Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the choral composer Mark Browse about his book, O Little Town about hymn tunes and their place names.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Neil Johnson about his separate books on Keir Hardie and the Labour Church

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Revd Canon Michael Hampel about the detective writer and dramatist, Dorothy L Sayers and her theory of creativity.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Chris Hare about his 2022 book, Hilaire Belloc: The Politics of Living.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Jane Shaw about the pioneer of modern spirituality, Christian mystic, retreat leader and spiritual director, Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941).

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Christopher Kitching CBE about the radical influence of St Mary’s Primrose Hill on Anglican liturgy and social theology..

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with David Lane CBE about the Lane family’s Methodism and his career in social services.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Kathryn Atherton about her 2024 book, Mary Neal and the Suffragettes Who Saved Morris Dancing.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Mark Frost about his 2014 book, The Lost Companions and John Ruskin’s Guild of St George.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Revd Canon Dr Georgina Byrne about her book Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England and the changing attitudes within Anglicanism to the afterlife..

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with film maker Marc Isaacs and screenwriter Adam Ganz about ‘This Blessed Plot’, their 2024 film which is set in the rural town of Thaxted, Essex and provides a modern take on its history..

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the former Warden of Pleshey Retreat House, Essex, Canon John Howden about its proud history and association with the Christian mystic, Evelyn Underhill.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the poet, playwright and broadcaster Nigel Forde about his life, career and his part in the foundation of the Riding Lights theatre company.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Stewart J. Brown about his biography of the nonconformist and newspaper prophet, W. T. Stead.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the theologian, author and journalist Theo Hobson about the relationship between the Church of England and modern notions of liberty and liberalism.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Timothy Larsen about the feminist and fundamentalist preacher, Christabel Pankhurst.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Frances Knight about the founding visionary of the Garden City Movement, Ebenezer Howard.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with General Practitioner Dr Jonathan Heatley about the enormous contribution to the development of penicillin that was made by his father, Norman Heatley.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Pippa Catterall and Daniel Payne about the Christian Socialist politician, leader of the Labour Party and Pacifist, George Lansbury.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Jill and John Copper and Jon Dudley about the Copper Family which holds an honoured place in the annals of the English folk song tradition.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor David Bebbington about Liberalism and the Non-Conformist Conscience, perhaps best exemplified by the life, faith and political opinions of the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone .

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with David Sutcliffe about his new biography of Cecil Sharp, the English musician, lecturer, and collector of folk song and dance, who was the driving force behind the Folk Revival of the Edwardian Period.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the Venerable Roger Preece, the 68th Master of the Royal Foundation of St Katharine about his influential predecessor and Christian Socialist, Father St John Groser, the 58th Master of this retreat centre and oasis of calm in urban London.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the biographer, speaker and broadcaster Gillian Darley about her biography of Octavia Hill, the social and housing reformer who is best known today for co-founding The National Trust.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the poet and writer Isobel Montgomery Campbell about her grandfather, Martin Shaw, the composer who is best known today for introducing the hymn, Morning Has Broken to generations of British school children.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Nigel Scotland about the university settlement movement which sprang up principally in London, but also in major industrial cities, after awareness of the ‘submerged tenth’ living in extreme poverty pricked the conscience of the middle classes from the 1880s.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the Reverend Dr David Hilborn about the defining characteristics of Evangelicalism, and changing face since the founding of the Evangelical Alliance in London 1846.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the distinguished social historian and writer Ken Worpole about radical Essex and its experiments in communal living, some of which are associated with what is known as the “Essexodus” from London’s East End to neighbouring Essex in the east.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor John Orens about the campaigner on behalf of chorus girls and the ballet, popular theatre and music hall, trade unionism, freedom of speech for atheists and secular education, the radical one-time priest and sacramental socialist, Stewart Headlam.

Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Sally, Jenny and Martin Heath, the granddaughters and grandson of the Christian Socialist Father Jack Putterill and his wife Barbara, about their idyllic childhood visits to Thaxted and the tradition of Morris, Mummers plays, music and theatre that they encountered there.