The BBC Radio 4 programme, In Our Time, presented by Melvyn Bragg, is a perfect show for a bluffer like me, as it covers some weighty topic, such as the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes or China’s Warring States period, in a cut-to-the-chase 30-minute format. Bragg is an able moderator, asking questions that a reasonably educated but non-specialist listener would like answered. And there are always a few nuggets that enliven the worthy explication. For example, yesterday’s show on the History of Hell gave an intriguing explanation on why hell has been traditionally been seen as a place of fire. It seems that the Christian iconography was shaped by the Jewish tradition, which held that the dead were punished for their sins in a place called Gehenna. Prosaically, Gehenna actually referred to a real locale, a rubbish dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where criminals were also executed. The site’s incessant fires–a basic rubbish incinerator service–along with the stigma of being a killing ground, made Gehenna the perfect candidate for a venue of eschatological torment.

So, armed with this trivia, you might want to impress your fellow hell-dwellers, should you ever have to misfortune to be dispatched to the place you believed didn’t exist. Surveying the lakes of fire and prancing demons, you could punningly remark, “What a tip!”.

Then again, such gags might make an eternity in Hades seem slightly longer…