In Our Time

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

Radio 4,1119 episodes

Episodes

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Archive: The Measurement of Time
Misha Glenny selects a classic episode from the archive on how humans have measured time.
42 mins
Archive: Trinity
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: the Trinity, a key Christian doctrine.
44 mins
In Our Time Returns for a New Series
The ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world.
2 mins
Archive: Emma
Misha Glenny introduces a classic In Our Time episode: Emma, the novel by Jane Austen.
50 mins
Archive: The War of 1812
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: the War of 1812 between USA and Britain
44 mins
Archive: Rosalind Franklin
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: the eminent scientist Rosalind Franklin
51 mins
Archive: Plato's Republic
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: one of the greatest works of philosophy
13 Aug 2026,50 mins
Pockets (from Here For The History)
The surprising history of how women’s pockets fell in and out of fashion over time.
09 Aug 2026,37 mins
Archive: Empress Dowager Cixi
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: China’s powerful Empress Dowager Cixi.
06 Aug 2026,50 mins
Archive: Plate Tectonics
Misha Glenny’s choice from In Our Time’s archive:the theory the Earth’s surface is moving
30 Jul 2026,44 mins
Archive: Hatshepsut
Misha Glenny picks an episode from In Our Time’s archive: the female pharaoh Hatshepsut.
23 Jul 2026,50 mins
Archive: Coffee
Misha Glenny picks a classic episode from the In Our Time archive: the history of coffee
16 Jul 2026,56 mins
Archive: Aphra Behn
Misha Glenny introduces a classic In Our Time episode: the playwright and spy Aphra Behn.
09 Jul 2026,52 mins
Seashells
The familiar sight in the sand that reveals the diversity and intricacy of marine life.
02 Jul 2026,53 mins
Vigée Le Brun
The woman who became Marie Antoinette's official portraitist and won fame across Europe.
25 Jun 2026,56 mins
The Delian League
The ancient alliance initially formed to protect Greek city states from the Persian Empire
18 Jun 2026,54 mins
Machado de Assis
The great Brazilian novelist, whose satires of slave owners transcend time and place.
11 Jun 2026,53 mins
The Evolution of Trees
How trees first arose from small plants and changed the world, and why new trees emerge.
04 Jun 2026,54 mins
The Welsh Marches
How the Norman invasion of Britain created semi-independent warlord territories in Wales.
28 May 2026,51 mins
The Levellers
The political movement during the English Civil War committed to a new idea of equality.
21 May 2026,55 mins
The Garamantes
The ancient civilisation which thrived in the Sahara Desert over 2,000 years ago.
14 May 2026,42 mins
Joseph Roth
One of the great writers on Central Europe after WW1 and author of Radetzky March.
07 May 2026,42 mins
Cybernetics
The origins and lasting influences of the study of communication in animals and machines.
30 Apr 2026,52 mins
Indian Indentured Labour
How slavery's abolition led to Indian workers being recruited to work in British colonies.
23 Apr 2026,42 mins
M.C. Escher
The graphic artist's amazing paradoxical world, and the interplay between maths and art.
16 Apr 2026,55 mins
Handel's Messiah
The origin and development of Handel's great sacred oratorio, premiered in Dublin in 1742.
09 Apr 2026,54 mins
The Spanish-American War 1898
How a war that began in Cuba saw the US acquire the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.
02 Apr 2026,55 mins
Silicon
The role of silicon from chips to glass to the balance of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere
26 Mar 2026,52 mins
Dadaism
How, in 1916 in Zurich, artists responded to the absurdity of war by creating absurd art.
19 Mar 2026,50 mins
Archaea
How a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth.
12 Mar 2026,53 mins