In Our Time With Melvyn Bragg

Misha Glenny and guests discuss The Battle of Antietam, the single deadliest day of the American Civil War. The battle took place on 17th September 1862, less than 100 miles from Washington D.C. The conflict had been going on for over a year, and there had been a string of successes by the rebel Confederate Army against Union forces. The Confederates were a group of Southern St...

All dinosaurs were originally thought to be related to lizards - the word 'dinosaur' was created by Richard Owen (1804-1892) from the Greek for 'terrible lizard' - but that now appears to be false. In this archive episode, first released in October 2017, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development of theories about dinosaur feathers, following discoveries of fossils which s...

The first dinosaur to ever be scientifically named, almost 20 years before we even had the word ‘dinosaur’. In 1824, the geologist and priest William Buckland (1784-1856) stood before the Geological Society of London and announced something that would kickstart two centuries of dinosaur science. He’d been studying large, fossilised bones which didn’t resemble those of any living...

Orson Welles was only 25 when his film Citizen Kane was released in 1941. It is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Welles' film, in which he plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate. It was his first acting role. He also directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at t...

Recorded at the Crossed Wires Festival in Sheffield, Misha Glenny and guests discuss Casablanca, one of the greatest films from Hollywood’s Golden Era. The film stars Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and features the unforgettable song As Time Goes By. Casablanca opened in November 1942 when Europe had been at war for three years and the USA for one. It was among Hollywood’s...