In Our Time

By BBC Radio 4History

Ranking
18th
on History
Favorites
7,064
Followers
Typical duration
42 min
per episode
If it hooks
68%
finish an episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

In Our Time episodes

November 01, 2012 The Anarchy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Anarchy, the civil war that took place in mid-twelfth century England. The war began as a succession dispute between the Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I, and her cousin, Stephen of Blois. On Henry's death Stephen seized the English throne and held it for a number of years before Matilda wrestled it from him, although she was chased out of London before she could be crowned.
The Anarchy dragged on for nearly twenty years and is so called because of the chaos and lawlessness that characterised the period. Yet only one major battle ever took place, the Battle of Lincoln in 1141, and any other fighting associated with the conflict was fairly localised. This has led historians to question the accuracy of labelling the civil war as The Anarchy, a name only bestowed on the era in the 19th century. But why did Matilda fail to become the monarch, and what impact did it have on the way England was ruled in centuries to come?
With:
John Gillingham
Emeritus Professor of History at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Louise Wilkinson
Reader in Medieval History at Canterbury Christ Church University
David Carpenter
Professor of Medieval History at Kings College London.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
43 min
October 25, 2012 Fermat's Last Theorem
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat's Last Theorem. In 1637 the French mathematician Pierre de Fermat scribbled a note in the margin of one of his books. He claimed to have proved a remarkable property of numbers, but gave no clue as to how he'd gone about it. "I have found a wonderful demonstration of this proposition," he wrote, "which this margin is too narrow to contain". Fermat's theorem became one of the most iconic problems in mathematics and for centuries mathematicians struggled in vain to work out what his proof had been. In the 19th century the French Academy of Sciences twice offered prize money and a gold medal to the person who could discover Fermat's proof; but it was not until 1995 that the puzzle was finally solved by the British mathematician Andrew Wiles.
With:
Marcus du Sautoy
Professor of Mathematics & Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford
Vicky Neale
Fellow and Director of Studies in Mathematics at Murray Edwards College at the University of Cambridge
Samir Siksek
Professor at the Mathematics Institute at the University of Warwick.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
43 min
October 18, 2012 Caxton and the Printing Press
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and influence of William Caxton, the merchant who brought the printing press to the British Isles. After spending several years working as a printer in Bruges, Caxton returned to London and in 1476 set up his first printing press in Westminster, and also imported and sold other printed books. Caxton concentrated on producing popular books that he knew would sell, such as Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' and small liturgical 'books of hours'. The standard of Caxton's printing may have lagged behind that on the continent, but he was a skilful businessman and unusually for printers at the time, he managed not to go bankrupt. The advent of print is now seen as one of the great revolutions in intellectual history - although many scholars believe it was a revolution that took many generations to have an effect.
With:
Richard Gameson
Professor of the History of the Book at the University of Durham
Julia Boffey
Professor of Medieval Studies in the English Department at Queen Mary, University of London
David Rundle
Member of the History Faculty at the University of Oxford
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
42 min
October 11, 2012 Hannibal
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and achievements of Hannibal. One of the most celebrated military leaders in history, Hannibal was the Carthaginian general who led an entire army, complete with elephants, across the Alps in order to attack the Roman Republic. He lived at a time of prolonged hostility between the two great Mediterranean powers, Rome and Carthage, and was the Carthaginians' inspirational leader during the Second Punic War which unfolded between 218 and 202 BC. His career ended in defeat and exile, but he achieved such fame that even his enemies the Romans erected statues of him. Centuries later his tactical genius was admired and studied by generals including Napoleon and Wellington.
With:
Ellen O'Gorman
Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Bristol
Mark Woolmer
Senior Tutor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham
Louis Rawlings
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University.
Producer: Natalia Fernandez.
43 min
October 04, 2012 Gerald of Wales
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales. Born around the middle of the twelfth century, Gerald was a cleric and courtier. For much of his life he was close to Henry II and the Church hierarchy, and wrote accounts of official journeys he made around Wales and Ireland in their service. Both Anglo-Norman and Welsh by parentage, he had a unique perspective on the political strife of his age. Gerald's Journey Around Wales and Description of Ireland are among the most colourful and informative chronicles of the Middle Ages, and had a powerful influence on later historians.
With:
Henrietta Leyser
Emeritus Fellow of St Peter's College, University of Oxford
Michelle Brown
Professor Emerita of Medieval Manuscript Studies at the School of Advanced Study, University of London
Huw Pryce
Professor of Welsh History at Bangor University
Producer: Thomas Morris.
43 min
September 27, 2012 The Ontological Argument
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ontological Argument. In the eleventh century St Anselm of Canterbury proposed that it was possible to prove the existence of God using reason alone. His argument was ridiculed by some of his contemporaries, but was analysed and improved by later thinkers including Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz. Other philosophers have been less kind, with the Enlightenment thinker David Hume offering one possible refutation. But the debate continued, fuelled by interventions from such heavyweights as Immanuel Kant and Kurt Gödel; and it remains one of the most discussed problems in philosophy.
With:
John Haldane
Professor of Philosophy at the University of St Andrews
Peter Millican
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford
Clare Carlisle
Lecturer in Philosophy of Religion at King's College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
43 min
September 20, 2012 The Druids
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Druids, the priests of ancient Europe. Active in Ireland, Britain and Gaul, the Druids were first written about by Roman authors including Julius Caesar and Pliny, who described them as wearing white robes and cutting mistletoe with golden sickles. They were suspected of leading resistance to the Romans, a fact which eventually led to their eradication from ancient Britain. In the early modern era, however, interest in the Druids revived, and later writers reinvented and romanticised their activities. Little is known for certain about their rituals and beliefs, but modern archaeological discoveries have shed new light on them.
With:
Barry Cunliffe
Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Oxford
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
Professor of Archaeology at Cardiff University
Justin Champion
Professor of the History of Early Modern Ideas at Royal Holloway, University of London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
42 min
September 13, 2012 The Cell
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cell, the fundamental building block of life. First observed by Robert Hooke in 1665, cells occur in nature in a bewildering variety of forms. Every organism alive today consists of one or more cells: a single human body contains up to a hundred trillion of them.
The first life on Earth was a single-celled organism which is thought to have appeared around three and a half billion years ago. That simple cell resembled today's bacteria. But eventually these microscopic entities evolved into something far more complex, and single-celled life gave rise to much larger, complex multicellular organisms. But how did the first cell appear, and how did that prototype evolve into the sophisticated, highly specialised cells of the human body?
With:
Steve Jones
Professor of Genetics at University College London
Nick Lane
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London
Cathie Martin
Group Leader at the John Innes Centre and Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia
Producer: Thomas Morris.
43 min
July 12, 2012 Hadrian's Wall
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall, the largest Roman structure and one of the most important archaeological monuments in Britain. Stretching for eighty miles from the mouth of the River Tyne to the Solway Firth and classified today as a World Heritage Site, it has been a source of fascination ever since it came into existence. It was built in about 122 AD by the Emperor Hadrian, and a substantial part of it still survives today. Although its construction must have entailed huge cost and labour, the Romans abandoned it within twenty years, deciding to build the Antonine Wall further north instead. Even after more than a century of excavations, many mysteries still surround Hadrian's Wall, including its exact purpose. Did it have a meaningful defensive role or was it mainly a powerful emperor's vanity project?
With:
Greg Woolf
Professor of Ancient History at the University of St Andrews
David Breeze
Former Chief Inspector of Ancient Monuments for Scotland and Visiting Professor of Archaeology at the University of Durham
Lindsay Allason-Jones
Former Reader in Roman Material Culture at the University of Newcastle
Producer: Victoria Brignell.
42 min
July 05, 2012 Scepticism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Scepticism, the idea that it may be impossible to know anything with complete certainty. Scepticism was first outlined by ancient Greek philosophers: Socrates is reported to have said that the only thing he knew for certain was that he knew nothing. Later, Scepticism was taught at the Academy founded by Plato, and learnt by students who included the Roman statesman Cicero. The central ideas of Scepticism were taken up by later philosophers and came to the fore during the Renaissance, when thinkers including Rene Descartes and Michel de Montaigne took up its challenge. A central plank of the philosophical system of David Hume, Scepticism had a powerful influence on the religious and scientific debates of the Enlightenment.
With:
Peter Millican
Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford
Melissa Lane
Professor of Politics at Princeton University
Jill Kraye
Professor of the History of Renaissance Philosophy and Librarian at the Warburg Institute, University of London.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
43 min