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 35. The Copper Family
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.
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 33. Cecil Sharp
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.
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 30. Martin Shaw: ‘Morning Has Broken’
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.
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..
Episode 23. Robert Blatchford
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Martin Wright, about the great crusading journalist Robert Blatchford, the Clarion magazine and movement, and Blatchford’s Merrie England which sold over 2 million copies.
Episode 22. Revd Nick Flint: A Life in Sussex
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Sussex priest, Revd Nick Flint, about his Parish Ministry in Rusper, West Sussex, his tribute to Hilaire Belloc, Cautionary Pilgrim, and his troubled predecessor, Edward Synnott Fitzgerald’s controversial Five Years’ Hell in a Country Parish.
Episode 21. R. H. Tawney
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Lawrence Goldman about his biography of the academic, historian, socialist and private Christian R. H. Tawney.
Episode 20. Lilian Baylis and Emma Cons at ‘The Old Vic’.
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Elizabeth Schafer about her biography of Lilian Baylis of The Old Vic theatre, and about Lilian’s aunt, the social reformer Emma Cons.
Episode 19. Red Heaven and A Pilgrim’s Song: Plays about Conrad Noel and Percy Dearmer
Guest interviewer Sarah Tombling in conversation with Rachel Ellis about Hugo Ellis’s play about Percy Dearmer, A Pilgrim’s Song and Simon Machin about his play about Conrad Noel, Red Heaven, and his radio adaptation of A Pilgrim’s Song.
Episode 18. The Edwardian Temperament: Writers and Intellectuals
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Jonathan Rose about his books, The Edwardian Temperament and his classic The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, and current research interests.
Episode 17. The William Temple Tradition in Anglican Social Theology
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the Revd Canon Dr Stephen Spencer about his long fascination with the great Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, and Temple’s place within Anglican Social Theology.