Jeffrey Sachs: Bursting at the Seams: 2007Jeffrey Sachs: Bursting at the Seams: 2007

The Reith Lectures

Jeffrey Sachs: Bursting at the Seams: 2007

Economic Solidarity for a Crowded Planet

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the fourth of five lectures. He considers the challenges of poverty

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Jeffrey Sachs: Bursting at the Seams: 2007

Global Politics in a Complex Age

Jeffrey Sachs calls for a new Enlightenment to help make globalisation work for all.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Jonathan Spence: Chinese Vistas: 2008

Confucian Ways

Spence reflects on China's most enduring thinker, Confucius.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Jonathan Spence: Chinese Vistas: 2008

English Lessons

Spence examines China's relations with the United Kingdom through three centuries.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Jonathan Spence: Chinese Vistas: 2008

American Dreams

Spence explores the relationship between China and the US over two centuries.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Jonathan Spence: Chinese Vistas: 2008

The Body Beautiful

Spence discusses how Chinese ideas of sport and athleticism have slowly evolved.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Michael Sandel: A New Citizenship: 2009

Markets and Morals

Prof Michael Sandel considers the expansion and moral limits of markets.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Michael Sandel: A New Citizenship: 2009

Morality in Politics

Michael Sandel asks what role, if any, there is for moral argument in politics.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Michael Sandel: A New Citizenship: 2009

Genetics and Morality

Professor Sandel considers how we should use our ever-increasing scientific knowledge.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Michael Sandel: A New Citizenship: 2009

A New Politics of the Common Good

Professor Sandel makes the case for a moral and civic renewal in democratic politics.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Martin Rees: Scientific Horizons: 2010

The Scientific Citizen

Prof Martin Rees asks who we should trust to explain the risks we face.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Martin Rees: Scientific Horizons: 2010

Surviving the Century

Does science have the answers to help us save our planet?

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Martin Rees: Scientific Horizons: 2010

What We'll Never Know

Professor Martin Rees explains where the limits of our scientific knowledge lie.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Martin Rees: Scientific Horizons: 2010

The Runaway World

Prof Rees calls for the UK to stay at the forefront of scientific research and discovery.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Securing Freedom: 2011

Aung San Suu Kyi: Liberty

Aung San Suu Kyi explores what freedom means in the first of the 2011 Reith Lectures.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Securing Freedom: 2011

Aung San Suu Kyi: Dissent

Aung San Suu Kyi examines what drives people to dissent in the second Reith Lecture 2011.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Securing Freedom: 2011

Eliza Manningham-Buller: Terror

Eliza Manningham-Buller reflects on 9/11 in the first of her Reith Lectures 2011.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Securing Freedom: 2011

Eliza Manningham-Buller: Security

Assessing the role of security and intelligence services in a democracy.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Securing Freedom: 2011

Eliza Manningham-Buller: Freedom

Ex M15 boss Eliza Manningham-Buller discusses foreign policy in her third Reith Lecture.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012

The Human Hive

Niall Ferguson argues that institutions determine the success or failure of nations.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012

The Darwinian Economy

Niall Ferguson reflects on the causes and lessons of the global financial crisis.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012

The Landscape of the Law

Niall Ferguson asks if different systems of law are key to economic success.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012

Civil and Uncivil Societies

Niall Ferguson asks what constitutes a vibrant and independent civil society.

58 mins

The Reith Lectures

Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013

Democracy Has Bad Taste

Grayson Perry analyses the complex process of judging quality in contemporary art.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013

Beating the Bounds

Grayson Perry questions the often-heard assertion that anything can be art.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013

Nice Rebellion, Welcome In!

Grayson Perry asks if revolution is a defining idea in art, or has it met its end?

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013

I Found Myself in the Art World

Grayson Perry discusses the painful yet rewarding process of becoming an artist.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine

Why Do Doctors Fail?

Surgeon and writer Dr Atul Gawande explores the nature of fallibility in medicine.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine

The Century of the System

Atul Gawande calls for a radical rethink of medical systems to transform healthcare.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine

The Problem of Hubris

Atul Gawande calls for a new approach to the 'great unfixables' - ageing and death.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine

The Idea of Wellbeing

Atul Gawande calls for a new focus on systems to ensure doctors work more effectively.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Professor Stephen Hawking: Black Holes

Do black holes have no hair?

Professor Stephen Hawking delivers the first of his BBC Reith Lectures on black holes.

28 mins

The Reith Lectures

Professor Stephen Hawking: Black Holes

Black holes ain't as black as they are painted

Professor Stephen Hawking delivers the second of his BBC Reith Lectures on black holes.

28 mins

The Reith Lectures

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Creed

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah says we overestimate scripture in our view of faith.

60 mins

The Reith Lectures

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Country

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah argues against a mythical and romantic view of nationhood

60 mins

The Reith Lectures

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Colour

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah argues for a world free of racial fixations.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities

Culture

Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah asks us to give up the idea of western civilisation.

58 mins

The Reith Lectures

Hilary Mantel

The Day Is for the Living

Art can bring the dead back to life argues novelist Hilary Mantel.

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

Hilary Mantel

The Iron Maiden

How do we construct our pictures of the past asks Hilary Mantel.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Hilary Mantel

Silence Grips the Town

The story of how historical obsession killed a Polish writer, told by Hilary Mantel.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Hilary Mantel

Can These Bones Live?

Hilary Mantel on how historical fiction can make the past come to life.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Hilary Mantel

Adaptation

Hilary Mantel on how fiction changes when adapted for stage or screen.

43 mins

The Reith Lectures

Michael Sandel on Bertrand Russell

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series

21 mins

The Reith Lectures

Anand Menon on Robert Birley

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series

15 mins

The Reith Lectures

Brian Cox on Robert Oppenheimer

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series

28 mins

The Reith Lectures

Grayson Perry on Nikolaus Pevsner

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series

15 mins

The Reith Lectures

Angela Stent on George Kennan

Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series

14 mins

The Reith Lectures

Margaret MacMillan

War and Humanity

Margaret MacMillan asks if war is an essential part of being human.

45 mins

The Reith Lectures

Margaret MacMillan

Fearing and Loving: Making Sense of the Warrior

Margaret MacMillan explores our complex relationship with the people who go to war.

44 mins

The Reith Lectures

Margaret MacMillan

Civilians and War

Margaret MacMillan examines the role of civilians as supporters and victims of conflict.

60 mins

The Reith Lectures

Margaret MacMillan

Managing the Unmanageable

Margaret MacMillan assesses attempts to constrain and justify conflict.

60 mins

The Reith Lectures

Margaret MacMillan

War's Fatal Attraction

Margaret MacMillan examines how we remember and represent war in art.

28 mins

The Reith Lectures

2019: Jonathan Sumption

1/5. Law's Expanding Empire

Jonathan Sumption argues that the law is taking over the space once occupied by politics

57 mins

The Reith Lectures

2019: Jonathan Sumption

2/5. In Praise of Politics

Jonathan Sumption explains how democracy can accommodate opposing opinions and interests

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

2019: Jonathan Sumption

3/5. Human Rights and Wrongs

Jonathan Sumption argues that courts have usurped power via human rights law

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

2019: Jonathan Sumption

4/5. Rights and the Ideal Constitution

Jonathan Sumption assess the pros and cons of written and unwritten constitutions

42 mins

The Reith Lectures

2019: Jonathan Sumption

5/5. Shifting the Foundations

Jonathan Sumption argues against Britain adopting a written constitution

42 mins

Sound of Cinema

'You've Never Had It So Good'

Matthew Sweet explores the world of film music.

59 mins

Jo Durrant

Jo Durrant's Beautiful Universe (20/07/2019)

Jo brings you a special looking at the 50th anniversary of man walking on the moon.

60 mins

Loose Ends

Eve Myles, Michael Dapaah, Doon Mackichan, Richard Strange, Aldous Harding, Lady Sanity, Arthur Smith, Nikki Bedi

Clive Anderson and guests with an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy.

43 mins

Saturday Review

Making Noise Quietly, Night of the Iguana, The Moon, Laura Cummings, I Am Nicola

Making Noise Quietly, Night of the Iguana, The Moon, Laura Cummings, I Am Nicola

48 mins

The Arts Hour

Caine Prize Winner - Lesley Nneka Arimah

We hear from this year's Caine Prize Winner

53 mins