The Iron Age
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the dawn of the European Iron Age.In around 3000 BC European metalworkers started to make tools and weapons out of bronze. A complex trading network evolved to conv...
24 Mars 201141min
The Medieval University
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the medieval universities.In the 11th and 12th centuries a new type of institution started to appear in the major cities of Europe. The first universities were thos...
17 Mars 201141min
Free Will
In the 500th edition of the programme, Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophical idea of free will.Free will - the extent to which we are free to choose our own actions - is one of the mos...
10 Mars 201142min
The Age of the Universe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the age of the Universe.Since the 18th century, when scientists first realised that the Universe had existed for more than a few thousand years, cosmologists have d...
3 Mars 201142min
The Taiping Rebellion
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Taiping Rebellion.In 1850 a Chinese Christian convert, Hong Xiuquan, proclaimed himself leader of a new dynasty, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. He and his follow...
24 Feb 201141min
Maimonides
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work and influence of Maimonides.Widely regarded as the greatest Jewish philosopher of the medieval period, Maimonides was also a physician and rabbinical autho...
15 Feb 201142min
The Nervous System
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the nervous system.Most animals have a nervous system, a network of nerve tissues which allows parts of the body to communicate with each other. In humans the most ...
10 Feb 201142min
The Battle of Bannockburn
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Battle of Bannockburn.On June 23rd 1314, Scottish forces under their king Robert the Bruce confronted a larger army commanded by the English monarch Edward II a...
2 Feb 201142min
