Popular culture, poetry, music and visual arts and the roles they play in our society.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the epic poem on the wrath of Achilles in the Trojan War.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a great cultural figure of the 19th century.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the playwright and his tragedies of middle-class life.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the medieval Welsh stories of Celtic mythology.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George Eliot's greatest novel, published 1871-72.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the celebrated Russian poet.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's best known, longest and most quoted play.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and influence of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most popular idea sent in by listeners.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and works of the great woman of letters.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events behind and impact of Picasso's iconic work.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aphra Behn (1640-1689): playwright, poet, spy.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emily Bronte's only novel, Wuthering Heights.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pushkin's masterpiece, Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Christine de Pizan (c1364-1430).
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), celebrated American poet.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Elizabeth Gaskell's novel North and South from 1855.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the works, life and times of Seneca the Younger.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss John Clare, poet and farm labourer.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss TS Eliot's Four Quartets, known as his great last work.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss JMW Turner's The Fighting Temeraire.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Gilgamesh, the great epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a period of great change in western Europe.