Showing results by author "Melvyn Bragg" in All Categories

Charles Dickens was a literary giant, second only to Shakespeare in the ranks of England's greatest writers. This extensive biographical collection looks at the man, his novels and his legacy to provide an all-round portrait of the much-loved author.

In Our Time has been the cornerstone of broadcasting on BBC Radio 4 since its launch in 1998. Presented by one of Britain's greatest champions of the arts, Melvyn Bragg, the show explores ideas across history, religion, philosophy, science and culture. With a vast array of contributors from the world of academia, such as Mary Beard, Angie Hobbs and Diarmaid MacCulloch, it is one of Radio 4's most successful programmes. Collected in this thematic anthology are 25 episodes focusing on notable events and individuals in Christian history.

One of BBC Radio's flagship programmes, In Our Time is both highly acclaimed and immensely popular. First broadcast in 1998, it has built an audience of over 2 million listeners, who tune in each week to be enlightened and entertained by Melvyn Bragg and his expert panel as they tackle subjects ranging from macromolecules to the Muses. This special themed collection comprises the highlights of military history: 25 episodes exploring the most important conflicts of the past 3000 years, plus additional programmes discussing the history and future of war and key military themes. 

Melvyn Bragg follows his long historical exploration of the Routes of English with 'Voices of the Powerless', the BBC Radio 4 series in which he explores the lives of the ordinary working men and women of Britain at critical moments across the last 1,000 years. The Norman Conquest is his...

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, to the joyful relief of his young wife, Ellen. He finds a town in which, seemingly, little has changed: the same twisting alleys, weavers' cottages, and medieval archways, and the same lack of prospects for an uneducated, working-class man like himself. Sam, however, has changed.

The King James Bible has often been called ‘the Book of Books’ both in itself and in what it stands for. Since its publication in 1611 it has been the best-selling book in the world, and many believe it has had the greatest impact.The King James Bible has spread the Protestant faith. It has also been the greatest influence on the enrichment of the English language and its literature.

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...

A Time to Dance charts the consequences of a relationship between a man of 54 and a girl of 18. The gap in their backgrounds, expectations, and experience proves to be as wide as that between their ages.

Continuing the story of Joe from A Son of War, this is the story of the rapid changes in his life from working-class Wigton to the rarified atmosphere of Oxford as he begins his studies there.

After the Second World War, many found a return to the old life more difficult than they had anticipated. Like Sam Richardson, who was determined to leave Cumbria for the promised land of Australia. Yet now, a few months on, he has settled for a job in a paper factory, and believes he has put his memories of fighting in Burma behind him. His wife, Ellen, begins to know better...

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...

In this collection, Melvyn Bragg surveys how English has evolved over 1,000 years. He starts by looking at the disappearance of old dialects like that of Cumbria, and how English has been enriched by foreign languages, from Latin and Old French to dozens more as conquest, trade and immigration played their part in recent centuries. He also examines new coinages, puns and wordplay; how accents and social class are entwined; swear words; attempts to stop the evolution of language in its tracks and, lastly, the many varieties of English that are spoken around the world today. 

In the spring of 1946, ex-corporal Samuel Richardson returns home from Burma to Wigton in Cumbria, to the relief of his young wife, Ellen. He finds a town in which little has changed. Sam, however, has changed: the war has left him with traumatic memories. And there's 6-year-old Joe, a baby when Sam volunteered, who can scarcely remember his father. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of love and loyalty become stretched to breaking point.

Set in Britain during the 1950s, this moving and evocative novel follows the intertwined fates of people crossing boundaries in their lives - from growing older to growing up, from first love to leaving home. Vividly conveying the spirit of the mid-century and the profound social changes taking place at the time, this is an enthralling successor to the award-winning The Soldier's Return and A Son of War.

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...

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...

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...

Set in Cumbria and covering the period from 1898 to the early twenties, this is the powerful saga of John Tallentire, first farm labourer, then coal miner, and his wife Emily. John's struggle to break free from the humiliating status of a 'hired man' is the theme of a novel which has been hailed...

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...

Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time series regularly entertains and fascinates substantial audiences on BBC Radio 4. For this book he has selected episodes which reflect the diversity of the radio programmes, and take us on an amazing tour through the history of ideas, from philosophy, science and...