In Our Time - the new presenter to replace Melvyn Bragg has been announced

[nauticant]

It's going to be Misha Glenny.

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2025/misha-glenny-in-our-time-bbc-radio-4

I assumed they would bungled this. I nearly fainted at the suggestion of it being Amol Rajan. But this looks like a great choice. That assumes he'll be a natural fit and will be happy to hang around for some years at least.

Overall though, good, and looking forward to it.

Yes this seems like a good choice.

I might start listening again. I liked the premise of the programme but felt Melvyn was a bit full of himself.

I liked Melvyn - he seemed genuinely interested and he clearly did his research

i like Misha Glenny so happy to give him a chance! Although I'm not sure they couldn’t have come up with a new program with the same aim

I'm a fan of his "invention of a country" series and I hope he still.gets to do them

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b06pxdzv?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Do you mean changing the format?

Um no his producers did the research together with the academics. Bragg was across the research but when I did it, you sent quite a longish document to the production team. But he was extraordinarily good at really getting across the research and pulling out the interesting stuff in a way that non-academics could understand - and could understand why say, Catullus, is still important and interesting now.

Well obviously I didn’t think he went and got a doctorate in the subject🙄

a lot of interviewers do the minimum to allow them to ask questions and let the guests do the talking. Some don’t even bother listening to the answer and just stick to their script

Melvyn clearly spent the time ensuring he understood the topic so he could engage in a conversation and ask the type of questions that would draw out the info

@Bruisername yes, I agree with this. The thing I loved most about MB was his ability to really engage; I always felt he'd listened to his co-paticipants, rehearsed, so to ask the very apposite and engaged questions:
and, as @ParmaVioletTea says, pulled out the v interesting stuff to make it palatable, relatable and interesting...anyone else might have made it a bit dry, but I always appreciated him for this and feel such a fondness for him
I'm quite pleased about Misha Glenny, but I'm terrible at drawing comparisons...no doubt, I'll settle back in...

He’s good but it’s not exactly future-proofing the show as he’s already 67. I guess Radio 4 won’t be around forever though so a few years will be enough for now.

Excellent choice - I, too, was worried about one of my favourite programmes.

MG's first outing on IOT (not the Internet of Things) starts shortly.

Pretty good. It felt at times he was channelling his inner Melvyn but it looks like the programme might still be worth listening to.

Just listening. It doesn’t feel like a conversation and more like an interview. He seems quite stiff and ‘newsreader’

but he’s only just started so happy to keep listening!!

I think it's good. Seems just like before but with a different voice.

The discussion on The Colombian Exchange was a real eye opener. The 50m + people who died as a result of the conquest had such an effect with the decline of agriculture in Latin America that the lack of breathing creatures (being blunt) triggered a mini ice age