In this episode, we explore the life and times of the Irishman who defeated Napoleon and went on to become the prime minister of Britain and find out his complicated relationship with this country.

Featuring: Dr Síle McGuckian, historian and lawyer; Gareth Glover, military historian; and Prof Michael Broers, Emeritus Professor of Western European History at Oxford University.

We mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of one of the most influential books ever written, Gulliver's Travels, & we find out how Jonathan Swift created one of the landmarks of world literature.

Featuring Dr Jason McElligott, Director of Marsh’s Library; Prof Daniel Cook, Chair of English and Scottish Literature at the University of Dundee; Dr Clíona Ó Gallchoir, Head of English at University College Cork; & Prof David Kenny, Professor in Law at the Law School of Trinity College Dublin.

‘Seven Sisters: Captives and Rebels in Revolutionary Europe's First Family’ with Veronica Buckley, historical biographer; ‘Gothic: Building Castles in post-Union Ireland’, with Dr Judith Hill, architectural historian; and ‘Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade’, with Dr Hannah Durkin, historian specialising in transatlantic slavery and African diasporic art and culture.

We explore the economic and social history of the Irish in England, with our panel: Prof Louise Ryan, Senior Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Global Diversities and Inequalities Research Centre at London Metropolitan University, Prof Neil Cummins, Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics, Cormac Ó Grada, economic historian and professor emeritus of economics at University College Dublin, and Dr Christopher Kissane, Engagement & Impact Lead at LSE Dept of Economic History, and curator of the EPIC exhibition.

We're exploring the extraordinary world of visionary artist and poet William Blake and we'll be finding out how this radical thinker influenced writers and artists from WB Yeats to U2 and beyond.

Featuring: Anne Hodge, the exhibition curator and Curator of Prints & Drawings at the National Gallery of Ireland; Alice Insley, Curator of British Art c. 1730–1850 at Tate and co-curator of the William Blake exhibition; and Dr Christina Morin, Professor of English and Assistant Dean of Research for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Limerick.

We discuss the life and work of Marcel Proust and explore his connections with Ireland. Featuring: Dr Max McGuinness, Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies at Trinity College Dublin, and co-editor of ‘The Irish Proust: Cultural Crossings From Beckett To McGahern’; Prof Patrick ‘Paddy’ O’Donovan, Emeritus Professor of French at University College Cork; Prof Barry McCrea, Donald R. Keough Family Professor of Irish Studies, Professor of English, Concurrent Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Concurrent Professor of Irish Language and Literature at the University of Notre Dame in the US; and Dr Richard Robinson, Associate Professor in English Literature at Swansea University.

Featuring: Dr Rosina Buckland, Curator of Japanese Collections in the Department of Asia at the British Museum and Lead Curator of the Samurai exhibition; Joe Nickols, curator in the Japan section of the British Museum, co-ordinating the Samurai exhibition; and Prof Oleg Benesch, Professor of Modern History and Head of the Department of History at the University of York, who specialises in the history of Japan and China in a global context.

Rasputin rose from obscurity to become the most controversial figure at the court of Tsar Nicholas II. This episode features: Sir Anthony Beevor, writer and historian, and Dr Helen Rappaport, author, media consultant, and historian specialising in the British and Russian history from 1837 to 1918.

In this episode: An Accidental History of Tudor England - From Daily Life to Sudden Death, with historian Prof Steven Gunn; Exile: The Captive Years of Mary, Queen of Scots, with author Rosemary Goring; and Élie Bouhéreau: the collections and communities of a Huguenot refugee, by Amy Boylan, special collections librarian in Marsh’s Library.

In this episode: we hear from Dr Claire O’Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in English at Loughborough University and Editor-in-Chief of Brontë Studies, the official journal of the Brontë Society; Prof Melissa Fegan, Professor of Irish and Victorian Literature at the University of Chester; and Dr Sophie Franklin, Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of English, Drama and Film at University College Dublin and author of ‘Violence and the Brontës: Language, Reception, Afterlives’. She is also an Associate Editor of the Brontë Studies journal.