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The Jataka Tales are an ancient collection of stories, narrating the past lives of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama. The stories exist in different forms across the Buddhist world. In this edition, Misha Glenny and his guests explore the Pali collection of around 550 Jataka Tales. On the night of his Enlightenment, before he became the Buddha, Siddharta Gautama is believed to have gained the ability to recall each of his past lives. In the Jataka collection, he uses the stories of these past lives to relay his teachings. Each rebirth saw him take a different form, he could be an animal like a monkey or a fish, he could be a Prince or even a God. Jatakas have existed for thousands of years, and they are a cornerstone of Buddhist literature, art and religious teachings. The stories contain a multitude of recurring characters in the community around the Buddha, and their influence exists beyond Buddhism into other cultures around the world. With Naomi Appleton Professor of Buddhist Studies and Indian Religions at the University of Edinburgh Mahinda Deegalle Bye-Fellow at St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge and Alexandra Green, SP Shaw Curator for Southeast Asia at the British Museum. Producer: Sam Peach In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world. READING LIST Appleton, Naomi and Shaw, Sarah. The Ten Great Birth Stories of the Buddha: The Mahānipata of the Jātakatthavaṇṇanā, vol. 1 (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2015). Appleton, Naomi , Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism: Narrating the Bodhisatta Path, (Routledge. 2010). Cate, Sandra. Making Merit, Making Art: A Thai Temple in Wimbledon (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003). Green, Alexandra. Buddhist visual cultures, rhetoric and narrative in late Burmese wall paintings (Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press, 2018). Holt, John C. The Religious World of Kīrti Śrī: Buddhism, Art, and Politics in Late Medieval Sri Lanka (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996). Horner, I. B. and Jaini, Padmanabh S. Apocryphal Birth-Stories, vol. 1 (London: Pali Text Society, 1985). Jaini, Padmanabh S., ed. Paññāsajātaka, 2 vols. (London: Pali Text Society, 1981-83). Lefferts, Leedom, and Cate, Sandra. “Constructing Multiple Narratives in Theravada Buddhism: The Vessantara Painted Scrolls of Northeast Thailand and Lowland Laos,” in Alexandra Green, ed., Rethinking Visual Narratives from Asia: Intercultural and Comparative Perspectives (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013), 229-43. Leksukhum, Santi. Temples of Gold: Seven Centuries of Thai Buddhist Paintings (London: Thames and Hudson, 2001). Roveda, Vittorio, and Sothon Yem. Buddhist Painting in Cambodia (Bangkok: River Books, 2009). Schober, Juliane, ed. Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1997). Shaw, Sarah The Jatakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta (Penguin 2006)

Every day, billions of specialised cells work to protect your body from harm. From the common cold and infections to cuts and scrapes or cancerous cells, our bodies deal with a range of potential threats and risks as we move through the world. The immune system is a complex and carefully orchestrated network connecting organs, tissues, and billions of specialised cells. Those cells have a variety of different roles as they respond to pathogens or harm, including engulfing microbes, identifying damage, or producing antibodies. Misha Glenny and his guests examine the different types of cells involved in an immune response, how they know what to respond to, and what happens when those cells aren’t working as they should. This In Our Time episode discusses why our immune cells are vital to life – both for us as individuals, and as a species. The discussion explores the interconnected nature of the immune system, and what we know actually affects the way our immune cells function. With Sheena Cruickshank Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester Dan Davis Author and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London And Emily Gwyer Findlay Professor of Inflammation Biology at the University of Southampton Producer: Martha Owen Reading list: Daniel M Davis, ‘Immune Health: A Myth-Busting Guide’ (Vintage, 2026) John Tregoning, ‘Infectious’ (Oneworld, 2021) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

The Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar was transgressive and multifaceted – potentially to the point of paradox. As the goddess of love and sex, she was responsible for the fertility of life on earth. As the goddess of war, she was also incredibly bloodthirsty, vengeful, and violent. Known in Sumerian language as Inanna and Ishtar in Akkadian, this goddess was worshipped throughout Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) and beyond for over 3500 years. Ishtar's lovers were sometimes said to have met unfortunate ends, and she has dramatic cameos in some of the most famous literature of the period. Misha Glenny and his guests discuss how Ishtar was depicted in ancient texts, and the role of religion in Mesopotamian society. This In Our Time episode looks at why Ishtar’s seemingly contradictory portfolio as a goddess made her so powerful, and so fascinating thousands of years later. The discussion explores Ishtar’s central role in Mesopotamian pantheon, her importance for kings throughout period, and how Ishtar relates to other deities of the ancient world like Aphrodite. With Martin Worthington Leader of the European Research Council Project MesOr at the University of Pisa Christopher Metcalf Professor of Ancient Literature and Religion and Fellow in Classics at Queen’s College, University of Oxford And Selena Wisnom Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester Producer: Martha Owen Reading List: Was Dust Their Food and Clay Their Bread? Grave Goods, the Mesopotamian Afterlife, and the Liminal Role of Inana/Ishtar in Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions Volume 7, Issue 1 (Caitlín E. Barrett, 2007) Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (Stephanie Dalley, 2008) The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation (Andrew George, 1999) Enheduanna (Sophus Helle, 2023) 'Egyptian Herakles and Syrian Aphrodite?: Phoenician Art and Cultural Exchange in the Ancient Mediterranean', in R. G. Edmonds III, C. López-Ruiz, S. Torallas Tovar, Magic and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world: studies in honor of Christopher A. Faraone (Carolina López-Ruiz, 2023) Three Myths of Kingship in Early Greece and the Ancient Near East: The Servant, the Lover, and the Fool (Christopher Metcalf 2025) Ishtar (Louise Pryke, 2017) The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History (Selena Wisnom, 2025) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Misha Glenny and guests discuss The Battle of Antietam, the single deadliest day of the American Civil War. The battle took place on 17th September 1862, less than 100 miles from Washington D.C. The conflict had been going on for over a year, and there had been a string of successes by the rebel Confederate Army against Union forces. The Confederates were a group of Southern States that had seceded from the United States of America over their right to continue the institution of slavery. This secession was rejected by US President Abraham Lincoln, who was committed to maintaining the Union. Despite heavy Union casualties, Antietam has been called the ‘crossroads of freedom’ by historians. It played a crucial role in the release of the Emancipation Proclamation against slavery, which was described by Lincoln as ‘the great event of the 19th Century’. With Karen Salt , Professor of   Culture, Place and Communities at Manchester Metropolitan University Susan-Mary Grant, Professor Emerita of American History at Newcastle University Robert Cook, Emeritus Professor of American History at the University of Sussex. Producer: Sam Peach Reading List: Alfred J. Bollet, Civil War Medicine: Challenges and Triumphs (Tuscon, Arizona: Galen Press, 2002) David W. Blight, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (2018) Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2006) Gary W. Gallagher (ed.), The Antietam Campaign (2008) D. Scott Hartwig, I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign (2023) Susan-Mary Grant, The War for a Nation: The American Civil War (2006) Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (2004) Howard Jones, Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations (2010) James M. McPherson, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam: The Battle that Changed the Civil War (2003) Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Clara Barton: Professional Angel (1987) Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler, A Field Guide to Antietam (2016) Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (2003) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

The first dinosaur to ever be scientifically named, almost 20 years before we even had the word ‘dinosaur’. In 1824, the geologist and priest William Buckland (1784-1856) stood before the Geological Society of London and announced something that would kickstart two centuries of dinosaur science. He’d been studying large, fossilised bones which didn’t resemble those of any living animal - and, as he told his rapt audience at that meeting, he had a new name for this mysterious and unusual creature: Megalosaurus. Misha Glenny and his guests discuss why the 19th century was such profound period of theological and scientific change, and how our understanding of mid Jurassic dinosaurs has changed since. This In Our Time episode examines the story of a dinosaur that led to palaeontology as we know it today. The discussion explores the influential roles of William and Mary Buckland, how we learn about animals from over 160 million years ago, and why you’d never have seen a Megalosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex together. With Emily Rayfield Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Bristol Emma Nicholls Vertebrate Palaeontologist and Collections Manager at Oxford University Museum of Natural History And Steve Brusatte Professor of Palaeontology and Evolution at the University of Edinburgh Producer: Martha Owen Reading list: Deborah Cadbury, Terrible Lizard: The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science (Owl Books, 2002) Michael Taylor, Impossible Monsters: How the Discovery of Dinosaurs Changed the World (Bodley Head, 2024) Roger B. J. Benson, ‘A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods’ (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 158, 2010) William Buckland, ‘XXI.—Notice on the Megalosaurus or great Fossil Lizard of Stonesfield’ (Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 2:1, 1824) P. Wilson et al, ‘Utilizing X-ray computed tomography for heritage conservation: The case of Megalosaurus bucklandii’ (2017 IEEE International Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference 12MTC, Torino, 2017) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Orson Welles was only 25 when his film Citizen Kane was released in 1941. It is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Welles' film, in which he plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate. It was his first acting role. He also directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at the heart of a megalomaniac. The production was influenced by Welles’ experience in radio and theatre, and expressed the potential of cinema as an artistic medium with its use of deep focus, long takes and other techniques. The plot was partly inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst, who then used the power of his own newspapers to try to suppress the film’s release. It was to take some years before Citizen Kane reached a fuller audience and, from that point, become so celebrated. With: Stella Bruzzi Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London Ian Christie Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London John David Rhodes Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Recorded at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield, Misha Glenny and guests discuss Casablanca, one of the greatest films from Hollywood’s Golden Era. The film stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and features the unforgettable song As Time Goes By. Casablanca opened in November 1942 when Europe had been at war for three years and the USA for one. It was among Hollywood’s first major films to explain to US audiences why the war was worth fighting, and alongside this became a huge box office hit. It was created by a cast and crew full of emigres and refugees from lands under Nazi control. They produced a movie that has authenticity as well as astonishing emotional power that continues to this day. With Ian Christie Emeritus Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck University of London Pamela Hutchinson Film historian and critic Sheldon Hall Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University. Producers: Simon Tillotson & Sam Peach Reading List: Rudy Behlmer, Inside Warner Bros. (1935-1951) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986) Thomas Doherty, Hollywood and Hitler, 1933-1939 (Columbia University Press, 2013) David Gerstner and Janet Staiger (eds.), Authorship and Film (Routledge, 2003), especially 'The Auteur theory: Michael Curtiz and Casablanca' by Peter Wollen Aljean Harmetz, The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II (Hyperion, 2002) Noah Isenberg, We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood`s Most Beloved Movie (Faber & Faber, 2020) Colin McArthur, The Casablanca File (Half Brick Images, 1992) Thomas Schatz, The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era (Pantheon Books, 1988) David Thomson, Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio (Yale University Press, 2017) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Dark Matter is a proposed form of matter that does not absorb, reflect or emit light. It is known to make up 27% of our universe, while the matter that makes up stars and galaxies accounts for only 5%. In this archive episode, first released in March 2015, Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance existing throughout the Universe. In 1932 the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort noticed that the speed at which galaxies moved was at odds with the amount of material they appeared to contain. He hypothesized that much of this 'missing' matter was simply invisible to telescopes. Today astronomers and particle physicists are still fascinated by the search for dark matter and the question of what it is. One leading theory is that Dark Matter is made up of WIMPS (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) that are big, heavy and move slowly, interacting with gravity but not other particles. Scientists have developed multiple theories about the make up of this substance, and they are able to test them through remarkable computer modelling that simulates the construction of the universe. With Carolin Crawford Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Astronomy Carlos Frenk Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University Anne Green Reader in Physics at the University of Nottingham Producer: Thomas Morris In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the machines that are described as the world’s largest experiments: Particle Accelerators. A famous example of a Particle Accelerator is the Large Hadron Collider, a device which stretches for nearly 30km, deep beneath the ground in a tunnel between France and Switzerland. This enormous scale enables the particles within to be propelled to incredible speeds, reaching almost the speed of light before they smash together. The resulting debris offers insights into the fundamental building blocks of our universe, such as the Higgs Boson Particle. These Colliders are international scientific projects costing billions of pounds, but thousands of other particle accelerators exist around the world. The process has remarkable applications in medicine, archaeology and technology. With Harry Cliff, Particle Physicist at the University of Cambridge Victoria Martin Professor of Collider Physics at the University of Edinburgh Joseph Martin Professor of the History of Science and Technology at Durham University. Producer: Sam Peach Reading list: Jon Butterworth, A Map of the Invisible: Journeys into Particle Physics (William Heinemann Ltd, 2017) Jon Butterworth, Smashing Physics: Inside the World’s Biggest Experiment (John Murray, 2014) Brian Cathcart, The Fly in the Cathedral: How a Small Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the Race to Split the Atom (Viking, 2004) Panagiotis Charitos, Theodore Arabatzis, Harry Cliff, Günther Dissertori, Juliette Forneris, and Jason Li-Ying (eds.), Big Science in the 21st Century: Economic and Societal Impacts (IOP Publishing, 2023) Harry Cliff, Space Oddities: The Mysterious Anomalies Challenging Our Understanding of the Universe (Picador, 2024) Harry Cliff, How to Make an Apple Pie from Scratch: In Search of the Recipe for Our Universe (Picador, 2021) Frank Close, Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass (Allen Lane, 2022) Allan Franklin, Shifting Standards: Experiments in Particle Physics in the Twentieth Century (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013) John L. Heilbron, Ernest Rutherford and the Explosion of Atoms (Oxford University Press, 2003) John L. Heilbron and Robert W. Seidel, Lawrence and His Laboratory: A History of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (University of California Press, 2023) Lillian Hoddeson, Adrienne W. Kolb, and Catherine Westfall, Fermilab: Physics, the Frontier, and Megascience (University of Chicago Press, 2011) Joseph D. Martin, Solid State Insurrection: How the Science of Substance Made American Physics Matter (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019) Michael Riordan, The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics (Touchstone Books, 1987) Michael Riordan, Lillian Hoddeson, and Adrienne W. Kolb, Tunnel Visions: The Rise and Fall of the Superconducting Super Collider (University of Chicago Press, 2018) Suzie Sheehy, The Matter of Everything: A History of Discovery (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023) Sharon Traweek, Beamtimes and Lifetimes: The World of High Energy Physicists (Harvard University Press, 1992) A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world. In Our Time is a BBC Studios production

One of the most celebrated thinkers of the Renaissance, Erasmus (c1466-1536) is best known for his works of classical and religious scholarship, and for his infamous theological dispute with Martin Luther (1483-1546) over free will and the Church. In this archive episode, first released in February 2012, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Dutch humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus. Erasmus was widely seen as the greatest classical scholar of his age, having translated and edited numerous Latin and Greek texts. Above all though, he was a religious scholar who published important editions of the Bible which expunged many corruptions to the texts of the Scriptures. He was an outspoken critic of the Church, whose biting satire on its excesses, In Praise of Folly, was famed throughout Europe. When the Reformation began in 1517, however, Erasmus chose to remain a member of the Catholic Church rather than side with Martin Luther and the reformers, and a few years later he engaged in a celebrated debate with Luther on the subject of free will. Through his writings on the Church, on education and the wide gamut of humanist scholarship, Erasmus is remembered today as one of the greatest thinkers of the northern Renaissance. With Diarmaid MacCulloch Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford Eamon Duffy Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge Jill Kraye Professor of the History of Renaissance Philosophy and Librarian at the Warburg Institute, University of London Producer: Thomas Morris In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

In 1516, the publication of one small book would coin a new word and give rise to centuries of literature, theory, and thought. In his most influential work, the lawyer and Tudor politician Thomas More (1478-1535) described a seemingly perfect – but entirely fictional – island called Utopia. In 1535, less than two decades after writing the book, More was executed for refusing to accept King Henry VIII as supreme head of the church of England. Misha Glenny and his guests discuss why More’s exploration of service and the ideal state has been read as a blueprint for society, a scathing satire, and as a timeless warning. This In Our Time episode examines the 16th-century origin and legacy of one of most influential works of political philosophy. The discussion explores Utopia’s roots in Renaissance Humanism, what the book has to say about tyranny and governance, and why utopias can so often seem dystopian. With Laura Ashe Professor of English Literature at Worcester College, University of Oxford Cathy Shrank Professor of Tudor and Renaissance Literature at the University of Sheffield And Joanne Paul Honorary Associate Professor in Intellectual History at the University of Sussex Producer: Martha Owen Reading list: Terence Cave (ed.), Thomas More’s ‘Utopia’ in Early Modern Europe: Paratexts and Contexts (Manchester University Press, 2008) J. H. Hexter, More’s Utopia: The Biography of an Idea (Princeton University Press, 1952) Richard Marius, Thomas More: A Biography (Harvard University Press, 1999) Thomas More (ed. Joanne Paul), Utopia (Oxford University Press, 2025) Thomas More (ed. George M. Logan), Utopia (Cambridge University Press, 2016) Thomas More (ed. Gerard B. Wegemer and Stephen W. Smith), The Essential Works of Thomas More (Yale University Press, 2020) Joanne Paul, Thomas More: A Life and Death in Tudor England (Michael Joseph, 2025) Joanne Paul, Thomas More: Classic Thinkers (Polity, 2016) Howard P. Segal, Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012) Cathy Shrank and Phil Withington (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas More's Utopia (Oxford University Press, 2023) Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought, vol. 1: The Renaissance (Cambridge University Press, 1979) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Misha Glenny chooses the first of his archive picks - bringing back classic conversations from the In Our Time archive, every Monday. Humans have tried to calculate, regulate, and measure time for thousands of years: from systems based on tracking sunrise and sunset, to the invention of increasingly precise mechanical alarm clocks and astrolabes. In this archive episode, first released in March 2012, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the methods used to measure time throughout human history. Early civilisations used the movements of heavenly bodies to tell the time, but in the ancient world there were also sophisticated timekeeping devices such as water clocks. The development of mechanical clocks in Europe emerged in the medieval period, when monks used such devices to sound an alarm to signal it was the hour to pray, although these clocks did not tell them the time. For hundreds of years clocks were inaccurate and it proved hard to remedy the problems, let alone settle on a standard time that a whole country should follow. It was the advent of the railways that meant time finally became standardised in Britain during the mid-19th century, and in 1884 Greenwich became the prime meridian of the world. Atomic clocks now mark the passing of the days, hours, and minutes and they are capable of keeping time to a second in 15 million years. With Kristen Lippincott Former Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Jim Bennett Director of the Museum of the History of Science at the University of Oxford Jonathan Betts Senior Curator of Horology at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Producer: Natalia Fernandez In Our Time is a BBC Studios production A world-class seminar every week. Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world. On Thursdays, hear brand-new episodes hosted by Misha Glenny and leading academics. On Mondays, discover Misha's Archive Picks: classic conversations from the In Our Time archive, originally presented by Melvyn Bragg.

Misha Glenny delves in to the In Our Time archive to select ten episodes for listeners to revisit. His final choice is the Trinity, an episode first released in March 2014. The idea that God is a single entity, but one known in three distinct forms - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - has been a central belief for most Christians since the earliest years of the religion. The doctrine was often controversial in the early years of the Church, until clarified by the Council of Nicaea in the late 4th century. Later thinkers including St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas recognised that this religious mystery posed profound theological questions, such as whether the three persons of the Trinity always acted together, and whether they were of equal status. The Trinity's influence on Christian thought and practice is considerable, although it is interpreted in different ways by different Christian traditions. With: Janet Soskice Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College Martin Palmer Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture The Reverend Graham Ward Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a Canon of Christ Church. Producer: Thomas Morris Reading list: Susan Ashbrook Harvey and David G. Hunter (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies (Oxford University Press, 2010), especially chapter ‘The Doctrine of God’ Lewis Ayres and Andrew Radde-Gallwitz Lewis Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology (Oxford University Press, 2006) John Behre, The Way to Nicaea: Formation of Christian Theology Vol 1 (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2001) Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity (Oxford University Press, 2011) Susan Frank Parsons (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2002), especially chapter ‘Trinity and Feminism’ by Janet Soskice George Herbert, The Complete English Poems (Penguin Classics, 2004) Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin Classics, 1998) Ben Quash and Michael Ward (eds.), Heresies and How to Avoid Them: Why It Matters What Christians Believe (SPCK, 2007), especially essay on ‘Biblical Trinitarianism’ by Janet Soskice Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Hymn of the Universe (HarperPerennial, 1976) Miroslav Volf, After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1998) Graham Ward, Christ and Culture (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Misha Glenny delves in to the In Our Time archive to select ten episodes for listeners to revisit. His ninth choice is the episode on Jane Austen’s novel Emma, first released in November 2015. Austen described her leading character as "a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like." Emma is one of Austen’s most popular novels and arguably her masterpiece, a brilliantly sparkling comedy of manners published in December 1815 by John Murray, the last to be published in Austen's lifetime. This followed Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Mansfield Park (1814), with her brother Henry handling publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (1817). With Janet Todd Professor Emerita of Literature, University of Aberdeen and Honorary Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge John Mullan Professor of English at University College, London And Emma Clery Professor of English at the University of Southampton. Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list: Marilyn Butler, Jane Austen and the War of Ideas (first published 1975; Oxford University Press, 1988) Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen (Cambridge University Press, 2010) Richard Jenkyns, A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen (Oxford University Press, 2004) Claudia Johnson, Jane Austen: Women, Politics and the Novel (University of Chicago Press, 1988) Peter Knox-Shaw, Jane Austen and the Enlightenment (Cambridge University Press, 2004) David Monaghan (ed.), Emma (New Casebook Series, Palgrave Macmillan, 1992) Anthony Mandal, Jane Austen and the Popular Novel (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (Bloomsbury, 2012) Bharat Tandon, Jane Austen and the Morality of Conversation (Anthem, 2003) Tony Tanner, Jane Austen (first published 1986; Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) Janet Todd, The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen (Cambridge University Press, 2015) John Wiltshire, The Hidden Jane Austen (Cambridge University Press, 2014) John Wiltshire, Jane Austen and the Body (Cambridge University Press, 1992) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

Misha Glenny delves in to the In Our Time archive to select ten episodes for listeners to revisit. His eighth choice is The War of 1812, which was first released in January 2013. Melvyn Bragg and his guests discussed the conflict between America and the British Empire sometimes referred to as the second American War of Independence. In June 1812, President James Madison declared war on Britain, angered by the restrictions Britain had imposed on American trade, the Royal Navy's capture of American sailors and British support for Native Americans. After three years of largely inconclusive fighting, the conflict finally came to an end with the Treaty of Ghent which, among other things, helped to hasten the abolition of the global slave trade. Although the War of 1812 is often overlooked, historians say it had a profound effect on the USA and Canada's sense of national identity, confirming the USA as an independent country. America's national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner began life as a poem written after its author, Francis Scott Key, witnessed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore. The war also led to Native Americans losing hundreds of thousands of acres of land in a programme of forced removal. With: Kathleen Burk Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at University College London Lawrence Goldman Fellow in Modern History at St Peter's College, University of Oxford Frank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh Producer: Victoria Brignell Reading list: Carl Benn, The War of 1812 (Osprey, 2002) George Robert Gleig, A Narrative of the Campaigns of the British Army: at Washington, Baltimore, and New Orleans by an officer (John Murray, 1821) Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (University of Illinois Press, 1989) Reginald Horsman, The Causes of the War of 1812 (Various publishers, 1962) Reginald Horsman, The Diplomacy of the New Republic, 1776-1815 (Harlan Davidson, 1985) Lawrence Kaplan, Entangling Alliances with None: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Jefferson (Kent State University Press, 1987) Andrew Lambert, The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812 (Faber and Faber, 2012) Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America (Harvard University Press, 2007) Bradford Perkins, The Creation of a Republican Empire, 1776-1865 (Cambridge University Press, 1993) Leonard Sadosky, Revolutionary Negotiations: Indians, Empires, and Diplomats in the Founding of America (University of Virginia Press, 2009) J. C. A. Stagg, The War of 1812: Conflict for a Continent (Cambridge University Press, 2012) Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies (Knopf, 2010) In Our Time is a BBC Studios production Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.