We explore the rise of powerful non-English linguistic forces in the United States. Starting at Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrim Fathers landed in 1620, Melvyn Bragg follows the development of English in the American colony-from the War of Independence and the founding of the first capital, Philadelphia, right through to the controversial contempora...

The English language in India. Despite being the imposed language of the imperial power, English also had the power to unite the nation. The story of the English language in India is also the story of the British merchants, adventurers and colonial administrators for whom the country was the Empire's jewel in the crown. Calcutta, the great Victoria...

Here we take up the story of Caribbean English where the Brixton Routes left off. For the poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite the legacy of the English language is something from which he, in his tropical landscape, must break free because, as he wrote, "the hurricane does not roar in pentameters". Melvyn Bragg heads off to the Caribbean where he meets a...

English becomes the language of liberation as Afrikaans takes on the label of oppression. In 1994 the first free democratic elections in South Africa were held, bringing Nelson Mandela to power as the country's first black president. One of the other consequences was the elevation of nine African languages to equal status with English and Afrikaans...

With English now hailed on all sides as the world's first "global" language and the preferred medium of expression from United Biscuits to the United Nations, Melvyn Bragg meets people-like former Dome supremo P.Y. Gerbeau-for whom talking English is the most natural way to speak, yet who didn't absorb it with their mother's milk. Also taking part...

1911 saw the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the abdication of the last Emperor in China. 100 years on, Isabel Hilton describes how China coped with the collapse and looks for any lingering legacy in this BBC Radio 3 report originally broadcast as the 'Sunday Feature' on 23 January 2011. After living under the comparative stability of an Imperial sys...

In this first episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth finds himself baffled by the weird world of parking enforcement.

n this second episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth is bemused by the peculiar practices of utilities companies.

In this third episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth wonders how on earth the bankers keep getting away with it.

In this fourth episode from his fantastically funny BBC Radio 4 series that investigates the myriad examples of corporate lunacy and maddening jobsworths in modern Britain, comedian Tom Wrigglesworth asks why we still bother with estate agents.

Art historian Philip Mould discusses the art chosen by Government ministers in this BBC Radio 4 broadcast from 26 January 2011. Becoming a Minister has many perks, but one they can see every day is the art hanging in their office, often borrowed from the Government Art Collection. Art historian Philip Mould speaks to new ministers about what they c...

Welsh stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert hosts a brand new audience comedy show featuring comedy regulars Lloyd Langford and Greg Davies (We Are Klang), along with Sarah Millican who takes a weekly look at The Six Stages of Woman. This first episode features live music from Scouting for Girls, including their hit She's So Lovely, and the guest comedian...

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Sir Robert Walpole, the first and longest-serving prime minister.

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Sir Robert Peel, who put national interest before party.

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Lord Palmerston, who cultivated a cavalier image and dominated mid-Victorian politics.

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Benjamin Disraeli, who turned his skills as a novelist to politics and became Britain's first Jewish-born pri...

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features David Lloyd George, Welsh radical who set up the early welfare state, became a presidential PM in the First W...

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Stanley Baldwin, the first prime minister to master radio broadcasting, and how his notion of Englishness sha...

From the BBC Radio 4 series presented and written by Nick Robinson that explores how prime ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time and how they made the job what it is today. This episode features Clement Attlee, who lacked any charisma, but created the modern welfare state and managed the big political b...

The BBC's Nick Robinson continues his fascinating and absorbing Radio 4 series featuring eight famous British Prime Ministers. This series explores how Prime Ministers have used their power and responded to the great challenges of their time. William Pitt the Younger, who became Prime Minister aged only 24 and held the post for almost 19 years in t...

The first episode of the BBC Radio 4 series, 'Touchline Tales', in which old friends Des Lynam and Christopher Matthew visit some famous sporting venues to enjoy, observe, reminisce and trade tales about some of the greatest pleasures in their lives. Originally broadcast 2 July 2010. In the opening programme of the series, 'An Uproar of Butterflies...