Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 167 posts

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#71

Post by walthamstow »

haunter wrote: post #28
walthamstow wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

VPN to the UK and pull the back catalogue from the BBC using get_iplayer, don't get it from the podcast feed

You don't even need VPN, you can just straight download the mp3 file of each episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/downloads Only the streaming options (iPlayer and Sounds) are geolocked

Very nice! I'd also want to run a script to remove the BBC Sounds ident at the start

The audio is so much better when it begins with " Hello, 400 years ago in the Sahel region of Africa..."

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#72

Post by stevage »

mellosouls wrote: post #35

Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten. In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg. The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK): https://www.bbc.co.uk/pr…

> Its odd that ...the amazing resources of BBC radio ... are often forgotten.

> you may need a VPN outside the UK

Not that odd, really.

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#73

Post by mna_ »

mwaitjmp wrote: post #26
benrutter wrote: post #12

I looked, and there's more than 1000 available episodes of IOT on the BBC, they're all (at least every one I've heard) brilliant. I'm curious if anyone here has any particular favourites? I remember really enjoying the Plankton episode because it took me the classic IOT route of "That doesn't sound interesting, but I'll give it a listen" to looking up all the reading list. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001r1t5

There is an episode on the Epic of Gilgamesh which is absolutely fascinating. Highly recommended.

You might like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7MrGy_tEg

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#76

Post by flir »

sherr wrote: post #58
dghf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that to be precise they check for the Today programme, the Radio 4 current-affairs slot where Cabinet ministers go to get monstered.

The Today program is a shadow of its former self I think, as is a lot of BBC News today.

There was a long history of the PM listening to it, and it set the agenda for the day. At some point after Thatcher that stopped happening (Blair, maybe? Definitely by Cameron), and it became a lot less important to politicos to appear on it.

But yes, the BBC was always the voice of the Establishment (which is fine) but it's definitely been neutered. You can see it in the documentary output very clearly.

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#77

Post by mellosouls »

calpaterson wrote: post #47
mellosouls wrote: post #35

Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten. In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg. The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK): https://www.bbc.co.uk/pr…

> the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten I don't know, there are some definite bright spots like IOT but the typical output of Radio 4 is definitely not massively in advance of the big podcasts. The Rest Is History/Politics are clearly hugely popular inside the UK and basically constitute "the comp…

the typical output of Radio 4 is definitely not massively in advance

I agree, I chose the wording "best of" rather than "typical" for that reason.

For instance, I regret the asinine tendency to provide "humourous" expositions of subjects in the various programmes co-chaired by second-rate comedians and apparently aimed at what low-expectations BBC execs feel young people can handle.

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#78

Post by secondcoming »

calpaterson wrote: post #47
mellosouls wrote: post #35

Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten. In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg. The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK): https://www.bbc.co.uk/pr…

> the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten I don't know, there are some definite bright spots like IOT but the typical output of Radio 4 is definitely not massively in advance of the big podcasts. The Rest Is History/Politics are clearly hugely popular inside the UK and basically constitute "the comp…

I was a massive fan of TRIP at the start but these days I find it tedious to listen to sometimes.

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#79

Post by flir »

mellosouls wrote: post #35

Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten. In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg. The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK): https://www.bbc.co.uk/pr…

I do feel that IOT would benefit from being longer - it often feels rushed. Podcasts excel at "deep dives" in a way that radio is barred from doing: a podcaster can say "I think I'm gonna do 30 hours on George Jones this year" (real example), and nobody can stop them.

IOT's format has a lot of statements, but not many questions. Bragg doesn't often say "hold on, what are the consequences of that?" (unless it's a prepared question designed to move us through the biography). Ironically, this lack of curiosity gets worse on subjects he understands well (the arts).

The unscripted chat afterwards is often the best bit. I could do with 10 minutes of on-script introduction and 50 minutes of experts discussing something they're passionate about.

Re: Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

#80

Post by [deleted] »

arethuza wrote: post #39
mellosouls wrote: post #35

Its odd that when places like HN or Reddit ask for favourite podcasts the amazing resources of BBC radio (that precede all modern internet podcasts and the best of which still wipe the floor with most of them) are often forgotten. In Our Time represents the best of the form, and the BBC, and that's significantly down to the excellence of Bragg. The archive (you may need a VPN outside the UK): https://www.bbc.co.uk/pr…

I always thought it was appropriate that the UK nuclear deterrence fleet apparently would check for Radio 4 still being broadcast to check whether civilisation as we know it (at least in these damp isles) has ended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letters_of_last_resort

[deleted]
Post reply on HN