Welcoming Misha Glenny to the In Our Time studio

What It Covers

Misha Glenny introduces himself as the new presenter of BBC's In Our Time, replacing Melvin Bragg after over 1,000 episodes. He discusses his background as a BBC foreign correspondent and author, his approach to the role, and previews upcoming episodes.

Key Questions Answered

• •Cross-disciplinary expertise: Glenny brings humanities training in drama, decades of BBC foreign correspondence covering Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia's collapse, plus recent focus on technology and hacking. This breadth allows him to navigate diverse weekly topics from plate tectonics to Adolf Hitler to dragons with equal facility and informed curiosity.
• •Listener proxy approach: The presenter positions himself as the audience's voice in the studio, conducting week-long deep dives into each subject before questioning three expert academics. He emphasizes learning alongside listeners rather than lecturing, making complex material comprehensible without simplification or reducing intellectual rigor throughout the forty-eight minute format.
• •Productive disagreement framework: The format's strength emerges when expert guests disagree on interpretations, creating civilized debate that reveals truth through multiple perspectives. This approach directly connects to the first episode's subject, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, which argues no single person holds monopoly on truth and competing viewpoints advance understanding.
• •Programming diversity: Upcoming episodes span John Stuart Mill's philosophy, the Mariana Trench (two kilometers deeper than Mount Everest's height), and Roman Arena games that persisted for over five hundred years. This range demonstrates the program's commitment to covering science, history, and philosophy with equal depth each week on BBC Sounds.