Melvyn Bragg

English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people...

The King James Bible has often been called ‘the Book of Books’ both in itself and in what it stands for....

Melvyn Bragg and guests chart the development of Christian thought, looking at 25 fundamental concepts that emerged throughout history....

It was not love at first sight. It proved to be not much of a conversation…Nothing should have come of it. A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students - one French, one English - meet at university at the beginning of the sixties. From its tentative early stages...

Douglas Tallentire has at last achieved what his father and grandfather before him fought for so bitterly. Educated and independent, he can carve out his own career and spread his wings. But success, freedom and happiness are more elusive than ever in the fiercely competitive Seventies. From...

Joseph Tallantire has hope and ambition - like his father before him he is determined to make something of himself and improve his lot. But life is not easy for an uneducated young man in Cumberland before and during World War II, and Joseph's struggle against the odds is the subject of this...

Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the history of physics through its most important ideas and hypotheses....

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 pivotal concepts, theorists and developments that have advanced the science of mathematics....

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the cosmos, from the origins of the universe to dark matter and dark energy....

Melvyn Bragg and guests analyse 25 key poets and literary works, tracing the evolution of poetry over 550 years....

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 explorations of the visual arts, including artistic and architectural styles, historic movements, notable artworks and visual artists....

* AN OBSERVER AND DAILY MAIL "BOOKS OF 2022" PICK * Melvyn Bragg's first ever memoir - an elegiac, intimate account of growing up in post-war Cumbria, which lyrically evokes a vanished world. In this captivating memoir, Melvyn Bragg recalls growing up in the Cumbrian market town of Wigton, from...

A profoundly thought-provoking, moving novel that breathes fresh life into one of history's most remarkable and enduring love stories. Paris in 1117. Heloise, a brilliant young scholar, is astonished when the famous, radical philosopher, Peter Abelard, consents to be her tutor. But what starts...

In the spring of 1946, ex-corporal Sam Richardson returns home from the "forgotten war" in Burma to his hometown of Wigton in Cumbria, England....

When we think of great events in the history of the world, we tend to think of war, revolution, political upheaval or natural catastrophe. But throughout history there have been moments of vital importance that have taken place not on the battlefield, or in the palaces of power, or even in the...

Melvyn Bragg fronts The Written World, a BBC Radio 4 series following the origins of writing from its first appearance 6,000 years ago and exploring how it has shaped the world's intellectual history....

A major 60-part BBC radio series exploring the questions that have preoccupied philosophers through the ages, presented by Melvyn Bragg....

At the end of May 1381, the fourteen-year-old King of England had reason to be fearful: the plague had returned, the royal coffers were empty and a draconian Poll Tax was being widely evaded. Yet Richard, bolstered by his powerful, admired mother, felt secure in his God-given right to reign...

In the seventh century, at the dawn of Christianity, Bega, a bewitching Irish princess bestowed with miraculous powers, and Padric, a charismatic British prince gifted with the fiery power of the sword...

Could he not put together a memory for her? Perhaps he could become her memory. To build it from fragments, or make it up. And most of all bring back Grace. Her own mother. John visits his ageing mother Mary in her nursing home by the sea, and mourns the slow fading of her mind. Hoping to shore...