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In Our Time Episodes

  1. 26/02/2026

    The ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

  2. 19/02/2026

    The ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

  3. The Code of Hammurabi

    The impact of the wide-ranging laws of Hammurabi King of Babylon from 4,000 years ago.

  4. Henry IV Part 1

    Shakespeare's powerful exploration of power and succession with Hotspur, Hal and Falstaff.

  5. The Roman Arena

    Misha Glenny and guests discuss the origins and harsh realities of the gladiator life.

  6. The Mariana Trench

    Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exploration of the world's deepest ocean trench.

  7. On Liberty

    John Stuart Mill's argument for the limits of power that society has over the individual.

  8. Civility: Talking With Those Who Disagree With You

    On the value of keeping conversations going with opponents, from the Reformation onwards

  9. Dragons

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this ubiquitous mythical creature.

  10. Barbour's 'Brus'

    How the earliest poem in Older Scots framed the legend of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.

  11. The Evolution of Lungs

    From the mechanics of the first breaths on Earth to the reason we hiccup.

  12. The Vienna Secession

    Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Vienna Secession.

  13. Hypnosis

    Melvyn Bragg and guests explore hypnosis.

  14. Paul von Hindenburg

    How the cult of personality around this German WWI figurehead helped usher in Hitler.

  15. Copyright

    The evolution of copyright.

  16. Lise Meitner

    The Austrian-Jewish physicist who, in 1938, solved the question of nuclear fission.

  17. The Korean Empire

    How Korea embraced modernisation at the end of the 19th Century in a bid for independence.

  18. 惭辞濒颈猫谤别

    The great French playwright and comic actor who flourished at the court of Louis XIV.

  19. Typology

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss biblical typology.

  20. The Battle of Clontarf

    Brian Boru's celebrated defeat of Hiberno-Norse forces and allies outside Dublin in 1014.

  21. The Gracchi

    Why two brothers became linked to the fall of the Roman Republic and rise of the emperors.

  22. Maurice Merleau-Ponty

    Insights into the relationship between the body and the mind, habits, language and thought

  23. Thomas Middleton

    The prolific and versatile Jacobean playwright tasked with 'improving' some of Shakespeare

  24. Cyrus the Great

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.

  25. Pollination

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay between plants and pollinators.

  26. Kali

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this Hindu goddess in her many remarkable forms

  27. Oliver Goldsmith

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this influential and prolific 18th-century Irish writer.

  28. Catherine of Aragon

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman so important that two Tudor royals married her.

  29. Sir John Soane

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential English architect John Soane.

  30. Pope Joan

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the legend of Pope Joan.

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