Virtue

Bettany Hughes considers virtue at a club for the English aristocracy, with a former Greek Minister of Finance, and with an aid worker just back from an ebola zone in Sierra Leone.

The surprising and invigorating history of the most influential ideas in the story of civilisation, described as 'a double espresso shot of philosophy, history, science and the arts'. Award--winning historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes begins each programme with the first, extant evidence of a single word-idea in Ancient Greek culture and travels both forwards and backwards in time, investigating how these ideas have been moulded by history, and how they've shaped us.

In this programme Bettany explores virtue with experts from the humanities and sciences, people who see these big philosophical ideas playing out in their own lives including philosopher Angie Hobbs, writer and historian Stella Tillyard, former Greek Finance Minister Petros Doukas, and Oxfam's Head of Water and Sanitation Andy Bastaple. Bettany travels to Athens to see where these ideas were born and then explores the street markets, churches, offices and homes where they continue to morph and influence our daily lives.

Ideas examined in the first series, in September 2013, were idea, desire, agony, fame and justice. The second series, in January 2014, considered wisdom, comedy, liberty, peace and hospitality. Other ideas in this series are psyche, charisma, irony and nemesis.

Series Producer: Dixi Stewart.