""All I knew about the subject was what you learned in school: occasionally two plates move and San Francisco collapses," Glenny tells me. "I was about to leave the house for a work appointment when the program came on, and I just sat down, completely astonished. Plate tectonics are, in some respects, the foundation of life. Without plate tectonics, there is no life.""
"Over nearly three decades and 1,083 episodes since its debut broadcast on October 15, 1998, it has built a devoted audience by doing something faintly perverse: convening a small panel of academics on a single subject - often esoteric like or the historical concept of the Rapture or fungi or the abstract notion of time - and simply letting these nerds cook. The presentation is austere; there are no sound effects, no clever narrated interjections to tidy up explanations. It's just a moderated conversation unfolding within an hour."
Misha Glenny became captivated by an episode on plate tectonics that reframed the subject as foundational to life and prompted astonishment. In Our Time has aired since October 1998 and produced more than 1,083 episodes, drawing a devoted audience. The program convenes small panels of academics to focus on single subjects, often esoteric, with an austere, minimal-production presentation. Topic selection avoids current-news framing and follows Melvyn Bragg's 'never knowingly relevant' ethos, frequently proving unintentionally pertinent. Hour-long moderated conversations foster a timeless, almost reverent listening experience and sustain broad popular appeal.
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