In Our Time reaches 500

The best programme on the radio, loved all 498 episodes so far. Thanks to everyone.

I also think it's the best programme on the radio. My favourite (currently) is the Calvin espisode.

Have worried before about BBC's poor science presentation - not perhaps "poor", just little of it. M.Bragg today redresses the balance a little. "In Our Time" today had excellent speakers - cogent, clear, eloquent. Brilliant programme. I shall listen to the repeat tonight, and not because I didn't understand it the first time!

Future topics of interest to me (and probably nobody else); 1. early history of steam power (Liebig, Savory onwards)2. civil war in Rome - the end of the republic 3. Prussia's mid-19th cent. wars. 4. Garibaldi.

Ditto, one of the very best programmes on the airwaves. Hard to choose a favourite, perhaps Godel's Incompleteness Theorem or the Origins of Life or Byzantium.

My suggestion for a future program:



Compassion as core condition in many religions/faiths/ humanistic beliefs.Finding this common ground without reducing the value of each belief's contribution in each system or culture.



See Karen Anderson Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.

If next week is the 500th programme, why are there 501 available on the website?

Dear 'In Our Time',



You asked for suggestions for topics in today's programme (March 3rd).



May I suggest the topic of 'hygiene, purity and cleanliness'? These are three names for one process - cleansing.



This is something which affects all of us, and our bodies - otherwise we would die. It also affects all other animals. It cannot be applied to plants, but can be applied to minerals. In humans it is a biological process, yet at the same time it is a set of cultural or behavioural mores as well. It is a psychology; and a philosophy. The medical philosophy of hygiene has dominated all of our lives during the 20th century, and has become part of the philosophy of 'well-being' in the 21st century.



Cleansing is responsible for political atrocities (in the sense of the political 'purge' or 'ethnic cleansing'). It also keeps us alive on a day to day basis (through our evacuations), and keeps our bodies trim and beautiful (through daily grooming). It underpins one of the world's largest and oldest industries - home and body cleansing (cosmetic) products.



The fact that I have written a book on this need not be used for special pleading! My point is mainly that it is a huge part of our lives which - until recently - we knew very little about, and took entirely for granted. It seems to be a suitably broad topic for 'In Our Time', and it would be great to see it aired.

Yours sincerely,

Virginia Smith

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

I enjoy the program and have looked through the archives for something about earthquakes and the gravitational effects of, particularly, the sun and moon on the earth's surface. It seems to me that if the sun and moon can effect tides as much as they do then they could also put stress on the earths crust which in certain circumstances could induce eathquakes where that stress coincides with faults.

A Google search for eathquakes and eclipse throws-up a lot of astrological and semi-religious belief about predictions of impending catastrophe but not much scientific research - are the scientists afraid of being labelled as loonies if they look for a connection? Is this a case of seismologists and astronomers and physicists not working together?

At times of a solar eclipse or near eclipse (full moon and or new moon??)the sun and moon pull in the same direction, this will have a different effect to the sun and moon pulling against each other at times of a near lunar eclipse. Does the maximum stress occur at the point where the eclipse is observed, or at the circumference halfway round the world, or somewhere in between?

As we approach and leave an eclipse or near eclipse can there be a 'stress and relax' effect, every 24 hours as the world turns, which adds to the chance of an earthquake?

Is there any data analysis mapping the occurance of earhquakes to eclipses?

Dear Tom Morris,



Suggestions for future In Our Time Programmes.



May I suggest a subject which is paradoxical in the extreme? I speak of a 50 year old, proven technology which can solve many of the worst problems facing humankind, including the cessation of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses emissions and mitigation of population growth.



Experimentation into this technology in the USA, in the early 1950s, revealed that it was militarily ineffective and thereafter, research and development was done on shoestring financing, with low-key attention to the enormity of the potential benefits in the civilian sphere. Even though operational units were producing results which gave rise to great optimism, all work ceased in the early 70’s and all that remained was a paper archive, recording what had been achieved and what the future could hold.



This paper goldmine gathered dust for 30 years, when it was unearthed by an Indiana Jones figure, who poured over every word and discovered a story of political/military in-fighting. The winners went on to give us the world we have today and the losers lost the opportunity to have prevented the past 50 years of escalating greenhouse gasses emissions.



Within the past month, the Chinese have announced their intentions to pursue this technology through a programme of manufacture, and claim all of the associated intellectual property. In the UK, the economics of meeting our future energy needs and carbon targets by using this technology, could be so compelling that we might well be importing Chinese-made units by the container ship full, within a couple of decades.



I’m absolutely convinced this subject would be a perfect topic for In Our Time, with Kirk (Indiana) Sorensen being able to describe the rediscovery of the work done by Eugene Wigner and Alvin Weinberg, at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and their dedication to the promotion of the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR).



With sufficient thorium available to fuel the energy needs of everyone on the planet for thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years, at developed-world standards, LFTRs effectively give us all of the benefits of energy from fusion now. The effect LFTRs can have on the future of humankind is immeasurable and hardly anyone knows about it. In Our Time revelations would go a long way to remedying this.



Regards,



Colin Megson.

Happy 500th episode IOT. I have podcast the programme for the last few years and have almost caught up on the full archive. Congratulations to everyone involved for bringing us such fascinating and diverse subject mater each week. Big salute to Tom and Melvyn. Can I request a programme on Samuel Pepys? He's been mentioned in a few of the programmes but the latest research on his life, diary and what he's contributed to our knowledge of the age he lived would be sensational. I particularly enjoy Melvyns newsletter, and his personal news of adventures around London. Last time I was there I visited the ducks in St James park in his honour.

Looking forward to the next 500 programmes very much. Claudia, Melbourne.

You asked for suggestions for future programmes for "In Our Time".



Please can I hope that there will be at least one "In Our Time" to remember Danish attacks on England, and in particular Canterbury, a thousand years ago.



The Danes besieged Canterbury from, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us, the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary to Michaelmas Day 1011, that's 8th. - 29th. September 1011 in today's thinking. At the end of the siege, the City was sacked, including the Cathedral and its clergy as well as the city. It must have been a dreadful event. The Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Alphege, was taken prisoner, which brings us to the other millennium coming up: -



On April 19th, 1012 St. Alphege was martyred by the Danes at Greenwich, by being pelted with ox bones. The Danes had already demand £48,000 for the Kingdom of England; but St. Alphege refused to let an extra £3,000 be paid for his personal ransom. So he was killed.



The Danes are long forgiven, because King Knut (Canute) converted to Christianity after he became King of both England and Denmark.



The various Anglican churches dedicated to St. Alphege will be holding events on 19th. April 2012, or more probably the following Sunday. There is going to be a pilgrimage service at Canterbury Cathedral on 9 June 2012. Details of the Church's plans to remember the millennium of St. Alphege's death can be found at https://www.stalphege.com. However, my personal experience is that even when I tell people with no particular religious belief about the coming millennium of St. Alphege's death, they spontaneously see relevance of his refusal to be ransomed to the current economic state of England.



From "In Our Time"'s point of view, it is a useful coincidence that 8th. September 2011, 29th. September 2011 and 19th. April 2012 are all Thursdays.

IOT is an excellent programme that I cannot praise too highly. This morning's programme on the age of the Universe was superb. Two requests:



(a) How about something on "The Thirty Years War", which I don't think you have covered.



(b) I'd love to be able to download all 499 previous episodes, rather than just the last few. As far as I can see, that isn't possible yet. Will it ever be?



Thanks,

David Love

Hurrah for IOT at 500 episodes, a bastion of good BBC broadcasting!



I'd personally like to hear an eposide on the Occult studies of Sir Isaac Newton, with paticular regard to his works on the temple of Solomon, and attempts at interpreting biblical prophecy, as well as rumoured accounts of Newton's search for various alchemical substances-notably the philosopher's stone.



Keep up the good work Melvyn and co!

A suggested future topic-------------The history of anti-semitism.

Dear IOT

Dear IOT,



I am proud to say I have tried to listen every week since the beginning of the broadcast, I would like to make a few suggestions for programs:



1. Language change

2. Proto Indo-European

3. William Labov/ North American English

4. Three domain classification of life (Archaea, Bacteria, Eukaryota)

5. Language isolates (languages not seen to be related to any others)

6. Our nearest stellar neighbors (solar neighborhood) beyond the Sun.

7. Game Theory

8. Taxonomy (Linnaean, Post-Linnean)



Thank you so much for many ours of knowledge and yes, entertainment, Melvin, you and your staff keep up the excellent work.



Thank you

Alan K

Congratulations to Melvyn and the team for one of the best programmes on either TV or Radio. The fluidity, and lucidity, of the discussion on this mornings programme about the age of the universe was in marked contract to the shrill lack of reason on 'Thought for the day' which preceded it.



My suggestion for a future programme would be to discuss why the BBC insists on persevering with Thought for the Day when it is based on unverifiable fantasy?

I'm a regular listener to In Our Time and I would like to suggest a programme dedicated to a human-evolutionary, i.e. Darwinian, view of human nature and how it has shaped the power structures (social, political and economic) of human civilisations, especially our own.



It's an approach to understanding human society which, as far as I'm aware, has been pretty much neglected, partly because of taboos relating to social Darwinism, but also, I believe, because it would expose some very inconvenient truths about our own society, including the state, which is the employer of the very academics (evolutionary biologists, anthropologists and psychologists) in whose fields of competence such studies would fall.



I've taking just such an approach myself and come to some quite startling insights, which I would very much like to hear Melvyn discuss with competent academics.

A cordial invitation on behalf of the National Trust to discuss the unique yeoman farmer's library at Townend, an ancient stone farmhouse at Troutbeck, near Windermere, and the world of popular reading and vernacular culture in early modern Cumbria. Assembled by a single family between the 1590s and the 1940s, the library, of just over 1000 books, is an astonishing window into the past: happy to provide more information, and hope it might tickle Melvyn's fancy.



Mark Purcell

Libraries Curator

The National Trust

I would love to have the rest of Dante's Divine Comedy completed - Purgatory and Paradise. Also bring back Edith Hall - I will listen to any subject she has to talk about.

Programme suggestions:



*The Reign of the Despensers (under Edward II)

*The Special Relationship

*The BBC (history, uniqueness, influence, etc.)

*The Spanish-American War

*Human Sacrifice (Neolithic evidence; Carthaginians, Aztec, etc.)

*Terrorism

*The Antichrist (from the Book of Revelation to depictions today (e.g., the "Left Behind" series, cinema, etc.)

*Animation (what was the first animated silent clip? the first animated "talkie"? televion programme? how did we go from Disney to The Simpsoms? etc.)

*Homosexuality

*The Pub

*Taxation

*Museums (history of; their future)

*Libraries (history of; their future)

*Cognitive Dissonance

*Spices

*Scent/Smell

*The Olmecs

*Game Theory

*Wargames (both military exercises/simulations and hobbying (from chess to Xbox)



----Some lesser ideas:

*Collars (non-clerical)

*What's the Point of Canada?

*42

*Purple

*The Sound of One Hand Clapping

*Why is Everyone Clapping?

*Please Stop Clapping

*Conspiracy: The Nelson Thomlinson School, LWT's The Southbank Show, and the House of Lords, What's the Connection?

*Polyvinyl Chloride

I'd love to see the IOT treatment on the history of science fiction literature, not to mention some individual authors - Mary Shelly, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and the like. Even just a programme on comics and the brief blaze of the pulp magazines would be fascinating to listen to.

Excellent programme.



Suggested topic





"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"



"The origins of Scientology and what Scientologists actually believe"



"The fate of the Sea Venture and the founding of Jamestown"



"The relationship between drugs and Religeon - Hinduism, Rastafarianism and others"



"Conformance - why we don't (generally) like to rock the boat"

I would love to hear a programme (or several) about some of the lesser know (in Uk at least) writers from S. and Central America. Writers such as Roberto Arlt or Ernesto Sabato or The Marcelin Brothers from Haiti.

A topic for "In our Time"



I would like to see a programme about Immanuel Kant. His distinction of phenomena from noumena,as related to perception, would be interesting. Especially if compared and contrasted with other philosophies of perception.

IOT is peerless. Long may it continue to broaden listeners’ horizons.





My suggestion for a future programme:



Systems Theory / Systems Thinking



(Seemingly very important but not taught in schools?)





Looking forward to the next 500.

IOT is great, so, thank you!

I would like to hear a show about E.V. Debbs, American union leader and socialist who ran for president five times, one of these runs was made while in prison for opposing America's involment in WWI. It would be interesting to hear what a panel would have to say about the roll the Debbs and unions had in shaping American economics and politics.



Also, A show about Matteo Ricci and the legacy of the Jesuit missions in China. I believe he helped bring the writtings of Confuscious to the West

Can we have a programme about the future of the Church of England. In two generations it will die or be transformed - hopefully NOT into the American Bible based charismatic and fundamentalist movement increasing in popularity now. There is a new Christian Spirituality emerging that does not focus so much on tradition and dogma but the practice of becoming conscious through meditation and embracing some eastern teachings. If our lovely historic parish churches are to survive they will have to evolve and serve the present.

Dear 'In Our Time'



How about a programme exploring the seismic shift that took place in biology during the 20th century - namely the rise of 'molecular biology'?



Molecular biology is at the heart of the biotechnology industry, enabling a better understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Sickle Cell Anaemia together with the mass production of drugs such as human insulin used to treat diabetes. Central to molecular biology is the double helical structure of DNA discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. But Watson and Crick's discovery was part of a much bigger revolution in biology that was established thanks to the work of less well known figures such as the physicist William T. Astbury. Working initially with wool fibres in the 1930s, Astbury pioneered the use of X-rays to study the shape of giant biological molecules such as proteins and DNA, leading him to the insight that biological systems could be understood in terms of how these giant biological molecules change their shape -an insight which has had massive influence on the study of disease.



Astbury's X-ray studies also paved the way for Watson and Crick's work and also popularised a new scientific discipline - 'molecular biology'. Such was Astbury's international prowess that his laboratory at Leeds was hailed as the 'X-ray Vatican' and he famously proved the practical application of his work by wearing an overcoat spun from peanut protein fibres. Astbury's work was honoured last year with a Civic Trust Blue Plaque in Leeds where he spent all his working life.



2013 will mark the 60th anniversary of Watson and Crick's monumental discovery but it might also be an appropriate time to reconsider the role of lesser known figures such as Astbury and others. So how about a programme along the lines of how the input of physicists such as Astbury gave birth to the powerful new science of molecular biology?



Best wishes,

Dr. K.T.Hall

I only discovered IOT last year so have a huge amount of catch- up listening to do. Is there any chance of the archive being made downloadable? It is so much easier to be able to listen 'offline' so please please please can more archived episodes be 'podcasted'.

Two suggestions. First, I don't think you have included a programme on Heidegger (his ontological philosophy or politics)in your series. And second, although natural sciences are (rightly)comprehensively covered, your focus on natural science exclusively as an epistemological matter (an increasingly more precise approximation of material reality discovered by positive experimentation as expressed in the language of mathematics)has ignored consideration of the ontological dimension presupposed in quantitative method. And Melvin, don't give up until you absolutely have to!

I really enjoyed the programme on Darwin: On the origin of species in 2009. I particularly enjoy science themed programmes.

Have you considered a programme on recent advances in medical genetics?

I am also interested in the 17th-century mystic poet, Thomas Traherne.

Dear Tom,

We have enjoyed IOT for many years and congratulate the programme for reaching 500. Well done!

Dear Tom,

We have enjoyed the 500 programmes over the years and congratulate the team. We would be delighted to know how the research is done!!

Suppose the ones we most remember are the history - Roman Empire.



Suggestion: THOMAS TRAHERNE was born Hereford c 1637 and as a boiy lived tro Civil War Hereford was besieged and captured by the Roundheads. BY the time Traherne had died 1674, he had lived thro changing monarchs and religious systems. We know little or nothing about him physically> BUT he published one book before he died and many other commentaries and poetry which lay hidden for 300 years and came to light c.1898 and then over the years until 1998 when many manuscripts were found in Lambeth Palace. Real cloak and dagger stuff!

Today we have not only his writings but also the inspiration he has given to composers like Gerald Finzi whose Dies Natalis is probably the best known



For expert info: [Personal details removed by Moderator]



IT WILL MAKE A FASCINATING PROGRAMME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In agreement with many other people that this big occasion is simply testament to how much the programme is loved.



Would be good to convert those RA files to iPlayer/mp3 format if possible, and I agree that the newsletter is such a pleasant read that adding it to the website would be great.



I'm happy to listen to whatever suggestions are put forward by people: Having read other people's comments for Game Theory and Compassion I was going to suggest Altruism, only to find I simply hadn't spotted the one already!



Excellent, excellent stuff!

For a future subject, how about Freemasonry?



I am particularly interested in the origins and history of the Craft, how it impacted on the Enlightenment and influenced such political events as the French Revolution.

How about a program on The Theories of Marshal Mcluhan? I would love that.

I would be interested in a programme on any of the following: Emma of Normandy, Isabella of France, Catherine De' Medici, Lucrezia Borgia or Henrietta Maria of France. But even if you can't make any of my wishes come true I will still continue to love the show. I think the fact that it is live is what gives it an energy that is so utterly unique. Many thanks, NW

Erasmus, Science Fiction, Bricktop, Karma, The Halifax Explosion of 1917, Commedia dell'arte, Walt Whitman, Frances Burney, The Book of Job, Marguerite of Navarre and the origin of French literary salon culture, Anna Maria van Schurman, The Thera Eruption, Epilepsy, The Iroquois League, John Woolman, Divorce, The Art of Memory, Damnatio Memoriae, Isabella 1 of Spain, Consiracy Theories, George Sand, Zora Neale Hurston, Theosophy, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, the 1290 Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from England, Aphra Behn, Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator", Ida B. Wells.

The programme exploring the links between Music and Maths was great. How about something similar for Music and Language/Linguistics? Or something about the various poetic forms (and their history) and the journey to free verse?



Fantastic programme! Thanks



Alan Coady

I am very pleased and excited about the news that whole archive will be available to download although I think my mp3 is looking scared at the prospect.



Some suggestions for future programmes:



The Hanseatic League

The Thirty Years War

Poisons

Metal

The Map and Cartography

King Henry I of England

Trilobites

The Cards (Tarot and Playing)

The "Nineteen Long Winters when Jesus and his saint slepts"

The Kingdom of Kent (or the Heptarchy in general)

The Laws of Hywell Dda

Jinnah

Cooking (Why do humans cook food? When and why did it start?)

The Spanish New World Empire

Bacteria

The Canon of Scripture (Who decided which books were included, or excluded from the Bible and why)

Eusociality/Colonial animals

The Norse Sagas

The Polish-Lithuanians Commonwealth

The Crusades

The Potato

Bread

Alcohol

The Standard Model of Physics

Colour

The Holy Roman Empire



I will stop there before I get completely carried away. Thank-you for the first 499 programmes and I look forward to the next 501.

IOT is just great - maybe because it doesn't 'dumb down' too much, but it still remains informative if you put a bit of effort in and think.



I haven't listened to all 500 yet - Science and History topics are my favourites - but I'll get round to it, eventually. I just hope they never stop making it and we enter the AB era.



I've asked before, if they could make a programme covering how scientists actually prove things; the maths and logic involved in determining facts - and the 'Age of the Universe' edition went some way towards that. I think, as someone has mentioned already, a history on anti-semitism (and why it's so easy) might be worth doing. Also, an edition on Vichy France - what exactly led to it?



As for a favourite? Well, the Darwin series probably edges it for me.

I'd like to have a programme on Libertarianism, as distinct from left and right definitions of politics, simply because I'd like to know more about this. Also the history of so called secret or mystical societies and their contribution or lack of to western art science and theology, when they arose and what they said about themselves, their members and their origins, and what social or religious needs they catered to.

IOT is definitely the best thing on Radio 4. A constant delight.

Suggestions for future programme topics:

The Battle of The Atlantic

The Goths

The Normans in Ireland

Michael Farraday

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870

Dadaism

Futurism

The Glasgow Boys

Space Exploration

The Historical Novel

Persecution of the Jews before the 20th Century

Nelson's Navy

The Unification of Italy

The Austro-Hungarian Empire

The Table of The Elements

The Carbon Cycle

The Partition of India

A programme on the history of atheism would be interesting.

great program, especially the archive, a discussion on Gilgamesh would be brilliant...please?

Have been hooked to this series almost from the day it started. It is the sort of radio programme that one hates to miss, and from which one can learn so much.



As a suggestion, could we please have a programme on the 'Ice Age'? Or more correctly, the Ice Ages, since there have been multiple glaciations during the last 2 MYr. We could also consider some background on the major iceball Earth events that have preceded the Quaternary; could also bring in some discussion of the latest data from ice cores in Greenland and the Antarctic etc., and what these data tell us about the stability of the climate.

"What did lads do before football came along?"



Or put differently, "A retrospective of Free Time".

I love this programme and today on freedom of will versus determinism was no exception. Just a small point "The Ghost in the Machine" was a book written by Arthur Koestler in 1967.

What is love? How does it work? What is its purpose? Discuss, please.

Topic for 'In Our Time':



I would like to hear a programme on the critics of Freud, such as Cioffi, Crews, Gellner and Esterson. Freud's theories and case histories have been effectively demolished, but still seem to have widespread support.

Can you please consider doing a programme on The Aquatic Ape Theory?

An interesting topic would be the Chinese concept of 'Qi'

Please can we have an In Our Time programme about Quakerism? I have asked this before. I honestly don't understand why there hasn't been one already.

You asked for suggestions for future programmes for "In Our Time".



May I propose our everlasting fascination for Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes? New films and BBC series, yet his house Undershaw in Surrey, menaced by developers. Lots of paradox, literature, neoVictorianism ...



D C Rose

Editor, www.oscholars.com (and devoted IOT addict)

"In our time" is a great program at a time when much of the media is being dumbed down and many programs cater to the lowest common denominator. It totally fits the remit of the BBC. I would like to listen to an explanation of string theory, which I cannot see in the archives.



Thanks

This must be the best programme on the best station/channel of the best broadcasting service in the world!

The episode on free will was great - very clear argumentation, as you would expect from professional philosophers. Just one caveat: Saint Augustine's philosophical (as opposed to merely psychological) reason for leaning towards predestination was his taking monotheism seriously. A sole omnipotent, omniscient creator God who exists outside time, and who maintains everything in existence by his will must choose, and be responsible for, everything which is. This seems to leave no room for human free will.

May I suggest for future programmes:

1. The Great Chain of Being (key text Arthur O. Lovejoy, "The Great Chain of Being" (Harvard UP 1964) a dominant idea for understanding nature from Neo-Platonism to Darwin

2. The Ontological Argument for the existence of God: a knockdown argument which has itself been knocked down but which keeps on getting up again. (key texts: Anselm, "Meditations"; Charles Hartshorne "Anselm's Discovery" (Open Court 1965)).

I would like a programme on the ideas surrounding the concept that we are alone in the universe. The possibility that we have no evidence of other civilisations because they have all previously fizzled out due to over expansion and depletion of resources. Maybe the parameters of the Drake equation explain the lack of evidence or are we looking for the wrong things. Great programme, looking forward to 501

The IOT archive is an elevating national asset, long may it continue.

Suggestions for programmes to help deepen my misunderstanding:



Human Population

Political Unions

War in the 21st Century

Charity in the 21st Century

Information Technology

Fusion Power / Green Energy



I agree with the suggestion to convert the old RA files to iPlayer.

IOT500

Please could In Our Time repeat "Witchcraft" broadcast 21 Oct 2004 & "Angels" broadcast on 24 Mar 2005. It would be wonderful to have podcasts of the IOT archive.

Thankyou

I suggest a discussion on why we seem to:

1. Deny things that are supported by a wealth of evidence (Climate change, abusive relationships)

2. Insist on believing in things for which there is no evidence: (UFOs, religion).

IOT is essential listening for me and I enjoy the archive too. I admire the seamless structuring of the programme. A recent fave of mine was the programme on Metaphor which I listened to three times because it was so deep. On a lighter, heavier note Melvyn what about a programme on Paradox. (Arsenal F.C)

Please may we have Schopenhauer Part 2, as everyone ran out of time on Part1? Given Moore's Law still applies would something on Machine Intelligence be worthwhile (did I did hear a fleeting mention in the Free Will episode?). I try to catch all episodes, the Podcast feature is very useful. Highlights (so many!) include Foxe's Book of Martyers, St. Hilda and Schopenhauer ("I think you've made your point"). Disappointments are very, very rare but I felt the Industrial Revolution episodes were hijacked by a political correctitude, deeply unfortunate for such a vital subject.

All in all, terrific. An absolute treasure.

Congratulations to the whole team - and especially Melvyn. This is the best programme on Radio 4. Sometimes the editted version is improved but the frisson of the live broadcast adds to the feeling of being round a table with very interesting people. I've gone into the website and spent hours dipping in and out of the source material, and recalling things deep in my brain archive!



Congrats again - and thank you!

Absolutely the best thing on any radio station and a program which was just made for the iPlayer. Some weeks I listen to it once, but some weeks I listen to it several times just to get to grips with the subject. I love that feeling of stretching my mind around a difficult concept. The IOT book was also wonderful. I would really like the chance to read more transcripts of shows. Definitely an education.

Thanks for a great programme - and for some intriguing suggestions above.



I have a couple that I'd love to hear given the IOT treatment:



- "The Circle of Law" and/or "The Children's Fire": these are perhaps different sides of the same coin. So far what I know about this Native American system of democracy (as old as the Greeks?) has come from listening to Mac Macartney (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JchSac-VP0 ). I gather that elements of this philosophy were used in the creation of the US Constitution.



- Money. Who creates it? The role of central banks. Should the charging of interest go back to being regarded as the deadly sin of usury. Why did the ancients regard periodic jubilees (cancellation of debt) as a good idea? Are our periodic catastrophes the modern equivalent? Is there an alternative model of capitalism that can work without requiring endless economic growth? (perhaps that's more than a 45 minute programme - but perhaps you could say that about any of the topics in the first 500).



and for some light relief, how about:



- the art and the science of jazz. Figures like Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Slim Gaillard, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Stephane Grappelli, and many many more, some too young to yet achieve such revered status (perhaps Liam Noble & Jim Hart in the UK at the moment) - and those are just the men! - are clearly intellectual giants as expressed in the music they improvise, and worthy of serious discussion and explanation to the (as yet) uninitiated :-)

A programme please on The Outlaw; outlawry and exile from the earliest times, through Sherwood and the Wild West, possibly to Guantanamo. Is there also a link to piracy?

Congratulations In Our Time on reashing 500 episodes. Long may you flourish. Thursdays would be incomplete without it.

Now, we, the listeneres have been asked about our favourite episodes, so here I am indulging myself. My favourites include:

Stoicism

|Examined Life

Socrates

Consolations of Philosophy

Pythagoras

Common Sense Philosophy

Alchemy

Virtue

Happiness

Language and the Mind

...to name but a few.

Could I make a few suggestions for further programmes? What about

Neitzsche

Locke

Newton

Seneca

Epictetus

Self-sufficiency

Peak Oil

Numbers and numerology

Culpepper

Pepys

... oh, I could go on all day.



Be that as it may, well done on a first class radio programme. All involved should be justly proud of being part of something which is a quintessence of wat broadcasting should be all about. Three cheers!

Yours faithfully

Dr Andrew Felthouse

Congratulations on an enlightening 500th episode. A few suggestions for future episodes:



Monism/Dualism

William Blake

Gnosticism (this has been mentioned already, for example in the Devil episode; as relatively recent new discoveries at Nag Hammadi have allowed for a revision in what gnosticism actually constitutes this could prove an interesting topic)



Cheers for the fascinating programme!

My suggestions for IOT topics for discussion is the evolution of sexual reproduction - a fascinating subject.



In Our Time is essential listening!

IOT is one of those programmes that only the BBC could make. Wonderfully diverse, always interesting and thought-provoking. Yes, imo it is the best programme on Radio 4.



Suggestion for a future topic of discussion: The Zeitgeist Movement (associated with Jacque Fresco's Venus Project https://thevenusproject.com )

There have been many instructive and enjoyable programmes in the series. Much more and better use could be made of the expertise of psychologists (depending on the topics, of course). Following on from the 500th programme about free will, I propose one on the psychology of decision-making. This is an important topic, both from the perspective of research and that of practice. The history of the psychology of decision-making goes back at least as far as Daniel Bernouilli’s work (1738), but most advances have been made in the last 50 years. Arguably, the high point in this history so far has been the award to Daniel Kahneman of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2002 for his work on prospect theory. To discuss the history and development of the psychology of decision-making with the host will be three nominated eminent professors of the psychology of judgement and decision-making. They will discuss central theories and concepts in the psychology of decision-making, such as expected utility theory, prospect theory, the St Petersburg paradox, the Ellsberg paradox, loss aversion, the endowment effect, the concept of sunk cost, the attraction effect, and the compromise effect.



Paul van Schaik (not nominated to take part in the programme)

Professor of Psychology, Teesside University

IOT is the best thing on Radio 4, if not the BBC.



Best Episode: impossible to say and I haven't listened to them all by a long way). The Waste Land, Schopenhauer, the Infant Brain and Probability have stuck in my mind from recent years. The Geological Formation of Britain and The Whale - both of which I thought would be rather dull - were, of course, excellent. There have been many, many more.



Suggestions: The attention given to East Asian and Islamic topics is welcome and the programme on Maimonides was a fascinating insight into Jewish thought. How about more on Africa (e.g. African peoples/migration, African History, and the History of the Sahara)? Tibet? Hinduism/Hindu texts? The history of specific cities (the double-episode on Cities could have drawn on a wider range of examples)? Human migrations? Slave Trades? George Orwell? Linguistics? Langauge families? Viruses? Biodiversity?



Thank you for all the good work!



PS: Podcasts of the archive would be tremendous.

Dear I.O.T.



(a) you're the best; thank you, and Congratulations !!



(b) my suggestion is theological: discuss the Evangelical Universalism which is now growing fast within world Christianity.

> This caused a minor panic in the office when it was first pointed out! But two of the 501 are frauds. Two editions of IOT have been repeated, and these two (on Darwin and the Decline of the Roman Empire) both appear twice in the archive. After carefully counting and comparing the website with our own records, we're confident that this week's programme really was the 499th.

>

> Tom Morris

> Producer, In Our Time



The repeated episode on the fall of the Roman Empire is:



https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547ds - The Roman Empire's Collapse in the 5th Century (series 3)

and

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004y237 - The Roman Empire's Decline and Fall (series 6)



The page for the second does not indicate that it's a repeat, and it's air date is shown as 18th March 2004, the first 5th April 2001. Perhaps the IOT archive can be updated to removed the second from the episode sequence?

Thanks for IOT and keep going and innovating your site.Here are some suggestions for future topics:The art of film

Alfred Russell Wallace

Heidegger-rogue or great philosopher?

Anarchism

Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Phenomenology

Civilization-has it still a meaning?

George Lukacs

Alfred Hitchcock

New Wave cinema

Capitalism-causes,development,crises

Beat Generation

Biopychology

Naom Chomsky

Dreamtime

Essenes

Zoroastrianism

Jazz

Paul Ricouer

Hermeneutics

From global village to global economy

Telhard de Chardin

Neo-Platonism

Plotinus

Claude Levi Strauss

Structuralism

Zen Buddhism

Zionism

Bertrand Russell

History of Drama

Richard Feynman

Global Warming

Seismology

Post-war European literature

Are we all alone?

Mission to Mars

Hlo! Yes, I agree - best show on 4!



Here is a suggestion for a subject:



"The evolution of landscape poetry, from its origins through to 21st century ‘radical pastoralism’."



This subject is rather pertinent to our present time, regarding environmentalism, ecology, social geography and human beings’ understanding of their place in the physical and imagined world.



To begin researching this subject, a good person to contact would be Dr Harriet Tarlo at Sheffield Hallam University https://www.shu.ac.uk/research/hrc/sp-harriet-tarlo.html

Congratulations on reaching your 500th episode. I should like to suggest the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer for a future programme. Meyerbeer (1791-1864) was a stupendously successful opera composer, not just during his lifetime but for several decades after his death. Natural waning of grand operas (including Wagner) in early 20th century was overtaken by Nazi prohibition on Jewish artists. But - there has been little attempt to revive his works since 1945 and, far from respecting an innovator, he is today airbrushed from the record or grotesquely caricatured.

Some (late) program suggestions:



History of Modern Linguistincs (Saussure, Chomsky, etc.)

Speech Act Theory

Kant

Phenomenology

History of Literary Criticism

Noam Chomsky

Author Theory (Barthes, Foucault, etc - do get Sean Burke as guest).

Structuralism

Deconstrucion (or Derrida)

Post-Modern Literature

Anthropology (or Levi-Strauss)

Hello Tom, I think Melvyn and yourself will find this of great interest, I send a rough draft manuscript outlining my research to Charlie Taylor maybe 6 or 7 years ago, he asked me to get in touch again when it was published. It all took a bit longer than expected and I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I would get for what is an extremely radical discovery with massive implications. However it seems that initial broad-spectrum academic endorsement (where there should really be none at all) suggests this must be worth further investigation at the very least. Something I think will initiate some heated debate among your listeners.



Introductory material here https://leftinthedark.org.uk/

and here https://beyond-belief.org.uk/



Best Wishes



Tony

My congraqtulations to the entire team - In Our Time is fantastic!



I download the episode and listen to it walking into work... It's important to take a route which avoids intersections, as some episodes have been sufficiently engaging for me to be risking my life crossing the road!



I do have a suggestion for an episode - The Hedgerows of England. Did they appear naturally, or were they cultivated? How does this form of agriculture compare with other forms being practised elsewhere, at the same time? How did they impact other developments in early English history - land titles, etc, etc?



I look forward to listening to this one as one of the next 500 episodes!