Reith Lectures
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The Reith Lectures is a series of annual
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radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...
s given by leading figures of the day. They are commissioned by the
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and broadcast on Radio 4 and the
World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...
. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by
Lord Reith Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
, the corporation's first director-general. Reith maintained that broadcasting should be a public service that aimed to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of the nation. It is in this spirit that the BBC each year invites a leading figure to deliver the lectures. The aim is to advance public understanding and debate about issues of contemporary interest. The first Reith lecturer was the philosopher and later Nobel laureate,
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
. The first female lecturer was Dame Margery Perham in 1961. The youngest Reith lecturer was Colin Blakemore, who was 32 in 1976 when he broadcast over six episodes on the brain and consciousness.


The Reith Lectures archive

In June 2011 BBC Radio 4 published its Reith Lectures archive. This included two podcasts featuring over 240 lectures from 1948 to the present day as well as streamed online audio, and the complete written transcripts of the entire Reith Lectures archive: * Podcast 1: Archive 1948–1975 * Podcast 2: Archive 1976–2012 * Transcripts 1948–2010 * In pictures The BBC found that some of the audio archive of the Reith Lectures was missing from its library and appealed to the public for copies of the missing lectures.


The Reith Lectures 1948–2020


1940s

* 1948
Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
,
Authority and the Individual
' * 1949 Robert Birley,
Britain in Europe
'


1950s

* 1950
John Zachary Young John Zachary Young FRS (18 March 1907 – 4 July 1997), generally known as "JZ" or "JZY", was an English zoologist and neurophysiologist, described as "one of the most influential biologists of the 20th century". Biography Young went to schoo ...
,
Doubt and Certainty in Science
' * 1951
Lord Radcliffe Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the Partition of India. He served as the first chancellor of the University of Warwick from its foundatio ...
,
Power and the State
' * 1952 Arnold J. Toynbee,
The World and the West
' * 1953
Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
,
Science and the Common Understanding
' * 1954
Oliver Franks Oliver Shewell Franks, Baron Franks (16 February 1905 – 15 October 1992) was an English civil servant and philosopher who has been described as 'one of the founders of the postwar world'. Franks was involved in Britain's recovery after the S ...
,
Britain and the Tide of World Affairs
' * 1955
Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
,
The Englishness of English Art
' * 1956 Edward Victor Appleton,
Science and the Nation
' * 1957 George F. Kennan,
Russia, the Atom and the West
' * 1958 Bernard Lovell,
The Individual and the Universe
' * 1959
Peter Medawar Sir Peter Brian Medawar (; 28 February 1915 – 2 October 1987) was a Brazilian-British biologist and writer, whose works on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance have been fundamental to the medical practice of tissu ...
,
The Future of Man
'


1960s

* 1960
Edgar Wind Edgar Wind (; 14 May 1900 – 12 September 1971) was a German-born British interdisciplinary art historian, specializing in iconology in the Renaissance era. He was a member of the school of art historians associated with Aby Warburg and the War ...
,
Art and Anarchy
' * 1961 Margery Perham,
The Colonial Reckoning
' * 1962 George Carstairs,
This Island Now
' * 1963 Albert Sloman,
A University in the Making
' * 1964
Leon Bagrit Sir Leon Bagrit (13 March 1902 – 22 April 1979) was a leading British industrialist and pioneer of automation. Early life and education Born to Jewish parents in Kiev, in the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), Sir Leon studied law at B ...
,
The Age of Automation
' * 1965 Robert Gardiner,
World of Peoples
' * 1966 John K. Galbraith,
The New Industrial State
' * 1967
Edmund Leach Sir Edmund Ronald Leach FRAI FBA (7 November 1910 – 6 January 1989) was a British social anthropologist and academic. He served as provost of King's College, Cambridge from 1966 to 1979. He was also president of the Royal Anthropologi ...
,
A Runaway World
' * 1968 Lester Pearson,
In the Family of Man
' * 1969 Frank Fraser Darling,
Wilderness and Plenty
'


1970s

* 1970 Donald Schon,
Change and Industrial Society
' * 1971
Richard Hoggart Herbert Richard Hoggart (24 September 1918 – 10 April 2014) was a British academic whose career covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with emphasis on British popular culture. Early life Hoggart was bor ...
,
Only Connect
' * 1972 Andrew Shonfield,
Europe: Journey to an Unknown Destination
' * 1973 Alastair Buchan,
Change Without War
' * 1974
Ralf Dahrendorf Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...
,
The New Liberty
' * 1975 Daniel Boorstin,
America and the World Experience
' * 1976 Colin Blakemore,
Mechanics of the Mind
' * 1977 A. H. Halsey,
Change in British Society
' * 1978 Edward Norman,
Christianity and the World
' * 1979
Ali Mazrui Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included ...
,
The African Condition
'


1980s

* 1980 Professor Sir Ian Kennedy,
Unmasking Medicine
' * 1981 Laurence Martin,
The Two Edged Sword
' * 1982 Denis Donoghue,
The Arts Without Mystery
' * 1983
Douglas Wass Sir Douglas William Gretton Wass (15 April 1923 – 4 January 2017) was a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury from 1974 to 1983. He was educated at Nottingham High School and St John's College, Cambridge. ...
,
Government and the Governed
' * 1984 John Searle,
Minds, Brains and Science
' * 1985 David Henderson,
Innocence and Design
' * 1986 Lord McCluskey,
Law, Justice and Democracy
' * 1987 Alexander Goehr,
The Survival of the Symphony
' * 1988
Geoffrey Hosking Geoffrey, Geoffroy, Geoff, etc., may refer to: People * Geoffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * Geoffroy (surname), including a list of people with the name * Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1095–c. 1155), clergyman and one of the m ...
,
The Rediscovery of Politics
' * 1989 Jacques Darras,
Beyond the Tunnel of History
'


1990s

* 1990
Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United ...
,
The Persistence of Faith
' * 1991 Steve Jones,
The Language of Genes
' * There was no lecture in 1992 because "the BBC simply couldn't find anyone to do them" * 1993
Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''Whit ...
,
Representation of the Intellectual
' * 1994
Marina Warner Dame Marina Sarah Warner, (born 9 November 1946) is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is known for her many non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publicat ...
,
Managing Monsters
' * 1995 Richard Rogers,
Sustainable City
' * 1996 Jean Aitchison,
The Language Web
' * 1997 Patricia Williams,
The Genealogy of Race
' * 1998
John Keegan Sir John Desmond Patrick Keegan (15 May 1934 – 2 August 2012) was an English military historian, lecturer, author and journalist. He wrote many published works on the nature of combat between prehistory and the 21st century, covering land, ...
,
War in Our World
' * 1999 Anthony Giddens,
The Runaway World
'


2000s

* 2000 Chris Patten, Sir John Browne, Thomas Lovejoy,
Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician ( Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organizat ...
,
Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandh ...
,
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
,
Respect for the Earth
' * 2001
Tom Kirkwood Thomas Burton Loram Kirkwood CBE FMedSci (6 July 1951, Durban, South Africa) is an English biologist who made his contribution to the biology of ageing by proposing the disposable soma theory of aging. He is currently a researcher and Associate ...
,
The End of Age
' * 2002 Onora O'Neill,
A Question of Trust?
' * 2003 Vilayanur S. Ramachandran,
The Emerging Mind
' * 2004
Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...
,
Climate of Fear
' * 2005
Lord Broers Alec Nigel Broers, Baron Broers, (born 17 September 1938) is a British electrical engineer. In 1994 Broers was elected an international member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to electronic beam lithography and microsco ...
,
The Triumph of Technology
' * 2006 Daniel Barenboim,
In the Beginning was Sound
' * 2007
Jeffrey Sachs Jeffrey David Sachs () (born 5 November 1954) is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst, and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, where he holds the title of University Professor. He is known for his work ...
,
Bursting at the Seams
' * 2008 Professor Jonathan Spence,
Chinese Vistas
' * 2009 Michael Sandel,
A New Citizenship
'


2010s

* 2010
Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, ...
, ''Scientific Horizons'' * 2011
Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...
and Baroness Manningham-Buller, ''Securing Freedom'' * 2012
Niall Ferguson Niall Campbell Ferguson FRSE (; born 18 April 1964)Biography
Niall Ferguson
, ''The Rule of Law and Its Enemies'' * 2013 Grayson Perry, ''Playing to the Gallery'' * 2014
Atul Gawande Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Departme ...
, ''The Future of Medicine'' * 2015 Stephen Hawking's lecture was postponed because of illness * 2016 (March) Stephen Hawking, ''Do Black Holes Have No Hair?'' *2016 (October) Kwame Anthony Appiah, ''Mistaken Identities'' * 2017
Hilary Mantel Dame Hilary Mary Mantel ( ; born Thompson; 6 July 1952 – 22 September 2022) was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, '' Every Day Is Mother's Day'', was relea ...
, ''Resurrection: The Art And Craft'' * 2018
Margaret MacMillan Margaret Olwen MacMillan, (born 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryerson Univer ...
, ''The Mark of Cain'' *2019
Jonathan Sumption Jonathan Philip Chadwick Sumption, Lord Sumption, (born 9 December 1948), is a British author, medieval historian and former senior judge who sat on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018. Sumption was sworn in as a Jus ...
, ''Law and the Decline of Politics''


2020s

*2020
Mark Carney Mark Joseph Carney (born March 16, 1965) is a Canadian economist and banker who served as the governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013 and the governor of the Bank of England from 2013 to 2020. Since October 2020, he is vice chairman an ...
, ''How We Get What We Value - From Moral to Market Sentiments'' *2021
Stuart J. Russell Stuart Jonathan Russell (born 1962) is a British computer scientist known for his contributions to artificial intelligence (AI). He is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley and was from 2008 to 2011 an adjunct ...
, ''Living with Artificial Intelligence'' *2022
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...
, ''Freedom of Speech''; Lord Rowan Williams, ''Freedom of worship''; Darren McGarvey, ''Freedom from want''


References


External links

*
History

Listen to archived lectures
{{Portal bar, BBC, Radio 1948 establishments in the United Kingdom 1948 radio programme debuts Annual events in the United Kingdom BBC Radio 4 programmes BBC World Service programmes Lecture series Radio-related lists