In Our Time Podcast
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.
A world-class seminar, every week.
In Our Time explores the ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world, spanning history, philosophy, religion, science, literature, art and culture.
On Thursdays, hear brand-new episodes hosted by Misha Glenny and leading academics. On Mondays, discover Misha's Archive Picks: classic conversations from the In Our Time archive, originally presented by Melvyn Bragg.
Recent episodes have featured topics as wide-ranging as the Roman Arena, Handel's Messiah, John Keats, On Liberty and the Mariana Trench, bringing expert insight to pivotal events, influential thinkers and remarkable discoveries.
Throughout the archive, you can hear discussions on historical figures such as Marie Antoinette, Nefertiti, Mary Wollstonecraft, Karl Marx and Albert Einstein; explore great works of literature such as Shakespeare鈥檚 Hamlet, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the poetry of John Donne; uncover the stories behind cultural masterpieces including Van Gogh's Sunflowers and Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel; or journey from Jupiter and the death of stars, to the theories of Plato and Aristotle.
In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas.
Episodes to download
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Archive: Plato's Republic
Thu 13 Aug 2026
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: one of the greatest works of philosophy
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Archive: Empress Dowager Cixi
Thu 6 Aug 2026
Misha Glenny picks a classic In Our Time episode: China鈥檚 powerful Empress Dowager Cixi.
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Archive: Plate Tectonics
Thu 30 Jul 2026
Misha Glenny鈥檚 choice from In Our Time鈥檚 archive:the theory the Earth鈥檚 surface is moving
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Archive: Hatshepsut
Thu 23 Jul 2026
Misha Glenny picks an episode from In Our Time鈥檚 archive: the female pharaoh Hatshepsut.
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Archive: Coffee
Thu 16 Jul 2026
Misha Glenny picks a classic episode from the In Our Time archive: the history of coffee
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Archive: Aphra Behn
Thu 9 Jul 2026
Misha Glenny introduces a classic In Our Time episode: the playwright and spy Aphra Behn.
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Seashells
Thu 2 Jul 2026
The familiar sight in the sand that reveals the diversity and intricacy of marine life.
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Vig茅e Le Brun
Thu 25 Jun 2026
The woman who became Marie Antoinette's official portraitist and won fame across Europe.
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The Delian League
Thu 18 Jun 2026
The ancient alliance initially formed to protect Greek city states from the Persian Empire
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Machado de Assis
Thu 11 Jun 2026
The great Brazilian novelist, whose satires of slave owners transcend time and place.
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The Evolution of Trees
Thu 4 Jun 2026
How trees first arose from small plants and changed the world, and why new trees emerge.
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The Welsh Marches
Thu 28 May 2026
How the Norman invasion of Britain created semi-independent warlord territories in Wales.
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The Levellers
Thu 21 May 2026
The political movement during the English Civil War committed to a new idea of equality.
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The Garamantes
Thu 14 May 2026
The ancient civilisation which thrived in the Sahara Desert over 2,000 years ago.
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Joseph Roth
Thu 7 May 2026
One of the great writers on Central Europe after WW1 and author of Radetzky March.
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Cybernetics
Thu 30 Apr 2026
The origins and lasting influences of the study of communication in animals and machines.
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Indian Indentured Labour
Thu 23 Apr 2026
How slavery's abolition led to Indian workers being recruited to work in British colonies.
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M.C. Escher
Thu 16 Apr 2026
The graphic artist's amazing paradoxical world, and the interplay between maths and art.
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Handel's Messiah
Thu 9 Apr 2026
The origin and development of Handel's great sacred oratorio, premiered in Dublin in 1742.
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The Spanish-American War 1898
Thu 2 Apr 2026
How a war that began in Cuba saw the US acquire the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.
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Silicon
Thu 26 Mar 2026
The role of silicon from chips to glass to the balance of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere
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Dadaism
Thu 19 Mar 2026
How, in 1916 in Zurich, artists responded to the absurdity of war by creating absurd art.
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Archaea
Thu 12 Mar 2026
How a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth.
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Margaret Beaufort
Thu 5 Mar 2026
How one woman helped her son survive the Wars of the Roses to become the first Tudor king.
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The Columbian Exchange
Thu 26 Feb 2026
The impact of the spread of animals, crops and diseases between continents after 1492.
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John Keats
Thu 19 Feb 2026
How one of the great Romantic poets produced so much in his brilliant but short life.
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The Code of Hammurabi
Thu 12 Feb 2026
The impact of the wide-ranging laws of Hammurabi, King of Babylon from 4,000 years ago.
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Henry IV Part 1
Thu 5 Feb 2026
Shakespeare's powerful exploration of power and succession with Hotspur, Hal and Falstaff.
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The Roman Arena
Thu 29 Jan 2026
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the origins and harsh realities of the gladiator life.
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The Mariana Trench
Thu 22 Jan 2026
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exploration of the world's deepest ocean trench.
In Our Time podcasts
Download episodes from the huge In Our Time archive.
The In Our Time Listeners' Top 10
If you鈥檙e new to In Our Time, this is a good place to start.