In Our Time

In Our Time has been the cornerstone of broadcasting each Thursday morning on BBC Radio 4 for the past twenty years with over 800 episodes broadcast, attracting over two million listeners. Hosted by one of Britain's greatest champions of the arts - Lord Melvyn Bragg - the discussion format of the show explored the history of ideas across the five key genres of History, Religion, Philosophy, Science and Culture. With a vast array of guest contributors from the world of academia, such as Professors Mary Beard, Angie Hobbs and Sir Diarmaid McCulloch it is one of Radio 4's most successful and enduring discussion programmes and regularly attracts a weekly audience exceeding two million listeners. To celebrate this major 20th anniversary of broadcasting, this beautifully-integrated book will provide the reader with a fascinating insight to a selection of the show's best episodes. The book will be a lively and colourful programme guide to fifty of the most captivating discussions from the past twenty years of In Our Time, as chosen by Melvyn, the current series producer Simon Tillotson, and influenced by listeners who have recommended their favourite programmes from those years. The selection is arranged in the groups already familiar to In Our Time's podcast subscribers, with 10 discrete chapters in each section, one for each programme. The selections of episodes have been made from across the two decades since the first broadcast in October 1998, such as Romulus and Remus, The Death of Elizabeth I, Ada Lovelace, The Scottish Enlightenment, Gilgamesh and The Salem Witch Trials. In many cases there will be additional insights from the discussions in the studio after the live programme, peppered with Melvyn Bragg's remarks from that time. A beautiful and captivating gift for all fans of this iconic series.