'Bragg gives short shrift to pretension of any kind, while remaining stalwart in his search for knowledge. His methodology in In Our Time is... not unlike that of a man throwing a stick at a dog: he chucks his questions ahead, and if the chosen academic fails to bring it right back, he chides them. He retains enough of his bluff Cumbrian origins not to be taken in by gambolling and tweedy high spirits.' - Will Self, from a February 2010 issue of London Review of Books

In Our Time has been the cornerstone of broadcasting each Thursday morning on BBC Radio 4 for the past twenty years with well over 760 episodes broadcast, attracting over two million listeners. Hosted by one of Britain's greatest champions of the arts - Melvyn Bragg - the discussion format of the show explored the history of ideas across the five key genres of History, Religion, Philosophy, Science and Culture. With a vast array of guest contributors from the world of academia, such as Professors Mary Beard, Paul Cartledge and Sir Darmuid McCulloch it is one of Radio 4's most successful and enduring discussion programmes and regularly attracts a weekly audience exceeding two million listeners.

To celebrate this major 20th anniversary of broadcasting, this beautifully-integrated book will provide the reader with a fascinating insight to a selection of the show's best episodes. The book will be a lively, and colourful programme guide to fifty of the most fascinating discussions from the first twenty years of In Our Time, as chosen by Melvyn, Simon and influenced by listeners who have recommended their favourite programmes from those years.

The selection is arranged in the groups already familiar to In Our Time's podcast subscribers, with 10 discrete chapters in each section, one for each programme. The selections of episodes have been made from across the two decades since the first broadcast in October 1998, such as Romulus and Remus, The Death of Elizabeth I, Robert Hooke, The Scottish Enlightenment, Gilgamesh, and, The Salem Witch Trials. In many cases there will be additional insights from the discussions in the studio after the live programme, peppered with Melvyn Bragg's remarks from that time.