Subject by subject

The first series of lectures won Mark a Royal Television Society award nomination for Best Entertainment Performance. The second series, which was nominated for a BAFTA award. The subjects covered across all three series were:

The original Statto

A handy man to have on a pub quiz team, Aristotle is rescued by Mark from his previous comedic fate at the hands of Monty Python.

Behind the beat

Relying on Ceefax page 888 and as much Captain Sensible as Jimi Hendrix, Mark travels to Vienna to get beyond the busts and discover the real Beethoven.

Never mind the blank verse

The first of famous international playboys and more David Beckham than Pam Ayres - get to know the real Byron.

The silent star

Not many of Gandhi's friends could claim to have a troupe of 20 talented dogs. Mark introduces Charles Chaplin.

The Innkeeper's boy

He took advantage of a gap in the market caused by the Black Death, and turned himself into the first literary star. Meet Chaucer.

The man who wouldn't be king

Mark introduces us to the man who led the New Model Army and deposed the Monarch: Meet Cromwell.

Breaking the code

The Last Supper is the EastEnders of its day? You're 'avin a larf, aintcha? Walford and Milan are linked by Mark and Da Vinci.

Evolution in the head

Drinking turtle urine might seem going a bit far, even in the name of science - but that was just the start for Darwin.

He thought, therefore...

He might have had a rubbish catchphrase, but he made up for it - meet Descartes.

Einstein: the lecture

A violinist as well as a physicist, Mark explores the hidden talents and secret subatomic history of Einstein.

Freud: the lecture

Pipped to the post by Groucho for the 20^th century's most famous cigar smoker, his response to the turmoil of his age was "It's your mother. Try some cocaine." He ejected God from the mind - but what would Freud replace him with?

Che: more than a tshirt

His birth and death are shrouded in mystery, but it's what happened in between that's most interesting. Mark introduces Che Guevara.

Marx: the lecture

He wasn't a Marxist, he wasn't especially tidy in his habits and even less so in his private life. Find out more with Mark on Marx

Newton: the lecture

He did a lot more than just sitting around waiting to be hit on the head with an apple, although you wouldn't know it from his time as an MP. Join Mark to reconsider Newton.

Sylvia Pankhurst: the lecture

The one who wanted more than just a poll card every four years, Mark traces the route of Sylvia Pankhurst from suffrage to Ethiopia.

Paine: the lecture

Apart from his lack of skills at selling bridges, Paine enjoyed a number of notable achievements in his life, yet remains largely forgotten in his country of birth. Mark explains why.

Shelley: the lecture

In the first major TV consideration of her life and work since Alan Partridge explained the distinction between Frankenstein and Frankenstein's monster, Mark Steel reveals the Mary Shelley who created both.