Shakespeare: playing with the past

What happens when football becomes far more than a game? As the 2026 World Cup unfolds, this Long Read written by Tony Shaw and Alan McDougall revisits four matches played during the Cold War that turned the beautiful game into a battleground of ideology, identity and state power ...  Show more

The Enlightenment was an era of open-eyed progress, of the advance of science and reason – right? So why, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, did British people continue to be hoodwinked? This Long Read written by Madeleine Pelling exposes eight frauds and forgeries from a gold ...  Show more

The compilation of Shakespeare's plays known as the First Folio is one of the most important books in the history of literature. In this episode, Jacke talks to Shakespeare scholar and First Folio expert Emma Smith about the origins, importance, status, and legacy of this essenti ...  Show more

In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Eliza ...  Show more

In the first of two programmes marking In Our Time's 20th anniversary on 15th October, Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Shakespeare's versions of history, starting with the English Plantagenets. His eight plays from Richard II to Richard III were written out of order, in the Eliza ...  Show more

In this episode, recorded live at the Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Greg Jenner is joined by Professor Farah Karim-Cooper and comedian Richard Herring to learn all about the life, legend and legacy of William Shakespeare himself. 2023 marks the 400th anniversary of the ...  Show more