Since I’ve been cleaning out my del.icio.us files, I’m stumbling on some really neat stuff collected in this digital attic.

I love podcasts – they help me on long drives, with computer or household drudgery.  This one, In Our Time, uses each episode to focus on the history of an idea.  Currently I have queued up:

• Melvyn Bragg reveals the marvel and scientific endeavor of the
  Renaissance court of Rudolf II in Prague. He is joined by Peter
  Forshaw, Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London and an
  Honorary Fellow of the University of Exeter; Howard Hotson, Lecturer in
  Modern History at the University of Oxford and Adam Mosley, Lecturer in
  the Department of History at the University of Wales, Swansea.
• Melvyn Bragg ponders the complex character of The Fisher King – the
  keeper of the Holy Grail, he’s been Christian and pagan, tragic and
  enduring,a fertility god and a symbol of sexual fear and desire. With
  Melvyn to discuss The Fisher King are Carolyne Larrington, Tutor in
  Medieval English at St John’s College, Oxford; Stephen Knight,
  Distinguished Research Professor in English Literature at Cardiff
  University and Juliette Wood, Associate Lecturer in the Department of
  Welsh, Cardiff University and Director of the Folklore Society.
• Melvyn Bragg considers the life and work of the French writer and
  philosopher, Albert Camus. His guests are Peter Dunwoodie, Professor of
  French Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London; David Walker,
  Professor of French at the University of Sheffield and Christina
  Howells, Professor of French at Wadham College, University of Oxford.
• Melvyn Bragg explores the meaning and origins of the Nicene Creed, a
  statement of essential faith spoken for over 1600 years in Christian
  Churches. He is joined by Martin Palmer,director of the International
  Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture; Caroline Humfress,
  Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London and Andrew
  Louth, Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies at the University
  of Durham.
• Melvyn Bragg discusses the theory of the Four Humours -yellow bile,
  blood, choler and phlegm in the original theory of everything. He is
  joined by
  David Wootton, Anniversary Professor of History at the University of
  York; Vivian Nutton, Professor of the History of Medicine at University
  College London and Noga Arikha, Visiting Fellow at the Institut
  Jean-Nicod in Paris.
• Melvyn Bragg discusses the mighty Sassanian Empire with his guests Hugh
  Kennedy, Professor of Arabic in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures
  at the School of Oriental and African Studies; Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis,
  Curator of Iranian and Islamic Coins in the British Museum and James
  Howard-Johnston, University Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at the
  University of Oxford.
• Melvyn Bragg examines The Fibonacci Sequence, an infinite string of
  numbers named after, but not invented by, the 13th century Italian
  mathematician Fibonacci. His guests are Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of
  Mathematics at the University of Oxford; Jackie Stedall, Junior
  Research Fellow in History of Mathematics at Queen’s College, Oxford;
  and Ron Knott, Visiting Fellow in the Department of Mathematics at the
  University of Surrey.

(How to do it: I had some trouble finding any but the latest episode on the Radio 4 site, but when I added the RSS feed to my RSS feed reader Bloglines, it pulled up the last ten.)