Duration: 2'01''
The Victorian science that became an influence for Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'.
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only Staff and students of licensed education establishments only Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
1: Spark | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili tells how the first 'natural philosophers' began to unlock electricity's mysteries, studying its curious li...
Insulators and Conductors | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Stephen Gray, a silk dyer, was used to seeing sparks leap from the silk so he began experiments conductin...
Leyden Jar | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
A Leyden jar is a device for storing static electricity, discovered accidentally in Leiden, Netherlands.
Positive and negative charges | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Benjamin Franklin discovered that electricity could be like money in a bank, it could be in credit (p...
Voltaic Pile | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Invented by Italian chemist Alessandro Volta in 1799, the voltaic pile was the first electrical battery that could con...
What is electricity | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
An electric current is essentially the flow of electrons (which are electrically charged) from one atom to anot...
''Pig-Heart Boy'' | imagine...
Malorie Blackman tells of her brush with death and love of sci-fi that fed into her writing ''Pig-Heart Boy''.
''To a Mouse'' contextualised | Inside the Mind of Robert Burns
A performance of "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns, followed by an analysis by Professor Gerad Carruthers.
'Animal Farm' historical context | In Context
A discussion of the historical context of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm', including the influence of the British attitude to Sta...
'Birthday Letters' | Close Up
A discussion of the book Ted Hughes wrote about his relationship with Slyvia Plath.
'Journey's End' - Life in the trenches | In Context
An exploration of life in the trenches through R. C. Sherriff's writing in his diary entries and in 'Journey's End'.
'Kill the pig'' | Lord of the Flies
From the 1963 adaptation of William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies': the fire goes out when Jack and his group prioritise hunting, and they...
'St Botolphs' | Close Up
The poem that Ted Hughes wrote about his first meeting with Slyvia Plath.
'The Lady of the Lake'' and tourism | In Search of Sir Walter Scott
Scott's "The Lady of the Lake" was very popular for its quality of nature writing and sparked a wave of l...
'The Thought Fox' | Close Up
A reading of Ted Hughes' poem 'The Thought Fox'.
'You're late'' | Dickensian
Bob Cratchit is late to work, much to Scrooge's disapproval. Bob tries to explain that he was looking after Tiny Tim, but to Scrooge this is no e...
A Game of Chess from The Waste Land | Six Centuries of Verse
Dramatic interpretation and reading of T S Eliot's A Game of Chess from 'The Waste Land.'
A Reading of 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' | Songs of Praise
Dame Patricia Routledge discusses how Wilfred Owen captured the horror of war in his poetry before reading Anthem fo...
A View of Scotland/ Love Poem' by Liz Lochhead | Intermediate English: Poetry
Liz Lochhead reads her poem 'A View of Scotland/ Love Poem'.
Ace: the cast of Inua Ellams' Barber Shop Chronicles (1)
Hammed Animashaun and Fiasyo Akinade talk to Ace about the Inua Ellams' play Barber Shop Chronicles, which is a set ...
Ace: the cast of Inua Ellams' Barber Shop Chronicles (2)
Act 1 Scene 1 - Antonio becomes Bassanio's guarantor | Culture in Quarantine: Shakespeare
In Polly Findlay's Royal Shakespeare Company production 'The Merchant of Venice', A...
Act 1 Scene 1 - Beatrice and Benedick meet again | Culture in Quarantine: Shakespeare
In an adaption of 'Much Ado About Nothing' set in 1918, soldiers return from war and Be...
Act 1 Scene 1 - Lear divides his kingdom | King Lear
King Lear asks his daughter's to express their love for him.
Act 1 Scene 1 - Opening to Iago and Roderigo | Culture in Quarantine: Shakespeare
From Iqbal Khan’s ground breaking 2015 production, the opening scene between Iago and Roder...
Act 1 Scene 1 - Orsino declares his love for Olivia | Twelfth Night
From the 1996 film adaptation of 'Twelfth Night' by Trevor Nunn, Orsino declares his love for Olivia.
1: Discovering the Elements | Chemistry: A Volatile History
The story of how the elements were discovered and mapped begins with the alchemists who questioned that the world...
Einstein and the beetle | Gravity and Me: The Force that Shapes our Lives
Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains Einstein's analogy of gravity that he told his son to explain his...
Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor | Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield
Nuclear physicist Professo...
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore on teenage brains | The Life Scientific
Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her research on the developing teenage brain.
The race to prove Maxwell's theory | Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Jim Al-Khalili explains how physics professor Oliver Lodge proved Maxwell's theory that electrom...
Fukushima: Is Nuclear Power Safe? | Horizon
Six months after the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to discover whether nu...
Al-Khwarizmi's digit and numerical system | Science and Islam
Jim Al-Khalili explains how our numerical system spread to Europe through the work of the Arabic mathematician ...
The big bang and the creation of hydrogen and helium | Atom
George Gamow believed that helium existed in the universe before the sun and the stars were formed.
Electrolysis - Discovery of Potassium | Curriculum Bites
Spec references J248: C3.4b J250: C3.4b. Professor Jim Al-Khalili recreates the electrolysis experiment that lead to...
Cookies help us run our services and give you a better experience. For the full details please read our Cookie Policy.
