IO In Our Time (BBC)

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In Our Time (BBC)

A world-class seminar, every week. In Our Time explores the ideas, people and discoveries that have shaped our world, spanning history, philosophy, religion, science, literature, art and culture. 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. Recent episodes have featured topics as wide-ranging as the Roman Arena, Handel's Messiah, John Keats, On Liberty and the Mariana Trench, bringing expert insight to pivotal events, influ...

Website ↗ Last published 2 November 2026 1,120 posts collected by Sputnik

Said on In Our Time (BBC)

“If anyone heard Rosebud, it would be that nurse. But the film offers evidence of the nurse coming in after that word's already been uttered. So it doesn't really explain how we even know that this was his last word. The whole thing hinges on a kind of impossibility. … By knowing what Rosebud is, we kind of don't know anything.” — John David Rhodes, In Our Time (BBC)
John David Rhodes · 2 Nov 2026 Listen →
“Why do we insist on this film being so cinematically pure when it's made by this brilliant producer of theatre and radio? The whole point of cinema is an impure medium that is able to cannibalize its sister media. And I think that's what makes it so exciting. You're seeing these electric sparks as these different media are rubbed up against each other.” — John David Rhodes, In Our Time (BBC)
John David Rhodes · 2 Nov 2026 Listen →
“There's also one song that was written originally for the film, probably everyone's least favorite song in the film, which is a very jaunty number called Knock on Wood. … The people in Rick's Cafe are singing along to this song that says, If you've got trouble, just knock on wood. And I think we're meant to discount this song … because the moral of the film is going to be that when you are in a time of trouble, you don't just sit tight and hope for the best, that you have to act.” — Pamela Hutchinson, In Our Time (BBC)
Pamela Hutchinson · 29 Oct 2026 Listen →
“Rick has this pose where he says, I don't stick my neck out for anybody. He says that a couple of times. And he doesn't drink with customers and he doesn't take sides on the war. And we see through various bits of information that this is completely not true. He may not be acting on his impulses, but he really is on one side rather than the other. … But in this film, we see again and again that passivity is amoral.” — Pamela Hutchinson, In Our Time (BBC)
Pamela Hutchinson · 29 Oct 2026 Listen →
“I set out in the 1980s to rule cold dark matter out. And now, 35 years later, I'm still trying to do it. So often I say my career has been a failure because I set out to rule this out and I can't.” — Carlos Frenk, In Our Time (BBC)
Carlos Frenk · 26 Oct 2026 Listen →
“He does… in the sort of definitive version that he produces in 1518, give us a bit of a clue, and that's a map of Utopia, which in fact does not resemble the crescent shape at all that's described… what it does resemble is a skull. And so it tells us that utopia is a memento mori… none of these things that we pride ourselves on in our society, 16th century or 21st, wealth and social standing and property, none of that matters in death.” — Joanne Paul, In Our Time (BBC)
Joanne Paul · 15 Oct 2026 Listen →
“In England, for example, in the 1840s, everyone kept local time. … But with travel, with commerce, you suddenly had people, if you like, being able to move faster than the sun. So if you left London and took a train to Bristol, you would arrive 20 minutes early by the Bristol time.” — Kristen Lippincott, In Our Time (BBC)
Kristen Lippincott · 12 Oct 2026 Listen →
“You can't divide the functions of God off. Say God the Father's Creator and God the Son is the Redeemer and God the Spirit is love. All of the developed faith of the Christian church is that all God's actions in the world are the actions of the triune God. So it's not a job creation scheme for three different bits of God.” — Janet Soskice, In Our Time (BBC)
Janet Soskice · 8 Oct 2026 Listen →
“People think of her as this sort of beautiful, brilliant, elegant, perfect, but conservative, limited, restrained writer. Au contraire, I think. She is one of the great experimental writers of European fiction.” — John Mullan, In Our Time (BBC)
John Mullan · 1 Oct 2026 Listen →

Hosts

In Our Time (BBC) is hosted by Melvyn Bragg , Misha Glenny , Ben Henderson , Asma Khalid , Alice Loxton and Tristan Redman .

Recent Episodes

  1. 2 Nov 2026

    Archive: Citizen Kane

    With Stella Bruzzi , Ian Christie and John David Rhodes

  2. 29 Oct 2026

    Casablanca

    With Ian Christie , Pamela Hutchinson and Sheldon Hall

  3. 26 Oct 2026

    Archive: Dark Matter, the mysterious substance in space

    With Carolin Crawford , Anne Green and Carlos Frenk

  4. 22 Oct 2026

    Particle Accelerators

    With Harry Cliff , Victoria Martin and Joseph Martin

  5. 19 Oct 2026

    Archive: Erasmus

    With Diarmaid MacCulloch , Eamon Duffy and Jill Kraye

  6. 15 Oct 2026

    Thomas More's Utopia

    With Laura Ashe , Cathy Shrank and Joanne Paul

  7. 12 Oct 2026

    Archive: The Measurement of Time

    With Kristen Lippincott , Jim Bennett and Jonathan Betts

  8. 8 Oct 2026

    Archive: Trinity

    With Janet Soskice , Martin Palmer and Graham Ward

  9. 1 Oct 2026

    Archive: Emma

    With John Mullan , Janet Todd and Emma Clery

  10. 24 Sep 2026

    Archive: The War of 1812

    With Kathleen Burk , Lawrence Goldman and Frank Cogliano

  11. 17 Sep 2026

    Archive: Rosalind Franklin

    With Judith Howard , Patricia Fara and Jim Naismith

  12. 10 Sep 2026

    Archive: Plato's Republic

    With Angela Hobbs , MM McCabe and James Warren

Guests

Angie Hobbs (27 episodes), Simon Schaffer (25 episodes), Paul Cartledge (23 episodes), Martin Palmer (23 episodes), Steve Jones (22 episodes), Carolin Crawford (21 episodes), Edith Hall (19 episodes), Patricia Fara (18 episodes), Marcus du Sautoy (16 episodes), Judith Hawley (16 episodes), Karen O'Brien (16 episodes), Frank Close (16 episodes), and 1,780 more.