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EnglishWhat is Braggoscope and how does it relate to BBC Radio 4's In Our Time?
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Braggoscope is an unofficial companion site for the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time. It does not host or stream episodes itself — all listening happens on the BBC website — but it catalogues the archive so you can find what to listen to next. It is useful if you already know you want to explore In Our Time but don't know where to start, or if you want to trace a topic or a guest across the show's history.
The relationship between Braggoscope and In Our Time
In Our Time has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 since 1998. Melvyn Bragg hosted it until 2025, and Misha Glenny takes over from 2026. Braggoscope is explicitly described as an unofficial site, and its stated purpose is narrow: helping you decide what to listen to next rather than providing the audio itself.
The archive it indexes is large — over a thousand episodes (1105 excluding repeats and similar), covering all kinds of topics. Every one of those episodes is available to listen to on the BBC website, not on Braggoscope.
What you can actually do on Braggoscope
The site offers several ways in, each suited to a different starting point:
- Directory — browse episodes by library topic, using classification-style categories.
- Archive — browse by year.
- Search — a search link at the top of the page. The site notes you can be fairly descriptive with queries; examples it gives are "novels by women" or "prehistoric earth".
- Episode pages — from any episode you can explore related episodes, or tap on a guest to see other episodes in which they have appeared. There is also an "All guests" view.
- Reading lists — shown when available, with links to Google Books.
Browsing by topic
The directory organises episodes under library-style topics. Recent episodes illustrate the range and the labelling:
| Episode | Date | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Particle Accelerators | 24 Sep, 2026 | 530 Physics |
| Thomas More's Utopia | 17 Sep, 2026 | 320 Political science |
| Seashells | 2 Jul, 2026 | 590 Animals (Zoology) |
| Vigée Le Brun | 25 Jun, 2026 | 750 Painting |
| The Delian League | 18 Jun, 2026 | 930 History of the Ancient World |
| Machado de Assis | 11 Jun, 2026 | 860 Spanish, Portuguese, Galician literatures |
| The Evolution of Trees | 4 Jun, 2026 | 580 Plants |
| The Welsh Marches | 28 May, 2026 | 940 History of Europe |
| The Levellers | 21 May, 2026 | 940 History of Europe |
| The Garamantes | 14 May, 2026 | 930 History of the Ancient World |
The numeric codes are library classification numbers, which is why "History of Europe" and "History of the Ancient World" sit under different numbers despite both being history.
When Braggoscope is the right tool — and when it isn't
Use Braggoscope if your problem is discovery: you want to find episodes by theme, jump between episodes sharing a guest, or see what reading a topic connects to. The guest-cross-reference and related-episode links are the features that a plain BBC listing doesn't give you.
Skip it if your problem is listening. Braggoscope has no player; it points you to the BBC website for the audio itself. It is also unofficial, so treat it as a finding aid rather than an authoritative record of the programme.
One practical note on search: the site suggests descriptive queries work well, so a phrase like "prehistoric earth" is more likely to surface relevant episodes than a single broad word.