Britain gave its former colonies constitutions – but hasn't got round to writing one itself. What shape are our freedoms and rights in today, 800 years after Magna Carta? Not a very good one, say Professor AC Grayling, and exhibition guest curator Professor Linda Colley. Covering every major domestic constitutional event from the Laws of Forests to the Human Rights Act, this debate is for anyone interested in liberty then and now.

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Deborah Moggach chairs a discussion with authors Philip Hensher, Hilary Spurling and Michael Frayn, to celebrate the launch of The Writing Life: Authors Speak two-CD publication. The writers, all interviewed for the ongoing oral history project Authors' Lives, discuss their writing processes, offer insights into their own creative practices and reflect on being interviewed for Authors' Lives. Recorded in the Conference Centre on 28 March 2011.

The Writing Life

Professor Philip Bobbitt, distinguished academic and author, who has both served the White House in senior government positions and lived there, with his uncle President Lyndon Baines Johnson, reflected on  global security and on the special relationship between the US and the UK. Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies. Recorded in the Conference Centre on 29 March 2011.

16th Annual Douglas W. Bryant Lecture

Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished letters and journals, Amanda Foreman, author of  A World on Fire, gives a fresh account of the Civil War through the extraordinary stories of many of the thousands of Britons who went to America as soldiers, observers, nurses, adventurers, guerrillas and spies. Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies. Recorded in the Conference Centre on 11 April 2011.

Tales of Heroism, Tales of Terror

The audience was invited to bring their favourite phrase, query or gripe for answers and discussion from our panel of language experts. With Victoria Coren and Peter Gilliver. Recorded in the British Library Conference Centre on 5 December 2010.

English Language Question Time

A packed auditorium joined poet Don Paterson, Ben Crystal, Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen for an evening of appreciation and exploration of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Introduced by Roger Walshe. Accompanies the Evolving English exhibition. Recorded in the British Library Conference Centre on 2 February 2011.

Shakespeare's Sonnets

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