Episode 91. Louisa Twining
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Bill Jacob, author of the landmark Religious Vitality In Victorian London, about the philanthropist Louisa Twining and her campaign for workhouse reform.
Episode 89. Sexual Heresies
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Joy Dixon about her 2026 book about Victorian sexology and its relationship to religious faith, Sexual Heresies.
Episode 75. Shell Shocked Prophets: Chaplains and the Great War
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the expert on the history of religion and the First World War, Dr Linda Parker, about her book, Shell-Shocked Prophets, which tells the story of how trench experience changed the social attitudes of Anglican chaplains.
Episode 66. G. K. Chesterton
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dale Ahlquist, magazine editor and advocate of the thought of G. K. Chesterton, author, literary critic, Christian apologist, journalist and creator of the fictional detective, Father Brown.
Episode 65. Ellen Ranyard: Pioneer Social Worker
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with author and co-founder of infed.org, the online encyclopedia of pedagogy and informal education, Mark K. Smith about the Victorian pioneer of social work and district nursing, Mrs Ellen Ranyard.
Episode 63. Dick Sheppard and the Peace Pledge Union
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the screenwriter and literary historian, Professor George M Johnson about the pacifist priest and founder of the Peace Pledge Union, Dick Sheppard.
Episode 62. Two Portsmouth Portraits: John Pounds and Robert Dolling
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the TV writer, novelist, book dealer and publisher, Matt Wingett about the history of his home town, Portsmouth and its two eminent social reformers, John Pounds and Robert Dolling..
Episode 61. The Quakers and their Chocolate
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Ben Pink Dandelion, about the religious sensibility of the British Quakers, their innovative but generous business mindset, and the Fry, Cadbury and Rowntree chocolate makers.
Episode 59. Henry Scott Holland and the Common Good
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the academic Dr Ralph Norman about the Anglican preacher and social reformer, Henry Scott Holland.
Episode 56. Maude Royden and the Guildhouse
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the Revd Canon Alison Falby about the life and times of the pioneering Anglican preacher, suffragist, pacifist and public intellectual Maude Royden.
Episode 55. The Ragged School Movement
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Erica Davies, Director of the Ragged School Museum and the academic Bill Jacob about the Museum’s place in the London Ragged School Movement, before the advent of state education in 1870.
Episode 53. Keir Hardie and the Labour Church
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Dr Neil Johnson about his separate books on Keir Hardie and the Labour Church
Episode 50. Evelyn Underhill: Pioneer of Modern Spirituality
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Jane Shaw about the pioneer of modern spirituality, Christian mystic, retreat leader and spiritual director, Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941).
Episode 49. St Mary’s Primrose Hill: A Christian Socialist Case Study
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Christopher Kitching CBE about the radical influence of St Mary’s Primrose Hill on Anglican liturgy and social theology..
Episode 48. The Lanes: A Methodist Case Study
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with David Lane CBE about the Lane family’s Methodism and his career in social services.
Episode 45. Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Revd Canon Dr Georgina Byrne about her book Modern Spiritualism and the Church of England and the changing attitudes within Anglicanism to the afterlife..
Episode 43. Pleshey Retreat House, Essex and Evelyn Underhill
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the former Warden of Pleshey Retreat House, Essex, Canon John Howden about its proud history and association with the Christian mystic, Evelyn Underhill.
Episode 41. W. T. Stead: Newspaper Prophet
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Stewart J. Brown about his biography of the nonconformist and newspaper prophet, W. T. Stead.
Episode 40. Theo Hobson: Anglicanism, Liberalism and Liberty
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with the theologian, author and journalist Theo Hobson about the relationship between the Church of England and modern notions of liberty and liberalism.
Episode 39. The Two Lives of Christabel Pankhurst
Dr Simon Machin in conversation with Professor Timothy Larsen about the feminist and fundamentalist preacher, Christabel Pankhurst.