constantly curious
Past Present Future
Past Present Future is a podcast about the history of ideas, from politics to philosophy, from science to fiction. We release two new episodes a week, typically running in 4-, 6- & 8-part series on big themes: The Ideas Behind American Elections; The History of Bad Ideas; What if...? (Historical Counterfactuals); The Great Political Films; and The Great Political Fictions are some recent examples. Some of these are with guests (writers, historians, scientists, e.g. Tara Westover, Lea Ypi, Zadie Smith, Jill Lepore, Ian McEwan, Chris Clark, Adam Rutherford, and many, many others) and some are solo episodes by the host David Runciman. We are serious and aim to be seriously well informed but also always accessible and conversational. Our goal is to bring the history of ideas to life and to inform, educate and entertain our listeners and make them think differently about the ideas around them.
David Runciman
David Runciman is Honorary Professor of Politics at Cambridge University and a leading writer about politics and the history of ideas. He was creator and host of the Talking Politics podcast which ran from 2016-2022 and had 30 million downloads. He writes widely about politics and current affairs in the Guardian and the London Review of Books and he is a regular contributor and presenter on the BBC.
David's wife Helen is the producer of Past Present Future - they are a husband & wife team.
OUR HOST
David Runciman
David Runciman is Honorary Professor of Politics at Cambridge University and a leading writer about politics and the history of ideas. He was creator and host of the Talking Politics podcast which ran from 2016-2022 and had 30 million downloads. He writes widely about politics and current affairs in the Guardian and the London Review of Books and he is a regular contributor and presenter on the BBC.
David's wife Helen is the producer of Past Present Future - they are a husband & wife team.