Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss free will. Read more
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Free Will
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss free will.
The Medieval University
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the foundation of the medieval universities.
The Iron Age
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the dawn of the Iron Age.
The Bhagavad Gita
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Bhagavad Gita, a key text of Hinduism.
Octavia Hill
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian social reformer Octavia Hill.
The Neutrino
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutrino, the so-called 'ghost particle'.
The Pelagian Controversy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the church's most significant doctrinal disputes.
Cogito Ergo Sum
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Rene Descartes' famous statement.
Islamic Law and its Origins
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of Islamic law.
The Anatomy of Melancholy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Robert Burton's book The Anatomy of Melancholy.
Custer's Last Stand
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer's Last Stand.
Xenophon
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek historian and soldier Xenophon.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
The Origins of Infectious Disease
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of infectious disease.
Wyclif and the Lollards
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss John Wyclif and the Lollards.
Malthusianism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Malthusianism.
Tennyson's In Memoriam
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam.
The Minoan Civilisation
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Minoan Civilisation of Bronze Age Crete.
The Hippocratic Oath
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Hippocratic Oath.
Shinto
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Japanese belief system of Shinto.
The Etruscan Civilisation
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Etruscan civilisation.
David Hume
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the Scottish philosopher David Hume.
The Ming Voyages
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ming Voyages of discovery.
Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People.
The Siege of Tenochtitlan
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Siege of Tenochtitlan and fall of the Aztec Empire
The Moon
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins, science and mythology of the moon.
The Continental-Analytic Split
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Continental and Analytic philosophical traditions.
Ptolemy and Ancient Astronomy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Ptolemy and ancient astronomy.
Judas Maccabeus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the revolutionary Jewish leader Judas Maccabeus.
Christina Rossetti
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti.
Heraclitus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus.
The Concordat of Worms
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Concordat of Worms of 1122.
Robinson Crusoe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Daniel Defoe's seminal novel Robinson Crusoe.
Macromolecules
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that underpin all life.
The Safavid Dynasty
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Safavid Dynasty of early modern Iran.
The Written World
Episode 1
How making signs on clay, wood or parchment enabled the development of human culture.
Episode 2
Melvyn considers the impact of the invention of the book.
Episode 3
How the invention of writing influenced the spread of religion.
Literature
How the written word, originally used for accountancy, gave rise to human literature.
Episode 5
How the invention of writing made the scientific revolution of the Enlightenment possible.
1848: Year of Revolution
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss 1848, the year that saw Europe engulfed in revolution.
The Scientific Method
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method.
The Kama Sutra
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Kama Sutra.
Erasmus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
The An Lushan Rebellion
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the An Lushan Rebellion.
Conductors and Semiconductors
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of electrical conduction.
Benjamin Franklin
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Benjamin Franklin.
Lyrical Ballads
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads.
Vitruvius and De Architectura
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Vitruvius's De Architectura.
Moses Mendelssohn
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German-Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn.
The Measurement of Time
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the measurement of time.
George Fox and the Quakers
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of Quakerism.
Early Geology
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the emergence of geology as a scientific discipline.
Neoplatonism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient philosophical school of Neoplatonism.
The Battle of Bosworth Field
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.
Voltaire's Candide
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Voltaire's satirical novel Candide, published in 1759.
Game Theory
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss game theory, the mathematical study of decision-making
Clausewitz and On War
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Clausewitz's influential treatise On War.
Marco Polo
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the celebrated Venetian explorer Marco Polo.
The Trojan War
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Trojan War, a central event of Ancient Greek mythology
King Solomon
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biblical king Solomon.
James Joyce's Ulysses
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss James Joyce's celebrated novel Ulysses.
Annie Besant
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the 19th-century writer and campaigner Annie Besant.
Al-Kindi
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Arab philosopher Al-Kindi.
Scepticism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of philosophical scepticism.
Hadrian's Wall
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Hadrian's Wall.
The Cell
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biology and origins of the cell.
The Druids
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Druids of ancient Europe.
The Ontological Argument
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ontological Argument for the existence of God.
Gerald of Wales
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval scholar Gerald of Wales.
Hannibal
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the remarkable Carthaginian general Hannibal.
Caxton and the Printing Press
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss William Caxton and the influence of the printing press.
Fermat's Last Theorem
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat's Last Theorem.
The Anarchy
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss The Anarchy, the 12th-century English civil war.
The Upanishads
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Upanishads, the sacred texts of Hinduism.
Simone Weil
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French philosopher and social activist Simone Weil.
The Borgias
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Borgias, the most infamous family in Renaissance Italy
Crystallography
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and achievements of crystallography.
Bertrand Russell
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss influential British philosopher Bertrand Russell.
Shahnameh of Ferdowsi
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.
The South Sea Bubble
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the South Sea Bubble of the early 18th century.
The Cult of Mithras
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the cult of Mithras, the Roman mystery religion.
Le Morte d'Arthur
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Malory's epic medieval tale Le Morte d'Arthur.
Comets
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss comets, the 'dirty snowballs' of the solar system.
Romulus and Remus
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Romulus and Remus, the foundation myth of Rome.
The War of 1812
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the War of 1812 between America and Great Britain.
Epicureanism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of Epicureanism.
Ice Ages
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ice ages.
Decline and Fall
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Evelyn Waugh's comic novel Decline and Fall.
Pitt-Rivers
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers.
Absolute Zero
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature.
Chekhov
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov.
Alfred Russel Wallace
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the biologist Alfred Russel Wallace.
Water
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss water, one of the most remarkable of all molecules.
Japan's Sakoku Period
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Japan's Sakoku period of deliberate isolation.
The Amazons
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Amazons, formidable female warriors of classical myth.
The Putney Debates
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Putney Debates of 1647.
Montaigne
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the great French writer Michel de Montaigne.
Gnosticism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Gnosticism, a sect associated with early Christianity.
Icelandic Sagas
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Icelandic sagas.