Despite its title, this list includes, for convenience, a small number of recordings that were not broadcast. All the recordings are listed in a single chronological sequence by date of first transmission (or date of recording, where there was no transmission or transmission date is not known). Broadcasts included (primarily) because they are about IB rather than because they are by him (or contain contributions by him) are asterisked. Not so far included are several recordings of IB dictating drafts of his work, and a number of unpublished interviews: details of this material are available at the BLSA, where copies of the compiler᾿s edited transcripts of the recordings are also held.

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Broadcasts

1946

1Lassalle

• Review of David Footman, The Primrose Path
• First transmission: 8.55 pm 17/12/46 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 20 minutes [5 minutes Radio Times]
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives

1947

2Belinsky (1810–1848)

• Talk
• Recording date: 29/5/47
• First transmission: 7.05 pm 25/6/47 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 20 minutes
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Publication: ‘The Man Who Became a Myth’, Listener 38 (1947), 23–5 = Bibliography 27

1949

3The Anglo-American Predicament

• Talk
• First transmission: 8.45 pm 21/9/49 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 20 minutes
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Publication: ‘The Anglo-American Predicament’, Listener 42 (1949), 518–19 and 538 = Bibliography 31

4England in a Two-Power World

• Discussion with two other speakers, commissioned by the Lowell Institute Cooperative Broadcasting Council
• Recording date: 21/3/49
• First transmission: 9.30 pm 22/3/49
• Series: Crossroads of the Future

1950

5Don Giovanni in Aix-en-Provence

• Talk
• Recording dates: 30/8/49, 26/1/50 (the original tape was accidentally destroyed, so IB had to re-record the talk in a mobile van in Oxford, on the day it was broadcast)
• First transmission: 9.25 pm 26/1/50 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 30 minutes [20 minutes Radio Times]
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives

1952

6Freedom and its Betrayal

• Lectures

1. Claude Adrien Helvétius
2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
3. Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814)
4. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
5. [Comte de] St Simon (1760–1825)
6. De Maistre (1754–1821)

• Recording dates: ?, 16/9, ?, ?, ?, ?/52
• First transmission: 9.30 pm 29/10, 9.40 pm 5/11, 9.15 pm 12/11, 9.30 pm 19/11, 9.40 pm 26/11, 9.30 pm 3/12/52 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: each c.55 minutes (No 2 51 minutes 11 seconds, Nos 4 and 5 perhaps c.60 minutes)
• Repeat(s): 3/11, 10/11, 18/11, 25/11, 1/12, 8/12/52 BBC Third Programme (all at 6.00 pm); 9.50 pm 2/5, 9.55 pm 9/5, 9.45 pm 16/5, 9.35 pm 23/5, 9.35 pm 30/5, 9.55 pm 13/6/53 BBC Third Programme
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: No 2 only – BBC Sound Archives LP23384–6; BLSA Tape T10145W
• Publication

1953

7History as an Excuse

• Shortened and revised version of ‘History as an Alibi’, first Auguste Comte Memorial Lecture
• First transmission: 9.05 pm 15/7/53 BBC Third Programme (one talk)
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Repeat(s): 6 pm 20/7/53 BBC Third Programme (one talk); 6, 13, 20/10/53 (three talks, in Hebrew)
• Series: Treasury of the Mind
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: no
• Publication: full lecture, Historical Inevitability, Auguste Comte Memorial Trust Lecture No 1 (London, 1954: Oxford University Press) = Bibliography 54

1955

8A Marvellous Decade 1838–1848

• Northcliffe Lectures for 1954 (1 and 4 re-recorded for BBC)

1. The Young Intellectuals
2. Belinsky: The Impact of Western Ideas
3. Belinsky: The Original Contribution of the Russian Intelligentsia
4. Alexander Herzen: His Opinions and Character

• Recording dates: ?, ?, ?, 16/12/54
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 26/1, 9.00 pm 2/2, 8.50 pm 9/2, 9.05 pm 16/2/55 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: each 60 minutes
• Repeat(s): 6.00 pm 28/1, 6.20 pm 7/2, 6.20 pm 15/2, 6.00 pm 22/2/55 BBC Third Programme
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (except 2)
• Recording: No 4 only – BBC Sound Archives LP23384–6; BLSA Tape T10145R
• Publication: ‘A Marvellous Decade’ = Bibliography 57:

1. ‘1838–48: The Birth of the Russian Intelligentsia’, Encounter 4 No 6 (June 1955), 27–39
2. ‘1838–48: German Romanticism in Petersburg and Moscow’, Encounter 5 No 11 (November 1955), 21–9
3. ‘Belinsky: Moralist and Prophet’, Encounter 5 No 12 (December 1955), 22–43
4. ‘Herzen and the Grand Inquisitors’, Encounter 6 No 5 (May 1956), 20–34

9President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Talk (10th anniversary of FDR’s death)
• First transmission: 8.25 pm 12/4/55 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Repeat(s): 10.30 pm 20/4/55 BBC Third Programme
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Publication: ‘Roosevelt through European Eyes’, Atlantic Monthly 196 No 1 (July 1955), 67–71; as ‘President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’, Political Quarterly 26 (1955), 336–44 = Bibliography 60

1956

10Historical Inevitability: The Role of Great Men in History

• Unscripted discussion with Lords Hailsham and Russell
• Recording date: 22/5/56
• First transmission: 23/10/56 General Overseas Service
• Duration: 28 minutes 13 seconds
• Series: London Forum
• Presenter: Edgar Lustgarten
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Publication: ‘London Forum’, London Calling, 31 January 1957, 3–4, 10 = Bibliography 68a

11The Father of Russian Marxism: G. V. Plekhanov (1856–1918)

• Talk (centenary of Plekhanov’s birth)
• First transmission: 9.10 pm 11/12/56 BBC Third Programme
• Duration : 15 minutes
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10780W
• Publication: ‘The Father of Russian Marxism’, Listener 56 (1956), 1063–4, 1077 = Bibliography 65

1957

12Political Judgement

• Talk
• First transmission: 9.05 pm 19/6/57 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Repeat(s): 6.30 pm 16/8/57
• Series: Thinking about Politics (No 6 of 7)
• Producer: T S Gregory
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10780W

13A Fire at Sea

• Introduction to and translation of a short story by Turgenev
• First transmission: 10.00 pm 23/7/57 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Repeat(s): 10.00 pm 26/12/57 BBC Third Programme, 9.50 pm 16/1/59 BBC Third Programme, 19/10/59 BBC Home Service (‘Today “Today’s Voices”’); 10.05 pm 6/6/89 BBC Radio 3 in An Evening with Sir Isaiah Berlin
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10780W
• Publication: ‘An Episode in the Life of Ivan Turgenev’, London Magazine 4 No 7 (July 1957), 14–24; reissued in First Love [and] A Fire at Sea (London, 1982: Hogarth Press; New York, 1983: Viking) = Bibliography 66

14From Communism to Zionism: The Life and Opinions of Moses Hess

• Lucien Wolf Memorial Lecture, Friends House
• Recording date: 1957
• First transmission: not broadcast
• Duration: [to come]
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10898W
• Publication: The Life and Opinions of Moses Hess (Cambridge, 1959: Heffer) = Bibliography 75

1958

15National Superiority and Inferiority

• Discussion (also referred to as ‘The Social Inequality of Nations’ and ‘Stereotypes’)
• Recording date: 18/3/58
• First transmission: 9.15 pm 26/3/58 BBC Home Service (North Region)
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Series: The Fifty-One Society
• Presenter: Niel Pearson
• Producer: Kenneth Brown
• Transcript: not found at BBC Written Archives under series (where several other transcripts appear) or under any of the above titles (the first of which is used in programme index); not found in programme file at BBC Written Archives; made from recording by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape T11067WR

16The Brains Trust

• Member of team
• Recording date: live?
• First transmission: 4.20 pm 8/6/58 BBC Television (first television appearance)
• Duration: 40 minutes
• Repeat(s): 1.10 pm 13/6/58 BBC Home Service
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives

1959

17Fighting Words

• Panel game/discussion (identification/discussion of quotations) with Bernard Levin, Doris Lessing, Fleur Cowles
• Recording date: 18/3/59, London
• First transmission: 31/3/59, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio, Dominion Network
• Duration: 29 minutes
• Presenter: Nathan Cohen
• Recording: BLSA Tape h2759

18Two Concepts of Liberty

• 4 European Service General News Talks

1. The Notion of Negative Freedom
2. The Notion of Positive Freedom
3. The One and the Many
4. The Search for Status

• First transmission: 29/6, 6/7, 13/7, 20/7/59 European Service
• Repeat(s): Hebrew 22/7/59 and at weekly intervals thereafter (read by announcer); Russian Service (read by IB); German Service?
• Series: London Calling Europe: As I See It
• Producer: [set up by Maurice Latey]
• Transcript: not at BBC Written Archives unless among unsorted material; No IV [labelled III] in Berlin Papers
• Recording: no
• Publication: the talks are based on Two Concepts of Liberty, Inaugural Lecture as Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory (Oxford, 1958: Clarendon Press) = Bibliography 71; No IV published separately as Bibliography 247

1960

19This is the BBC: An Impression of Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of the British Broadcasting Corporation

• BBC Television documentary
• Reel 7–9, 120–128, shows IB pretending to give radio talk

Short video clip: mpg format | wmv format

• First transmission: 29/6/60 BBC Television (with IB excised)
• Director: Dick Cawston (1959)
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (of IB’s few seconds; made at National Film Archive)
• Recording: BBC film library (16mm footage); BFI National Archive (viewing copy on videocassette)

1961

20Tolstoy and Enlightenment

• Hermon Ould Memorial Lecture for 1960 (sponsored by P.E.N.)
• Recording date: 23/11/60, Friends’ House, London
• First transmission: 9.15 pm 7/1/61 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 40 minutes
• Repeat(s): 6.50 pm 19/3/61 BBC Third Programme
• Producer: Anna Kallin
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10780R
• Publication: ‘Tolstoy and Enlightenment’, Encounter 16 No 2 (February 1961), 29–40 = Bibliography 82

21Tagore

• Insert for Rabindranath Tagore Centenary [7/5/61] Programmes
• For India
• Recording date: 16/11/60
• First transmission: 7/5/61?
• Transcript: not at BBC Written Archives under Tagore [a preparatory typescript, and the lecture used as a source (= Bibliography 234), are in the Berlin Papers]

22Equality 1: In Search of a Definition

• Discussion with Stuart Hampshire (chair), Herbert Hart, Enoch Powell, Bernard Williams, Raymond Williams
• Recording date: 6/6/61
• First transmission: 9.10 pm 25/11/61 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 59 minutes 31 seconds
• Repeat(s): 9.00 pm 14/12/61 BBC Third Programme
• Series: Equality (No 1 of 6)
• Presenter: Stuart Hampshire
• Producer: Helen Arbuthnot
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; 2 early (i.e. not finally edited) drafts in Berlin papers
• Recording: (first 32 minutes only) BLSA Tape T11066R

23The Philosophy of History

• Talk
• First transmission: 29/11/61, BBC All India Radio
• Duration: 18 minutes 8 seconds
• Transcript: Berlin Papers
• Recording: All India Radio; BLSA Tape [to come]

1962

24Equality 3: Equality, Education and Culture

• Discussion with Lord Gladwyn, Stuart Hampshire (chair), Richard Hoggart, Richard Wollheim, George Woodcock
• Recording date: 10/7/61
• First transmission: 29/1/62 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 45 minutes 36 seconds
• Repeat(s): 8.00 pm 23/2/62 BBC Third Programme
• Series: Equality (No 3 of 6)
• Presenter: Stuart Hampshire
• Producer: Helen Arbuthnot
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; drafts of Hampshire’s opening and of whole discussion in Berlin Papers
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives LP27468; BLSA Tape T10146W

25Freedom of Speech

• Interview with Bamber Gascoigne
• Recording date: 10/1/62
• First transmission: 2.45–3.45 pm 11/2/62 ATV (Associated Television)
• Duration: 45 minutes (IB 2 minutes)
• Series: The Four Freedoms (No 2 of 5)
• Presenter: Bamber Gascoigne
• Producer: Christopher Morahan
• Transcript: unedited version in Berlin Papers (9 minutes 24 seconds); IB’s draft of replies in Berlin Papers
• Recording: Granada International; BLSA has copy of soundtrack – BLSA Tape H6439
• Publication: revised version of IB’s draft of replies in Ted Honderich (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Oxford, 1995: Oxford University Press), s.v. ‘Liberty’; reprinted in The Power of Ideas (London, 2000: Chatto & Windus; Princeton, 2000: Princeton University Press) = Bibliography 221

26[Equality] 5: Equality between People and Nations

• Discussion with John Foster, Stuart Hall, Stuart Hampshire (chair), Joan Robinson
• Recording date: [before 23/3/62]
• First transmission: 8.00 pm 30/3/62 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 49 minutes
• Repeat(s): 5.00 pm 15/4/62 BBC Third Programme
• Series: Equality (No 5 of 6)
• Presenter: Stuart Hampshire
• Producer: Archie Gordon
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers [draft and final]
• Recording: BLSA: Tape T11066W

27Literature and Life

• Talk on All India Radio
• Recording date: ?/?/60?
• First transmission: 28/3/62
• Duration: 3 minutes 30 seconds
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: All India Radio (copy at BLSA [Tape [to come]])

1964

28The Oxford Way

• Conversation with Alexander Kendrick
• First transmission: 1/2/64 CBS television (USA)
• Series: One of a Kind
• Producer: Ted Holmes

29Conversations for Tomorrow

• ‘After-dinner talk’ with J B Priestley and A J Ayer
• Recording date: 26/3/64
• First transmission: 10.30 pm 25/4/64 BBC Television
• Duration: c.35 minutes
• Presenter: J B Priestley
• Transcript: BBC film library; copy at BLSA
• Recording: BBC film library; copy at BLSA, Tape V600
• Publication: online on this site

1965

30Royal Academy of Arts

• Royal Academy annual dinner at Burlington House: reply to proposal of toast to the guests by Sir Charles Wheeler, and proposal of toast to the Academy
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 28/4/65 BBC Home Service
• Duration (whole programme): 60 minutes
• Presenter: Robert Hudson
• Transcript: not found at BBC Written Archives under Royal Academy of Art (title used in programme index)

31The Concert Interval

• Interview
• First transmission: 3.35 pm 4/7/65 BBC Third Programme
• Duration (whole programme): 15 minutes
• Presenter: Julian Budden
• Transcript: not found at BBC Written Archives under Concert Interval (title used in programme index)

32Oral History Interview for the John F. Kennedy Library

• Interview with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, for the John F. Kennedy Oral History Project
• Recording date: 12 April 1965
• Transcript: Berlin Papers; John F. Kennedy Library, Columbia Point, Dorchester, Massachusetts 02125, USA (see MS 78-356 in National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections, Catalog 1978) – to whom version edited by Henry Hardy has been sent
• Recording: John F. Kennedy Library (copy at BLSA: Tape h2760)
• Publication

1966

33New Oxford College

• Interview with Derek Cooper on appointment as ‘Master’ [i.e. President] of new Wolfson College, Oxford
• Recording date: 29/6/66
• First transmission: 7.15/8.15 am 30/6/66 BBC Home Service
• Series: Today
• Presenter: Jack de Manio
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (presenter’s contributions only); IB’s contributions transcribed by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives LP30291

34Some Sources of Romanticism

• The A. W. Mellon Lectures (sponsored by the Bollingen Foundation), delivered at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, March–April 1965

1. In Search of a Definition
2. The First Attack on Enlightenment
3. The True Fathers of Romanticism
4. The Restrained Romantics
5. Unbridled Romanticism
6. The Lasting Effects

• Recording dates: 14/3, 21/3, 28/3, 4/4, 11/4, 18/4/65
• First transmission: 7.55 pm 10/8, 8.00 pm 16/8, 7.55 pm 23/8, 7.30 pm 29/8, 7.30 pm 5/9, 7.30 pm 12/9/66 BBC Third Programme
• Durations: 51 minutes 26 seconds, 57 minutes 45 seconds, 53 minutes 20 seconds, 58 minutes 7 seconds, 58 minutes 20 seconds, 69 minutes 32 seconds
• Repeat(s): 5/10, 9/10, 17/10, 24/10, 30/10, 6/11/67 BBC Third Programme (all at 7.30 pm); 1975 in Australia (without IB’s approval); 8.15 pm 6/6, 10.00 pm 12/6/89 etc. BBC Radio 3 in An Evening with Sir Isaiah Berlin
• Producer: Helen Rapp
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T31558–63; BLSA Tapes T132R, T274W, T272W, T10191W, T256W, T275W
• Publication

35J G Hamann (part 2)

• Woodbridge Lecture, Columbia University, New York
• Recording date: (26?) October 1965
• Duration: 58 minutes 30 seconds
• Series: ‘Two Enemies of the Enlightenment’ (four lectures by IB, of which this was the 2nd; no recording of the 1st has been found)
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (edited)
• Recording: BLSA Tape T11065W
• Publication: cf. The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins of Modern Irrationalism (London, 1993: John Murray) = Bibliography 212

36Joseph de Maistre

• Woodbridge Lecture, Columbia University, New York
• Recording date: (27?) October 1965
• Duration: 61 minutes
• Series: ‘Two Enemies of the Enlightenment’ (four lectures by IB, of which this was the 3rd – cf. previous item)
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (edited)
• Recording: BLSA Tape T11064WR
• Publication: cf. ‘Joseph de Maistre and the Origins of Fascism’, in The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas (London, 1990: John Murray; New York, 1991: Knopf; London, 1991: Fontana Press; New York, 1992: Vintage Books) = Bibliography 200

1967

37The Romantic Movement in Europe

• Talk
• First transmission: 3/2/67 BBC Home Service
• Duration: 19 minutes
• Series: Talks for Sixth Forms: Four Distinguished Men
• Producer: Tom Butcher
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (School Scripts Talks for VIth Forms)

1968

38The Role of the Intelligentsia

• Talk to the Annual Conference of the University Teachers’ Group
• Recording date: 14/3/68
• First transmission: 7.30 pm 23/4/68 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 35 minutes
• Repeat(s): 5.30 pm 11/8/68 BBC Third Programme
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives MT32704; BLSA Tape 1145W
• Publication: ‘The Role of the Intelligentsia’, Listener 79 (1968), 563–5 = Bibliography 111

1969

39Verdi and Schiller

• Talk
• Recording date: 23/10/68? (unidentified date on transcript)
• First transmission: 6.40 pm 11/1/69 BBC Third Programme
• Duration: 35 minutes 45 seconds
• Repeat(s): 7.30 pm 21/2/69 BBC Third Programme
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape 1314R
• Publication

40Turgenev

• Cambridge Union Lecture, ?Dec. 1969
• BBC transcript; not broadcast
• Producer: Jack Amos
• Transcript: Berlin Papers

1970

41Turgenev and the Dilemma of the Liberal Intellectual

• Romanes Lecture for 1970, Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford
• Recording date: 12/11/70
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 14/2/71 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 56 minutes
• Repeat(s): 4.30 pm 5/9/71 BBC Radio 3
• Producer: Adrian Johnson
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T33582; BLSA Tape T297R (another recording Tape T11065R)
• Publication: Fathers and Children: Turgenev and the Liberal Predicament (Oxford, 1972: Clarendon Press) = Bibliography 125

42Weizmann as Exilarch

• Israel Goldstein Lecture, Jerusalem
• Recording date: 1970
• Duration: 35 minutes
• Recording: BLSA: Tape T10898R
• Publication: ‘Weizmann as Exilarch’, in Chaim Weizmann as Leader (Jerusalem, 1970: Hebrew University of Jerusalem) = Bibliography 119

1971

43Stravinsky Died a Year Ago

• Interviews
• Recording date: 25/11/71
• First transmission: 9.30 pm 6/4/72 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (IB’s contribution): 5 minutes 33 seconds
• Presenter: John Amis
• Producer: Denys Gueroult
• Transcript: IB’s contributions transcribed by Henry Hardy
• Recording: IB’s contribution on BBC Sound Archives LP34715, 25/11/71[–28/2/72]; whole programme on BBC Sound Archives T34558, 28/3/72, and on BLSA Tape T458W (off-air)

1972

44British Foreign Policy since 1945

• Introduction to lecture by Roy Jenkins
• Recording date: 28/3/72
• First transmission: 8.55 pm 28/4/72 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 40 minutes
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T34443; BLSA Tape P815R

45Giambattista Vico: Man of Genius

• Talk ‘on the neglected Italian thinker’
• Recording date: 19/4/72
• First transmission: 10.35 pm 25/9/72 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 49 minutes 9 seconds
• Repeat(s): 10.10 pm 29/11/72 BBC Radio 3
• Producer: Adrian Johnson
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T34962; BLSA Tape T10334W (C530/1) (copy of a BBC Transcription Services tape, ‘Giambattista Vico’, BBC Transcription Services Talks Catalogue Number 1786.00)
• Publication: ‘Giambattista Vico’, Listener 88 (1972), 391–8 = Bibliography 130

46Roots of Romanticism

• Interview for Open University with Graham Martin, Reader in Literature, Open University
• A202/34 Arts Level II The Age of Revolutions (1972–79)
• Recording date: 25/1/72
• First transmission: 16/10/72 BBC Radio 4 (Open University)
• Duration: 18 minutes 50 seconds
• Repeat(s): 21/10/72 BBC Radio 4 (Open University), and in subsequent years of the course, at about the same time of year
• Producer: Helen Rapp
• Transcript: Berlin Papers
• Recording: BLSA Tape h2761

47‘I’m going to tamper with your beliefs a little’

• A dialogue with Stuart Hampshire on ‘Oxford philosophy’, especially J L Austin; the second of a series of six films on philosophy in Oxford, collectively entitled Logic Lane (also the title of the first film)
• Year of production: 1972
• Duration: 56 minutes 30 seconds
• Director: Michael Chanan
• Producer: Noel Chanan
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: the films are available online to universities with access to Edinburgh University’s Film & Sound Online holdings. They are also available on YouTube (the IB film begins here). There is an excerpt from the IB film in the first, introductory, film of the series. Another extract is available here. Access to 16 mm film through British Universities Film and Video Council (ref. 6HE 136); copy at BLSA, Tape V531 (the film includes an extract from a recording of J L Austin lecturing: a recording of the whole of this lecture is also available, BLSA Tape T10707).
• Publication: online on this site

48The Problem of Nationalism

• A dialogue with Stuart Hampshire, chaired by Bryan Magee
• Recording date: 6/11/72
• First transmission: 30/11/72 ITV (Thames Television)
• Duration: 51 minutes 21 seconds
• Series: Something to Say (No 25)
• Presenter: Bryan Magee
• Director: George Sawford
• Producer: Udi Eichler
• Transcript: Thames Television
• Publication: online on this site

1973

49Tolstoy’s View of Art and Morality

• Talk for Open University
• Used in/as programme 13 of course A302, ‘The Nineteenth-Century Novel and Its Legacy’
• Reused in revised course, A312, beginning in 1982 (programme 13 again)
• First transmission: 10/8/73 BBC Radio 4 (Open University)
• Duration: 28 minutes 53 seconds
• Repeat(s): 11/8/73 BBC Radio 4 (Open University), and in subsequent years of the course, at about the same time of year; 8.30 pm 17/8/73 BBC Radio 3
• Producer: Miriam Rapp
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers (initial version)
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10334R (C530/2) (copy of a BBC Transcription Services tape, BBC Transcription Services Talks Catalogue Number 1902.00); BLSA Tape 2319W (off-air); cassette in Berlin Papers

50The Origins of Cultural History

• 3 Gauss Seminars, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

1. Two Notions of the History of Culture: the German Versus the French Tradition
2. Geisteswissenschaft and the Natural Sciences: Vico versus Descartes
3. The Origins of the Conflict: Political Lawyers, Classical Scholars, Narrative Historians

• Recording date: 19, 20, 22/2/73
• First transmission: not broadcast
• Duration: c.60 minutes each (the last longer)
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tapes F4797-9

1974

51Byron: Poet or Myth?

• Discussion with others (Byron died 19 April 1824)
• Recording date: 24/4/74
• First transmission: 9.40 pm 5/5/74 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 60 minutes
• Presenters: Christopher Ricks and Hallam Tennyson
• Producer: Hallam Tennyson
• Transcript: IB’s broadcast contribution transcribed by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T37966; copy on BLSA Tape T10144W
• Publication: ‘From Missolonghi to Apsley House – A Reappraisal of Byron’, Listener 91 (1974), 623–6 (small item, not in Bibliography)

52Equality, Liberty and Variety

• Dialogue with John Vaizey, Professor of Economics, Brunel University
• Recording date: 9/5/74
• First transmission: 19/6/74 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 35 minutes 30 seconds
• Repeat(s): 10.30 pm 23/12/74 BBC Radio 3
• Series: Whatever Happened to Equality? (No 8 – last)
• Presenter: John Vaizey
• Producer: Daniel Snowman
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T36709; BLSA Tape P1016W; repeat BLSA Tape T831R

53The Russian Preoccupation with History

• Talk
• Recording date: 14/12/73
• First transmission: 9.30 pm 24/7/74 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 49 minutes 23 seconds
• Repeat(s): 9.00 pm 17/3/75 BBC Radio 3, 29/10/75 Australian Broadcasting Corporation (presenter John Merson[?], Sydney), as ‘The Russian Obsession with History’
• Producer: Adrian Johnson
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives; Berlin Papers; Russian translation in Berlin Papers
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T37598; copy on BLSA Tape T10144R; Australian Broadcasting Corporation tape, call number 75/10/2379 (copy at BLSA)
• Publication: very short extract only, as contribution to ‘Out of the Year’, Listener 92 (1974), 830 (small item, not in Bibliography)

54Man of Action

• Choice of records
• Recording date: 1/10/74
• First transmission: 2.05 pm 12/10/74 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 72 minutes 2 seconds
• Repeat(s): 2.20 pm 11/9/76 BBC Radio 3
• Producer: Derek Drescher (series producer in 1976 Patrick Lambert)
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives [both broadcasts]
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T51313; copy on BLSA Tapes T10173W and 10352W

55The Lion’s Roar

• IB reading extract from his book Mr Churchill in 1940
• First transmission: 8.30 pm 26/11/74 BBC Radio 4
• Duration (whole programme): 60 minutes
• Repeat(s): 11.05 pm 29/11/74 BBC Radio 4 (shortened)
• Producer: Denys Gueroult
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (presenter’s contributions only
• Publication: [part of Mr Churchill in 1940 (London, [1964]; John Murray; Boston/Cambridge, n.d.: Houghton Mifflin/Riverside Press) = Bibliography 32]

56Romanticism and Liberation; Romanticism and Social Change

• Discussion with Roy Pascal, Professor Emeritus, University of Birmingham; available on cassette (no public broadcast)
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (summary and discussion by Anthony Polonsky issued with cassette)
• Publication: cassette issued by Audio Learning Limited 1974, subsequently distributed by Audio-Visual Productions, School Hill Centre, CHEPSTOW, Gwent, NP6 5PH (tel. 01291-625439), but now unavailable for purchase; copy at BLSA (AUDIO-VISUAL PRODUCTIONS HUA 013)

1975

57Politics

• The Jay Interview
• First transmission: 31/8/75 London Weekend Television
• Presenter: Peter Jay
• Duration: 55 minutes
• Series: The Jay Interview: In Quest of Our Civilisation, No 2
• Producer: Julian Norridge
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: ITN Source; copy at BLSA, Tape V601
• Publication: online on this site

58The End of the Ideal of the Perfect Society

• Lecture given to an audience of teachers and students at the University of New South Wales
• Recording date: 1975
• First transmission: 5/11/75 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Presenter: John Merson[?], Sydney
• Duration: c.60 minutes
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: Australian Broadcasting Corporation tape, call number 75/10/2379; copy at BLSA, Tape h2882

59Vico, Voltaire and the Beginnings of Cultural History

• Lecture given at the University of Adelaide, 7/11/75
• Recording date: 7/11/75
• First transmission: 12/11/75 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Presenter: John Merson[?], Sydney
• Duration: c.60 minutes
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: Australian Broadcasting Corporation tape, call number 75/10/2379; copy at BLSA, Tape h2883

1976

60Reconsidering John Stuart Mill: 2 Mill – The Manifold

• Symposium
• Recording date: 18/5/76
• First transmission: 9.25 pm 6/10/76 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 55 minutes
• Repeat(s): 9.30 pm 22/4/78 BBC Radio 3
• Series: 2nd of 2 programmes (1st 27/9/76)
• Presenter: Alan Ryan
• Producer: Leonie Cohn
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T37949; copy on BLSA Tape T10213W

1977

61Decline of Utopian Ideas in the West

• Lecture given in Tokyo, 15/4/77
• Duration: c.60 minutes?
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: copy of private recording at BLSA, Tape h2707
• Publication: Decline of Utopian Ideas in the West ([Tokyo], 1978: Japan Foundation) = Bibliography 159

62Review of V S Pritchett, The Gentle Barbarian (Turgenev)

• First transmission: 9.30 pm 22/6/77 BBC Radio 4
• Duration (whole programme): 30 minutes
• Series: Kaleidoscope
• Presenter: Paul Vaughan
• Producer: Miriam Newman
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives

1978

63Interview on Russian Thinkers

• Insert for Books and Writers
• First transmission: 7/1/78 World Service
• Repeat(s): 9/1, 10/1/78 World Service
• Series: Books and Writers
• Producer: Anne Theroux
• Transcript: not at BBC Written Archives unless among unsorted material

64An Introduction to Philosophy

• Studio interview with Bryan Magee
• Recording date: 23/5/76
• First transmission: 9.35 pm 19/1/78 BBC2 Television
• Duration: 55 minutes
• Repeat(s): 4.40 pm 22/1/78 BBC2, 6.05 pm 13/1/79 BBC2, 4.20 pm 2/11/82 BBC2
• Series: Men of Ideas (No 1 of 15)
• Presenter: Bryan Magee
• Director: Tony Tyley
• Executive Producer: Janet Hoenig
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: SA T38569; BLSA Tape T10213R (sound only)
• Publication: in Listener and Bryan Magee (ed.), Men of Ideas

1979

65Interview on Concepts and Categories and Russian Thinkers

• First transmission: 7/2, 14/2, 21/2/79 Belgian Radio (Belgische Radio en Televisie)
• Series: Symposium
• Presenter/Producer: Frans Boenders
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape h2762

66Reinhold Niebuhr: A Timeless Prophet

• Interviews
• First transmission: 10.15 pm 18/3/79 BBC Radio 4
• Duration (whole programme): 45 minutes
• Presenter: Vernon Sproxton
• Producer: Peter Firth
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (presenter’s contributions only); IB’s contribution transcribed by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape T2222W

67Sir Isaiah Berlin at 70

• Interview for External Services Central Talks and Features (Magazines)
• Recording date: 29/5/79
• First transmission: 6/6/79? (processed, i.e. provided with a presentation script, 5/6/79)
• Producer: B J Waller
• Transcript: not at BBC Written Archives unless among unsorted material

1980

68Personal Impressions

• Interview on his book of that title (Hogarth Press, 1980)
• First transmission: 9.30 4/11/80 BBC Radio 4
• Duration (whole programme): 30 minutes
• Series: Kaleidoscope
• Presenter: Edwin Mullins
• Producer: Paul Campbell [Radio Times says Richard Dunn]
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BLSA Tape T10780R

1981

69A Month in the Country

• Translation of Turgenev’s play; National Theatre Production (opened 19/2/81)
• Recording date: 26/6/81
• First transmission: not broadcast (but see 65)
• Duration: c.2 hours 15 minutes?
• Recording: BLSA Tape T4244W&R
• Publication: Translation, with Introduction, of Ivan Turgenev, A Month in the Country (London, 1981: Hogarth Press; New York, 1982: Viking; Harmondsworth, 1983: Penguin) = Bibliography 175

70Levin Interview

• First transmission: 7.40 pm 23/5/81 BBC2 Television
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Repeat(s): 4.50 pm 2/12/82 BBC2
• Series: The Levin Interviews
• Presenter: Bernard Levin
• Director: Christopher Lewis
• Producer: John Shearer
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC film library (NBS F105R); BLSA Tape V2660; soundtrack BLSA Tape 6408W

71Conversations with Boris Pasternak

• Part of Maurice Bowra Memorial Lecture from Personal Impressions
• Recording date: [to come]
• First transmission: 10.15 pm 28/6/81 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Producer: Leonie Cohn/Helen Fry (LC in Radio Times, HF on contract)
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives MT41150; BLSA Tape T4197W (off-air)
• Publication: part of ‘Meetings with Russian Writers in 1945 and 1956’, in Personal Impressions (London, 1980: Hogarth Press; New York, 1981: Viking; Oxford, 1982: Oxford University Press; New York, 1982: Penguin) = Bibliography 169

72Conversations with Anna Akhmatova

• Part of Maurice Bowra Memorial Lecture from Personal Impressions
• Recording date: 4/8/81
• First transmission: 8.20 pm 27/8/81 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 20 minutes
• Producer: Leonie Cohn
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives MT41150; BLSA Tape 5916W (off-air)
• Publication: part of ‘Meetings with Russian Writers in 1945 and 1956’, in Personal Impressions (London, 1980: Hogarth Press; New York, 1981: Viking; Oxford, 1982: Oxford University Press; New York, 1982: Penguin) = Bibliography 169

1982

73Not a Place for Happiness at All

• A portrait of the historian Sir Lewis Namier, as recalled by friends and colleagues
• Recording date: 3/2/82
• First transmission: 7.00 pm 11/5/82 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 58 minutes 28 seconds
• Presenter: John Cannon
• Producers: Adrian Johnson and Anthony Moncrieff
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T42219; BLSA Tape T4929R

74Stravinsky: Man of Masks

• Interviews
• Recording date: 5/5/82
• First transmission: 5.00 pm 6/6/82 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (IB’s contributions): 6 minutes 36 seconds
• Presenter: Michael Berkeley
• Producer: Ann Stangar
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives
• Recording: complete programme on BBC Sound Archives TO82266 and BLSA tape T4986BW (off-air)

75In Memoriam Igor Stravinsky

• Interviews (IB’s contribution, at any rate, being only extracts from Stravinsky Died a Year Ago
• First transmission: 10.15 pm 17/6/82 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 60 minutes
• Presenter: Natalie Wheen
• Transcript: BBC Written Archives (presenter’s contributions only)
• Recording: BLSA Tape T5089BW (off-air)

1983

76A Month in the Country

• Translation of Turgenev’s play
• Recording date: 4/7/83
• First transmission: 5.45 pm 21/8/83 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
• Repeat(s): 7.00 pm 13/2/85 BBC Radio 3
• Producer: David Spenser
• Transcript: not at BBC Written Archives
• Recording: BBC Sound Archives T81483 (no copy at BLSA, but see 1981 production)
• Publication: see 1981 production

1986

77Recollections of Yitzhak Sadeh

• First transmission: date unknown, English-language service of Israeli radio
• Transcript: Berlin Papers
• Publication (in Hebrew): Davar, 5 September 1986, p. 17 = Bibliography 192c; incorporated in ‘Yitzhak Sadeh’, Midstream 39 No 4 (May 1993), 20–24 = Bibliography 214

1989

78Lydia Pasternak Slater

• Obituary programme
• Participants include IB and Christopher Barnes
• First transmission: ?/5/89 BBC Russian Service

79An Evening with Sir Isaiah Berlin

• Chat, choice of music, and repeats of A Fire at Sea (read by Richard Pasco) and Some Sources of Romanticism, 1: In Search of a Definition
• First transmission: 7.05 pm 6/6/89 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 3 hours 55 minutes
• Repeat(s): 11/6/89 BBC Radio 3 (first part only)
• Series: Third Ear
• Presenter: John Drummond
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA CD 1CDR0024911

80Twenty Hours in the Life of Akhmatova

• The second part of a two-part episode of the series named below; contains excerpts from Russian video footage (cameraman: Vyacheslav Stepanov) of interview by Vsevolod Shishkovsky (London correspondent of Russian State TV and Radio) with IB about Akhmatova etc. at Headington House
• Recording date: ?/4/89
• First transmission: 9.40 pm, ?/?/89[/90?] Russian TV, Moscow, Channel 4
• Series: ‘Pod znakom “pi” ’ (Under the Sign of ‘Pi’)
• Presenter: Lev Alexeevich Shilov
• Transcript (of unedited interview): made by Robin Hessman, translated by Helen Rappaport
• Recording: BLSA Tape V4920 (copy of unedited interview footage at BLSA: Tape V2661)

1991

81Sir Isaiah Berlin

• In conversation with John Drummond
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 23/12/91 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Presenter: John Drummond
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape B8931

1992

82The Late Show

• Interview by Michael Ignatieff
• Recording date: 30/1/92
• First transmission: 11.15 pm 5/2/92 BBC2 Television
• Duration: 40 minutes
• Series: The Late Show
• Presenter: Michael Ignatieff
• Producer: David Herman
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape V985 (off-air)

83Nationalism: The Melting-Pot Myth

• Interviews by Bryan Magee
• Recording date: 10/2/92
• First transmission: 19/2/92 BBC Radio 3
• Duration (whole programme): 48 minutes
• Series: What’s the Big Idea? (last of 12)
• Presenter: Bryan Magee
• Producer: Matt Thompson
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (IB’s portion)
• Recording: BLSA Tape B9090 (off-air)
• Publication: online on this site

84Desert Island Discs

• Recording date: 25/2/92
• First transmission: 12.15 pm 19/4/92 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 40 minutes
• Repeat: 9.05 am 24/4/92 BBC Radio 4; 12.15 pm 28/3/93 BBC Radio 4
• Series: Desert Island Discs
• Presenter: Sue Lawley
• Producer: Janet Lee
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (including 7,956 words of out-takes [5,155 words broadcast])
• Recording: BLSA Tape B9197 (off-air)

1993

85Classic FM interview

• First transmission: 12.00 pm 4/3/93 Classic FM
• Duration (IB’s portion): 25 minutes
• Series: Susannah Simons: Music and Conversation
• Presenter: Susannah Simons
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape H1247

86*Isaiah Berlin: Ein Porträt

• A portrait in German by Andreas Isenschmid, with contributions by IB, Isenschmid and Axel Honneth; readings spoken by Peter Kner
• Recording dates: London 9–10/2/93, Frankfurt 17/9/93
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 24/9/93 Swiss Radio DRS, Studio Zürich, channel DRS2
• Duration: 55 minutes 48 seconds
• Repeat: 4.30 pm 3/10/93 ibid.
• Series: Passage (No 2)
• Presenter: Andreas Isenschmid
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape h2754

1996

87The Kreutzer Sonata

• Interview with Humphrey Carpenter about Tolstoy’s story (a small fraction of a longer, unbroadcast interview about the BBC Third Programme, of which HC was writing a history)
• Recording date: 9/1/96, Oxford
• First transmission: 5.15 pm 18/1/96 BBC Radio 3 (this item c.7.05 pm)
• Duration: [10 min? whole interview 50 min?]
• Series: In Tune
• Producer: Jeremy Hayes
• Presenter: Humphrey Carpenter
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (whole interview)
• Recording: BLSA Tape H6408 (this section only)

88Private Passions

• Interview/Choice of recordings
• First transmission: 12.00 pm 3/2/96 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Repeat: 12.00 pm 11/1/97 BBC Radio 3
• Series: Private Passions
• Producer: Ladbroke Radio
• Presenter: Michael Berkeley
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy
• Recording: BLSA Tape H6476
• Publication: Romulus [the magazine of Wolfson College, Oxford], [June] 2006, 5–8

89Joseph Brodsky

• Documentary
• Recording date: 2/96
• First transmission: 7.30 pm 27/2/96 World Service
• Duration: 30 minutes
• Series: Meridian Feature
• Producer: Jenny Hargreaves
• Presenter: Elizabeth Robson
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (IB’s small contribution only)
• Recording: BLSA Tape H8723

90*Reputations: Isaiah Berlin

• Documentary with excerpts from IB’s broadcasts and contributions from John Drummond, Peter Laslett, Bryan Magee and Helen Rapp
• Recording date: 23/9/96
• First transmission: 9.35 pm 30/9/96 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Series: Reputations (The Third at 50)
• Producer: Neil Trevithick
• Presenter: Michael Ignatieff
• Recording: BLSA Tape H7830

1997

91Interview and discussion of The Proper Study of Mankind

• First item in composite programme: interview of IB by Anthony Denselow; discussion of book by John Gray, Jonathan Ree and Marilyn Butler
• First transmission: ? pm 25/2/97 BBC Radio 3
• Series: Night Waves
• Producer: Anthony Denselow
• Presenter: Richard Coles
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (IB’s small contribution only)
• Recording: BLSA Tape H8581/3

92*Meridian Feature (World Service) on IB

• Four interviews by Nick Rankin: Michael Ignatieff, Alan Montefiore, Robert Silvers and George Soros
• Recording date: 12–13/11/97
• First transmission: 6.30 am 15/11/97 World Service
• Duration: ?30 mins
• Repeat(s): [several]
• Series: Meridian (arts programme)
• Producer: Jenny Bowen
• Presenter: Nick Rankin
• Recording: BLSA Tape H9423/2

93*Night Waves item on IB

• Recording date: 6/11/97?
• First transmission: ? pm 6/11/97 BBC Radio 3
• Series: Night Waves
• Producer: Rob Ketteridge
• Presenter: Humphrey Carpenter
• Recording: BLSA Tape [to come]
• Publication: no

94Isaiah Berlin

1. The Making of a Hedgehog
2. Freedom and Its Enemies

• Two 50-minute programmes about the life and times of Isaiah Berlin, consisting in large part of interviews with Berlin by Michael Ignatieff; also six hours of unedited interview tapes used in compiling the programmes
• Recording date: 15–17/5/95
• First transmission: 14/11/97 and 15/11/97, 11.15 pm BBC2 Television
• Producer: David Herman
• Presenter: Michael Ignatieff
• Transcript: David Herman
• Recording: BBC Television Archives; BLSA Tapes C530/4 (first programme), C530/5 (second programme), C530/6 to C530/35 (rushes); YouTube (first programme)

95Vintage Years: Celebrating Salzburg 1: 1920–37

• The story of the Salzburg Festival, including reminiscences of the Festival’s early years from IB
• Recording date:
• First transmission: 13/12/97 2.00 pm BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 2 hours (whole programme)
• Series: Vintage Years: Celebrating Salzburg (6 programmes)
• Producer: David Gallagher
• Presenter: Richard Osborne
• Transcript: Henry Hardy (IB’s contribution only)
• Recording: BLSA Tape H9068/2

96Isaiah Berlin

• An evening devoted to the life and work of IB
• Recording date:
• First transmission: 8/12/97 7.30 pm BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Producer: Neil Trevithick
• Presenter: Humphrey Carpenter
• Recording: BLSA Tape H9507/1

1998

97Interview with Göran Rosenberg

• An interview with Göran Rosenberg of the Swedish monthly periodical Moderna Tider (the last filmed interview with IB)
• Recording date: 3/2/97
• First transmission: 10.10 pm 21/5/98 Swedish Television
• Duration: 48 minutes
• Series: Thinkers of Our Time
• Producer: Göran Rosenberg
• Presenter: Göran Rosenberg
• Transcript: Göran Rosenberg
• Recording: Swedish TV; BLSA Tape [to come]

97a*In Our Time

• Michael Ignatieff, IB’s biographer, interviewed about IB by Melvyn Bragg in the first episode of In Our Time
• First transmission: 9.02 am 15/10/98 BBC Radio 4
• Repeat: 9.30 pm 15/10/98 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 30 minutes (whole programme; parts of the programme are devoted to an interview with the historian Michael Howard)
• Series: In Our Time
• Presenter: Melvyn Bragg
• Recording: BBC

1999

98*Then We Take Berlin

• Documentary on IB’s ideas, including interviews with John Gray, Michael Ignatieff, Steven Lukes, Bob Rae, Charles Taylor, Daniel Weinstock, and extract of IB from An Introduction to Philosophy
• First transmission: 20/10/99 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• Series: Ideas
• Producer: Marilyn Powell
• Presenter: Andy Lamey
• Transcription: by Ian Godfrey, available from ideastran@toronto.cbc.ca

2000

99*Night Visit

• Radio play by Jean Binnie dramatising IB’s November 1945 all-night visit to the poetess Anna Akhmatova in Leningrad; Sarah Badel plays Akhmatova, Robert Glenister IB
• First transmission: 27/06/00 BBC Radio 4
• Repeat: 2.15 pm 27/11/02 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Series: Afternoon Play
• Director: Martin Jenkins
• Transcript: made by Esther Johnson for Henry Hardy

2002

100*The Art of the Radio Lecture

• Item including reference to IB’s 1952 radio lectures Freedom and its Betrayal
• First transmission: 7.15 pm 19/03/02 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 30 minutes (whole programme)
• Series: Front Row
• Presenter: John Wilson
• Producer: Nicki Paxman
• Transcript: made by Henry Hardy (of part on IB)
• Publication: only the excerpt from the lecture on Rousseau, in the book Freedom and its Betrayal

101*The Age of Freedom

• Item including reference to IB’s 1952 radio lectures Freedom and its Betrayal
• First transmission: 9.30 pm 26/03/02 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 90 minutes (whole programme)
• Presenter: Bridget Kendall
• Producers: Martin Smith and Mohit Bakaya
• Publication: only the excerpts from the lecture on Rousseau, in the book Freedom and its Betrayal

102*Freedom and its Betrayal

• A round-table discussion held on 1 July 2002 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London to mark the 50th anniversary of IB’s BBC Radio lectures. Each of the four speakers was asked to nominate two enemies of freedom. The choices were: poverty and inhibition (Philip Collins); the USA and the future (Zia Sardar); political correctness and secularism (Anne Widdecombe); religion and ignorance (A. C. Grayling)
• First transmission: ?/9/02 BBC4 TV
• Duration: 40 minutes (edited)
• Presenter: Jonathan Freedland
• Producer: Jeremy Skeet
• Publication: Freedom and its Betrayal

2007

102a‘We Will Force You To Be Free’

• Centred on discussion of IB’s views on liberty
• First transmission: 25/03/07 BBC2 Television
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Series: The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom (third and final part)
• Presenter and Director: Adam Curtis

2009

103Isaiah Berlin

• Discussion of IB’s views on liberty, with guests Francesca Klug, Anthony Grayling, Henry Hardy and Quentin Skinner
• First transmission: 9.15 pm 25/05/02 BBC Radio 3
• Duration: 45 minutes
• Series: Night Waves
• Presenter: Philip Dodd

104*A Tribute to Isaiah Berlin

• Interview on IB with John Gray; includes clip of IB from 105
• First transmission: 6 June 2009 ABC Radio National, Australia
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Series: The Philosopher’s Zone
• Presenter: Alan Saunders
• Producer: Kyla Slaven
• Transcript: ABC website
• Recording: ABC website

105A Conversation with Isaiah Berlin

• Interview with IB by John Merson, 1974
• First transmission: 13 June 2009 ABC Radio National, Australia
• Duration: 25 minutes
• Series: The Philosopher’s Zone
• Presenter: Alan Saunders
• Producer: Kyla Slaven
• Transcript: ABC website
• Recording: ABC website; YouTube

2010

106Born in Riga

• Documentary film on IB’s Latvian origins, intercut with interviews (with G. A. Cohen, Timothy Garton Ash, Peter Halban, Henry Hardy, Alan Montefiore, Anthony Quinton) and footage of IB
• First transmission: 4.10 pm 31/7/10 Latvian TV, Channel 1
• Duration: 32 minutes
• Repeat: 10.25 pm 2/8/10 Latvian TV, Channel 1
• Presenter: Björn Alexander Düben
• Director: Gints Grūbe
• Transcript: made by Esther Johnson and Henry Hardy

2011

107Great Thinkers in Their Own Words 2: The Grand Experiment

• Documentary film based on the BBC archives, containing clips of IB from items 29 and 70
• First transmission: 9.00 pm 8/8/11 BBC4 TV
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Series: Great Thinkers in Their Own Words, Episode 2
• Presenter: Rebecca Front
• Producer: Suniti Somaiya
• Transcript (IB’s contributions only): made by Henry Hardy

108Head to Head

• Discussion of item 52 above, chaired by Edward Stourton, with Quentin Skinner and Paul Kelly
• First transmission: 9.30 am 15/8/11 BBC Radio 4
• Duration: 15 minutes
• Series: Head to Head, Series 3, Episode 1
• Presenter: Edward Stourton
• Producer: Dominic Byrne
• Transcript: made by Esther Johnson and Henry Hardy

Main sections

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Video clip of Berlin speaking

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Abbreviations

BBC: British Broadcasting Corporation

Berlin Papers: The Isaiah Berlin Papers, Bodleian Library, Oxford

Bibliography

IB: Isaiah Berlin

BLSA: British Library Sound Archive, London

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