Conquest, trade and immigration have woven dozens of languages into English. Melvyn Bragg visits Liverpool, home of Scouse, an Irish-based variant of northern English made famous by the Beatles and countless comedians. By the mid-nineteenth century the port of Liverpool ranked second to London and became home to immigrants from all over the world w...

At midnight on 15 August 1947, India left the British Empire. This defining moment of world history had been brought about by a handful of people: Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the new nation of Pakistan, Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation, and Louis and Edwina Mountbatte...

The power of English-and the "English of Power", as the language extends its influence from Court to Edinburgh. Melvyn Bragg goes to Edinburgh and the house of John Knox, the great Scottish apostle of the Reformation, who preached in English. Latin was replaced by English as the language of the Church when Henry VIII broke with Rome. And the 1611 K...

A magisterial life of Ted Hughes - identified recently as the only English poet since the First World War with a claim to true greatness and one of Britain's most important writers. Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, was one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. He is one of Britain's most important poets, a poet of claws and cages: Jaguar, Hawk and...

People today have more romantic options than at any point in human history, and thanks to social media, smartphones and online dating, our abilities to connect with these options are staggering. Yet we also have to face new and absurd dilemmas, such as what to think when someone doesn't reply to your text but has time to post a photo of a pizza on...

Peter Fleming, brother of the author Ian, tells the story of his journey from England via the Trans-Siberian Express to China, and his subsequent attempts to become the first Westerner to reach the anti-communist front.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Love, Tanya, the debut book from Youtube Fashion & Beauty guru Tanya Burr, read by Laura Riseborough. Tanya Burr is the UK's leading young voice in beauty and fashion and one of the country's biggest Youtube stars. Whether it's creating the perfect smoky eye or dressing well fo...

oin Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss in this fascinating guide to the sounds of our most popular coastal birds, as heard on BBC Radio 4. In the fourth of our series of bird guides, Brett Westwood is joined by keen birdwatcher Stephen Moss on the north coast of Devon, and with the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical a...

Stephen Fry presents a special tribute to Humphrey Lyttelton, the sublime host of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, through the eyes of his close pals on the show and distinguished admirers, from Dame Judi Dench to Radiohead.The programme features many highlights taken from his thirty-six years at the helm of Radio 4's perennial antidote to panel games.

Welsh stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert is one of the biggest names in UK stand-up, performing to sell-out audiences in the Britain and abroad. Now he has his own radio show, recorded in front of a live audience and packed with laughs. Joining Rhod on stage are fellow comedians Lloyd Langford and Greg Davies (We Are Klang), along with Sarah Millican w...

Michael Palin is off to the Sahara Desert. From a starting point in Gibralter, he makes his way to Morocco, then over the Atlas Mountains to the little-known countries of Mauritiana, Mali and Chad. He journies on the longest train in the world and travels with nomadic herders, finally returning to the classical remains of Tunisia - where the Monty...

An inspirational guide to fighting clutter and sorting out your space, based on the bestselling BBC book and TV series. Clutter can be a huge problem for many of us. We yearn to live in a perfectly-ordered home, but more often than not we find ourselves drowning in a sea of `stuff.' Not only is it depressing to live in a mess, but accumulating too...

We live in a world of stressors and many people go into a state of burnout at some point. If the stress that the individual must deal with on a long-term basis outweighs their chance and ability to rest; ME or CFS may very well be the result. This course aims to help with the understanding of these conditions. The first and third modules focus on k...

Modern life can be baffling and chaotic. Is there any way of making sense of it? The answer, explains groundbreaking thinker Steven Levitt, lies in economics. Not ordinary economics, but freakonomics. It is at the heart of everything we see and do and the subjects that bedevil us daily: from parenting to crime, sport to politics, fat to cheating, f...

Join the intrepid Michael Palin as he embarks on a comic race against time, travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole. As he crosses 16 countries by train, truck, raft, Ski-Doo, barge, balloon and bicycle, he experiences a fascinating range of characters and landscapes whilst his own endurance is tested to the limit.

Terry Wogan is one of Britain's most popular and successful broadcasters. Witty, charming and relaxed, he has undoubtedly captured the nation's heart. Here, for the first time, he tells his story, from his beginnings in Limerick to incredible success as a national celebrity, in his own delightfully laconic fashion.

It's a good time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven't been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain...Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should we use Botox? Do men secretly hate us? And why does everyone ask you when you're going to have a baby? Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin answers the...

'Engaging, hilarious and practical - I will proudly proclaim myself a card-carrying member of the FFC' - Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and bestselling author of Lean In. Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett, read by Bahni Turpin. This is a call to arms. Are you aged zero to in...

The 20th anniversary edition of the definitive classic on defeating obsessive-compulsive behavior, with all-new material from the author. An estimated 5 million Americans suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and live diminished lives in which they are compelled to obsess about something or to repeat a similar task over and over. Traditio...

From the hosts of the legendary BBC Radio 4 programme comes this irreverent celebration of scientific marvels - a hectic leap through the grand and bizarre ideas conjured up by human imagination, from dark matter to consciousness via neutrinos and earthworms. Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince take the musings of the great and the good of British scienc...

Resourceful mum, Shanice, is persuaded by her next-door neighbour, Evie, to take up the bizarre sport of jelly wrestling to make ends meet in this BBC Radio 4 'Afternon Play'. 'Jelly Babes' was originally broadcast on 13 April 2011. Becky, AKA 'Azaria The Amazon', shows Shanice the ropes, and she is soon wowing the rowdy stag night audiences with h...