In Our Time: Culture

BBC Radio 4

Popular culture, poetry, music and visual arts and the roles they play in our society.

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20 episodes
Updated June 4

Episodes20

Newest first

June 4 · 55 min
Joseph Roth
One of the great writers on Central Europe after WW1 and author of Radetzky March.
May 14 · 55 min
M.C. Escher
The graphic artist's amazing paradoxical world, and the interplay between maths and art.
May 7 · 54 min
Handel's Messiah
The origin and development of Handel's great sacred oratorio, premiered in Dublin in 1742.
April 16 · 50 min
Dadaism
How, in 1916 in Zurich, artists responded to the absurdity of war by creating absurd art.
March 19 · 48 min
John Keats
How one of the great Romantic poets produced so much in his brilliant but short life.
March 5 · 51 min
Henry IV Part 1
Shakespeare's powerful exploration of power and succession with Hotspur, Hal and Falstaff.
February 12 · 49 min
On Liberty
John Stuart Mill's argument for the limits of power that society has over the individual.
Jul 17, 2025 · 49 min
Barbour's 'Brus'
How the earliest poem in Older Scots framed the legend of Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn.
Jul 3, 2025 · 54 min
The Vienna Secession
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Vienna Secession.
May 22, 2025 · 51 min
Molière
The great French playwright and comic actor who flourished at the court of Louis XIV.
Apr 17, 2025 · 56 min
Thomas Middleton
The prolific and versatile Jacobean playwright tasked with 'improving' some of Shakespeare
Mar 20, 2025 · 54 min
Oliver Goldsmith
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss this influential and prolific 18th-century Irish writer.
Mar 6, 2025 · 53 min
Sir John Soane
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential English architect John Soane.
Jan 23, 2025 · 56 min
Vase-mania
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the eighteenth century mania for classical vases.
Jan 16, 2025 · 56 min
Plutarch's Parallel Lives
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential Greek biographer and his main work
Jan 2, 2025 · 52 min
Nizami Ganjavi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great 12th-century Persian epic romantic poet.
Dec 19, 2024 · 48 min
Italo Calvino
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential 20th-century Italian novelist and essayist
Dec 5, 2024 · 52 min
George Herbert
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss arguably the greatest devotional poem writer in English.
Nov 21, 2024 · 48 min
Little Women
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Louisa May Alcott's influential story of the March sisters
Nov 7, 2024 · 54 min
Robert Graves
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fine poet of love and war and author of I, Claudius.