443. Lord Byron: Death of a Vampire (Part 4)

How did the new British Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, intend to keep Britain from bankruptcy in 1976? What extreme new step might have seen riots in the streets? And, would labour survive the greatest financial scandal in British history? Join Tom and Dominic as they reach the e ...  Show more

With Britain heading towards financial meltdown and paranoia in the air, could its exhausted Prime Minister, Harold Wilson survive? Why were bombs going off in London every few days in the winter of 1975? And, with inflation reaching unprecedented heights, would the government fi ...  Show more

How debaucherous do you have to be to be remembered as the original bad boy? How mad, bad and dangerous to know was Lord Byron? And how much of it did he get from his family?

For this episode, Kate is joined by Emily Brand, the author of ‘The Fall of the Hou ...

Byron’s early poems – his so-called ’dark tales’ – have been dismissed by critics as the tawdry, slapdash products of an uninteresting mind, and readers ever since have found it difficult not to see them in light of the poet’s dramatic and public later life. In a recent piece for ...  Show more

The poet Lord Byron is well known as a passionate revolutionary and a brooding hero who harbors dark secrets. But what about his playful sense of humor? In this episode, Jacke talks to Byron biographer David Ellis (Byron) about the Romantic poet's flamboyant life and work. PLUS A ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Xenophon.Xenophon, an aristocratic Athenian, was one of the most celebrated writers of the ancient world. Born in around 430 BC, he was a friend and pupil of the great philosopher Socrates. In his twenties he took part in a ...  Show more