Series of annual radio lectures on significant contemporary issues, delivered by leading figures from the relevant fields. Please note that relatively few recordings survive from this period.
In the inaugural Reith lecture, Bertrand Russell examines the impulses in human nature.
Bertrand Russell examines the effects of increasing state control.
Bertrand Russell argues for the importance of individual initiative in a community.
Bertrand Russell considers the role of human nature in the development of society.
Bertrand Russell considers the roles of state control in a progressive society.
Bertrand Russell argues for personal morality over tribal customs to guide conduct.
Lord Radcliffe examines the early period of British administration in India.
Professor Arnold Toynbee considers the psychological effects of culture.
Professor Robert Oppenheimer explains how human communities resemble atoms.
Sir Oliver Franks analyses the political relationship between Britain and the USA.
Nikolaus Pevsner explores the English national character as expressed in terms of art.
Nikolaus Pevsner considers the 'Englishness' of the artist William Hogarth.
Nikolaus Pevsner examines the contradiction at the heart of Sir Joshua Reynolds' work.
Nikolaus Pevsner examines 'the most English creation in architecture'.
Nikolaus Pevsner places the artist William Blake in the context of an English tradition.
Nikolaus Pevsner examines the flowering of English landscape painting in the 18th century.
Nikolaus Pevsner explores how England's town centres have traditionally been planned.
Professor Edward Appleton analyses the functional sciences created for industry.
Professor Edward Appleton considers how to teach science in order to inspire new talent.
Professor George F Kennan considers the effect of Soviet Satellite States in Europe.
Professor George Kennan discusses the military tensions between the Russia and the West.
Professor Bernard Lovell contemplates the implications of evolutionary theory.
Professor Bernard Lovell explores the continuous creation theory of the universe.
Professor PM Medawar considers the future of human evolution.