2018.09.19"我们的时代 "是一个不断增长的智慧库

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Something to Bragg about
“In Our Time” is an ever-growing library of wisdom
The unashamedly intellectual discussion series turns 20



Sep 19th 2018
BY B.F.


LISTENERS to BBC Radio 4 on October 15th 1998 would have heard the Cumbrian-inflected voice of Melvyn Bragg introduce a new programme without much fanfare. He welcomed those tuned in to a series “in which I hope we’ll be looking at some of the ideas and events which have influenced the century”.

In that first episode of “In Our Time”, two academics soberly discussed the wars of the past 100 years. Since then, the show has explored more than 800 subjects, such as the 18th-century gin craze, Agrippina the Younger and the mathematical constant e. “In Our Time” has the feel of a university seminar, with some of academia’s brightest—Mary Beard and Marcus du Sautoy are regular contributors—taking 45 minutes each week to discuss a topic, live and unedited. The programme’s return this month continues its marathon run into a 21st year. For the BBC, “In Our Time” is not just part of the furniture but a load-bearing pillar, propping up the corporation’s occasionally wayward efforts to enlighten the public.


If the radio programme evokes an academic enclave, then Mr Bragg is both the insufferable swot and, on occasion, the fresher who forgot to complete the readings. He is far from a perfect moderator. He will frequently interrupt his guests mid-flow (listeners inevitably take to Twitter to lament the interruption of a female contributor), often seems crotchety and occasionally ties himself in knots with his questions. Despite these idiosyncrasies, he succeeds in making often complex and obscure subjects approachable and interesting. Will Self, an author, described him as “the dilettante’s dilettante”, and his eager curiosity is contagious. Indeed, few broadcasters could sustain an audience of millions with a discussion of the sixth-century legal code of Justinian.

In its two decades the show has expanded its reach well beyond middle England. In 2005 producers asked listeners to suggest their favourite philosopher to be featured in a future programme. They received 30,000 responses, with Karl Marx declared the eventual winner. (The Economist encouraged any readers hoping to fend off a victory of the proletariat to vote for David Hume instead.) Today, in addition to a weekly listenership of over 2m, each month the show is downloaded about 2.5m times as a podcast. Over half of these listeners do so from outside Britain.

In many ways “In Our Time” makes for a better podcast than broadcast show. History podcasts rival true crime as the downloads du jour, thanks to shows such as the Watergate-recounting “Slow Burn” and “Revisionist History” from Malcolm Gladwell, a journalist. The few minutes of bonus material on each download of “In Our Time” free it from the time constraints of live radio, and guests often spar over what was included in—or omitted from—the broadcast. Taken together, the heaving online archive of “In Our Time” is a digital Library of Alexandria, a rich seam of commute-enhancing, dinner-party-reviving wisdom freely available to mine.


Simon Tillotson, the show’s producer—and the voice calling time with the offer of a cup of tea at the end of each podcast—attributes its popularity to the guests’ generosity with their knowledge and the unrehearsed sparkiness of the discussion: “It’s a live exchange of ideas, which seems to be compelling.” The unabashed high-brow feel of “In Our Time” probably won’t help the BBC fight any accusations of elitism, but the strength of its fan base might. The show’s catholic range of subjects, respect for listeners’ intelligence and its quality of insight mean that “In Our Time” endures in a time when shrinking attention spans and an abundance of poorly cited information can make well-informed intellectual discussion tricky to find. Even as the number of installments approaches four figures, there are plenty of stones left unturned.



值得布拉格学习的东西
"我们的时代 "是一个不断增长的智慧库
毫无顾忌的知识分子讨论系列迎来20岁生日



2018年9月19日
作者：B.F.


1998年10月15日，BBC第四台的听众会听到梅尔文-布拉格（Melvyn Bragg）充满坎布里亚风味的声音，他没有大张旗鼓地介绍一个新节目。他欢迎听众收看这个系列节目，"我希望在这个节目中，我们将关注一些影响本世纪的思想和事件"。

在《我们的时代》的第一集里，两位学者冷静地讨论了过去100年的战争。从那时起，该节目已经探讨了800多个主题，如18世纪的杜松子酒热、小阿格里皮纳和数学常数e。"我们的时代 "有一种大学研讨会的感觉，一些学术界最聪明的人--玛丽-比尔德和马库斯-杜-索托伊是定期撰稿人--每周花45分钟讨论一个话题，现场直播，未经编辑。该节目本月回归，将其马拉松式的运行延续到第21年。对BBC来说，"我们的时代 "不仅仅是家具的一部分，而且是一根承重的支柱，支撑着公司偶尔为启迪公众而做出的努力。


如果这个广播节目让人联想到一个学术飞地，那么布拉格先生既是令人难以忍受的蠢货，有时也是忘记完成朗读的新生。他远不是一个完美的主持人。他经常会中途打断嘉宾的发言（听众不可避免地会在Twitter上感叹女性撰稿人的发言被打断），经常显得很老气横秋，偶尔会用问题把自己打成结。尽管有这些特异功能，他还是成功地使通常复杂和晦涩的主题变得平易近人和有趣。作家威尔-索夫（Will Self）将他描述为 "业余爱好者的业余爱好者"，他热切的好奇心具有感染力。事实上，很少有广播员能够通过讨论六世纪的查士丁尼法典来维持数百万观众。

在20年的时间里，这个节目的影响力已经远远超出了英格兰中部。2005年，制作人要求听众推荐他们最喜欢的哲学家，以便在未来的节目中出现。他们收到了30,000份回复，卡尔-马克思被宣布为最终的赢家。(经济学人》鼓励任何希望抵御无产阶级胜利的读者投票给大卫-休谟）。今天，除了每周有超过200万的听众外，每个月该节目作为播客被下载约250万次。这些听众中有一半以上来自英国以外。

在许多方面，《我们的时代》是一个比广播节目更好的播客。历史播客与真实犯罪节目相媲美，成为当下最热门的下载节目，这要归功于水门事件记述的《慢热》和记者马尔科姆-格拉德威尔的《修正主义历史》。每次下载 "我们的时代 "时，都有几分钟的奖励材料，使其摆脱了现场广播的时间限制，嘉宾们经常为广播中包括或遗漏的内容争论不休。总的来说，"我们的时代 "的网上档案是一个数字化的亚历山大图书馆，是一个丰富的、可供自由开采的、可提高通勤率的、可恢复晚餐聚会的智慧的缝隙。


该节目的制作人西蒙-提洛森（Simon Tillotson）--在每个播客结束时提供一杯茶的声音--将其受欢迎程度归功于嘉宾们对知识的慷慨解囊和讨论中未经排练的火花。"这是一种现场交流，似乎很有说服力"。我们的时代》不加掩饰的高大上感觉可能不会帮助BBC对抗任何关于精英主义的指责，但其粉丝群体的力量可能会帮助他们。节目的主题范围很广，尊重听众的智慧，以及其高质量的洞察力，这意味着 "我们的时代 "在一个注意力萎缩和大量引用不充分的信息可能使明智的知识讨论变得棘手的时代经久不衰。即使在节目数量接近四位数的时候，也有很多石头没有被翻动。