Your editorial (5 September) on the brilliant – and probably irreplaceable – Melvyn Bragg and In Our Time absolutely nails it. As an English language teacher in France, I know I speak for very many when I say that the extraordinary range and depth of programmes over the years has been a fabulous resource for university-level students across France.
On checking support material for my upcoming course on biodiversity this semester, I found no less than 16 links to various episodes (from “well over 1,000 programmes”), including feathered dinosaurs and the paleocene-eocene thermal maximum. Last semester’s course on radicality in the 19th century is some way behind with just 10 references. But more than the mere utility, there is the impression that In Our Time kept alive a connection to a certain idea of Britain – one that has been put to rude épreuve over at least the last 15 years.
