This short introductory episode marks the handover of In Our Time from Melvyn Bragg to Misha Glenny. Glenny sits in the studio where Bragg recorded over 1,000 episodes and notes that Bragg has personally given him his blessing. Asked why he is the right person, Glenny points to a cross-disciplinary career: a humanities degree in drama, years as a BBC foreign correspondent covering the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the fall of Yugoslavia, a history of the modern Balkans, a book about the favelas of Brazil, and more recent work on technology and hacking. He says he is dropping other commitments because there is nothing better than In Our Time. He describes the format: each week a new subject, a deep dive for the host, then a conversation with three academic experts. Topics can range from plate tectonics to the rise of Adolf Hitler to dragons. Glenny commits that the show will not dumb down and says the host's role is to be the voice of the listener. He says the multi-guest format matters because experts sometimes disagree, producing civilized dispute and bringing listeners closer to the truth. He links this to John Stuart Mill's argument in On Liberty that there is no monopoly on truth. He previews upcoming episodes: On Liberty, the Mariana Trench (which he notes is two kilometres deeper than Everest is high), and the Roman arena, which he says hosted games for over 500 years. He notes Hollywood gets much about the arena wrong. Listeners are told the new series starts on BBC Sounds on Thursday 15th January.
