Robert Macfarlane’s Free BBC Reith Lectures Tour Four Cities

Robert Macfarlane will record the BBC Reith Lectures before live audiences in London, Bangor, Aberdeen and Amsterdam in late 2026. The lecture series, titled The Human Superiority Complex, is open to the general public, with free ticket applications due to begin through the BBC website in late September.

Exact recording dates, times and venues have not yet been published. The four lectures will subsequently air on BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service by the end of 2026, with on-demand listening available through BBC Sounds.

Four elements frame the lecture series

Each lecture will use one of the four classical elements—Earth, Air, Fire and Water—to examine humanity’s relationship with other forms of life. Macfarlane, Professor of Literature and the Environmental Humanities at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Emmanuel College, plans to challenge the belief that humans stand above and apart from nature.

The opening lecture, Earth: The Ladder and the Web, will trace the development of this idea from The Epic of Gilgamesh onwards. It will contrast a hierarchical “ladder of life” with an interconnected web in which humans are participants rather than detached observers.

Air: The Great Thinning will turn to birds and scientific discoveries about the capabilities of other species. Its focus is how evidence from the living world can test assumptions about human uniqueness.

The third lecture, Fire: Deep-Time Thinking, will consider how politics and storytelling might take longer timescales into account. Macfarlane will connect that perspective with the responsibility of present generations towards those who follow.

The final instalment, Water: The Geography of Hope, will examine rivers and oceans alongside efforts to rethink legal and democratic structures. Its examples will include attempts to give voices, votes or rights to rivers, whales, mountains and other parts of the living world.

Macfarlane brings two decades of nature writing

The University of Cambridge announcement says Macfarlane will draw on scientists, artists, activists, lawmakers and communities who are questioning the human-superiority worldview. His stated aim is to make the lectures urgent and hopeful while opening debate about ecological crisis, extreme weather and a heating climate.

His books include Underland, The Old Ways, The Wild Places, Mountains of the Mind and Is a River Alive? He also co-created The Lost Words, The Lost Spells and The Book of Birds with artist Jackie Morris. His wider collaborations across film, theatre, music and visual art give the series a broader cultural frame than a conventional environmental lecture.

BBC Radio 4 Controller Mohit Bakaya said Macfarlane would bring “urgency, imagination and hope” to questions about humanity’s place in the living world. Macfarlane described the appointment as both an honour and a responsibility, arguing that responses to the present crisis depend on stories and imagination as well as science and legislation.

Free tickets will be released from late September

The BBC Reith Lectures were established in 1948 to advance public understanding and debate about major contemporary issues. Philosopher Bertrand Russell delivered the inaugural series; later lecturers have included Robert Oppenheimer, J.K. Galbraith and Stephen Hawking.

For the 2026 series, the confirmed recording locations are London, Bangor, Aberdeen and Amsterdam. Admission is free, and audiences will be able to apply through the BBC website from late September. Prospective attendees will need to check the BBC’s event information for exact dates, recording times, venue addresses and any accessibility or transport guidance once those details are released.

Source: University of Cambridge Research News