I really like the podcast show and this episode in particular. Except for the liberal woman who is insufferable. Not only is she rude and condescending, but she has her fax all wrong. Geez.

Love the new host - he has injected a new energy and tone to the podcast which is a welcome and needed change. Thank you for providing excellent topics and guests.

Emotional content of M.C. Escher? Wonder!!

The show is functionally unlistenable because of the host’s obnoxious and rude behavior towards his guests, particularly those that are women.

I listened to the Joseph Roth episode. I live in Vienna; my great grandfathers were officers in the KuK army. I’ve read Roth. This was brilliant. Thank you. I’ll be listening to many more episodes of course

Bragg was a bully, the interruptions of the female guests were unbearably painful. Not just for his misogyny but for actually ending interesting conversations. These guests were scholars, people who devoted their lives to their subjects and Bragg in his ignorance destroyed any possible cohesion of the programme. The Emily Dickinson episode, recently unearthed, was torture. No thank you.

it has been illuminating for me not just the material covered, but how scholars can ardently disagree with each other in a direct but appropriate way. I’m keenly aware nowadays that this is a lost art for many in public discourse. I never thought I would be so interested, in say, the 10th 11th and 12th centuries and why i’ve come to believe that history really matters. I can get so lost in an episode that I’ll get 8000 steps in without realizing it! Cheers and thanks😎

Mr. Bragg was something of the Barbara Woodhouse of intellectuals. They strained at their leashes on occasion but he always got the best out of them without getting the best of them. Such large shoes he has! I believe we owe Mr. Bragg an investment of our confidence in the show’s new presenter.

We will miss you!

Melvin will be greatly missed! Thank you for contributing to our understanding of the world and culture over the years!

This show has been an absolute joy of learning from so many scholars and Mr. Braggs brilliant interview skills and insane level of preparation. I think he needs to be Sir Braggs! Enjoy your retirement. You have given us a lifetime of episodes to listen to over and over for decades.

Please don’t go!

Will miss Melvyn Bragg as host!! Enjoy the show’s range of guests and topics particularly those involving historical figures like Cleopatra.

Have enjoyed all the enlightening topics over the years

Found this uninformative, misguided and unnecessarily combative.

Love the panel discussion with experts. The hosts are wonderful facilitators of curiosity and knowledge.

Why, Why, Why are we still hearing ads when we’ve paid for ad-free listening?!?! Paid for no ads, yet hearing ad after ad after ad. NOT ACCEPTABLE. Wanted to listen to this again and started with first podcast. Still hearing ads up to and through 2002. Please FIX THIS.

Fantastic learning experience.

I just tried to listen to this episode, but the host kept extremely rudely interrupting the guest. It was unlistenable.

Don’t stop doing this podcast! I love it. It’s easily the best thing from the BBC. It represents a kind of curiosity and open mindedness that has encouraged me to read more and widely on lots of varied subjects, stuff I never thought of before I listened to a Melvin podcast.

Exceedingly British

Engaging discussions about topics and life in the 20th century by presenters and speakers who are not afraid to discuss topics intelligently and in fluent English. I thoroughly enjoy these discussions, even when I vehemently disagree with what is being said.

Woke means awake and aware and anti racism and anti ignorance and doing the right thing.

Having a roundtable discussion of scholars is a fantastic format that I wish more podcasts would imitate. This is often a fascinating program, and every episode has something of value. That said, it often has woke overtones, either from the framing of the topic, the ideological agendas of guests, or the questions that are deemed the highest priorities. Some episodes are all but unlistenable as a result.

In our times of blatant anti-intellectualism and the maligning of education and ideas, it’s essential public broadcasting still exists. We have been here before. I often don’t agree with Melvin and his guests but I have a tonne of respect for persevering in the BBC framework of providing basic facts. Keep this going

Has maintained its quality over the years. Other podcasts may briefly catch my interest, but I always return to this one

I had to leave the audience of this wonderful show, as even though it has wonderful topics, guests and the host, I could no longer (even though I have tried so hard) listen to the hosts breathing, huffing and, oh forgive me humanity, his mouth noises and swallowing. Come on guys, there is a mute button. Ta-ta! Love the show!

A very informative podcast. Melvyn articulates his mind well and asks pointed questions, he keeps the experts on their toes in a sometimes abrupt, yet convivial way. The topics are great; even if the subject matter might not necessarily appeal to me, the discussion itself is so well done that I become interested. Zero fluff, excellent general knowledge source.

Nothing exceptional, but there’s usually information here worth learning.

Best guests & host— even if I’m not initially interested in the topic, they get me interested with just their conversation. I always learn some “nuggets”— even about topics that I know well. IF something wasn’t covered, listen to the “bonus time” afterwards & it’ll be. Great adult bedtime story or long-journey companion. P.S. Yes, Melvyn is sometimes annoying; but, so were your parents, teachers, etc & that’s often his job as host & to keep episodes to 45 minutes.

Found it years ago and been listening ever since. Not every topic is in my wheelhouse but most are and I think most inquisitive folks would agree with that. If you are a first timer go back and enjoy the extensive catalog.

It is so distracting when half your English guests are hissing uncontrollably. Like nails on a chalkboard.

I enjoy the panelists and topics in this show but Melvin is frequently a misogynist bully to women in this show. Most obviously he was revolting in his treatment of Helen Foxhall Forbes, from what I recall. He should be ashamed of himself and his producers or someone should educate him on how to treat women. Aside from basic politeness, he needs to do better as a presenter and a human being. He’s talking to people who know more than he does and regardless should show them respect

Thank you for years of entertainment and information!

Distracting background sounds of papers and people shuffling as well as overly sensitive microphones that pick up every piece of saliva and mucus…good information but so hard to listen too. Also host has that horrible upper class British habit of drowning the last part of a sentence and mumbling like a drunk monkey

This show is a national treasure, always smart, surprisingly so, a beacon for what media can be.

Yes, Bragg can be grouchy and imperious at times and I wish the topics weren’t so Eurocentric but that doesn’t keep me from listening to this completely absorbing podcast. I learn at least one thing every episode that is so fascinating I have to share it with my (very patient) husband and friends the next day. The guests are almost always well chosen - not just experts in their field but usually passionate and clear in their communication. Bragg is good at guiding the discussion to a place that nicely balances academic rigor with compelling, accessible narrative. I even find myself loving topics I had no interest in before. I’m so happy there are 1000 of these - they will keep me engaged and learning for years!

This is the most accessible and intellectual podcast I have heard. I love the host and the guests and the topics. Even when I know nothing about a topic when I start to listen, I feel so engaged and instructed by the end of the episode.

Program content excellent, but bbc presentation poor. Hard to download and listen

MB moves his impossibly erudite guests through the discussion at a wonderfully brisk pace. Zero fat, a wealth of substance. A podcast for the impatient and intellectually curious.

Painfully boring discussion punctuated by an unprofessional coughing host too dim to use a mute switch that would spare listeners from hearing his annoyingly gross smokers cough.

Melvyn, Simon, and Virginia have crafted the greatest educational podcast for adults that exists. Experts explain and then discuss an enormous range of topics for 40ish minutes. Melvyn is the greatest presenter (ever, of all time) a treasure for all the world to share. The best bits are when the academic philosophers start to argue, some really priceless moments. I recommend the art, philosophy, and history episodes are my favorite, but the discussions about books and authors have taught me a ton as well. And there’s a reading list available!

Trttt

Can’t fault this show for lack of ambition, words or enthusiasm. The conversational, meeting of the minds dimension of it is truly unique. But sometimes you wish you could pick and choose one theme and disregard just about all the rest. At those times (and they are not infrequent) you might as well be listening to a different show altogether…

I enjoy the programs, but the Twelfth Night discussion was lacking. Gender and class were at the fore, but the great language of the play was hardly touched on.

This is a general comment. Melvyn Bragg is by far the best host of any Podcast series.The topics are incredible and he is essential in keeping the experts on track. Experts are so immersed in their expertise that they easily wonder off at a tangent. Keep it up

Breggs is condescending and constantly interrupts particularly female guests. I listen because the guests are intelligent and interesting but god Breggs makes it difficult.

My favorite type of podcast is one from which I can learn. So many of these episodes sound incredibly compelling and they are subjects I’m deeply interested in. But for crying out loud— I can NOT get past Melvyn Bragg’s incessant interrupting. Each time I am constantly surprised by the patience of his guests because I cringe and seethe through the whole experience. When he is not rudely cutting his guests off and talking over them, he is breathing heavily open-mouthed into the mic. It’s a misophonia nightmare. It’s 2023, we can edit better, can’t we? I haven’t lasted one full episode yet, and now I’m simply unsubscribing. What a disappoint. Please send Braggs gently into retirement.

Instead of playing this episode, I get “Something went wrong. Try again later!” Thanks again for producing this great podcast.

Of the latest five “available” episodes, only one is available to non paying subscribers. I’m inclined to unfollow and save myself the frustration. I only listen to aid in falling to sleep. There are better alternatives.