Episode 53. Keir Hardie and the Labour Church
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Neil Johnson about his separate books on Keir Hardie and the Labour Church
Episode 50. Evelyn Underhill: Pioneer of Modern Spirituality
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).
Episode 49. St Mary’s Primrose Hill: A Christian Socialist Case Study
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..
Episode 48. The Lanes: A Methodist Case Study
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with David Lane CBE about the Lane family’s Methodism and his career in social services.
Episode 45. Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England
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..
Episode 43. Pleshey Retreat House, Essex and Evelyn Underhill
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.
Episode 41. W. T. Stead: Newspaper Prophet
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Stewart J. Brown about his biography of the nonconformist and newspaper prophet, W. T. Stead.
Episode 40. Theo Hobson: Anglicanism, Liberalism and Liberty
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.
Episode 39. The Two Lives of Christabel Pankhurst
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Timothy Larsen about the feminist and fundamentalist preacher, Christabel Pankhurst.
Episode 38. Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Frances Knight about the founding visionary of the Garden City Movement, Ebenezer Howard.
Episode 36. ‘Good George Lansbury’
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.
Episode 34. Liberalism and the Non-Conformist Conscience
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 .
Episode 32. Father Groser and the Royal Foundation of St Katharine
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.
Episode 31. Octavia Hill
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.
Episode 29. Squires in the Slums: The University Settlements
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.
Episode 28. The Changing Face of Evangelicalism
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.
Episode 27. Radical Essex
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.
Episode 26. Stewart Headlam
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.
Episode 25. Jack and Barbara Putterill: Family Recollections
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.
Episode 24. The Thaxted Tradition
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Arthur Burns about the seventy year tradition of Christian Socialism in the rural town of Thaxted, Essex, running from 1910 to 1984..