BBC Radio Podcasts from The Forum
Feeding the world and the Green Revolution
Turning points in arable farming
Etiquette
Manners in the modern world and in the past
Supermarkets
How supermarkets came to dominate food retail
Diplomacy
The reality of international diplomacy
The story of throwaway living
How disposable and single-use items conquered the world
Political parties and us
How well do political parties serve their voters?
What makes a good boss?
An exploration of how we can get the best out of people in the workplace.
The joy and sorrow of roads
Dirt tracks to expressways: how roadbuilding changed the world
Pets and us
A scamper through the social history of our best friends
The evolution of teenagers
Why do humans have such a prolonged adolescence?
Global mass tourism
Has tourism lost its way?
A deep dive into deepfakes
Misinformation spread by faked images is almost as old as film itself
How the mobile phone changed everything
Charting the seismic transformation of our lives caused by mobile communications
The submarine: Stealth machine
Exploring the silent and secretive world of underwater vessels
Hazel Scott: Jazz star and barrier breaker
An exceptionally talented musician who always stood her ground
The bittersweet tale of cocoa
The history of cacao in the Americas, from the Maya to the Aztecs
The dam builders
The politics, power and engineering behind monumental dams
Alexander the Great or not so great?
One of the world’s most astonishing military leaders, but was he brilliant or brutal?
Rituals: Our anchors in a changing world
Why rituals and ceremonies enthral us and endure through the ages
Tropicália: the movement that defied Brazil’s dictatorship
The story of Brazil’s counter-cultural push of the late 1960s
How the shipping container changed the world
How standardising the humble shipping container revolutionised world trade
Neanderthals: Meet the relatives
Recent scientific breakthroughs have overturned received wisdom about our ancient cousins
Cavalry and code-breaking: The Polish-Soviet war
Little-known conflict that shaped Eastern Europe in the aftermath of the First World War
How we work: Redesigning the office
The concept of the office is being reimagined. What can we learn from its history?
When money died: The world's worst inflation
Hungary, 1946, where prices doubled every 15 hours
The writer Rachel Carson who fought insecticide wars
How Silent Spring, a book about DDT use, changed the way we think about the environment
Why do we have a seven-day week?
How this unnatural cycle came to organise our lives
Forugh Farrokhzad: A trailblazing voice for women in Iran
How the courage and audacity of an Iranian writer continues to inspire
The Cynics: Counter-culture from Ancient Greece
Itinerant philosophers who advocated leading radically simplified lives.
Calories: How to fuel a human
The invisible force that shapes the way we feed ourselves
Belarus: The crossroads of Eastern Europe
History of Belarus from the Middle Ages to Lukashenka
Margaret Sanger: Mother of birth control
The controversial campaigner who founded Planned Parenthood and helped develop the pill
Alice Guy: The first female movie mogul
The pioneer of early cinema who was overlooked by history
The Epic of Gilgamesh: A quest for immortality
One of the oldest works of literature can speak to us even today
Uruguay 1930: The first football World Cup
How FIFA's global sporting spectacle began
Moths: The story of the butterfly of the night
The much maligned moth – pest or saviour?
The end of civilisation: Bronze Age collapse
One of the earliest examples of globalisation, and why it came crashing down
From straw poll to opinion poll
Exploring the past, present and future of opinion polling
Süleyman the Magnificent: longest-reigning Ottoman sultan
The 16th century Ottoman sultan who shaped a vast empire across three continents
William Cobbett: Champion of rural workers
William Cobbett: Industrialization and its impact on England’s rural population
How the paparazzi transformed photojournalism
Why 1950s Rome was the birthplace of the paparazzi
The Sun: Myths and magnetism
Understanding the star that makes all life on Earth possible
A forgotten founder of climate science: Eunice Newton Foote
The first person to link CO2 with global warming, and why she vanished from history
Dreams: Prophecy, propaganda and psychoanalysis
How our sleeping visions have wielded great influence throughout history.
Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary
Bridget Kendall and guests on the glamorous world of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent
Brazil's Palmares: A beacon of freedom
An inspirational settlement of people seeking freedom from slavery
Bluegrass: Virtuoso music of Appalachia
The rich history of music from America's rural south
The Art of War: Ancient Chinese guide to victory
A manual for achieving success on the battlefield, and in life
Gandhi: Architect of Indian independence
How a shy, mediocre schoolboy went on to shake the British Empire and inspire the world
Making scents: The story of perfume
How fine fragrance became what it is today
Eleonora Duse: The first great modern actress
The early feminist icon who challenged theatrical convention
La Malinche: Mexico's great 'traitor'
The indigenous slave girl who helped the Spanish conquer the Aztecs
Taras Shevchenko: The slave who became a symbol of Ukrainian independence
The life and work of Ukraine's national bard
The unstoppable orange
The golden fruit that became a symbol of love and wealth
Radio waves and plants: The life of JC Bose
How physics and biology entwined in JC Bose's search for the unity of all life on Earth
Samurai: Japan’s elite warrior class
The changing image of Japan’s fabled fighters over the centuries
Ice cream: A cool history
How snow and ice were transformed into one of the world’s most popular desserts
The Popol Vuh: Central American epic that survived Spanish conquest
One of the most mind-bending mythological sagas ever written
The Koryo Kingdom: Medieval dynasty that united Korea
Progressive, pluralistic and united – the remarkable era of the Koryo Kingdom
Insulin: The discovery that transformed diabetic care
Tracing the discovery of a hormone that has helped millions manage diabetes
Eunuchs and empires
The painful route to power for some young boys and men
Vikings and their quest for silver
How Viking trade and raids transformed medieval economy and society
Fertiliser and poison gas: The legacy of chemist Fritz Haber
The scientist who helped feed billions, and unleashed a new kind of death
Emperor Nero: Bad boy of Ancient Rome
Historical accounts of the notorious Roman emperor skew our interpretation of his legacy
Mirror Mirror on the wall: The history of the looking glass
The magical role of the mirror that's revealing ground-breaking secrets of the universe
Kwame Nkrumah: Ghana’s Pan-African idealist
Assessing the complex legacy of a man who campaigned for a United States of Africa
The Truman Doctrine: Beginnings of the Cold War
The speech that committed the USA to a 40-year struggle with the Soviet Union
Margaret Fuller: Early feminist and war correspondent
A brilliant American journalist determined to live her life to the full
Money: From coin to cryptocurrency
The origins of coins, paper money, shares and other financial instruments
Pinocchio: The real story of the mischievous wooden puppet
The original Italian novel about the wooden puppet with the growing nose
The invention of numbers
How numbers and counting shaped our world
Vincent van Gogh: The struggling artist
Charting the highs and lows of the influential Dutch post-Impressionist painter
Franz Liszt: Hungarian pianist and painter in sound
A charismatic musician who transformed classical concerts
Joseph Heller's Catch-22: A novel of twisted logic and absurd bureaucracy
Bridget Kendall explores a novel that gave rise to a new term in the English language
Sofya Kovalevskaya: The eventful life of a maths pioneer
A brilliant Russian whose scientific discoveries helped to reshape European universities
Machu Picchu: Secrets of a forgotten city
The enigma of the Inca mountain retreat
Pleasure and pain: The philosophy of Jeremy Bentham
The radical ideas of the 18th-century legal reformer Jeremy Bentham
Copper: From mining to microprocessors
The shiny red metal our lives depend on that has powered human development
Writer Agatha Christie: Murder and mystery
How the queen of crime achieved her extraordinary success
Boudica, warrior queen
The Iron Age English warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans
Harry Houdini: Escape artist and showman
Pulling back the curtain on the master of illusion
Antarctic Treaty: Protecting the icy continent
Safeguarding peace and wilderness with the Antarctic Treaty
Don Quixote: Spanish masterpiece
The multi-layered masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes
Algae: Slime life
The evolution of life’s original alchemists
The original Goths
How did a Germanic tribe come to inspire an architectural style and a global subculture?
Laskarina Bouboulina, the mother of modern Greece
An intrepid sea captain who commanded daring naval attacks with her own fleet of ships
Mary Somerville: The queen of 19th-Century science
The 19th-Century polymath who popularised science for generations of readers
The Malayan Emergency
One of the earliest Cold War conflicts in Asia
The Devils: Dostoevsky’s novel of political evil
Dostoevsky’s study of terrorism and poisoned ideals in pre-revolutionary Russia
A focus on spectacles
Looking at the history of an invention many of us take for granted
Sarah Bernhardt: Queen of stage and screen
The 19th Century French actress who defined modern celebrity
A dirty history of diamonds
The complex and sometimes shocking story of the diamond industry throughout history
The story of Evita
The life, work and remarkable afterlife of Eva Peron
Sushi: The Japanese dish with an ancient tradition
Sushi originally started in East Asia as a means of preserving fish
Toni Morrison: The legacy of a literary legend
How her influence as a writer extends across the globe
Algorithms: From the ancients to the internet
The 4,000-year history of the mathematical operations that now govern our daily lives.
Louder! How the electric guitar conquered popular music
The origins and early years of making the guitar electric
Luigi Pirandello: Italian dramatist who brought chaos to the stage
The radical, convention-breaking plays of an architect of modern 20th century theatre
Mars: A history of the Red Planet
When might we send humans to one of our closest neighbours in our solar system?
A radiant light: The Indonesian poet Amir Hamzah
The romantic works and tragic life of a noble writer from Sumatra
Sailing by the stars: The pioneering voyages of David Lewis
One man's intrepid quest to revive ancient navigation
Inside the mind of crime writer Patricia Highsmith
A 20th century master of the psychological thriller
Ibn Sina: The Persian polymath
Best known for his Canon of Medicine, Avicenna helped shape modern science
The Panama Canal: The real story behind the engineering triumph
The Canal that joined up the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but how did it impact Panama?
Ida Pfeiffer: 19th Century globetrotter
The eccentric traveller and collector who circumnavigated the globe twice
Rain or shine? A short history of the weather forecast
A century and a half of scientific meteorology
Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone
How mass-produced audio discs transformed our sound world
Tracing the roots of ancient trees
What can we learn from the oldest trees on earth?
The Wizard of Oz: A homegrown American fairy tale
The magical story of Dorothy, a plucky American heroine who follows the yellow brick road
Falconry: The history of hunting with birds of prey
From nomads to nobles, the working relationship between humans and raptors
Aramaic: An imperial language without an empire
A history of one of the oldest living languages in the world
X-rays: New ways of seeing
The discovery of X-rays in 1895 and how it transformed our world
Machiavelli, master of power
The life and reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince
The birth of the modern car
Design milestones in the early history of motor vehicles
Ukulele - a history of Hawaii's national instrument
The mini guitar that came to symbolise Hawaiian culture
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, groundbreaking fort builder
The engineer who championed freedom on two continents
The census: A snapshot of life
Charting the history of counting and classifying people the world over
Unravelling the history of knitting
What are the origins of knitting and how did it spread to different parts of the world?
One Hundred Years of Solitude: The story of Latin America
Gabriel García Márquez’s modern classic that fuses the magical with real life
Rabindranath Tagore: The Bard of Bengal
A portrait of the prolific writer who was an environmental thinker before his time
Pauline Viardot: 19th-Century diva
The Franco-Spanish singer and composer who charmed European society on and off stage
The One Thousand and One Nights
The ancient magical tales whose origins stretch from India to Persia to Arabia
Adventures with dentures: The story of dentistry
The painful early roots of a profession we all rely on
BR Ambedkar: The Dalit hero of India
The life of perhaps the greatest social reformer in 20th-century India
Making waves: the history of swimming
Different strokes for different folks, embracing the story of swimming around the world
Abraham Maslow’s psychology of human needs
An influential 20th-century thinker who identified what motivates us
The Kalevala: the Finnish epic that inspired a nation
The collection of folk songs and poetry that articulated Finnish independence
Sister Juana, a great mind of Mexico
An outspoken nun who was also a daring poet
Mermaids: Tales from the deep
A history of sea creature folklore from around the world
Eleusinian Mysteries: Secret ceremonies promising happiness
The enigma at the centre of ancient Greek religion
Toussaint L’Ouverture: Hero of the Haitian slave rebellion
The charismatic freed slave who was the true embodiment of French Revolutionary ideals
Olympe de Gouges: France’s forgotten revolutionary heroine
The French social activist, feminist and playwright who was executed at the guillotine
Alexandre Yersin and the race to fight the plague
The life and work of a pioneering Swiss microbiologist
Famous hats in history
The uses and meanings of headwear from prehistory to today
Mugham: the sound of Azerbaijan
Transcendental music from the Caucasus
The Kingdom of Aksum: Africa's trading empire
An ancient state in the Horn of Africa that is famed for its monumental stelae structures
Umm Kulthum: Egypt’s singing superstar
Exploring the life of a woman whose voice still captivates people across the Middle East
Alexandre Dumas: The man behind the Musketeers
The adventurous life of the much-loved French novelist
Unlocking the mysteries of cuneiform tablets
We explore the system of writing that developed 5,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia
First impressions: The printing press
How the machine pioneered by 15th Century entrepreneur Johannes Gutenberg changed history
The woman whose cells changed medical history
The story of Henrietta Lacks who unwittingly left behind an extraordinary medical legacy
Comenius, a pioneer of lifelong learning
The life and work of the father of modern education
Dido of Carthage: A love story gone wrong
What makes the legend of Dido so appealing to the arts and beyond?
Paul Robeson: Singer, actor and civil rights activist
Exploring the life of a man who campaigned for disenfranchised people around the world
Telling the time: From sundials to satnav
A brief history of how we tell the time
Writer Jorge Luis Borges: Mixing the magical with the mundane
Teasing and thought provoking: the works of the Argentinian master of pithy stories
Elizabeth Fry: 'The angel of prisons'
How a nineteenth century Quaker philanthropist shook up the prison system
The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Investigating how a thriving African American community was razed to the ground
Queen Tamar: The myth of a perfect ruler
Georgia’s most iconic female sovereign
Who were the Huguenots?
The myths and mysteries surrounding French protestant refugees
Smallpox: The defeat of the speckled monster
Exploring the 200 year campaign to wipe out a killer disease
Lal Ded, mystical Kashmiri poet
A free-spirited woman whose pithy words challenged social norms
Secrets of the Great Pyramid
Exploring the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt
Ray Bradbury, a master of science fiction
Celebrating the author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Why did the once mighty Rome crumble and fall to invaders in 476AD?
Picasso, artist of reinvention
How an artist changed our way of seeing
Tolstoy: War and Peace
An epic sweep of war and love and family life set in 19th century Russia
Chaucer, father of English poetry
The man who in the 14th Century made English a language fit for literature
Up close with tango
The dance that seduced the world
Valkyries: Fierce women of war
Choosing dead heroes from the battlefield, to fight with Odin in the apocalyptic Ragnarok
Silk routes: 2000 years of trading
Luxuries and everyday goods that travelled West and East
Bertha von Suttner: A champion of peace
The writer who became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize
Joan of Arc: Making a martyr
How a teenager fought to save France
Babylon, city of wonders
From The Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens to why there are 60 minutes in an hour
Aesop and the Fables
A black slave wrote 700 animal tales in Ancient Greece. Why are they still best sellers?
Goethe: The story of colour
How colour affects our mood and thoughts
The California Gold Rush
Who made a fortune and who was crushed in the rush for gold in California in 1849?
The 1918 Spanish Flu: The mother of all pandemics
The last global pandemic and what it can tell us about tackling Covid-19 .
Gerard Mercator: The man who revolutionised mapmaking
The mapmaker who defined the modern world
Gretta Cousins: champion of Irish and Indian women
A pianist and activist who fought for women’s votes and better lives
Natsume Soseki: Japan’s great novelist
The Japanese literary giant of the early 20th Century
In search of the good life: Epicurus and his philosophy
Exploring how an Ancient Greek school of thought has resonated through the ages
Artemisia Gentileschi: The painter who took on the men
The Italian Baroque artist who's become a hero for modern-day feminists
Guide dogs for the blind: A history
How did the idea of systematically training dogs for the blind originate?
Oscar Niemeyer: Brazil's king of curves
Brazil's visionary architect and leading pioneer of modernism
Haile Selassie: the last emperor of Ethiopia
The life and legacy of the man who became ‘the Father of Africa’
Emilie du Chatelet: a free-spirited physicist
The life and work of a remarkable 18th-century polymath
Man v mosquito
How humans have waged war against the mosquito for thousands of years
The magic of bronze
The stories behind some of the world's greatest masterpieces in bronze
Li Bai: The revered Chinese poet
The prodigious talent and restless life of Tang dynasty's literary rebel
Nefertiti: The beguiling Egyptian Queen
The story behind the beautiful bust and the powerful woman it represents
The amazing Dr Darwin
The life of Erasmus Darwin, one of the most remarkable minds in 18th Century Britain
A history of honey
Uncovering the rich cultural and medical history of the world's oldest sweet
Highlife: The sound of Ghana
Exploring the background to the music which has absorbed so many cultural influences
Yiddish: A story of survival
Regenerating Yiddish – the language and culture of the European Jews
A history of the restaurant
From dining in Song-dynasty China to the modern open kitchen
Eleanor Roosevelt: Redefining the First Lady
How the wife of US President Franklin Roosevelt became a powerful political operator
Ibn Khaldun: 14th Century sage
The life and work of a pioneering social scientist and historiographer
Cyrano de Bergerac: Big-nosed hero
The swashbuckling poet of a late 19th-century French play and his real-life inspiration
The Scythians: Masters of the steppe
The nomadic warriors who ruled vast swathes of Asia and Europe and who knew how to party
The Russian civil war: How the Soviets rose to power
How the events of the Russian civil war led to Lenin’s communist dictatorship
Fridtjof Nansen: Norway's great explorer
The polar adventures of a remarkable man whose humanitarian work saved thousands of lives
Rudolf Nureyev: Superstar Russian dancer
Exploring the life of a man who pushed the boundaries of ballet.
John Harvey Kellogg: The ‘wellness’ pioneer
How the co-inventor of cornflakes inspired a healthy living revolution
Indigo: the bluest blue
Blue Gold or Devil's Dye? The complex history of the precious blue dye
The Cat: In from the wild
Domesticated cats have been worshipped, vilified and revered throughout history
Manuela Sáenz: South America’s revolutionary heroine
The Ecuadorian woman who fought for South American independence in the 19th Century
Electric telegraph: the first worldwide web
The Morse code messaging network that changed the world forever
The history of opium
Opium’s journey from vital medicine to dangerously addictive drug
Albert Camus: Embracing life’s absurdity
The Stranger and other key works of Algeria’s great humanist Albert Camus
Fernando Pessoa: The man who multiplied himself
The great Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa who invented dozens of alter egos
Einstein: Revolution in time and space
How one man defined the role of science and scientists in the modern age
Imhotep: The man behind The Mummy
Uncovering the identity of the bandaged villain of Hollywood legend
Andy Warhol: The prince of Pop Art
Exploring the life and work of artist Andy Warhol
Coco Chanel: French style icon
Exploring the rags to riches life story of the French fashion designer
Nineteen Eighty-Four: Orwell's dystopian classic
Why George Orwell's novel remains topical 70 years after publication
The Spartans: Ancient Greece’s fighting machine
The warriors famed for their discipline, fearless self-sacrifice and brutality
Leeuwenhoek: The fabric seller who discovered bacteria
The life and work of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch pioneer of microscopy
Kafka's The Metamorphosis: A man turns into a monstrous bug
A man transforms into a kind of huge vermin overnight – Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis
Hugh Masekela: The iconic South African musician
Looking back at the life and career of the South African musician and activist
James Watt: The power of steam
How the Scottish engineer's ingenuity transformed industry
The Bhagavad Gita: A guide to spiritual wisdom
The metaphysical and philosophical manual for Hindus and non-Hindus alike
Cnut: England's Viking king
King Cnut the Great ruled much of northern Europe a millennium ago
How Afghanistan won its freedom from Britain
1919 and the creation of independent Afghanistan
Rasputin: The Siberian mystic who charmed the Tsar
Untangling the web of contradictions of the spiritual guide to the Romanov dynasty
The Moon from Earth
The science, culture and mythology of the Moon
Pearls: Treasures of the sea
The social history of pearls as a fashion and status symbol over the centuries
Thoreau: the writer who went to the woods
The author of the American classic ‘Walden’
Fado: Portuguese soul music
Nostalgic song from Portugal, a small country with a big heart
Queen Njinga of Angola: Fearless fighter
The remarkable 17th Century leader who defied European oppression
Inside the mind of Leonardo da Vinci
The Italian artist’s unique understanding of science and the natural world
Chess: a chequered history
A war on the board - one of the oldest strategy games in the world
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas
Jules Verne's classic adventure novel
Napoleon: From empire to exile
Exploring the life and legacy of France’s revolutionary emperor
The spice trade: Selling the scents of luxury
The unique allure of spices that preyed on emotion and taste, and powered whole Empires
Moomin Creator Tove Jansson
Tove Jansson was the Finnish-Swedish author and illustrator best known for the Moomins.
Anaesthesia: Unwrapping oblivion
Getting under the skin of the discovery which made pain-free operations possible
Calouste Gulbenkian: The architect of Middle East oil
The secretive Armenian financier who shaped petroleum production for decades
Robinson Crusoe: The man and his island
Daniel Defoe’s classic adventure story
Lu Xun: Writing the story of New China
Life and works of the man who transformed Chinese literature.
The talking drums of West Africa
A source of music, spiritual power and oral literature
The Top of the World
The history of the North Pole as both a place on the map and in our imaginations.
The Heel and the Sneaker
A history of footwear
Goya: Seeking truth through art
The Spanish artist Francisco Goya, whose work explored the darker side of human nature
Antigone: A drama of defiance
The classic play from Ancient Greece about civil disobedience
The Master and Margarita: Devilish satire
One of Russia’s favourite novels that combines magical fantasy with dark political satire
Fermentation: Ancient Food Alchemy
What's your brew? Friendly microbes making our fare tastier
The Emergence of Modern Turkey
The birth of the secular republic of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Revealing the Gulag
The Russian writer who exposed the grim, nightmarish world of Soviet forced labour camps
The Iranian Coup of 1953: Overthrow of a Prime Minister
How British and US intelligence agencies helped oust Iran’s leader Mohammad Mossadeq
Diaghilev and the ballet revolution
The Russian impresario whose Ballet Russes company transformed 20th century dance
Charlie Chaplin
The life and work of early Hollywood's most successful comedian
Coal: a Burning Legacy
How coal created empires and wealth but also caused misery and unprecedented pollution
Lifting the lid: The history of the toilet
An invention many rely on, but prefer not to discuss
Calm in the chaos: The story of the Stoics
A philosophy for resilience and equanimity
Cambodia's ancient Khmer Empire
Builders and sculptors of South East Asia's awe-inspiring monuments
Who was the real Cleopatra?
Unpicking fact from fiction in the life of the last queen of Egypt
Karl Kraus: Austria’s fearless satirist
The scathing critic of deceit and corruption in Vienna
Cool: Sunglasses, style and American counter-culture
Exploring the elements of that seemingly effortless pose to which so many aspire
Frida Kahlo: A life in colour
The life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, known for her ground-breaking self-portraits
The Jet Engine
The trailblazing technology which made the air age soar
Edgar Allan Poe: Master of horror
The dark, tumultuous life of America’s great gothic writer
The Making of Modern Japan
Rajan Datar and guests discuss the astonishing transformation of Japan over 150 years
The American author James Baldwin
A giant of twentieth century American culture
The Acropolis: Cradle of democracy
How the Acropolis of Athens provided the West with its foundations of politics and drama
Friedrich Engels: The Man Behind Karl Marx
The eventful life of Engels and his pivotal contribution to Marxism
Empress Nur Jahan: Leader of the Mughals
The woman who wielded unparalleled power over the Mughal Empire in 17th century India
Waiting for Godot: The play that changed the rules of theatre
How a play in which nothing happens created a revolution in contemporary theatre
Christina of Sweden: Queen of surprises
The rebellious monarch who scandalised 17th-century Europe
Vincent van Gogh: The struggling artist
Charting the highs and lows of the influential Dutch post-Impressionist painter
Mark Twain: The 'father of American literature'
Bridget Kendall and guests discuss the life, work and legacy of Mark Twain
Pioneers of surgical hygiene
The painful route to cleanliness in 19th century hospitals
The invention of numbers
How numbers and counting shaped our world
The life and works of William Blake
Radical visionary, artist and poet
J. William Fulbright: Scholarships and Soft Power
The man behind the renowned scholarship programme
The tales of Timbuktu
How a remote desert town in Mali became world famous
The piano: Hitting the right keys
Bridget Kendall and guests lift the lid on 300 years of the piano
Simone de Beauvoir: Feminist thinker for modern times
How a philosophical thinker radically changed the way we see women
Catherine the Great of Russia
A woman and a foreigner who usurped her way to the throne in 18th century Russia
Material World: Making the Modern Factory
The global factory story
Machu Picchu: The secrets of a forgotten city
The enigma of the Inca mountain retreat
Plastic: How it Changed the World
Experts from the world of science discuss the story of plastic with presenter Rajan Datar
Sugar: A Sweet Menace
How sugar travelled across the world and seduced all on its path
What is Zoroastrianism?
The history of a venerable religion
Votes for Women: the Global Story
The extraordinary stories of the women around the world who won the right to vote
From Straw Poll to Opinion Poll
With us since the 1930s, polls help forecast elections and conduct market research
Lawrence of Arabia
The life of T.E Lawrence renowned for his involvement with the Arab Revolt during WW1
Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary
Bridget Kendall and guests on the glamorous world of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
The 19th Century epic novel on a vengeful sailor’s battle with the great ‘white whale’
The original Goths
The ancient tribe which shaped Europe's history
Dante’s Inferno: The poetry of Hell
The imagined poetic voyage through Hell that explores the meaning of human existence
Magellan: First Man Round the Globe?
The story of the man whose voyage accidently circumnavigated the globe
The Little Prince: Lessons from an aviator’s life
Who was Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and how did he come to write The Little Prince?
Chinua Achebe: Rewriting the African story
The life and work of the ground-breaking Nigerian author
Boudica: Warrior queen
The Iron Age English warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans
The alphabet of chemistry
The history of the Periodic Table of the elements
Kubla Khan: A vision in a dream
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic is one of the most famous poems in the English language
The story of Evita
Eva Peron rose from poverty to become one of the most powerful figures in Latin America
Flamenco: Darkness and light
Rajan Datar and guests explore the origins and evolution of flamenco
Sankara: Africa’s Revolutionary President
Thomas Sankara: why his assassination and time in power still haunts Africa to this day
Cotton: a Yarn with a Twist
The chequered history of the original global fabric
Life Support: The Story of the Red Cross
The Story of The International Committee of the Red Cross
Stanislavsky: Founder of modern acting
Konstantin Stanislavsky: the greatest single influence on acting today
Nikola Tesla’s electric dreams
A showman and a dreamer or an engineering genius well ahead of his time?
Adam Smith: Father of Capitalism
Exploring the work of the 18th century moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith
The First Skyscrapers
How America reached for the skies
Rain or shine? A short history of the weather forecast
A century and a half of scientific meteorology
The Reformation: A World Divided
How Martin Luther started a revolution that would lead to the Protestant Reformation
Detroit: Migration Motors & Music
The changing fortunes of the American city of Detroit
The Real Pirates of the Caribbean
The story of the men and women who defined the ‘Golden Age’ of piracy.
Rumi: Sufi poet of love
The life, poetry and legacy of 13th Century Sufi poet Rumi
The story of the guitar
The history and popular rise of the guitar
The rise and fall of Julius Caesar
The ruler who revolutionised ancient Rome
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Bridget Kendall and guests discuss the origins and the legacy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Secrets of the Great Pyramid
Exploring The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt
First Impressions: The Printing Press
How a fifteenth century innovation changed our printed world
The first heart transplant
A race to make medical history
Picasso: Artist of reinvention
How Pablo Picasso changed our way of seeing
Making Scents: The story of perfume
How fine fragrance became liquid luxury in a bottle
Total eclipse of the Sun
A plunge into darkness
The One Thousand and One Nights
The power of storytelling
Joan of Arc: Making a martyr
How a teenager fought to save France
Up close with tango
The dance that seduced the world
Carl Linnaeus: Naming nature
The botanist who created a classification system to understand the natural world
Silk Routes: Two Thousand Years of Trading
Luxuries and everyday goods that travelled East and West
Indian Princely States
The lives of the Princes of India, their relationship with the British and legacy today
The Creation of Modern Canada
Exploring the Confederation of Canada in 1867
Childhood: From Toddlers to Teenagers
Through the ages and across the world, how have our ideas about childhood changed?
Arthur Conan Doyle: The man behind Sherlock Holmes
The life of doctor and literary star Arthur Conan Doyle.
Telling the time: From sundials to satnav
A brief history of how we tell the time
Taiwan: An Island History
An exploration of the island of Taiwan
Amelia Earhart: Trailblazer in the skies
The inspirational life of the celebrated American aviator
How the metre changed the world
The universal unit of length that joined up the globe
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland
The story behind this weird and wonderful literary classic
The Belle Epoque: A Golden Age?
Paris in the 19th Century when permissiveness mixed with political and creative optimism
Machiavelli - Master of Power
The life and reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’
Haile Selassie: The last Emperor of Ethiopia
The life and legacy of the man who became ‘the Father of Africa’
The KGB: Secrets and Spies
The story of the KGB
The Magic of Bronze
Discover the amazing stories behind some of the world's greatest masterpieces in bronze
Marie Curie: A pioneering life
The extraordinary life of the Polish scientist who changed the course of physics
Beethoven: The genius rule breaker
Why Beethoven is so universally popular
Yellow fever: Man against mosquito
How we tamed one of the world's deadliest diseases, and why it's coming back
The real story of Frankenstein
The origins, themes and continuing legacy of Mary Shelley’s gothic tale Frankenstein
The birth of hip hop
The early years of rap and breakdancing in New York
Seven Samurai: A Japanese masterpiece
The global impact of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 groundbreaking action film
Goethe: The story of colour
How colour affects our mood and thoughts
Mata Hari: Dancer, lover, spy
What is the truth behind the legendary WW1 spy-seductress?
The Silicon Chip: A Tech Revolution
The story of the development of the silicon chip
The Powers of the American President
The Constitution, Congress and the US Presidency
Fela Kuti: King of Afrobeat
The life and legacy of Fela Kuti, Nigeria’s maverick musical pioneer
Cali-topia: a New Vision of Thomas More's Utopia?
Is Silicon Valley a template for our utopian future?
Utopia: Mr More’s Wondrous Islands
A celebration of Thomas More's Utopia and new short stories inspired by it.
Thomas More's Utopia
Celebrating More's radical book and its political influence in the past and present
Winner or Cheat? Doping in Sport
The inside story; swapped samples, state-sponsored doping and the battle for world sport
The Iliad: Beauty, brutes and battles
Why is Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem still so important?
Korea: Two Countries, One Past
Why and how the Korean Peninsula came to be divided into North and South Korea
Unpicking the UN
The history and current challenges facing the UN
Drones and their Impact on the World
The history, present and future of drones.
DNA: The code for making life
A close look at the remarkable set of building blocks which all cellular life shares
The new curators: Who decides what’s culturally important?
How the idea of curation has radically changed
Do we Need Artificial Intelligence?
How the relentless advance of computer logic is changing our world and the way we think
Concrete: Foundation of the modern world
How concrete underpins the modern world
Why Are We Generous?
Are we generous out of kindness or self-interest?
Reducing Urban Poverty
How to ensure people in deprived areas get secondary education and adequate nutrition
Using Other People’s Water
Are we sucking our worldwide supply dry?
How Shyness and Introversion can be a Strength
Are shyness and introversion cultural or innate; do they help us negotiate today’s world?
Turmoil Around the World and in Ourselves
Exploring turmoil in politics and society
Underground: How Deep Can Life Survive?
Exploring the mysteries of the biosphere below the earth’s surface.
Fire: How Climate Change is Altering our Attitudes to Wildfires
How do we deal with fire to protect health without compromising the environment?
What is the Best Way to Deal with Anxiety?
How anxiety is created in the brain and how we can best help the anxious
Image overload: Coping with the modern world's visual clutter
How do our brains cope with the visual clutter of the modern world?
Balloons and How they Changed the World
The extraordinary impact of balloons on the human race.
Sharing and Why it is Essential for the Human Race
Why do we share and how important is it for our survival?
The Unpredictable Planet: Understanding Volcanoes and Earthquakes
New ideas about volcanoes, earthquakes and other geological processes
Do You Know What You’re Eating?
How to ensure better food transparency: to track what we eat from farm to fork.
Radioactivity: Friend or Foe?
Separating the benefits of radioactivity from its dangers
Defiance: Why Are Some People More Defiant than Others?
When is defiance a resistance to authority, and when is it a sign of disregard to others?
Microbes and Humans: The Science of Living Together
New insights into the human microbiome, the tiny organisms living in and on our bodies
Unfinished: The Art of the Incomplete
How do we respond to things that are unfinished or incomplete?
Talking Rubbish: Clever Ways with Waste
Advice from a garbologist, a waste expert and a taxidermist about re-using waste
Resilience: A Survivor's Guide to Adversity
Why some people and animals adapt to hardship
When Does Healthy Competition Become Destructive?
What is the place of rivalry in human behaviour?
After Dark: How we Respond to Darkness
Exploring how we operate at night and our attitude to the dark
Brain Drain: Can We Stem the Flow?
How can we stem the brain drain from countries who need their talented people?
Wheel Revolutions
The technology and art of wheeled transport
Rules and how they govern us
Rules and how they govern us.
Balance: How we Find Equilibrium
Why balance in humans, machines and music are needed for effectiveness and safety
Lost and Found
Can loss be a force for renewal, forcing us to adjust and experience things differently?
A Single World, Many Identities?
Turkish novelist Elif Shafak, Nick Bostrom and Ann Phoenix from UCL discuss identity
Living at the Edge: Life in Extreme Environments
Extreme life on earth and in space.
Taming Nature
What lies behind our desire to improve and perfect nature