In Our Time

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

Radio 4,1113 episodes

Episodes

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The Mariana Trench
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exploration of the world's deepest ocean trench.
22 Jan 2026,58 mins
On Liberty
John Stuart Mill's argument for the limits of power that society has over the individual.
15 Jan 2026,49 mins
Welcoming Misha Glenny
Misha Glenny introduces himself as he prepares for his first episode of In Our Time.
08 Jan 2026,6 mins
Melvyn Bragg meets Misha Glenny
As Melvyn Bragg hands In Our Time on to Misha Glenny, they discuss its past and future.
24 Dec 2025,16 mins
Civility
On the value of keeping conversations going with opponents, from the Reformation onwards.
03 Jul 2025,51 mins
Dragons
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this ubiquitous mythical creature.
26 Jun 2025,46 mins
Barbour's 'Brus'
How the earliest poem in Older Scots framed the legend of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
19 Jun 2025,49 mins
The Evolution of Lungs
From the mechanics of the first breaths on Earth to the reason we hiccup.
12 Jun 2025,48 mins
The Vienna Secession
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Vienna Secession.
05 Jun 2025,54 mins
Hypnosis
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore hypnosis.
29 May 2025,45 mins
Paul von Hindenburg
How the cult of personality around this German WWI figurehead helped usher in Hitler.
22 May 2025,52 mins
Copyright
The evolution of copyright.
15 May 2025,60 mins
Lise Meitner
The Austrian-Jewish physicist who, in 1938, solved the question of nuclear fission.
08 May 2025,57 mins
The Korean Empire
How Korea embraced modernisation at the end of the 19th Century in a bid for independence.
01 May 2025,47 mins
Molière
The great French playwright and comic actor who flourished at the court of Louis XIV.
24 Apr 2025,51 mins
Typology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss biblical typology.
17 Apr 2025,50 mins
The Battle of Clontarf
Brian Boru's celebrated defeat of Hiberno-Norse forces and allies outside Dublin in 1014.
10 Apr 2025,51 mins
The Gracchi
Why two brothers became linked to the fall of the Roman Republic and rise of the emperors.
03 Apr 2025,49 mins
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Insights into the relationship between the body and the mind, habits, language and thought
27 Mar 2025,59 mins
Thomas Middleton
The prolific and versatile Jacobean playwright tasked with 'improving' some of Shakespeare
20 Mar 2025,56 mins
Cyrus the Great
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.
13 Mar 2025,50 mins
Pollination
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay between plants and pollinators.
06 Mar 2025,50 mins
Kali
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this Hindu goddess in her many remarkable forms
27 Feb 2025,57 mins
Oliver Goldsmith
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this influential and prolific 18th-century Irish writer.
20 Feb 2025,54 mins
Catherine of Aragon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman so important that two Tudor royals married her.
13 Feb 2025,52 mins
Sir John Soane
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential English architect John Soane.
06 Feb 2025,53 mins
Pope Joan
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legend of Pope Joan.
30 Jan 2025,46 mins
Socrates in Prison
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the inspiring last days of the great Athenian philosopher.
23 Jan 2025,50 mins
The Battle of Valmy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the day in 1792 when the French Revolution risked defeat.
16 Jan 2025,47 mins
Slime Moulds
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable world of slime mould.
02 Jan 2025,51 mins