5. Melvyn Bragg

Wigton Library, Cumbria

Melvyn Bragg is what people in Britain sometimes call a ‘national treasure’.

The man is prodigious.

Notably for this bookish show, he has written several award-winning novels and works of non-fiction. In this episode, Melvyn discusses with Ben his bold latest novel, Love Without End.

Melvyn began his broadcasting career at the BBC in 1961. He has edited and presented The South Bank Show for the last forty years and chairs In Our Time on BBC Radio 4. He goes into the origins of both these mainstay programmes in riveting detail during this discussion, explaining how the beloved and enduring South Bank Show nearly got cancelled straight away…

An honorary fellow of the Royal Society and of the British Academy, Melvyn was given a peerage in 1998 and made a Companion of Honour in 2018. 

The drive and motivations that have propelled Bragg to these achievements can in many respects be traced back to his Cumbrian childhood. Melvyn talks vividly here of those earliest experiences, even throwing in some local dialect. You may have heard him broadcast countless shows but, trust us, you have never heard Melvyn Bragg speak like this before!

For this episode, Melvyn chose to meet at his hometown library in Wigton. He is still very much a part of the fabric of this beguiling market town. ‘A local hero’, then, as well as ‘national treasure’.

In fact, he even opened this very branch library himself - back in 1975.

For the episode, Melvyn and Ben are joined by Kathryn Lynn, Librarian for Allerdale.