In Our Time

By BBC Radio 4History

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In Our Time episodes

March 21, 2019 Gerard Manley Hopkins
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and works of Hopkins (1844-89), a Jesuit priest who at times burned his poems and at others insisted they should not be published. His main themes are how he, nature and God relate to each other. His friend Robert Bridges preserved Hopkins' poetry and, once printed in 1918, works such as The Windhover, Pied Beauty and As Kingfishers Catch Fire were celebrated for their inventiveness and he was seen as a major poet, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian age.
With
Catherine Phillips
R J Owens Fellow in English at Downing College, University of Cambridge
Jane Wright
Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Bristol
and
Martin Dubois
Assistant Professor in Nineteenth Century Literature at Durham University
Producer: Simon Tillotson
48 min
March 14, 2019 Authenticity
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what it means to be oneself, a question explored by philosophers from Aristotle to the present day, including St Augustine, Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre. In Hamlet, Polonius said 'To thine own self be true', but what is the self, and what does it mean to be true to it, and why should you be true? To Polonius, if you are true to yourself, ‘thou canst not be false to any man’ - but with the rise of the individual, authenticity became a goal in itself, regardless of how that affected others. Is authenticity about creating yourself throughout your life, or fulfilling the potential with which you were born, connecting with your inner child, or something else entirely? What are the risks to society if people value authenticity more than morality - that is, if the two are incompatible?
The image above is of Sartre, aged 8 months, perhaps still connected to his inner child.
With
Sarah Richmond
Associate Professor in Philosophy at University College London
Denis McManus
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southampton
and
Irene McMullin
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex
Producer: Simon Tillotson
51 min
March 07, 2019 William Cecil
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact on the British Isles of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most poweful man in the court of Elizabeth I. He was both praised and attacked for his flexibility, adapting to the reigns of Protestant and Catholic monarchs and, under Elizabeth, his goal was to make England strong, stable and secure from attack from its neighbours. He sought control over Ireland and persuaded Elizabeth that Mary Queen of Scots must die, yet often counselled peace rather than war in the interests of prosperity.
With
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford
Susan Doran
Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Oxford
and
John Guy
Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson
52 min
February 28, 2019 Antarah ibn Shaddad
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, works, context and legacy of Antarah (525-608AD), the great poet and warrior. According to legend, he was born a slave; his mother was an Ethiopian slave, his father an elite Arab cavalryman. Antarah won his freedom in battle and loved a woman called Abla who refused him, and they were later celebrated in the saga of Antar and Abla. One of Antarah's poems was so esteemed in pre-Islamic Arabia that it is believed it was hung up on the wall of the Kaaba in Mecca.
With
James Montgomery
Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge
Marlé Hammond
Senior Lecturer in Arabic Popular Literature and Culture at SOAS, University of London
And
Harry Munt
Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York
Producer: Simon Tillotson
50 min
February 21, 2019 Pheromones
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how members of the same species send each other invisible chemical signals to influence the way they behave. Pheromones are used by species across the animal kingdom in a variety of ways, such as laying trails to be followed, to raise the alarm, to scatter from predators, to signal dominance and to enhance attractiveness and, in honey bees, even direct development into queen or worker.
The image above is of male and female ladybirds that have clustered together in response to pheromones.
With
Tristram Wyatt
Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford
Jane Hurst
William Prescott Professor of Animal Science at the University of Liverpool
and
Francis Ratnieks
Professor of Apiculture and Head of the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex
Producer: Simon Tillotson
50 min
February 14, 2019 Judith beheading Holofernes
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how artists from the Middle Ages onwards have been inspired by the Bible story of the widow who killed an Assyrian general who was besieging her village, and so saved her people from his army and from his master Nebuchadnezzar. A symbol of a woman's power and the defiance of political tyranny, the image of Judith has been sculpted by Donatello, painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and, in the case of Caravaggio, Liss and Artemisia Gentileschi, been shown with vivid, disturbing detail. What do these interpretations reveal of the attitudes to power and women in their time, and of the artists' own experiences?
The image of Judith, above is from a tapestry in the Duomo, Milan, by Giovanni or Nicola Carcher, 1555
With
Susan Foister
Curator of Early Netherlandish, German and British Painting at the National Gallery
John Gash
Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Aberdeen
And
Ela Nutu Hall
Research Associate at the Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies, at the University of Sheffield
Producer: Simon Tillotson
50 min
February 07, 2019 Aristotle's Biology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable achievement of Aristotle (384-322BC) in the realm of biological investigation, for which he has been called the originator of the scientific study of life. Known mainly as a philosopher and the tutor for Alexander the Great, who reportedly sent him animal specimens from his conquests, Aristotle examined a wide range of life forms while by the Sea of Marmara and then on the island of Lesbos. Some ideas, such as the the spontaneous generation of flies, did not survive later scrutiny, yet his influence was extraordinary and his work was unequalled until the early modern period.
The image above is of the egg and embryo of a dogfish, one of the animals Aristotle described accurately as he recorded their development.
With
Armand Leroi
Professor of Evolutionary Development Biology at Imperial College London
Myrto Hatzimichali
Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge
And
Sophia Connell
Lecturer in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London
Producer: Simon Tillotson
51 min
January 31, 2019 Owain Glyndwr
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life of the Welsh nobleman, also known as Owen Glendower, who began a revolt against Henry IV in 1400 which was at first very successful. Glyndwr (c1359-c1415) adopted the title Prince of Wales and established a parliament and his own foreign policy, until he was defeated by the future Henry V. Owain Glyndwr escaped and led guerilla attacks for several years but was never betrayed to the English, disappearing without trace.
With
Huw Pryce
Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University
Helen Fulton
Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of Bristol
Chris Given-Wilson
Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the University of St Andrews
Producer: Simon Tillotson
49 min
January 24, 2019 Emmy Noether
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and life of one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, Emmy Noether. Noether’s Theorem is regarded as one of the most important mathematical theorems, influencing the evolution of modern physics. Born in 1882 in Bavaria, Noether studied mathematics at a time when women were generally denied the chance to pursue academic careers and, to get round objections, she spent four years lecturing under a male colleague’s name. In the 1930s she faced further objections to her teaching, as she was Jewish, and she left for the USA when the Nazis came to power. Her innovative ideas were to become widely recognised and she is now considered to be one of the founders of modern algebra.
With
Colva Roney Dougal
Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews
David Berman
Professor in Theoretical Physics at Queen Mary, University of London
Elizabeth Mansfield
Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kent
Producer: Simon Tillotson
49 min
January 17, 2019 Samuel Beckett
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989), who lived in Paris and wrote his plays and novels in French, not because his French was better than his English, but because it was worse. In works such as Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Molloy and Malone Dies, he wanted to show the limitations of language, what words could not do, together with the absurdity and humour of the human condition. In part he was reacting to the verbal omnipotence of James Joyce, with whom he’d worked in Paris, and in part to his experience in the French Resistance during World War 2, when he used code, writing not to reveal meaning but to conceal it.
With
Steven Connor
Professor of English at the University of Cambridge
Laura Salisbury
Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Exeter
And
Mark Nixon
Associate Professor in Modern Literature at the University of Reading and co-director of the Beckett International Foundation
Producer: Simon Tillotson
49 min