Reith Lectures

{{Short description|Series of annual radio lectures broadcast by the BBC}}

File:Lord_reith.jpg, the BBC's first director-general]]

The Reith Lectures is a series of annual BBC radio lectures given by leading figures of the day. They are commissioned by the BBC and broadcast on Radio 4 and the World Service. The lectures were inaugurated in 1948 to mark the historic contribution made to public service broadcasting by Lord Reith, 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-reith-lectures/about/ |title=Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures - About Reith |publisher=BBC |date=1970-01-01 |access-date=2013-11-02}}

The first Reith lecturer was the philosopher and later Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell. The first female lecturer was Dame Margery Perham in 1961.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lb4|title=Margery Perham: The Colonial Reckoning: 1961, The Reith Lectures - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC}} The youngest Reith lecturer was Colin Blakemore, who was 32 in 1976 when he broadcast over six episodes on the brain and consciousness.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmw6w|title=Colin Blakemore: Mechanics of the Mind: 1976, The Reith Lectures - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC}}

The Reith Lectures archive

{{Listen|filename=Martin Rees BBC Radio4 The Reith Lectures 22 June 2010 b00srktg.flac|title={{center|Excerpt from a lecture}}|type=speech|description={{center|Part of a lecture by Martin Rees, recorded June 2010}}}}

In June 2011 BBC Radio 4 published its Reith Lectures archive.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13891740 | work=BBC News | title=BBC Radio 4 unveils 60 years of Reith Lectures archive | date=2011-06-26}} 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{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02p8ttc/episodes/downloads|title=Archive 1948-1975 - The Reith Lectures - Downloads - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC}}
Podcast 2: Archive 1976–2012{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02p8xh7/episodes/downloads|title=Archive 1976-2012 - The Reith Lectures - Downloads - BBC Radio 4|website=BBC}}
Transcripts 1948–2010{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-reith-lectures/transcripts/|title=BBC - Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures Transcripts 2011}}
In pictures{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-13647943|title=In Pictures: The Reith Lectures| work=BBC News |date=2 December 2014}}

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 1948–2024

= 1940s =

1948 Bertrand Russell, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lz3 Authority and the Individual]"
1949 Robert Birley, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lyg Britain in Europe]"

= 1950s =

1950 John Zachary Young, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lxm Doubt and Certainty in Science]"
1951 Lord Radcliffe, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lwd Power and the State]"
1952 Arnold J. Toynbee, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lpw The World and the West]"
1953 J. Robert Oppenheimer, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lm8 Science and the Common Understanding]"
1954 Oliver Franks, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lm3 Britain and the Tide of World Affairs]"
1955 Nikolaus Pevsner, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9llv The Englishness of English Art]"
1956 Edward Victor Appleton, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lkv Science and the Nation]"
1957 George F. Kennan, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lk5 Russia, the Atom and the West]"
1958 Bernard Lovell, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9ld8 The Individual and the Universe]"
1959 Peter Medawar, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lc9 The Future of Man]"

= 1960s =

1960 Edgar Wind, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lbs Art and Anarchy]"
1961 Margery Perham, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9lb4 The Colonial Reckoning]"
1962 George Carstairs, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9l9f This Island Now]"
1963 Albert Sloman, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9l8z A University in the Making]"
1964 Leon Bagrit, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h9l82 The Age of Automation]"
1965 Robert Gardiner, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3yc4 World of Peoples]"
1966 John K. Galbraith, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3y23 The New Industrial State]"
1967 Edmund Leach, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3xy8 A Runaway World]"
1968 Lester B. Pearson, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3xs2 In the Family of Man]"
1969 Frank Fraser Darling, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3xk5 Wilderness and Plenty]"

= 1970s =

1970 Donald Schön, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3xfh Change and Industrial Society]"
1971 Richard Hoggart, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3xbc Only Connect]"
1972 Andrew Shonfield, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3x7f Europe: Journey to an Unknown Destination]"
1973 Alastair Buchan, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3x5m Change Without War]"
1974 Ralf Dahrendorf, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3x3t The New Liberty]"
1975 Daniel J. Boorstin, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h3wyv America and the World Experience]"
1976 Colin Blakemore, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmw6w Mechanics of the Mind]"
1977 A. H. Halsey, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq29j Change in British Society]"
1978 Edward Norman, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq28g Christianity and the World]"
1979 Ali Mazrui, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1wn The African Condition]"

= 1980s =

1980 Professor Sir Ian Kennedy, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1z0 Unmasking Medicine]"
1981 Laurence Martin, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1zd The Two Edged Sword]"
1982 Denis Donoghue, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1s3 The Arts Without Mystery]"
1983 Douglas Wass, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1jd Government and the Governed]"
1984 John Searle, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1fk Minds, Brains and Science]"
1985 David Henderson, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq1cr Innocence and Design]"
1986 Lord McCluskey, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq13t Law, Justice and Democracy]"
1987 Alexander Goehr, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq0sz The Survival of the Symphony]"
1988 Geoffrey Hosking, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq0p8 The Rediscovery of Politics]"
1989 {{ill|Jacques Darras|fr}}, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq0l0 Beyond the Tunnel of History]"

= 1990s =

1990 Jonathan Sacks, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq0dl The Persistence of Faith]"
1991 Steve Jones, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gq073 The Language of Genes]"
There was no lecture in 1992 because "the BBC simply couldn't find anyone to do them"BBC (2011) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/26/reith.shtml "Radio 4 opens The Reith Lectures archive to public"], 26 June.
1993 Edward Said, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmx4c Representation of the Intellectual]"
1994 Marina Warner, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmw3z Managing Monsters]"
1995 Richard Rogers, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmvz4 Sustainable City]"
1996 Jean Aitchison, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmvwx The Language Web]"
1997 Patricia J. Williams, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvkl The Genealogy of Race]"
1998 John Keegan, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvjz War in Our World]"
1999 Anthony Giddens, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvgj The Runaway World]"

= 2000s =

2000 Chris Patten, Sir John Browne, Thomas Lovejoy, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Vandana Shiva, Charles, Prince of Wales, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvff Respect for the Earth]"
2001 Tom Kirkwood, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvdn The End of Age]"
2002 Onora O'Neill, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvd8 A Question of Trust?]"
2003 V. S. Ramachandran, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvck The Emerging Mind]"
2004 Wole Soyinka, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghvb7 Climate of Fear]"
2005 Lord Broers, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghv8z The Triumph of Technology]"
2006 Daniel Barenboim, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ghv8s In the Beginning was Sound]"
2007 Jeffrey Sachs, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729fw Bursting at the Seams]"
2008 Professor Jonathan Spence, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bx24h Chinese Vistas]"
2009 Michael Sandel, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kt7rg A New Citizenship]" {{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/05/reith.shtml |title=Harvard University Professor Michael Sandel to give Radio 4's Reith Lectures 2009 |access-date=2009-02-25 |date=2009-02-05 |publisher=BBC }}

= 2010s =

2010 Martin Rees, "Scientific Horizons"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sk5nc|title=Martin Rees: Scientific Horizons: 2010, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2011 Aung San Suu Kyi and Baroness Manningham-Buller, "Securing Freedom"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0126d29|title=Securing Freedom: 2011, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2012 Niall Ferguson, "The Rule of Law and Its Enemies"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jms03|title=Niall Ferguson: The Rule of Law and Its Enemies: 2012, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2013 Grayson Perry, "Playing to the Gallery"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt|title=Democracy Has Bad Taste, Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2014 Atul Gawande, "The Future of Medicine"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bsgqn|title=Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/6F2X8TpsxrJpnsq82hggHW/dr-atul-gawande-2014-reith-lectures|title=Dr Atul Gawande: The Future of Medicine, The Reith Lectures - Dr Atul Gawande - 2014 Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2015 Stephen Hawking's lecture was postponed because of illness{{Cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/nov/10/stephen-hawkings-bbc-reith-lectures-postponed-through-illness | title=Stephen Hawking's BBC Reith Lectures postponed through illness | website=TheGuardian.com | date=10 November 2015 }}
2016 (March) Stephen Hawking, "Do Black Holes Have No Hair?"{{cite web |title=Stephen Hawking: Do Black Holes Have No Hair?, The Reith Lectures - BBC World Service |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06pttqf |website=BBC}}
2016 (October) Kwame Anthony Appiah, "Mistaken Identities"{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07z43ds|title=Creed, Kwame Anthony Appiah: Mistaken Identities, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2017 Hilary Mantel, "Resurrection: The Art and Craft"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08vkm52|title=Hilary Mantel: Resurrection: The Art And Craft, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2018 Margaret MacMillan, "The Mark of Cain"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b8d340|title=Margaret MacMillan: The Mark of Cain, The Reith Lectures |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2019 Jonathan Sumption, "Law and the Decline of Politics"{{Cite press release|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/reith-lectures-locations|title=BBC - Law and the Decline of Politics - locations announced for the 2019 Reith Lectures - Media Centre |publisher=BBC |access-date=2019-05-01}}

= 2020s =

2020 Mark Carney, "How We Get What We Value—from Moral to Market Sentiments"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000py8t|title=2020: Mark Carney - How We Get What We Value—from Moral to Market Sentiments |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2021 Stuart J. Russell, "Living with Artificial Intelligence"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9|title=2021: Stuart Russell on Living with Artificial Intelligence |publisher=BBC Radio 4}}
2022 "The Four Freedoms": Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Freedom of Speech"; Rowan Williams, "Freedom of Worship"; Darren McGarvey, "Freedom from Want"; Fiona Hill, "Freedom from Fear"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/51PDSr0W90GLY9fxBl44Gqn/bbc-reith-lectures-2022-the-four-freedoms|title=BBC Reith Lectures 2022 – The Four Freedoms|website=BBC|access-date=28 December 2022}}
2023 Ben Ansell, "Our Democratic Future"{{cite web|title=BBC Reith Lectures 2023 – Our Democratic Future|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5sPfPYCxr6C999L5bDwrdkb/bbc-reith-lectures-2023-our-democratic-future|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 November 2023}}
2024 Gwen Adshead, "Four Questions About Violence"{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Gwen Adshead - Four Questions About Violence, Is Violence Normal? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025cmg |access-date=2024-12-01 |publisher=BBC |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Can murders change - or are they born evil? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgk1v20lrn2o |access-date=2024-12-01 |publisher=BBC |language=en-GB}}

References

External links

{{BBC programme | title=The Reith Lectures}}
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith/reith_history.shtml History]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/the-reith-lectures/archive/ Listen to archived lectures]

Category:1948 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:1948 radio programme debuts

Category:Annual events in the United Kingdom

Category:BBC Radio 4 programmes

Category:BBC World Service programmes

Category:British lecture series

Category:Radio-related lists

Category:Recurring events established in 1948

Category:1940s British radio programmes

Category:1950s British radio programmes

Category:1960s British radio programmes

Category:1970s British radio programmes