01.04.2011 12:13

What's on?: In Our Time

In Our Time is generally acknowledged to be one of BBC Radio 4's most testing programmes. Each week it covers a specific philosophical, historical, artistic, scientific or religious subject in great depth with Melvyn Bragg in the presenter's chair. In the studio with him are three scholars with varying viewpoints, who are also university teachers. Amid the three experts, Bragg takes the role of chair and is the intelligent layman who steers the discussion and asks pertinent questions.

Because of the nature of the topics, there are moments when the listener needs to concentrate hard to understand the concepts being discussed. Examples of subjects covered in the last twelve months are Daoism; the Medieval University; Sturm und Drang; Imaginary Numbers; and the Age of the Universe.

In Our Time started as a half-hour programme in 1998 and it was thought that such an intellectually demanding programme would have a short shelf-life. But to everyone's surprise, it became a success and within a year the listening figures had more than doubled. The length of the broadcast was also increased to 45 minutes.

In Our Time is broadcast live and unedited every Thursday morning at 9.00 am (UK time). Melvyn Bragg starts each programme with a brief overview of the topic before introducing his three experts. It recently celebrated its 500th edition with a discussion on Free Will. All of the 500 programmes are available to listen to again, so whether it's Aristotle or Asteroids; Zulu Wars or Zero, you'll find something to stimulate the grey cells!

Click here to explore the programme's archive:

To tune in this Thursday morning at 9.00 am (UK time) and see if you're up to the challenge just click here:

It's repeated at 9.30 pm (UK time) on Thursday evening and is also available as a podcast.