Podcast Episodes

Inventing Play-Doh

In 1956, one of the world’s most beloved children’s toys went on sale for the first time, but its origins were surprising.

The modelling clay had started out as a household cleaning product. In the da…

Published on 9 hours ago

The invention of Jenga

It's just over 30 years since the brick game was introduced to the world at a department store in London.

Made of 54 wooden blocks stacked into a tower in rows of three by three, each player takes a …

Published on 1 day, 9 hours ago

The first television opera

On 24 December 1951, in the United States, television history was made with the live broadcast of Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera ever composed specifically for TV.

Written by acclaimed …

Published on 4 days, 8 hours ago

When Laurel and Hardy spent Christmas at an English pub

In December 1953, Hollywood film stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spent a few weeks at the Bull Inn, Bottesford, Leicestershire, while they performed a show at the nearby Nottingham Empire.

Stan’s s…

Published on 5 days, 9 hours ago

When Norway introduced salmon sushi to Japan

In the late 1980s, Norway needed a new market for its growing farmed salmon production.

Fish-loving Japan and its lucrative sushi market seemed to fit the bill. But salmon was one fish the Japanese …

Published on 6 days, 9 hours ago

India's disability law

In December 1995, India's parliament passed the country's first disability rights legislation.

The landmark law aimed to give full participation and equality rights to an estimated 60 million people -…

Published on 1 week ago

How NFL tickets caught fugitives

Operation Flagship was a U.S Marshals sting operation, where some of Washington DC’s most wanted fugitives, were lured to a convention centre under the pretence of having won coveted NFL tickets in D…

Published on 1 week, 1 day ago

Introducing The Bomb: Kennedy and Khrushchev

The world is on the brink of nuclear war. How can the Soviet Union and the USA prevent it? Hosts Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of the superpower leaders President John F Kennedy and Pre…

Published on 1 week, 3 days ago

The Paris climate agreement

On 12 December 2015, 193 countries and the European Union adopted the Paris climate agreement. It legally committed countries to climate action plans, designed to stop global temperatures rising 2C a…

Published on 1 week, 4 days ago

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa

Following the abolishment of Apartheid in the 1990s, South Africa had to find a way to confront its brutal past without endangering the chance for peace.

But it was a challenging process for many sur…

Published on 1 week, 5 days ago