Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Social Sciences

A collection of insightful interviews, documentaries and comedy that celebrates LGBTQ+ in Britain, publishing to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

This unique anthology of Alan Bennet's BBC radio and television work features extracts from his diaries and readings, as well as tributes to friends Russell Harty and Peter Cook.

The Write Stuff is the book-based panel show that takes a witty and whimsical look at well-known authors and their work. Host James Walton challenges the erudite contestants with tricky literary teasers, which they endeavour to answer using a combination of knowledge and guesswork.

Every week, at a different University, it pits a team of three Students against three of their Lecturers. The rounds vary between Specialist Knowledge and General Knowledge, quickfire bell-and-buzzer rounds and ‘Highbrow and Lowbrow’. Which of the students will turn out to be complete trivia-boffins? Will the Lecturers reveal they know more about Beyoncé than Barthes? There’s plenty of scope for embarrassment on both sides...

In this collection, Melvyn Bragg surveys how English has evolved over 1,000 years. He starts by looking at the disappearance of old dialects like that of Cumbria, and how English has been enriched by foreign languages, from Latin and Old French to dozens more as conquest, trade and immigration played their part in recent centuries. He also examines new coinages, puns and wordplay; how accents and social class are entwined; swear words; attempts to stop the evolution of language in its tracks and, lastly, the many varieties of English that are spoken around the world today.

In these 10 entertaining documentaries, he explores why some books, games and binge-watched box sets are, as they say, 'literally unputdownable'; peers into Plotto, an ingenious manual of story devices, to discover whether it really can make writing easy; takes a sideways look at some familiar characters from literature, including James Bond, Dracula, Fu Manchu and Carruthers; delves into the intricacies of the locked-room murder; and revisits his old prep school to find out whether a book of stirring 19th-century verse can work its magic on today’s young people.

Sir John Betjeman, poet, broadcaster, journalist, prose writer and critic, was one of the best-loved figures of the 20th century. Betjeman was a prolific writer and his poems still resonate today. This release celebrates the centenary of Betjeman's birth.

The events of 1950-1999 are described by the people who saw them happen, from the Festival of Britain in 1951 through to the dawn of a new millennium at the end of 1999. In between are the eras of the Angry Young Men, the Teddy Boys and the Punk Rockers; the arrival of rock and roll and the permissive society; the advent of industrial strife in England and sectarian unrest in Northern Ireland; the rise to power of Margaret Thatcher; the miners' strike, three-day week and Winter of Discontent; the Queen's Silver Jubilee....

In this wildly entertaining A to Z of verbal acrobatics, Gyles takes you on a whirlwind tour of our mother tongue – from the origins of words and correct grammar and punctuation, to similes, euphemisms and record breaking tongue twisters (try getting your mouth around floccinaucinihilipification!). An idiosyncratic blend of history, word play, anecdote, and hyperbole, all in 60-second instalments, this is Gyles Brandreth at his word-perfect, Just-a-Minute best. You’ll never mix your metaphors again...

In this fascinating BBC Radio series, Katie Hickman examines the lives of 'diplomatic women' through their letters and diaries. From the first exploratory expeditions into foreign lands, through the heyday of the British Empire and still today, the foreign service has been shaped and run behind the scenes by the wives of ambassadors and minor civil servants.

Mae Martin is an award-winning Canadian comedian, writer and presenter of podcast GrownUp Land. In these two collected BBC Radio 4 series, she explores her generation's views on addiction and sexuality.

Broadcaster and arts presenter Melvyn Bragg fronts The Written World, a five-part BBC Radio 4 series following the origins of writing from its first appearance 6,000 years ago and exploring how it has shaped the world's intellectual history. In the first programme, he looks at the technology of writing, and how making signs on clay, wood, or parchment enabled the development of human culture.

From politics to economics, from tech to the study of how we live, things are changing fast. Old certainties are crumbling, and we need new solutions to shake up the status quo and shape the future. In The Spark, Helen Lewis meets 11 radical thinkers who are bidding to change our world, and puts their ideas under the spotlight to find out what they have to offer compared to the failures of the past.

Meet Anne Lister, the 18th-century landowner, industrialist, explorer, lesbian and feminist icon. This is her story.... Anne was different from society’s expectations of a woman at the time: she not only did not wish to marry, but she also did not want to conform. Anne was interested only in women and had ‘marriage’ ceremonies with Mariana Lawton and later Ann Walker. She spent a great deal of time studying, managed her own estates, sought business opportunities, travelled widely and climbed mountains.

The Invention of Childhood explores how gender, geography and ethnicity has impacted the development of children throughout the ages. Beginning from the year 1000, Cunningham studies the many important events in history for our children, ranging from Britain's earliest child-care guru in the Middle Ages to the first ever Foundling Hospital in the 18th Century. This hugely enjoyable piece of teaching that delves into the idea of how childhood has been constantly reinvented through the centuries, and why the role of children in society continues to obsess us today.

Currently chaired by Andy Zaltzman, The News Quiz is the topical panel quiz show that takes its questions from the week's news stories. This bundle collection includes all three series from 2025, presenting hilarious and topical panels of some of Britain’s best known faces.

Once a watchword for African Americans in the early 1900s, 'woke' is now used as an insult across the political spectrum, and it has become synonymous with our era of angry debate. As the word has spread, what people mean by it has become less clear than ever. Award-winning journalist and author Matthew Syed is on a mission to uncover the roots of this social phenomenon and, in this series, he follows the evolution of 'woke' through five key stories.

An entertaining guide to some of our commonest and most curious coastal wildlife. Brett Westwood is joined by naturalist Phil Gates in this informative and entertaining guide to a variety of common coastal wildlife. Recorded in early summer along the coast of Northumberland, each programme focuses on a different habitat - rock pools, sandy beaches, sea cliffs, strandlines and mudflats adjoining saltmarshes.

Adaptation of Keats' sensual narrative poem about the ill-starred love affair of the serpent Lamia and the innocent mortal Lycius. Starring Paterson Joseph, Charlotte Emmerson, Tom Ferguson, and Jonathan Keeble. With original music by John Harle. Sung by Sarah Leonard.

The UK and Africa have had a long and complicated past. These two series look at the history of this relationship, with Daliso as our relationship guidance counsellor, helping us navigate the rocky historical waters between the two places. A Malawian comedian who grew up all over the world, Daliso straddles cultural divides. He will help us all better understand how to sort out our differences. Or not....