https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004kln9/episodes/downloads

The sheer volume of radio content the BBC produces means there are many excellent podcasts/programmes that go undiscovered (the BBC's own search engine is terrible).

I'm so glad to see this here. Bragg has what appears to be the best job in the world to me.

'On our time' could benefit from being a podcast and not a radio show limited by time. They actually have, at the end of each podcasts, an additional chat session where Bragg asks the guests what they wanted to add to the conversation.

Conversely, having a lot of space means you can carefully introduce each idea leading towards the concept or story you wish to convey. But it is easy to waffle about things that are not actually important to the story and you lose the reader because they are confused about something they never even needed to know in order to get to the point.

I am glad In Our Time is restricted like this, because I find podcasts make it too easy to waffle and insert pointless sidelines that just distract from the story. Since podcasts way outnumber radio shows today, it's good to have a few things to counterbalance the mass of time-unlimited podcasts.

Bragg hosts these prominent topic experts, then spends more time enjoying the sound of his own voice than letting us listen to the experts. He interrupts them. He patronises them. He tells them all about their own specialist topic.

I mean, he usually isn't wrong; the programme has a team of researchers, and he's well-briefed. But he's not the expert - that'll be his guests. I would prefer it if he showed a bit of humility.

Bragg's role is to ensure that the guests don't go down rabbit holes and that the program delivers an overview of a topic. He's the everyman, the listener stand-in. Plus, he is alert for academics who grind political axes or perform for their colleagues, not the general public. Many academics are profound experts on their topic, but terrible at communicating.

I don't know anything about his humble origins, and I don't care about people's origins. He has a (rather weird, to my ear) northern accent, but being from the North doesn't make your origins 'humble'.

[Edit to add:] There's a word "chippy" that's used in England primarily to refer to Yorkshiremen. It suggests that Yorkshiremen all have a chip on their shoulder.

That's not my experience. Firstly, Northerners are much more accepted now than they were in my childhood; perhaps back then more Yorkshiremen were "chippy". Secondly, I've lived in Yorkshire, and I have never come across a sterotypical "chippy" Yorkshireman, except in TV dramas and comedies.

I get what you mean though - I do IOT in phases, catching up on a few months worth before Bragg gets my back up a wee bit and I let the show lie fallow for a while.