Rana Mitter is joined by Edith Hall, Nandini Das and Beatrice Groves to explore the books which inspired Shakespeare from the Bible and classical stories to his contemporaries. Show more
Night Waves
Vali Nasr, Alfred Russel Wallace, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Mount Fuji
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter talks to Vali Nasr about his book 'The Dispensable Nation - American Foreign Policy in Retreat' plus Jim Endersby, Sandy Knapp and Peter Raby on Alfred Russel Wallace. Show more
Night Waves
Rana Mitter - Jhumpa Lahiri
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter and critic Alex Clark assess the shortlist for this year's Booker prize. And talking to Jhumpa Lahiri whose novel, The Lowland, is one of the front runners. Show more
Last Word
Simone Veil, Graham Rose, Tom Isaacs, Liu Xiaobo, Ken Hirst
28 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
Matthew Bannister on politician Simone Veil, commercials director Graham Rose, Parkinson's campaigner Tom Isaacs, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, colliery band secretary Ken Hirst. Show more
In Our Time
The Sino-Japanese War
47 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW
Available for over a year
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Second Sino-Japanese War. Show more
Night Waves
Zaha Hadid, French Cinema Music, Cynicism
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Presented by Rana Mitter. With architect Zaha Hadid on her new Serpentine Gallery structure, discussing French film music and a debate on cynicism and why it may be good for us. Show more
Free Thinking
Japanese History, Chinese Democracy
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Zhang Weiwei, one of China's foremost public intellectuals, talks to Rana Mitter about why his country should not become a democracy. Show more
Former Formula 1 racing driver Damon Hill, paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson and retired Col Lincoln Jopp discuss adrenaline's connection to handling crises with Rana Mitter. Show more
Before an audience at Sage Gateshead, Rana Mitter explores east and west, and calm in a fast-paced world with author Haemin Sunim and New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding. Show more
From Sage Gateshead, Rana Mitter introduces a discussion in which Carlos Frenk. Eugenia Cheng, Jim Al-Khalili and Louisa Preston consider the connections between time and space. Show more
Rana Mitter chairs a debate from the 2013 York Festival of Ideas on the legacy of the War of the Roses, with historians Mark Ormrod and Sandy Grant and author Helen Castor. Show more
A special programme exploring Walter Scott's novel Waverley, as Rana Mitter reflects on the writer and the books which helped the British like the idea of Britain. Show more
Free Thinking
Being Human Debate at Fact, Liverpool: Man and Animals
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter with Sarah Peverley, Charles Forsdick, Alasdair Cochrane, Eveline de Wolf, Michael Szollosy and an audience at Fact in Liverpool debate robots, humans and animals. Show more
Free Thinking
The Weird, Science and Art at Fact, Japanese Film Your Name
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter and guests discuss the idea of the weird, science and art on show in an exhibition at Liverpool's Fact and the new Japanese animated film Your Name. Show more
Free Thinking
Sound Frontiers: Kamila Shamsie, Nikesh Shukla, Drugs in the German Reich, Board Games
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter presents. With Norman Ohler talking about Hitler's drug addiction, Nikesh Shukla and Kamila Shamsie on migration and a discussion about the metamorphosis of gaming. Show more
Rana Mitter discusses a drama asking the audience to play the jury in a trial following the hijacking of a plane. He is joined by peer Sayeeda Warsi and historian Richard English. Show more
Free Thinking
Art in the Age of Black Power, History of Racist Ideas in US
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Presented by Rana Mitter. With an exhibition about the art of the black power movement and a discussion with Ibram X Kendi on the history of racist ideas in America. Show more
Free Thinking
Breaking Free - How the Reformation Changed British Daily Life
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Alec Ryrie, Tom Charlton, Elizabeth Goodwin and Tara Hamling join Rana Mitter to discuss research into the way the Reformation changed lives in homes, parishes and monasteries. Show more
Free Thinking
Wolfson History Prize
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Rana Mitter is joined by the six authors shortlisted for the 2017 Wolfson History Prize and an audience at the British Academy for a discussion about the past into the present. Show more
Free Thinking
Our Relationship with Animals
45 minutes
First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3
Available for over a year
Chris Packham discusses his 'animal symphony', Will Abberley reviews a Wellcome Collection show, Helen Pilcher on the science of de-extinction and Alan Hook on computing for cats. Show more