http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ioth/all

The BBC has recently made available the full archive of Melvyn Bragg's weekly examination of the history of ideas and the history episodes will be particularly interesting to you gang. Perhaps it has been linked to here before and my limited research has failed to uncover it. You try searching for 'in our time' and see what happens.

Today I was listening to one about the reign of terror during the French revolution and well....I'd only spoil it. I don't know enough about this crucial moment in world history but to hear people arguing about it is just terrific. It's still current, still so important and even the more ludicrously awful aspects of it may not ever be that far away. Only 3 decades or so ago another revolutionary regime (whose founders studied in Paris) tried to reset the clock to year zero. Maybe it'll happen again this year and those old Mayans turned out to be right after all.

Anyway- In our Time with Melvyn Bragg. This week's is about 1848 and I'm anticipating that almost as keenly as as DCHH! Actually I do have to pay through my 'television license' for Melvyn and his chums. If you new world folk get this for free does that count as a fraction of a contribution to this ? Like a sort of international intellectual barter system. No? Oh well. I'll cough up one of these days I promise.

Hey this is Melvyn here interviewing the terminally ill Dennis Potter in 1994:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKErIO3HqHo
Watch out for his Rupert Murdoch assassination fantasy. Never went through with it though, the chicken.

I have enjoyed this program for several years. Well worth the time.

I could not reccommend this programme highly enough; with all the archive available you have a unique chance to get hours of lecture on history, society, culture, religion etc. by the absolute experts in each field, delivered in a interesting way

Thank you! I hadn't heard of that.