MELVYN BRAGG; "In Our Time".

Melvyn Bragg has returned to BBC radio 4 recently with a new
series of "In Our Time". The format is a discussion by a panel
of experts chaired by Bragg exploring the history of ideas.
It is on at 9am on Thursday mornings for 45 minutes and a
shorter version is repeated the same evening at 9.30pm on
Radio 4. [92.4-94.6 MHz; 198 kHz].

I've always been a fan of this programme since I heard an
explanation of 'the standard model' of sub-atomic particles
which 'blew my mind'!

The subjects can be rather esoteric but they do provide
you with an introduction to topics you might never have
heard of otherwise. Sometimes they look at science,
sometimes it's history, other times it can be literature or
philosophy. I often find that "In Our Time" can inspire
me to look further into a given subject - you don't always
have to agree with a panellist's opinion to feel curious
enough to follow it up with some reading of your own.

Earlier this year I had to take some time off work because
of back pain. This period was a great opportunity to listen
to some of these programmes I'd recorded over the years.
I called this my "University of Sciatica"! [Don't you think that
sounds a bit like a midwestern college? I even had a T-Shirt
made up with this name - how sad is that?]

Anyway I am writing to recommend this radio series and to
let you know that you can access the archive of previous
discussions at the website below, either to listen on-line or
download in an mp3 format.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/inourtime/inourtime.shtml