends that included Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St. John and Thomas Parnell. The group was founded in 1712 and lasted until the death of the founders, starting in 1732 and ending in 1745, with Pope and Swift being... - the satirists-in-chief of the 18th century	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Judith Hawley, Marcus Walsh
2 June 2005	Renaissance Maths - the birth of modern mathematics?	Robert Kaplan, Jim Bennett Jim Bennett (historian) James Arthur Bennett PhD is a museum curator and historian of science.Jim Bennett is Director of the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University. he was appointed on 1 October 1994, on the retirement of the previous director, Francis Maddison. He is also a member of the Faculty of... , Jackie Stedall
26 May 2005	The Terror Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of... - when Madame Guillotine ruled France	Mike Broers, Rebecca Spang, T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College...
19 May 2005	Beauty Beauty Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture... - the philosophy of beauty	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Susan James, Julian Baggini Julian Baggini Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine...
5 May 2005	Abelard and Heloise - love, sex and theology in 12th century Paris	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the role of women. She is currently tutor for welfare at St Peter's College, Oxford.... , Michael Clanchy Michael Clanchy Michael T. Clanchy is a Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy....
28 April 2005	Perception Perception Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...  and the Senses - how do we see what we see?	Richard Gregory Richard Gregory Richard Langton Gregory, CBE, MA, D.Sc., FRSE, FRS was a British psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol.-Life and career:... , David Moore, Gemma Calvert
21 April 2005	The Aeneid Aeneid The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter... - the Roman history of the world	Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Philip Hardie, Catharine Edwards
14 April 2005	Archaeology Archaeology Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...  and Imperialism Imperialism Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,... - conquest of the past	Tim Champion, Richard Parkinson, Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford....
April 7, 2005	Alfred Alfred the Great Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...  and the Battle of Edington - without Alfred, no England?	Richard Gameson, Sarah Foot Sarah Foot Sarah Foot is a British early medieval historian and currently holds the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford.... , John Hines
31 March 2005	John Ruskin John Ruskin John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political... - a different kind of Victorian	Dinah Birch, Keith Hanley, Stefan Collini Stefan Collini Stefan Collini is an English literary critic and academic, Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. He has contributed essays to such publications as The Times Literary Supplement, The Nation and London Review of Books.- Works :* "." The Times...
24 March 2005	Angels - how they got their wings	Martin Palmer, Valery Rees, John Haldane
17 March 2005	Dark Energy Dark energy In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding... - the unknown force breaking the universe apart	Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004... , Carolin Crawford, Sir Roger Penrose Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...
10 March 2005	Modernist Utopias - the original 21st century	John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East... , Steve Connor, Laura Marcus
3 March 2005	Stoicism Stoicism Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned... - the search for inner calm	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , David Sedley David Sedley David Neil Sedley is the seventh Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at Cambridge University.Sedley was educated at Trinity College, Oxford where he was awarded a first class honours degree in Literae Humaniores in 1969...
24 February 2005	Alchemy Alchemy Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base... - seeking the perfection of all things	Peter Forshaw, Lauren Kassell, Stephen Pumfrey
17 February 2005	The Cambrian Explosion Cambrian explosion The Cambrian explosion or Cambrian radiation was the relatively rapid appearance, around , of most major phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record, accompanied by major diversification of other organisms, including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes... - the big bang of evolutionary history	Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould... , Richard Corfield, Jane Francis Jane Francis Jane Francis is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds In 2002 became the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal.-Education:...
13 January 2005	The Mind/Body Problem - does the mind rule the body or the body rule the mind?	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Julian Baggini Julian Baggini Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine... , Susan James
6 January 2005	The Assassination of Tsar Alexander II - did his killing cause the Russian Revolution?	Orlando Figes Orlando Figes Orlando Figes is a British historian of Russia, and Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London.-Overview:Figes is the son of the feminist writer Eva Figes. His sister is the author and editor Kate Figes. He attended William Ellis School in north London from 1971-78... , Dominic Lieven Dominic Lieven Dominic Lieven is Professor of Russian Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science and Fellow of the British Academyand of Trinity College, Cambridge... , Catriona Kelly
30 December 2004	The Roman Republic Roman Republic The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and... - what were Rome's republican ideals?	Greg Woolf, Catherine Steel, Tom Holland Tom Holland (author) -Biography:Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. His younger brother is the historian and novelist James Holland...
23 December 2004	Faust Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical... - the original pact with the Devil	Juliette Wood, Osman Durrani, Rosemary Ashton
16 December 2004	The Second Law of Thermodynamics Second law of thermodynamics The second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and... - the most important thing you will ever know	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also... , Peter Atkins Peter Atkins Peter William Atkins is a British chemist and former Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Lincoln College. He is a prolific writer of popular chemistry textbooks, including Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Molecular Quantum Mechanics... , Monica Grady Monica Grady Monica Mary Grady is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. She is currently Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University....
9 December 2004	Machiavelli and the Italian City States - high politics and low cunning in the Italian Renaissance	Quentin Skinner Quentin Skinner Quentin Robert Duthie Skinner is the Barber Beaumont Professor of the Humanities at Queen Mary, University of London.-Biography:... , Evelyn Welch, Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority...
2 December 2004	Carl Gustav Jung - Discovering the Self	Brett Kahr, Ronald Hayman Ronald Hayman Ronald Hayman is a British critic, dramatist, and writer best known for his biographies.-Early life:Ronald Hayman was born on May 4, 1932 in Bournemouth, England to John and Sadie Hayman. He was educated at St Paul's School in London and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, where he earned a... , Andrew Samuels Andrew Samuels Andrew Samuels is known internationally as an influential commentator on political and social themes from the standpoint of 'therapy thinking'. He has worked with politicians, political organizations, activist groups and members of the public in Europe, US, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Russia and South...
25 November 2004	The Venerable Bede - the father of English history	Richard Gameson, Sarah Foot Sarah Foot Sarah Foot is a British early medieval historian and currently holds the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford.... , Michelle Brown
18 November 2004	Higgs Boson Higgs boson The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model... - the search for the God particle	Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , David Wark, Roger Cashmore Roger Cashmore Roger John Cashmore CMG is the Chair of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Previously he was Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford and Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Oxford....
11 November 2004	Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil... - was the religion of the Persian Empire the first monotheism?	Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Farrokh Vajifdar, Alan Williams
4 November 2004	Electrickery - the origins of electricity	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate... , Iwan Morus
28 October 2004	Rhetoric Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western... - from the original sophists to latter-day demagogues	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Thomas Healy, Ceri Sullivan
21 October 2004	Witchcraft Witchcraft Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft... - Reformation Europe turned upon itself	Alison Rowlands, Lyndal Roper Lyndal Roper Lyndal Roper is Professor of Early Modern History at Balliol College, University of Oxford and author of a variety of ground-breaking works on witchcraft in early-modern Europe. In 2011 she was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History.... , Malcolm Gaskill
14 October 2004	The Han Synthesis Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and... - creating the Chinese cosmos	Chris Cullen, Carol Michaelson, Roel Sterckx Roel Sterckx Roel Sterckx is the Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science, and Civilization in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Clare College. Sterckx was a pupil at Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege Mol and was educated at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, National Taiwan University,...
7 October 2004	Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary... - a man condemned to be free	Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Benedict O'Donohoe, Christina Howells
30 September 2004	Politeness Politeness Politeness is best expressed as the practical application of good manners or etiquette. It is a culturally-defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in another cultural context.... - the great 18th century craze	Amanda Vickery, David Wootton, John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History....
23 September 2004	The Origins of Life - how it all began	Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author... , Richard Corfield, Linda Partridge
16 September 2004	Agincourt Battle of Agincourt The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France... - the real facts behind the battle.	Anne Curry Anne Curry Anne Elizabeth Curry is a British historian. She is Professor of Medieval history at the University of Southampton, former editor of the Journal of Medieval History, and a specialist in the Hundred Years' War, especially the Battle of Agincourt. She is also President of the Historical Association... , Michael Jones Michael Jones (historian) Michael Jones is a British historian.He was born in Wrexham, Wales. He studied history at Oxford, and taught first in Exeter, then in Nottingham from 1967 to 2002, specialised in French medieval history... , John Watts
9 September 2004	The Odyssey Odyssey The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature... - Homer's epic tale of Odysseus' return home	Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for... , Oliver Taplin Oliver Taplin Professor Oliver Taplin was a fellow and tutor of Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford. He holds a DPhil from Oxford University....
2 September 2004	Pi Pi ' is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of any circle's circumference to its diameter. is approximately equal to 3.14. Many formulae in mathematics, science, and engineering involve , which makes it one of the most important mathematical constants... - the number that doesn't add up	Robert Kaplan, Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.... , Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...

2004-2003

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
24 June 2004	George Washington George Washington George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...  and the American Revolution American Revolution The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America... - the most significant event in history	Carol Berkin, Simon Middleton, Colin Bonwick
17 June 2004	Renaissance Renaissance The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...  Magic Magic (paranormal) Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical... - the great passion of the age	Peter Forshaw, Valery Rees, Jonathan Sawday
10 June 2004	Empiricism Empiricism Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,... - the English philosophy?	Judith Hawley, Murray Pittock, Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think"....
3 June 2004	Babylon Babylon Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad... - the great forgotten civilisation	Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.... , Irving Finkel, Andrew R. George Andrew R. George Andrew R. George is a British academic best known for his translations of The Epic of Gilgamesh. Andrew George is Professor of Babylonian, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies.-Books by Andrew...
27 May 2004	Planets - the astronomy of the 21st century	Paul Murdin, Hugh R. A. Jones, Carolin Crawford
20 May 2004	Toleration Toleration Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"... - from medieval intolerance to religious freedom	Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history... , David Wootton, Sarah Barber
13 May 2004	Zero - everything about nothing	Robert Kaplan, Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority...
6 May 2004	Heroism - do we live in an heroic age?	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Paul Cartledge Paul Cartledge Paul Anthony Cartledge is the first A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at Cambridge University, having previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge....
29 April 2004	Tea Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world... - an empire in a teacup	Huw Bowen, James Walvin, Amanda Vickery
22 April 2004	Hysteria Hysteria Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,... - the normal state of human beings?	Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at... , Rachel Bowlby, Brett Kahr
15 April 2004	The Later Romantics - the world of Byron, Keats and Shelley	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Robert Woof Robert Woof (scholar) Dr. Robert Samuel Woof was an English scholar, most famous for having been the first Director of the Wordsworth Trust and Museums Director of the Wordsworth Museum at Dove Cottage in Grasmere, Lake District, Cumbria... , Jennifer Wallace
8 April 2004	The Fall The Fall of Man In Christian doctrine, the Fall of Man, or simply the Fall, refers to the transition of the first humans from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience to God. In Genesis chapter 2, Adam and Eve live at first with God in a paradise, but the serpent tempts them into... - how Adam and Eve affect us all	Martin Palmer, Griselda Pollock Griselda Pollock Griselda Pollock is a prominent art historian and cultural analyst, and a world-renowned scholar of international, post-colonial feminist studies in the visual arts. She is best known for her theoretical and methodological innovation, combined with deeply engaged readings of historical and... , John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East...
1 April 2004	China China Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture... : The Warring States Period Warring States Period The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC... - the fiery beginnings of Chinese civilisation	Chris Cullen, Vivienne Lo, Carol Michaelson
25 March 2004	Theories of Everything - still the holy grail of physics?	Brian Greene Brian Greene Brian Greene is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. He has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds... , John D. Barrow John D. Barrow -External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************... , Val Gibson
11 March 2004	The Norse Gods Norse mythology Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving... - the great myths of pagan Europe	Carolyne Larrington, Heather O'Donoghue, John Hines
4 March 2004	Dreams - is there a science of dreams?	Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian "Rama" Ramachandran, born 1951, is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics... , Mark Solms Mark Solms Mark Solms is a psychoanalyst and a lecturer in neurosurgery at the St. Bartholomew’s and Royal London School of Medicine; chair of neuropsychology, University of Cape Town, South Africa and director of the Arnold Pfeffer Center for Neuro-Psychoanalysis at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute... , Martin Conway
26 February 2004	The Mughal Empire Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids... - the glory of India	Sanjay Subrahmanyam Sanjay Subrahmanyam Sanjay Subrahmanyam is the holder of Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair of Indian History at UCLA which he joined in 2004.-Biography:... , Susan Stronge, Chandrika Kaul
19 February 2004	Rutherford Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics... - the father of nuclear physics	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Patricia Fara Patricia Fara Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Senior Tutor and Tutor for graduate...
12 February 2004	The Sublime Sublime (philosophy) In aesthetics, the sublime is the quality of greatness, whether physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual or artistic... - defining the state of awe	Janet Todd Janet Todd Janet Margaret Todd is a Welsh-born academic and a well-respected author of many books on women in literature. Todd was educated at Cambridge University and the University of Florida, where she undertook a doctorate on the poet John Clare... , Anne Janowitz, Peter de Bolla
5 February 2004	The Battle of Thermopylae Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August... - battle that defined East and West	Tom Holland Tom Holland (author) -Biography:Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. His younger brother is the historian and novelist James Holland... , Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge... , Edith Hall Edith Hall Edith Hall is a British scholar of classics and cultural history, and from 2006 until 2011 held a Research Chair at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she directed the Centre for the Reception of Greece and Rome until November 2011, when she resigned over dispute regarding funding for...
29 January 2004	Cryptography Cryptography Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties... - secret history of ciphers and codes	Simon Singh Simon Singh Simon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner.... , Fred Piper, Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority...
26 December 2003	Lamarck and Natural Selection Natural selection Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution.... - the Lamarckian Heresy	Sandy Knapp, Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould...
18 December 2003	The Alphabet Alphabet An alphabet is a standard set of letters—basic written symbols or graphemes—each of which represents a phoneme in a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semantic... - its creation and development	Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson Eleanor Robson is a Reader in History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, vice-chair of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.... , Alan Millard Alan Millard Alan Ralph Millard is Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages, and Honorary Senior Fellow , at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology in the University of Liverpool.... , Rosalind Thomas
11 December 2003	The Devil Devil The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly... - a brief biography	Martin Palmer, Alison Rowlands, David Wootton
4 December 2003	Wittgenstein - a philosophy of linguistics	Ray Monk Ray Monk Ray Monk is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton, where he has taught since 1992.He won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the 1991 Duff Cooper Prize for Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. His interests lie in the philosophy of mathematics, the history of... , Barry Smith, Marie McGinn
27 November 2003	St Bartholomew's Day Massacre - slaughter in Paris.	Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch FBA, FSA, FR Hist S is Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford... , Mark Greengrass, Penny Roberts
20 November 2003	Ageing the Earth Age of the Earth The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years This age is based on evidence from radiometric age dating of meteorite material and is consistent with the ages of the oldest-known terrestrial and lunar samples... - a journey in geological time.	Richard Corfield, Hazel Rymer, Henry Gee Henry Gee Dr Henry Gee is a British paleontologist, and evolutionary biologist. He is a senior editor of Nature, the scientific journal....
13 November 2003	Duty Duty Duty is a term that conveys a sense of moral commitment to someone or something. The moral commitment is the sort that results in action and it is not a matter of passive feeling or mere recognition... - concepts of obligation.	Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Annabel Brett, A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991...
6 November 2003	Sensation Sensation novel The sensation novel was a literary genre of fiction popular in Great Britain in the 1860s and 1870s, following on from earlier melodramatic novels and the Newgate novels, which focused on tales woven around criminal biographies, also descend from the gothic and romantic genres of fiction... - the best sellers of the 19th century.	John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Lyn Pykett, Dinah Birch
30 October 2003	Robin Hood Robin Hood Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes.... - the greatest of English myths.	Stephen Knight Stephen Thomas Knight Stephen Thomas Knight MA PhD . F.A.H.A., F.E.A. currently holds the position of Distinguished Research Professor at Cardiff University in the School of English, Communications and Philosophy. His areas of expertise include English literature, Medieval literature, Cultural studies, Crime fiction,... , Thomas Hahn, Juliette Wood
23 October 2003	Infinity Infinity Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity... - a brief history.	Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Robert Kaplan, Sarah Rees
16 October 2003	The Schism East-West Schism The East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively... - between East and West in Christianity.	Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser Henrietta Leyser is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the role of women. She is currently tutor for welfare at St Peter's College, Oxford.... , Norman Housley Norman Housley -Background:Educated at the University of Cambridge, Housley was a research student of Jonathan Riley-Smith. He was research fellow in history at Girton College in 1979 and came to the University of Leicester in 1983.-Work:... , Jonathan Shepard Jonathan Shepard Jonathan Shepard is a British historian specializing in early medieval Russia, the Caucasus, and the Byzantine Empire. He is regarded as a leading authority in Byzantine studies and on the Kievan Rus. He specializes in diplomatic and archaeological history of the early Kievan period...
9 October 2003	Bohemianism Bohemianism Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits... - a life of art, freedom and poverty	Hermione Lee Hermione Lee Hermione Lee, CBE is President of Wolfson College, Oxford and was lately Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of New College. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature.-Biography:Hermione Lee grew up in... , Virginia Nicholson, Graham Robb Graham Robb Graham Macdonald Robb FRSL is a British author.Robb was born in Manchester and educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester and Exeter College, Oxford, where he studied Modern Languages...
2 October 2003	James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory... - great 19th century physicist	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Peter Harman, Joanna Haigh Joanna Haigh Joanna D. Haigh is Head of Department and Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Imperial College London in the faculty of natural sciences. She is known for her work on solar variability, but also works on radiative transfer, stratosphere-troposphere coupling and climate modelling...

2003-2002

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
17 July 2003	The Apocalypse Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"... - was it a revelation?	Martin Palmer, Marina Benjamin, Justin Champion Justin Champion Professor Justin Champion is a British academic who was head of the department of history at Royal Holloway, University of London between 2005 and 2010. He continues in post at the college.Professor Champion is a strong proponent of public history...
10 July 2003	Nature Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general... - from Homer to Darwin	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism... , Karen Edwards
3 July 2003	Vulcanology - significance of volcanoes.	Hilary Downes, Steve Self, Bill McGuire
26 June 2003	The East India Co - a corporate route to Empire.	Huw Bowen, Linda Colley Linda Colley Linda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:... , Maria Misra Maria Misra Maria Misra is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Keble College, specialising in the politics, culture, and economics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century imperialism and colonialism....
19 June 2003	The Aristocracy Aristocracy Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy... - how the ruling class survives	David Cannadine David Cannadine Sir David Nicholas Cannadine, FBA is a British historian, known for a number of books, including The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy and Ornamentalism. He is also notable as a commentator and broadcaster on British public life, especially the monarchy. He serves as the generaleditor... , Rosemary Sweet, Felipe Fernández-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a British historian and author of several popular works of history.He was born in London, his father was the Spanish journalist Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The...
12 June 2003	The Art of War Military strategy Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek strategos, strategy when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", 'the art of arrangement' of troops... - maintaining the objective?	Sir Michael Howard Michael Howard (historian) Sir Michael Eliot Howard, OM, CH, CBE, MC, FBA is a British military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War and Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford University, and Robert A... , Angie Hobbs Angie Hobbs Angela Hunter Hobbs is a British philosopher. Hobbs is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Warwick, and was previously a Research Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge. She has a First Class Honours Degree in Classics acquired at New Hall, Cambridge and a PhD in Classical Philosophy from... , Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute...
5 June 2003	The Lunar Society Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,... - scientific ferment 200 years ago.	Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean... , Jenny Uglow Jenny Uglow Jennifer Sheila Uglow OBE is a British biographer, critic and publisher. The editorial director of Chatto & Windus, she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick and the Lunar Society, among others, and has also compiled a women's... , Peter Jones
29 May 2003	Memory Memory In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory.... - and the brain	Martin Conway, Mike Kopelman, Kim Graham
22 May 2003	Blood Blood Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells.... - its religious, medical and moral significance	Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Anne Hardy, Jonathan Sawday
15 May 2003	The Holy Grail Holy Grail The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers... - just a medieval myth?	Carolyne Larrington, Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith, K.St.J., Ph.D. MA, Litt.D., FRHistS is an historian of the Crusades, and a former Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History... , Juliette Wood
8 May 2003	The Jacobite Rebellion - could it have succeeded?	Murray Pittock, Stana Nenadic, Allan Macinnes
1 May 2003	Roman Britain Roman Britain Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia... - the effects of 400 years of occupation	Greg Woolf, Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column... , Catharine Edwards
24 April 2003	Youth Youth Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",... - from Adonis to James Dean	Tim Whitmarsh, Thomas Healy, Deborah Thom
17 April 2003	Proust - his life and work	Jacqueline Rose Jacqueline Rose Jacqueline Rose is a British academic who is currently Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London.-Life and work:... , Malcolm Bowie Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust.... , Robert Fraser
3 April 2003	The Spanish Civil War Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939... - causes and legacy	Paul Preston Paul Preston Paul Preston CBE is a British historian and Hispanist, specialized in Spanish history, in particular the Spanish Civil War, which he has studied for more than 30 years.... , Helen Graham, Mary Vincent
27 March 2003	Supernovas - the life cycle of stars	Paul Murdin, Janna Levin Janna Levin Janna J. Levin is a theoretical cosmologist. She holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology granted in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in Astronomy and Physics from Barnard College granted in 1988... , Phil Charles
20 March 2003	Originality Originality Originality is the aspect of created or invented works by as being new or novel, and thus can be distinguished from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or derivative works.... - is it just a romantic notion?	John Deathridge John Deathridge John Deathridge is a British musicologist. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at Lincoln College, Oxford culminating with a dissertation on Wagner's sketches for Rienzi, and is currently Professor of Music at King's College London... , Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée Jonathan Rée is a British freelance historian and philosopher from Bradford. Educated at Oxford University, Rée was previously a Professor of Philosophy at Middlesex University, but gave up a teaching career in order to "have more time to think".... , Catherine Belsey
13 March 2003	Redemption - the concept of salvation	Richard Harries, Janet Soskice, Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall is a philosopher and Fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are Ludwig Wittgenstein and post-Kantian philosophy.-Life:...
6 March 2003	Meteorology Meteorology Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries... - why does it still fascinate us?	Vladimir Jankovic, Richard Hamblyn, Liba Taub
27 February 2003	The Aztecs - looking behind the myths	Alan Knight Alan Knight (historian) Alan Knight is Professor of History of Latin America academy at the University of Oxford, England, where he is a Fellow at St. Antony's College and Director of the Latin American Centre... , Adrian Locke, Elizabeth Graham
20 February 2003	The Lindisfarne Gospels Lindisfarne Gospels The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the British Library... - unifying Christianity in Britain	Michelle Brown, Richard Gameson, Clare Lees
13 February 2003	Chance Natural selection Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....  and Design Intelligent designer An intelligent designer, also referred to as an intelligent agent, is the hypothetical willed and self-aware entity that the intelligent design movement argues had some role in the origin and/or development of life...  in Evolution Evolution Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth... - Design in Nature	Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris FRS is an English paleontologist made known by his detailed and careful study of the Burgess Shale fossils, an exploit celebrated in Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould... , Sandy Knapp, John Hedley Brooke John Hedley Brooke John Hedley Brooke is a British Historian of Science specialising in the relationship between science and religion.-Biography:...
6 February 2003	The Epic Epic poetry An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form... - from Homer to Joyce	John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East... , Karen Edwards, Oliver Taplin Oliver Taplin Professor Oliver Taplin was a fellow and tutor of Classics at Magdalen College, Oxford. He holds a DPhil from Oxford University....
19 December 2002	The Calendar Calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not... - a history of the Calendar	Robert Poole, Kristen Lippincott, Peter Watson
12 December 2002	Disease Disease A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune... - the fight against diseases and plagues	Anne Hardy, David Bradley, Chris Dye
5 December 2002	The Scottish Enlightenment Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy... - how enlightened?	Tom Devine Tom Devine Thomas Martin "Tom" Devine OBE FRSE FRHistS FBA is a Scottish historian. His main research interest is the history of the Scottish nation since c.1600 and its global connections and impact.... , Karen O'Brien, Alexander Broadie
28 November 2002	Imagination Imagination Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses... - just what is it?	Susan Stuart, Steven Mithen Steven Mithen Steve Mithen is a Professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading. He has written a number of books including The Singing Neanderthals and The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science.-See also:... , Semir Zeki Semir Zeki Semir Zeki is a professor of neuroesthetics at University College London. His main interest is the organization of the primate visual brain. He published his first scientific paper in 1967...
21 November 2002	Cordoba Córdoba, Spain -History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...  and Muslim Spain - a culture of tolerance?	Tim Winter, Martin Palmer, Mehri Niknam
14 November 2002	Victorian Realism Literary realism Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of... - how real?	Philip Maurice Davis, A. N. Wilson A. N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views... , Dinah Birch
7 November 2002	Human Nature Human nature Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally.... - innate or nurtured?	Steven Pinker Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author... , Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards is a British philosopher who has written about feminism and bioethics.She was Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University 1979-1999, and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London until 2007... , John N. Gray
31 October 2002	Architecture Architecture Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...  and Power - imagery of imperialism	Adrian Tinniswood Adrian Tinniswood Adrian Tinniswood is an English writer and historian.-Life:He studied English and Philosophy at Southampton University and was awarded an MPhil at Leicester University... , Gavin Stamp Gavin Stamp Gavin Stamp is a British writer and architectural historian. He is a trustee of the Twentieth Century Society, a registered charity which promotes the appreciation of modern architecture and the conservation of Britain’s architectural heritage... , Gillian Darley
24 October 2002	The Scientist Scientist A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...  in History - missionary or monster?	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also... , Patricia Fara, Hugh Pennington Hugh Pennington Hugh Pennington FRCPath, FRCP FMedSci, FRSE is emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Outside academia, he is best known as the chair of the Pennington Group enquiry into the Scottish Escherichia coli outbreak of 1996 and as Chairman of the Public Inquiry...
17 October 2002	Slavery Slavery Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...  and Empire Empire The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy.... - were Britons also captives?	Linda Colley Linda Colley Linda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:... , Catherine Hall Catherine Hall Catherine Hall is a feminist historian from Great Britain. Since 2009 she has been Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History at University College London... , Felipe Fernández-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a British historian and author of several popular works of history.He was born in London, his father was the Spanish journalist Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The...

2001-2002

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
18 July 2002	History History History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...  of Heritage Cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...	David Cannadine David Cannadine Sir David Nicholas Cannadine, FBA is a British historian, known for a number of books, including The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy and Ornamentalism. He is also notable as a commentator and broadcaster on British public life, especially the monarchy. He serves as the generaleditor... , Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Peter Mandler Peter Mandler Peter Mandler is an historian at the University of Cambridge. He focuses on 19th and 20th century British history, particularly cultural history and the history of the social sciences...
11 July 2002	Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav... - do people crave dictatorship?	Adam Phillips Adam Phillips (psychologist) Adam Phillips is a British child psychotherapist, literary critic and essayist. He is known for his books dealing with topics related to psychoanalysis... , Sally Alexander, Malcolm Bowie Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust....
4 July 2002	Freedom Freedom (political) Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies... - a principle worth fighting and dying for?	John Keane, Bernard Williams Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was an English moral philosopher, described by The Times as the most brilliant and most important British moral philosopher of his time. His publications include Problems of the Self , Moral Luck , Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy , and Truth and Truthfulness... , Annabel Brett
27 June 2002	Cultural Imperialism Cultural imperialism Cultural imperialism is the domination of one culture over another. Cultural imperialism can take the form of a general attitude or an active, formal and deliberate policy, including military action. Economic or technological factors may also play a role... - should we try to prevent it?	Linda Colley Linda Colley Linda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:... , Phillip Dodd, Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column...
20 June 2002	Richard Wagner Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas... - his influence on the German spirit.	John Deathridge John Deathridge John Deathridge is a British musicologist. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and at Lincoln College, Oxford culminating with a dissertation on Wagner's sketches for Rienzi, and is currently Professor of Music at King's College London... , Lucy Beckett, Michael Tanner
13 June 2002	The American West - was it an "experiment of liberty"?	Frank McLynn Frank McLynn Francis James McLynn, FRHistS, FRGS — known as Frank McLynn — is a British author, biographer, historian and journalist. He is noted for critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley.McLynn was educated at... , Jenni Calder Jenni Calder Jenni Calder is a Scottish literary historian, and arts establishment figure. She was formerly married to Angus Calder, and is the daughter of David Daiches. She also once ran the Edinburgh Book Festival.-Some works:... , Christopher Frayling Christopher Frayling Sir Christopher John Frayling is a British educationalist and writer, known for his study of popular culture.-Biography:Frayling read history at Churchill College, Cambridge and gained a PhD in the study of Jean-Jacques Rousseau...
6 June 2002	The Soul Soul A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The... - the key to our individuality as humans?	Richard Sorabji Richard Sorabji Richard Rustom Kharsedji Sorabji CBE, FBA is a British historian of ancient Western philosophy and Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at King's College London. He has written his own 'Intellectual Autobiography' in his Festschrift: R. Salles ed., Metaphysics, Soul and Ethics in Ancient Thought , 1-36... , Ruth Padel Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel is a British poet, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London. She also writes non-fiction and more recently fiction, broadcasts on wildlife, poetry and literature for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and is Writer in Residence at The Environment Institute,... , Martin Palmer
30 May 2002	The Grand Tour Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage... - what drove this desire for travel?	Chloe Chard, Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute... , Edward Chaney
May 23, 2002	History of Drugs DRUGS Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :... - their role in medicine and the arts	Richard Davenport-Hines Richard Davenport-Hines Richard Davenport-Hines is a British historian and literary biographer, best known for his biography of the poet W. H. Auden.... , Sadie Plant Sadie Plant Sadie Plant is a British author and philosopher.She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Manchester in 1989, then taught at the University of Birmingham's Department of Cultural Studies before going on to found the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit at the University of Warwick,... , Mike Jay
16 May 2002	Chaos Theory Chaos theory Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the... - was the universe chaotic or orderly?	Susan Greenfield Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, CBE is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Greenfield, whose specialty is the physiology of the brain, has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.Greenfield is... , David Papineau David Papineau David Papineau is an academic philosopher. He works as Professor of Philosophy of Science at King's College London, having previously taught for several years at Cambridge University and been a fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge... , Neil Johnson
May 9, 2002	The Examined Life Socratic method The Socratic method , named after the classical Greek philosopher Socrates, is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas... - is an unexamined life worth living?	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards is a British philosopher who has written about feminism and bioethics.She was Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University 1979-1999, and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London until 2007... , Julian Baggini Julian Baggini Julian Baggini is the author of several books about philosophy written for a general audience. He is the author of The Pig that Wants to be Eaten and 99 other thought experiments and is co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Philosophers' Magazine...
2 May 2002	Schrodinger's Cat Schrödinger's cat Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment, usually described as a paradox, devised by Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935. It illustrates what he saw as the problem of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. The scenario presents a cat that might be... - Quantum Mechanics	Sir Roger Penrose Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College... , Fay Dowker Fay Dowker Helen Fay Dowker is a British Theoretical Physicist at Imperial College London.As a student, she was interested in wormholes and quantum cosmology... , Tony Sudbery
25 April 2002	Tolstoy Tolstoy Tolstoy, or Tolstoi is a prominent family of Russian nobility, descending from Andrey Kharitonovich Tolstoy who served under Vasily II of Moscow... - the influence of the Russian Novel	A. N. Wilson A. N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views... , Catriona Kelly, Sarah Hudspith
11 April 2002	Bohemia Bohemia Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague... - what did it mean to be Bohemian?	Norman Davies Norman Davies Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :... , Karin Friedrich Karin Friedrich Karin Friedrich is a German historian, currently a senior lecturer in history at the University of Aberdeen King's College.Friedrich received an M.A. in History and Political Science from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1989 and a... , Robert Pynsent
4 April 2002	ET - new life within our solar system	Simon Goodwin, Heather Couper Heather Couper Heather Anita Couper CBE CPhys is a British astronomer who popularized astronomy in the 1980s and 1990s on British television. She is a former president of the British Astronomical Association from 1984 to 1986.-Early life:... , Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born...
28 March 2002	The Artist Artist An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only... - a special kind of human being?	Emma Barker, Thomas Healy, T. C. W. Blanning T. C. W. Blanning Timothy C. W. Blanning, FBA is currently Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College...
21 March 2002	Marriage Marriage Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found... - its various forms and the role of the State	Janet Soskice, Frederik Pedersen, Christina Hardyment
14 March 2002	Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th... - why has it captured the spirit of our age?	Peter Harvey, Kate Crosby, Mahinda Deagallee
7 March 2002	John Milton John Milton John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell... - poet or politician?	John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East... , Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority... , Blair Worden Blair Worden Blair Worden is a British historian, among the leading authorities on the period of the English Civil War and on relations between literature and history more generally in the early modern period. He matriculated as an undergraduate at Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1963. After spending a year as a...
28 February 2002	Virtue Virtue Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being.... - is it derived from reason?	Galen Strawson Galen Strawson Galen John Strawson is a British philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics , John Locke, David Hume and Kant. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford , from where he won a scholarship to Winchester College... , Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker Miranda Fricker is an English philosopher. She currently holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.-Career:... , Roger Crisp
21 February 2002	The Celts - what were the Celts in Britain really like?	Barry Cunliffe Barry Cunliffe Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, CBE, known professionally as Barry Cunliffe is a former Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford, a position held from 1972 to 2007... , Alistair Moffat, Miranda Aldhouse Green
14 February 2002	Anatomy Anatomy Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy... - 2000 years of anatomical study	Harold Ellis, Ruth Richardson, Andrew Cunningham
7 February 2002	The Universe's Shape Shape of the Universe The shape of the universe is a matter of debate in physical cosmology over the local and global geometry of the universe which considers both curvature and topology, though, strictly speaking, it goes beyond both...	Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004... , Julian Barbour Julian Barbour Julian Barbour is a British physicist with research interests in quantum gravity and the history of science.Since receiving his Ph.D. degree on the foundations of Einstein's general theory of relativity at the University of Cologne in 1968, Barbour has supported himself and his family without an... , Janna Levin Janna Levin Janna J. Levin is a theoretical cosmologist. She holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology granted in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in Astronomy and Physics from Barnard College granted in 1988...
31 January 2002	W B Yeats and Mysticism	Roy Foster R. F. Foster (historian) Robert Fitzroy Foster FBA FRHistS FRSL - generally known as Roy Foster - is the Carroll Professor of Irish History at Hertford College, Oxford in the UK.-Background and education:... , Warwick Gould, Brenda Maddox Brenda Maddox Brenda Maddox FRSL is an American author, journalist, and biographer, who has lived in the UK since 1959.Born in Brockton, Bridgewater, Massachusetts, she graduated from Harvard University with a degree in English literature and also studied at the London School of Economics...
24 January 2002	Happiness Happiness Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....	Angie Hobbs, Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn Simon Blackburn is a British academic philosopher known for his work in quasi-realism and his efforts to popularise philosophy. He recently retired as professor of philosophy at the University of Cambridge, but remains a distinguished research professor of philosophy at the University of North... , A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991...
17 January 2002	Catharism	Malcolm Barber Malcolm Barber Malcolm Charles Barber is a British scholar of medieval history, described as the world's leading living expert on the Knights Templar. He is considered to have written the two most comprehensive books on the subject, The Trial of the Templars and The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the... , Miri Rubin Miri Rubin Miri Rubin is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary, University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate.... , Euan Cameron
10 January 2002	Nuclear Physics Nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...	Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili Jim Al-Khalili OBE is an Iraqi-born British theoretical physicist, author and science communicator. He is Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey... , Christine Sutton Christine Sutton Christine Sutton is a physicist associated with the Particle Physics Group in the Physics Department of the University of Oxford.Sutton is active in outreach programs for particle physics and has previously represented Great Britain in the European Particle Physics Outreach Group... , John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also...
3 January 2002	Sensibility Sensibility Sensibility refers to an acute perception of or responsiveness toward something, such as the emotions of another. This concept emerged in eighteenth-century Britain, and was closely associated with studies of sense perception as the means through which knowledge is gathered...	Claire Tomalin Claire Tomalin Claire Tomalin is an English biographer and journalist. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.She was literary editor of the New Statesman and of the Sunday Times, and has written several noted biographies... , John Mullan John Mullan John Mullan is a Professor of English at University College London. He specialises in 18th century fiction. He is currently working on the 18th-century section of the new Oxford English Literary History.... , Hermione Lee Hermione Lee Hermione Lee, CBE is President of Wolfson College, Oxford and was lately Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature in the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of New College. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature.-Biography:Hermione Lee grew up in...
27 December 2001	The Story of Food	Rebecca Spang, Ivan Day, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto Felipe Fernández-Armesto is a British historian and author of several popular works of history.He was born in London, his father was the Spanish journalist Felipe Fernández Armesto and his mother was Betty Millan de Fernandez-Armesto, a British-born journalist and co-founder and editor of The...
20 December 2001	Rome and European Civilization	Mary Beard Mary Beard (classicist) Winifred Mary Beard is Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Newnham College. She is the Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and author of the blog "", which appears in The Times as a regular column... , Catharine Edwards, Greg Woolf
13 December 2001	Genetics Genetics Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....	Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author... , Linda Partridge Linda Partridge Dame Linda Partridge DBE is a British geneticist, who studies the biology and genetics of ageing and age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease....
6 December 2001	Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...	Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham is a professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford. He tutors English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he is a Senior Fellow and Vice President. His specialism is modern English literature and literary theory. He has written a number of books,... , Regenia Gagnier, Neil Sammells
29 November 2001	Third Crusade Third Crusade The Third Crusade , also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin...	Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Riley-Smith Jonathan Simon Christopher Riley-Smith, K.St.J., Ph.D. MA, Litt.D., FRHistS is an historian of the Crusades, and a former Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History... , Carole Hillenbrand Carole Hillenbrand Carole Hillenbrand OBE is professor of Islamic History at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently the Vice-President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and a Member of the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics.... , Tariq Ali Tariq Ali Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
22 November 2001	Oceanography Oceanography Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...	Margaret Deacon, Tony Rice, Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean...
15 November 2001	Surrealism Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....	Dawn Ades, Malcolm Bowie Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust.... , Darian Leader Darian Leader Darian Leader is a British psychoanalyst and author. He is a founding member of CFAR, the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research.-Books:* Lacan for Beginners, 1995, later editions with a changed title: Introducing Lacan...
8 November 2001	The British Empire British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...	Maria Misra Maria Misra Maria Misra is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Keble College, specialising in the politics, culture, and economics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century imperialism and colonialism.... , Peter Cain, Catherine Hall Catherine Hall Catherine Hall is a feminist historian from Great Britain. Since 2009 she has been Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History at University College London...
1 November 2001	Confucius Confucius Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....	Frances Wood Frances Wood Frances Wood is an English historian known for her writings on Chinese history, including Marco Polo, life in the Chinese treaty ports, and the First Emperor of China... , Tim Barrett, Tao Tao Liu
25 October 2001	Napoleon and Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...	Andrew Roberts, Mike Broers, Belinda Beaton
18 October 2001	Democracy Democracy Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...	Melissa Lane Melissa Lane Melissa Lane is a full professor of politics at Princeton University. Before becoming a professor at Princeton University in 2008, she was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge and Associate Director of their Centre for History and Economics.-Academic career:... , David Wootton, Tim Winter

2000-2001

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
19 July 2001	Byzantium Byzantium Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...	Charlotte Roueché, John Julius Norwich John Julius Norwich John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich CVO — known as John Julius Norwich — is an English historian, travel writer and television personality.-Early life:... , Liz James
12 July 2001	Charles Dickens Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...	Rosemary Ashton, Michael Slater, John Bowen
5 July 2001	The Origins of the Earth	Simon Winchester Simon Winchester Simon Winchester, OBE , is a British-American author and journalist who resides mostly in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal... , Cherry Lewis, John Cosgrove
28 June 2001	Existentialism Existentialism Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , Christina Howells, Simon Critchley Simon Critchley Simon Critchley is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political...
21 June 2001	The Sonnet Sonnet A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...	Sir Frank Kermode, Phillis Levin Phillis Levin -Life:She is the daughter of Charlotte E. Levin and Herbert L. Levin of Yardley, Pa.Phillis Levin graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1976, and The Johns Hopkins University in 1977.... , Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism...
14 June 2001	The Legacy of the French Revolution	Stefan Collini Stefan Collini Stefan Collini is an English literary critic and academic, Professor of English Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge. He has contributed essays to such publications as The Times Literary Supplement, The Nation and London Review of Books.- Works :* "." The Times... , Anne Janowitz, Andrew Roberts
3 May 2001	Evil Evil Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...	Jones Erwin, Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall Stephen Mulhall is a philosopher and Fellow of New College, Oxford. His main research areas are Ludwig Wittgenstein and post-Kantian philosophy.-Life:... , Margaret Atkins
26 April 2001	Literary Modernism Modernist literature Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...	John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East... , Laura Marcus, Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham Valentine Cunningham is a professor of English language and literature at the University of Oxford. He tutors English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he is a Senior Fellow and Vice President. His specialism is modern English literature and literary theory. He has written a number of books,...
19 April 2001	The Glorious Revolution Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...	John Spurr, Rosemary Sweet, Scott Mandelbrote
12 April 2001	Black Hole Black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that... s	Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004... , Jocelyn Bell Burnell Jocelyn Bell Burnell Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell, DBE, FRS, FRAS , is a British astrophysicist. As a postgraduate student she discovered the first radio pulsars with her thesis supervisor Antony Hewish. She was president of the Institute of Physics from October 2008 until October 2010, and was interim president... , Martin Ward
5 April 2001	The Fall of the Roman Empire Decline of the Roman Empire The decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...	Charlotte Roueché, David Womersley, Richard Alston
29 March 2001	The Philosophy of Love	Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism... , Angie Hobbes, Thomas Docherty
22 March 2001	Fossil Fossil Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past... s	Richard Corfield, Dianne Edwards Dianne Edwards Dianne Edwards CBE ScD FRSE FLSW FRS is a palaeobotanist, who studies the colonisation of land by plants, and early land plant interactions.-Career:... , Richard Fortey Richard Fortey Richard A. Fortey FRS is a British palaeontologist and writer.-Career:Richard Fortey studied geology at the University of Cambridge and had a long career as a palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in London. Prof. Fortey’s research interests include, above all, trilobites...
15 March 2001	The Life of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...	Katherine Duncan-Jones, John Sutherland, Grace Ioppolo
1 March 2001	Money Money Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...	Niall Ferguson Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism..... , Richard J. Evans Richard J. Evans Richard John Evans is a British academic and historian, prominently known for his history of Germany.-Life:Evans was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and President of Wolfson College... , Jane Humphries
22 February 2001	Quantum Gravity Quantum gravity Quantum gravity is the field of theoretical physics which attempts to develop scientific models that unify quantum mechanics with general relativity...	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also... , Lee Smolin Lee Smolin Lee Smolin is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. He is married to Dina Graser, a communications lawyer in Toronto. His brother is David M... , Janna Levin Janna Levin Janna J. Levin is a theoretical cosmologist. She holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology granted in 1993 and a Bachelor of Arts in Astronomy and Physics from Barnard College granted in 1988...
15 February 2001	The Restoration English Restoration The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...	Mark Goldie, Richard Ollard Richard Ollard Richard Ollard was an English historian and biographer. He is best known for his work on the English Restoration period.-Life:... , Clare Jackson
8 February 2001	Humanism Humanism Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....	Tony Davies, Lisa Jardine Lisa Jardine Lisa Anne Jardine CBE , née Lisa Anne Bronowski, is a British historian of the early modern period. She is professor of Renaissance Studies and Director of the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters at Queen Mary, University of London, and is Chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority... , Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill Simon Goldhill is a professor of Greek literature and culture at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He is also Director of CRASSH, the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at the University of Cambridge...
1 February 2001	Imperial Science	Richard Drayton Richard Drayton Richard Drayton FRHistS is a Guyana-born historian and Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at Kings College London. He went to school at Harrison College in Barbados, from which he left as a Barbados Scholar to Harvard University... , Maria Misra Maria Misra Maria Misra is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Keble College, specialising in the politics, culture, and economics of nineteenth- and twentieth-century imperialism and colonialism.... , Ziauddin Sardar Ziauddin Sardar Ziauddin Sardar is a London-based scholar, writer and cultural-critic who specialises in Muslim thought, the future of Islam, futures studies and science and cultural relations...
25 January 2001	Science and Religion	Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation.... , John Haldane John Joseph Haldane John Joseph Haldane is a leading Scottish philosopher, commentator and broadcaster. He is a Papal Adviser to the Vatican. He is credited with coining the term Analytical Thomism, and is himself a Thomist in the analytic tradition.... , Hilary Rose
18 January 2001	The British Enlightenment	Roy Porter Roy Porter Roy Sydney Porter was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine.-Life:... , Linda Colley Linda Colley Linda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:... , Jeremy Black Jeremy Black (historian) Jeremy Black MBE is a British historian and a Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute...
11 January 2001	Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...  and Platonism Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism...	Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Margaret Wertheim Margaret Wertheim Margaret Wertheim is a science writer and the author of books on the cultural history of physics.Wertheim is the author of three books that collectively consider the role of theoretical physics in the cultural landscape of modern Western society. The first, Pythagoras' Trousers , is a history of... , John D. Barrow John D. Barrow -External links:****** The Forum-Publications available on the Internet:************...
4 January 2001	Gothic Gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...	Chris Baldick Chris Baldick Professor Chris Baldick is a British academic currently teaching at Goldsmiths College, University of London. who has worked in the fields of literary criticism, literary theory, and literary terminology... , A. N. Wilson A. N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views... , Emma Clery
16 November 2000	Nihilism Nihilism Nihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...	Rob Hopkins, Raymond Tallis Raymond Tallis Raymond Tallis F.Med.Sci., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.A. is a British philosopher, humanist, poet, novelist, cultural critic and retired medical doctor.-Medical career:... , Catherine Belsey
9 November 2000	Psychoanalysis and Literature	Adam Phillips Adam Phillips (psychologist) Adam Phillips is a British child psychotherapist, literary critic and essayist. He is known for his books dealing with topics related to psychoanalysis... , Malcolm Bowie Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust.... , Lisa Appignanesi Lisa Appignanesi Lisa Appignanesi is a British writer, novelist, and campaigner for free expression. She is president of the writers’ organization English PEN. Her latest book is All About Love: Anatomy of an Unruly Emotion...
2 November 2000	Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is an approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological traits such as memory, perception, and language from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations, that is, the functional...	Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards Janet Radcliffe Richards is a British philosopher who has written about feminism and bioethics.She was Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University 1979-1999, and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London until 2007... , Nicholas Humphrey Nicholas Humphrey Professor Nicholas Keynes Humphrey is an English psychologist, based in Cambridge, who is known for his work on the evolution of human intelligence and consciousness. His interests are wide ranging... , Steven Rose Steven Rose Steven P. Rose is a Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at the Open University and University of London.-Life:...
26 October 2000	The Tudor State Tudor dynasty The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...	John Guy John Guy (historian) John Guy is a British historian and biographer.Born in Australia, he moved to Britain with his parents in 1952. He was educated at King Edward VII School in Lytham, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he read history, taking a First. At Cambridge, Guy studied under the Tudor specialist Geoffrey... , Christopher Haigh Christopher Haigh Christopher Haigh is a British historian specialising in religion and politics around the English Reformation. Until his retirement in 2009, he was Student and Tutor in Modern History at Christ Church, Oxford and University Lecturer at Oxford University... , Christine Carpenter
19 October 2000	Laws of Nature	Mark Buchanan Mark Buchanan Mark Buchanan is an American physicist and author. He was formerly an editor with the international journal of science Nature , and the popular science magazine New Scientist... , Frank Close Frank Close Francis Edwin Close OBE is a noted particle physicist who is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.-Early life:... , Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (philosopher) Nancy Cartwright FBA is a professor of philosophy at the London School of Economics and the University of California at San Diego, and a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship...
12 October 2000	The Romantics	Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate Jonathan Bate CBE FBA FRSL is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism... , Rosemary Ashton, Nicholas Roe
5 October 2000	Hitler in History	Ian Kershaw Ian Kershaw Sir Ian Kershaw is a British historian of 20th-century Germany whose work has chiefly focused on the period of the Third Reich... , Niall Ferguson Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism..... , Mary Fulbrook
28 September 2000	London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...	Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award... , Claire Tomalin Claire Tomalin Claire Tomalin is an English biographer and journalist. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.She was literary editor of the New Statesman and of the Sunday Times, and has written several noted biographies... , Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair Iain Sinclair FRSL is a British writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.-Life and work:...

1999-2000

From 1 June 2000, and the discussion on The American Ideal, the programme moved from 30 minutes to a 45-minute format.

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
29 June 2000	Imagination Imagination Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...  and Consciousness Consciousness Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...	Gerald Edelman Gerald Edelman Gerald Maurice Edelman is an American biologist who shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work with Rodney Robert Porter on the immune system. Edelman's Nobel Prize-winning research concerned discovery of the structure of antibody molecules... , Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander FREng is an emeritus professor of Neural Systems Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London... , Margaret Boden Margaret Boden Dr Margaret A. Boden, OBE, is a combinative researcher in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Philosophy, Cognitive and Computer Science...
22 June 2000	Biography Biography A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...	Richard Holmes Richard Holmes (biographer) Richard Holmes, OBE, FRSL, FBA is a British author and academic best known for his biographical studies of major figures of British and French Romanticism.-Biography:... , Nigel Hamilton Nigel Hamilton (author) Nigel Hamilton is an award-winning British-born biographer, academic and broadcaster, whose works have been translated into sixteen languages. In the United States he is known primarily for his best-selling work on the young John F. Kennedy, JFK: Reckless Youth, which was made into an ABC... , Amanda Foreman Amanda Foreman (biographer) Amanda Lucy Foreman is a British/American biographer and historian.-Family:Her father was the renowned screenwriter and film producer Carl Foreman who had to move to England in order to work after being blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios during the McCarthyism of the 1950s...
15 June 2000	Inspiration and Genius	Arthur I. Miller, Michael Howe Michael Howe (psychologist) There are other people called Michael Howe ----Michael Howe was a British cognitive psychologist. He took BSc and PhD degrees at the University of Sheffield and worked at North American universities before taking a post as lecturer at the University of Exeter in England, where he worked for the... , Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at...
8 June 2000	The Renaissance	Francis Ames-Lewis, Peter Burke Peter Burke Peter Burke is a British historian and professor.He was born to a Roman Catholic father and Jewish mother . He was educated by the Jesuits and at St John's College, Oxford, and was a doctoral candidate at St Antony's College... , Evelyn Welch
1 June 2000	The American Ideal	Christopher Hitchens Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the... , John Keane, Susan Sontag Susan Sontag Susan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
25 May 2000	Chemical Elements	Paul Strathern Paul Strathern Paul Strathern is a British writer and academic. He was born in London, and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, after which he served in the Merchant Navy over a period of two years. He then lived on a Greek island. In 1966 he travelled overland to India and the Himalayas... , Mary Archer, John Murrell
18 May 2000	The Wars of the Roses Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...	Helen Castor, Colin Richmond, Steven Gunn
11 May 2000	The Work of William Shakespeare	Sir Frank Kermode, Michael Bogdanov Michael Bogdanov Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:... , Germaine Greer Germaine Greer Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
4 May 2000	Death Death Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....	Jonathan Dollimore Jonathan Dollimore Jonathan Dollimore is a British sociologist and social theorist in the fields of Renaissance literature , gender studies, queer theory , art, censorship, history of ideas, death studies, decadence, and cultural theory... , Thomas Lynch Thomas Lynch (poet) Thomas Lynch is an American poet, essayist, and undertaker.-Early life:Lynch was educated by nuns and Christian Brothers at Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Lynch then went to university and mortuary school, from which he graduated in 1973... , Marilyn Butler Marilyn Butler Marilyn Butler is a British literary critic. She was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford from 1993 to 2004, and was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge, from 1986 to 1993...
27 April 2000	Human Origins	Leslie Aiello, Robert Foley, Mark Roberts
20 April 2000	Englishness	Paul Langford Paul Langford Professor Paul Langford is a British historian, currently Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford.Educated at Monmouth School and Hertford College, Oxford, he was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship in modern history at Lincoln College in 1969, becoming a tutorial fellow in 1970... , Peter Mandler Peter Mandler Peter Mandler is an historian at the University of Cambridge. He focuses on 19th and 20th century British history, particularly cultural history and the history of the social sciences... , Lola Young
13 April 2000	New Wars	Sir Michael Howard, Mary Kaldor Mary Kaldor Mary Kaldor is a British academic, currently Professor of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, where she is also the Director of its Centre for the Study of Global Governance. She has been a key figure in the development of cosmopolitan democracy... , Sir Michael Rose
6 April 2000	The Natural Order Taxonomy Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...	Colin Tudge Colin Tudge Colin Tudge is a British science writer and broadcaster. A biologist by training, he is the author of numerous works on food, agriculture, genetics, and species diversity.... , Sandy Knapp, Henry Gee Henry Gee Dr Henry Gee is a British paleontologist, and evolutionary biologist. He is a senior editor of Nature, the scientific journal....
30 March 2000	Lessons from History	Richard J. Evans, Eric Hobsbawm Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
23 March 2000	Materialism and the Consumer	Rachel Bowlby, William Gibson William Gibson William Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:-Association football:*Will Gibson , Scottish footballer...
16 March 2000	Lenin	Robert Service Robert Service (historian) Robert John Service is a British historian, academic, and author who has written extensively on the history of Soviet Russia, particularly the era from the October Revolution to Stalin's death... , Vitali Vitaliev Vitali Vitaliev Vitali Vitaliev is a Ukrainian-born journalist and writer who has worked in Russia, England, Scotland, Australia and Ireland.-Biography:...
9 March 2000	The Age of Doubt	A. N. Wilson A. N. Wilson Andrew Norman Wilson is an English writer and newspaper columnist, known for his critical biographies, novels, works of popular history and religious views... , Victoria Glendinning Victoria Glendinning The Hon. Victoria Glendinning, CBE , is a British biographer, critic, broadcaster and novelist; she is President of English PEN, a winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, was awarded a CBE in 1998 and is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature.- Biography :She was born in Sheffield...
2 March 2000	Metamorphosis Metamorphosis Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...	A. S. Byatt A. S. Byatt Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE is an English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner... , Catherine Bates
24 February 2000	Grand Unified Theory	Brian Greene Brian Greene Brian Greene is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. He has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds... , Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004...
17 February 2000	History of Reading	Kevin Sharpe, Jacqueline Pearson
10 February 2000	Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment	Nicholas Boyle Nicholas Boyle Nicholas Boyle FBA is the Schröder Professor of German at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He has written widely on German literature, intellectual history and religion and is known particularly for his award-winning extensive biography of Goethe... , Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer Simon Schaffer . He is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University and was until recently editor of The British Journal for the History of Science.-Life:Schaffer was born in Southampton and attended Varndean...
3 February 2000	Republicanism Republicanism Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...	Sarah Barber, Andrew Roberts
27 January 2000	Economic Rights	Amartya Sen Amartya Sen Amartya Sen, CH is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members... , Will Hutton Will Hutton William Nicolas Hutton is an English writer, weekly columnist and former editor-in-chief for The Observer. He is currently Principal of Hertford College, Oxford and Chair of the Big Innovation Centre , an initiative from The Work Foundation , having been Chief Executive of The Work Foundation from...
20 January 2000	Masculinity in Literature	Martin Amis Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year... , Cora Kaplan
13 January 2000	Information Technology Information technology Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...	Charles Leadbeater Charles Leadbeater Charles Leadbeater is a British author and former advisor to Tony Blair.He first came to widespread notice in the 1980s as a regular contributor to the magazine Marxism Today. Later he was Industrial Editor and Tokyo Bureau Chief at the Financial Times... , Ian Angell
6 January 2000	Climate Change Climate change Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...	Sir John Houghton, George Monbiot George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
30 December 1999	Time Time Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....	Neil Johnson Neil F. Johnson Neil Fraser Johnson is a Professor of physics notable for his work in complexity theory and complex systems, spanning quantum information, econophysics, and condensed matter physics. He is also notable for his book Financial Market Complexity published by Oxford University Press, and for his... , Lee Smolin Lee Smolin Lee Smolin is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. He is married to Dina Graser, a communications lawyer in Toronto. His brother is David M...
23 December 1999	Prayer Prayer Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...	Russell Stannard Russell Stannard Russell Stannard is a retired high-energy particle physicist, who was born in London, England, on December 24, 1931. He currently holds the position of Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Open University... , Andrew Samuels Andrew Samuels Andrew Samuels is known internationally as an influential commentator on political and social themes from the standpoint of 'therapy thinking'. He has worked with politicians, political organizations, activist groups and members of the public in Europe, US, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Russia and South...
16 December 1999	Medical Ethics Medical ethics Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...	Barry Jackson, Sheila McLean Sheila McLean Professor Sheila Ann Manson McLean, FRSE, FRCPE, FRCGP, FRSA is International Bar Association Professor of Law and Ethics in Medicine and director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow...
9 December 1999	Childhood Childhood Childhood is the age span ranging from birth to adolescence. In developmental psychology, childhood is divided up into the developmental stages of toddlerhood , early childhood , middle childhood , and adolescence .- Age ranges of childhood :The term childhood is non-specific and can imply a...	Christina Hardyment, Theodore Zeldin Theodore Zeldin Theodore Zeldin CBE , President of the Oxford Muse Foundation, is an English philosopher, sociologist, historian, writer and public speaker....
2 December 1999	Tragedy Tragedy Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...	George Steiner George Steiner Francis George Steiner, FBA , is an influential European-born American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, translator, and educator. He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of the Holocaust... , Catherine Belsey
25 November 1999	Consciousness Consciousness Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...	Ted Honderich Ted Honderich Ted Honderich is a Canadian-born British philosopher, Grote Professor Emeritus of the Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London and Visiting Professor, University of Bath... , Sir Roger Penrose Roger Penrose Sir Roger Penrose OM FRS is an English mathematical physicist and Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College...
18 November 1999	Progress	Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear Anthony O'Hear is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Buckingham and Head of the Department of Education.He is the editor of the journal Philosophy and Honorary Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy... , Adam Phillips Adam Phillips (psychologist) Adam Phillips is a British child psychotherapist, literary critic and essayist. He is known for his books dealing with topics related to psychoanalysis...
11 November 1999	The Novel Novel A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....	D. J. Taylor D. J. Taylor David John Taylor is a British critic, novelist and biographer. After attending school in Norwich, he read Modern History at St John's College, Oxford, and has received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for his biography of George Orwell. His novel Derby Day was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker... , Gillian Beer Gillian Beer Dame Gillian Beer, DBE , King Edward VII Professor of English Literature and President, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, is a British literary critic and academic.-Career:...
4 November 1999	Education Education Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...	Mary Warnock, Ted Wragg Ted Wragg Edward Conrad Wragg known as Ted Wragg, was a British educationalist and academic known for his advocacy of the cause of education and opposition to political interference in the field...
28 October 1999	Atrocity in the 20th Century	Jonathan Glover Jonathan Glover Jonathan Glover is a British philosopher known for his studies on ethics. He was educated at Tonbridge School, later going on to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was a fellow and tutor in philosophy at New College, Oxford. He currently teaches ethics at King's College London... , Gwen Adshead
21 October 1999	The Individual Individual An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...	Richard Wollheim Richard Wollheim Richard Arthur Wollheim was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting... , Jonathan Dollimore Jonathan Dollimore Jonathan Dollimore is a British sociologist and social theorist in the fields of Renaissance literature , gender studies, queer theory , art, censorship, history of ideas, death studies, decadence, and cultural theory...
14 October 1999	The Nation State	Norman Davies Norman Davies Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :... , Andrew Marr Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
7 October 1999	Utopia Utopia Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...	A. C. Grayling A. C. Grayling Anthony Clifford Grayling is a British philosopher. In 2011 he founded and became the first Master of New College of the Humanities, a private undergraduate college in London. Until June 2011, he was Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, where he taught from 1991... , John Carey John Carey (critic) John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East...
30 September 1999	Maths and Storytelling	John Allen Paulos John Allen Paulos John Allen Paulos is a professor of mathematics at Temple University in Philadelphia who has gained fame as a writer and speaker on mathematics and the importance of mathematical literacy... , Marina Warner
23 September 1999	Genetic Determinism	Steve Jones Steve Jones (biologist) John Stephen Jones is a Welsh geneticist and from 1995 to 1999 and 2008 to June 2010 was Head of the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton Laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on... , Matt Ridley Matt Ridley Matthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...

1998-1999

Broadcast date	Title	Contributors
22 July 1999	Pain Pain Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...	Patrick Wall Patrick David Wall Patrick David "Pat" Wall was a leading British neuroscientist described as 'the world's leading expert on pain' and best known for the Gate control theory of pain.-Early life and academia:... , Semir Zeki Semir Zeki Semir Zeki is a professor of neuroesthetics at University College London. His main interest is the organization of the primate visual brain. He published his first scientific paper in 1967...
15 July 1999	Truth, Lies and Fiction	Elena Lappin, Nick Groom
8 July 1999	Africa Africa Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...	Henry Louis Gates Jr, Anthony Sampson Anthony Sampson Anthony Terrell Seward Sampson was a British writer and journalist. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford and served with the Royal Navy from 1944-47. During the 1950s he edited the magazine Drum in Johannesburg, South Africa...
1 July 1999	Intelligence Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in different ways, including the abilities for abstract thought, understanding, communication, reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving....	Ken Richardson, Michael Ruse Michael Ruse Michael Ruse is a philosopher of biology at Florida State University, and is well known for his work on the creationism/evolution controversy and the demarcation problem in science...
24 June 1999	Capitalism Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...	Anatole Kaletsky Anatole Kaletsky Anatole Kaletsky is a journalist and economist based in the United Kingdom. He is Editor-at-Large and Principal Economic Commentator of The Times, where he writes a thrice-fortnightly column on economics, politics and financial markets.... , Edward Luttwak Edward Luttwak Edward Nicolae Luttwak is an American military strategist and historian who has published works on military strategy, history and international relations.-Biography:...
17 June 1999	The Great Disruption	Francis Fukuyama Francis Fukuyama Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama is an American political scientist, political economist, and author. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford. Before that he served as a professor and director of the International Development program at the School of... , Amos Oz Amos Oz Amos Oz is an Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist. He is also a professor of literature at Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva....
10 June 1999	The Monarchy Monarchy of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...	David Cannadine David Cannadine Sir David Nicholas Cannadine, FBA is a British historian, known for a number of books, including The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy and Ornamentalism. He is also notable as a commentator and broadcaster on British public life, especially the monarchy. He serves as the generaleditor... , Bea Campbell
3 June 1999	Just War Just War Just war theory is a doctrine of military ethics of Roman philosophical and Catholic origin, studied by moral theologians, ethicists and international policy makers, which holds that a conflict ought to meet philosophical, religious or political criteria.-Origins:The concept of justification for...	John Keane, Niall Ferguson Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....
27 May 1999	Memory Memory In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....	Malcolm Bowie Malcolm Bowie Malcolm McNaughtan Bowie FBA was a British academic, and Master of Christ's College, Cambridge from 2002 to 2006. An acclaimed scholar of French literature, Bowie wrote several books on Marcel Proust.... , Nancy Wood
20 May 1999	The Origins of the Universe	Sir Martin Rees Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, OM, FRS is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge since 2004... , Paul Davies Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies, AM is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, currently a professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science...
13 May 1999	Multiculturalism Multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...	Stuart Hall Stuart Hall (cultural theorist) Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist and sociologist who has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1951. Hall, along with Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams, was one of the founding figures of the school of thought that is now known as British Cultural Studies or The Birmingham School of... , Avtar Brah
6 May 1999	Mathematics Mathematics Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...	Ian Stewart Ian Stewart (mathematician) Ian Nicholas Stewart FRS is a professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England, and a widely known popular-science and science-fiction writer. He is the first recipient of the , awarded jointly by the LMS and the IMA for his work on promoting mathematics.-Biography:Stewart was born... , Brian Butterworth Brian Butterworth Brian Butterworth is a professor of cognitive neuropsychology in the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. His research has ranged from speech errors and pauses, short-term memory deficits, dyslexia, reading both in alphabetic scripts and logograms, and mathematics and...
29 April 1999	Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...	Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander Igor Aleksander FREng is an emeritus professor of Neural Systems Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London... , John Searle John Searle John Rogers Searle is an American philosopher and currently the Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.-Biography:...
22 April 1999	Fundamentalism Fundamentalism Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...	Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong Karen Armstrong FRSL , is a British author and commentator who is the author of twelve books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical faith... , Tariq Ali Tariq Ali Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
15 April 1999	Evolution Evolution Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...	John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith,His surname was Maynard Smith, not Smith, nor was it hyphenated. F.R.S. was a British theoretical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J.B.S.... , Colin Tudge Colin Tudge Colin Tudge is a British science writer and broadcaster. A biologist by training, he is the author of numerous works on food, agriculture, genetics, and species diversity....
8 April 1999	Writing and Political Oppression	Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer and political activist. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature when she was recognised as a woman "who through her magnificent epic writing has – in the words of Alfred Nobel – been of very great benefit to humanity".Her writing has long dealt... , Ariel Dorfman Ariel Dorfman Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.-Personal...
1 April 1999	Good and Evil	Leszek Kolakowski Leszek Kolakowski Leszek Kołakowski was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his acclaimed three-volume history, Main Currents of Marxism, which is "considered by some to be one of the most important books on political theory of the... , Galen Strawson Galen Strawson Galen John Strawson is a British philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics , John Locke, David Hume and Kant. He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford , from where he won a scholarship to Winchester College...
25 March 1999	20th Century Architecture	Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect... , Richard Weston
18 March 1999	Animal Experiments and Rights	Colin Blakemore Colin Blakemore Professor Colin Blakemore, Ph.D., FRS, FMedSci, HonFSB, HonFRCP, is a British neurobiologist who is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and University of Warwick specialising in vision and the development of the brain. He was formerly Chief Executive of the British Medical... , Lynda Birke
11 March 1999	History History History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...  as Science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...	Jared Diamond Jared Diamond Jared Mason Diamond is an American scientist and author whose work draws from a variety of fields. He is currently Professor of Geography and Physiology at UCLA... , Richard J. Evans Richard J. Evans Richard John Evans is a British academic and historian, prominently known for his history of Germany.-Life:Evans was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and President of Wolfson College...
4 March 1999	Shakespeare and Literary Criticism Literary criticism Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...	Harold Bloom Harold Bloom Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary... , Jacqueline Rose Jacqueline Rose Jacqueline Rose is a British academic who is currently Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of London.-Life and work:...
25 February 1999	The Decline and Fall of the 20th Century Avant Garde	Eric Hobsbawm Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author... , Frances Morris
18 February 1999	Space in Religion and Science	John Polkinghorne John Polkinghorne John Charlton Polkinghorne KBE FRS is an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer, and Anglican priest. He was professor of Mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979, when he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest... , Margaret Wertheim Margaret Wertheim Margaret Wertheim is a science writer and the author of books on the cultural history of physics.Wertheim is the author of three books that collectively consider the role of theoretical physics in the cultural landscape of modern Western society. The first, Pythagoras' Trousers , is a history of...
11 February 1999	Language Language Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...  and the Mind	Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and... , Steven Pinker Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
4 February 1999	The Legacy of Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...	Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell Juliet Mitchell is a British Psychoanalyst and socialist feminist, who was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Psychoanalysis and Gender Studies at Cambridge University. In 2010, she's appointed to be the Director of the Expanded Doctoral School in Psychoanalytic Studies at... , Adam Phillips Adam Phillips (psychologist) Adam Phillips is a British child psychotherapist, literary critic and essayist. He is known for his books dealing with topics related to psychoanalysis...
28 January 1999	Ageing Ageing Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in a person over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline...	Alan Walker, Tom Kirkwood
21 January 1999	Modern Culture	Will Self Will Self William Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time... , Roger Scruton Roger Scruton Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...
14 January 1999	The New Genetics Genetics Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....	Grahame Bulfield, Bryan Appleyard Bryan Appleyard Bryan Appleyard is a British journalist and author.- Career :Appleyard was educated at Bolton School and King’s College, Cambridge and after graduating with a degree in English, he became Financial News Editor and Deputy Arts Editor from 1976 to 1984 at The Times. Subsequently he became a...
7 January 1999	The Rise of Feminism Feminism Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...	Helena Cronin Helena Cronin Dr. Helena Cronin is a noted Darwinian philosopher and rationalist. She is the co-director of the CPNSS and the Darwin Centre at the London School of Economics... , Germaine Greer Germaine Greer Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
31 December 1998	The Legacy of Empire	Catherine Hall Catherine Hall Catherine Hall is a feminist historian from Great Britain. Since 2009 she has been Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History at University College London... , Linda Colley Linda Colley Linda Colley, CBE, FBA, FRSL, FRHistS is a historian of Britain, empire and nationalism. She is Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University in the United States.-Early life and education:...
24 December 1998	The Current State of Neuroscience Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...	Susan Greenfield Susan Greenfield Susan Adele Greenfield, Baroness Greenfield, CBE is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Greenfield, whose specialty is the physiology of the brain, has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.Greenfield is... , Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian "Rama" Ramachandran, born 1951, is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics...
17 December 1998	The American Century American Century American Century is a term used to describe the United States' dominance of much of the 20th century, in political, economic and cultural terms. The United States' influence grew throughout the 20th century, but became especially dominant after the end of World War II, when only two superpowers...	Harry Evans Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans is a British-born journalist and writer who was editor of The Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981. He has written various books on history and journalism... , John Lloyd
10 December 1998	Cultural Rights in the 20th Century	Homi Bhabha Homi K. Bhabha Homi K. Bhabha is the Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Language, and the Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard University. He is one of the most important figures in contemporary post-colonial studies, and has coined a number of the field's neologisms and... , John N. Gray
3 December 1998	What is History?	Simon Schama Simon Schama Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain... , Lady Antonia Fraser
26 November 1998	Work in the 20th Century	Richard Sennett Richard Sennett Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University... , Theodore Zeldin, Melanie Phillips Melanie Phillips Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
19 November 1998	The Brain Brain The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...  and Consciousness Consciousness Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...	Steven Rose Steven Rose Steven P. Rose is a Professor of Biology and Neurobiology at the Open University and University of London.-Life:... , Dan Robinson Daniel N. Robinson Daniel N. Robinson is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Georgetown University and a Fellow of the Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University.-Career:...
12 November 1998	The 20th Century City	Sir Peter Hall Peter Hall (urbanist) Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall, FBA is an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He is the Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the Regional Studies Association.He is... , Doreen Massey
5 November 1998	The Perception of Science	John Gribbin John Gribbin John R. Gribbin is a British science writer and a visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.- Biography :John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science degree in astronomy in 1967, also... , Mary Midgley Mary Midgley Mary Midgley, née Scrutton , is an English moral philosopher. She was a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Newcastle University and is known for her work on science, ethics and animal rights. She wrote her first book, Beast And Man: The Roots of Human Nature , when she was in her fifties...
29 October 1998	The Revelations of Science	Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author... , Ian McEwan Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
22 October 1998	Politics in the 20th Century	Gore Vidal Gore Vidal Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality... , Alan Clark Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
15 October 1998	War in the 20th Century	Michael Ignatieff Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011... , Sir Michael Howard

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