News
A strange tale of wealth, wilderness, family intrigue, surrealism and concrete, in Mexico. Read more
now playing
Edward James and the Surreal Garden
A strange tale of wealth, wilderness, family intrigue, surrealism and concrete, in Mexico.
Crowd Psychology
Geneticist Steve Jones investigates the science of crowds.
The Other Dickens
Laurence Scott on Victorian novelist and contemporary of Dickens, George WM Reynolds.
Great British Ideas
Robert Malthus
Tristram Hunt on how 18th-century thinker Robert Malthus's ideas wrought havoc in India.
Young England and Young Ireland
Tristram Hunt explores the political philosophies of 'Young England' and 'Young Ireland'.
JA Hobson, Lenin and Anti-Imperialism
Tristram Hunt discovers the decisive impact a liberal English journalist had on Lenin.
The American Civil War
The War of the South
Adam Smith explores the American South and the Civil War.
The War of the North
Dr Adam Smith explores the world of the North and its war.
Dividing Lines
Adam Smith traces the dividing lines of the American Civil War beneath US politics today.
Blockade Runners and Black Minstrels
What did Britain do in the American Civil War? Louise Welsh investigates.
Dark Arcadias
Episode 1
Adam Nicolson explores ideas of Arcadia in the work of Hesiod, Virgil and Horace.
Part 2
Adam Nicolson explores ideas of Arcadia in western culture and why death is at its heart.
Jacquetta Hawkes and the Personal Past
Christine Finn examines the life and work of fellow archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes.
John Cage: Beyond Silence
Richard Bernas explores the legacy of John Cage in music and beyond.
A Social History of the Piano
Michael Goldfarb explores the three-hundred-year history of the piano.
After the Gold Rush - The Poetry of California
Dana Gioia traces developments in Californian poetry since the Beats in the 1950s.
The Dragon with Two Tongues
Poet Gwyneth Lewis explores the modern revival of Welsh language.
Queen's University - Belfast Built
The history of Queen's University in political, cultural and intellectual life in Belfast.
Way off the Beaten Track
Stephen Smith asks if it matters if travel writing is unreliable.
On Napoleon
Tolstoy and Napoleon
Rosamund Bartlett explores the truth and the fiction of Tolstoy's War and Peace.
Stendhal and Napoleon
Andy Martin on how Stendahl followed Napoleon across Europe in 1812 and changed fiction.
British Romanticism and Napoleon
Simon Bainbridge explores how Napoleon shaped poetry in Britain, especially the Romantics.
Reader Meet Author
Exploring unexpected literary influences on Byron, Tennessee Williams and Virginia Woolf.
Stop Calling Me 'Doctor Sex'
Matthew Sweet uncovers the extraordinary career of Alex Comfort, author of The Joy of Sex.
Verdi 200: Viva Verdi
Roger Parker explores Verdi's status as an Italian national figure.
A Brief History of Being Cold
Alexandra Harris presents a cultural history of the cold from the Anglo-Saxons to today.
Margaret Are You Grieving? A Cultural History of Weeping
Thomas Dixon explores the history of weeping as an aesthetic response to works of art.
Modernism Redux
Will Self rebroadcasts an imaginary archive of modernist radio.
The Idea of Sin
In the Beginning Was Sinning
The Rev Richard Coles explores what is meant by sin and its origins.
Lead Me Not into Temptation
Richard Coles on temptation and the practical challenges of sin in the contemporary world.
The Road to Redemption
The Rev Richard Coles focuses on the idea of redemption in sacred and secular societies.
