Historical themes, events and key individuals from Akhenaten to Xenophon.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poetry and context of this pre-Islamic Arabian knight
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the fight for Welsh independence in the early 15th century
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Poor Law of 1834 and the rise of the workhouse
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the devastating war across the Holy Roman Empire 1618-1648
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Red Army's retreat across China, from October 1934
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Roman poet Horace, who flourished under Augustus.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Austrian princess, guillotined as Queen of France.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Mandeville's work on the public benefit of private vices.
Melvyn Bragg discusses the impact of Shakespeare's approach to history (programme 2 of 2).
Melvyn Bragg discusses the impact of Shakespeare's approach to history (programme 1 of 2)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 1846-48 war that cost Mexico half its territory.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss republicanism, despotism and the separation of powers.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Achaemenid Empire's great ceremonial capital.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Queen of England at the start of the Wars of the Roses
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the freeing of a third of Russians from serfdom in 1861.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the relationship between slavery and the power of Rome.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great empires of the Islamic west.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alexis de Tocqueville's analysis of American democracy.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss evictions and migrations in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the influential ancient Chinese work on military strategy.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of Frederick Douglass, born to slavery.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ottoman attack on the Knights Hospitaller in Malta.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, murder and impact of Thomas Becket (c 1118-1170)
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Greek city of Thebes in myth, drama and history.