Tiffany Watt-Smith explores the interest of Victorian scientists in our urge to imitate. She explains why scientists turned to theatre to understand this strange phenomenon. Show more

Tom Charlton explores 17th-century arguments over censorship and press freedom and what they share with Lord Leveson's report into press ethics. Show more

Sophie Coulombeau from Cardiff University explores the history of women changing their surnames when marrying. Show more

Daisy Hay from Exeter University explores the way in which former prime minister Benjamin Disraeli invented the modern politician as a 'person of feeling'. Show more

Historian Alun Withey argues that shaving is about more than fashion and that beards can shed light things from medicine to the military. Show more

Alasdair Cochrane of Sheffield University argues that animals should have greater rights. He explores recent attempts to re-imagine a political world that takes animals seriously. Show more

Will Abberley argues that some of the most compelling efforts to picture the evolution of language have been in science fiction and that these stories still impact on debates today. Show more

Naomi Paxton on the international movement for a women's theatre from the 1890s to the start of WWI. She asks how their ideas may have changed the way theatre is experienced today. Show more

Preti Taneja explores Indian translations of Shakespeare and asks what a decision to write in Hindi or English tells us about the politics of language in India. Show more

Joanna Cohen from Queen Mary, University of London, explores public cynicism about politicians and asks whether we can learn anything from 19th-century attitudes in America. Show more