BBC Radio 4 LW

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling

Documentaries

Factual: History

Chris Maslanka traces the history of mankind's seemingly insatiable delight in puzzles.

Chris Maslanka traces the history of puzzles and puzzling from the earliest mazes to the burgeoning puzzle industry of the 19th century and beyond.

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling: Series 1: Creatures of Leisure

Creatures of Leisure

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Two Thousand Years of Puzzling, Series 1, Creatures of Leisure

Chris Maslanka describes the 19th century rise of the leisured classes and the proliferation of printed puzzles to entertain them.

While Chris Maslanka's series about the history of Puzzling has been constructed from a series of puzzling strands reaching across the centuries this programme concentrates on just one century, the 19th, and the rise of a leisured class in Western Europe and the United States which resulted, amongst many other things, in the inexorable rise of the printed puzzle. There was also a focal figure in the form of Lewis Carroll. Chris discusses his importance with the graph theorist Robin Wilson as well as contemplating the Dodo in Oxford's Natural History Museum, the creature that inspired Carroll and prompts Chris to reflect on the way Puzzles can sometimes become extinct.

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling: Series 1

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling

Series 1

Creatures of Leisure

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4