Two Thousand Years of Puzzling

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

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

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

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.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling: Series 1: To Entertain and Amaze

To Entertain and Amaze

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Two Thousand Years of Puzzling, Series 1, To Entertain and Amaze

Chris Maslanka begins his five-part series tracing the history of puzzles and puzzling from the earliest mazes to the burgeoning puzzle industry of the 19th century and beyond.

Chris Maslanka sets out on his journey to describe the long and endlessly satisfying human appetite for the setting and solving of puzzles. In five programmes he takes a series of narratives following the developments of the Maze, of riddles, of mathematical puzzles and the use of grids, as well as covering the period in the 19th century when a new middle class established enough leisure to make the business of puzzling exactly that, a business. In the process Chris solves some of the conundrums about the utilitarian nature of puzzling and why it is that puzzles travel so well and respond to the catalyst of mechanical invention.

Two Thousand Years of Puzzling: Series 1

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

To Entertain and Amaze

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4