Podcast Episodes

Connecting homes to the internet using cable TV

In 1991, a small company led by an Iranian-born engineer, Rouzbeh Yassini, created a technology which enabled millions of homes across America to acc…

2 weeks, 1 day ago

Norway’s teacher resistance in World War Two

When Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940, a collaborative government led by Norwegian Vidkun Quisling was put in place.

Quisling believed tha…

2 weeks, 2 days ago

Firefighter: Surviving the 9/11 North Tower collapse

On 11 September 2001, firefighter Jay Jonas and his crew were sent into New York's North Tower after a hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Ce…

2 weeks, 5 days ago

The weather report that changed the date of D-Day

In 1944, a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin drew up a weather report that helped change the course of World War Two.

Maureen was working at a po…

2 weeks, 6 days ago

Bayeux Tapestry: the lost Nazi archive

In 1994, documents from a Nazi study of the Bayeux Tapestry were rediscovered after more than 50 years.

Former curator of the tapestry, Sylvette Lema…

3 weeks ago

The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle

In 1985, reports of a moving statue of the Virgin Mary drew thousands of people to the village of Ballinspittle in County Cork, Ireland.

Helen Ledwic…

3 weeks, 1 day ago

Surviving the Long March

In 1935, tens of thousands who had followed Mao Zedong on the Long March across China struggled to survive. They were fleeing Chiang Kai-shek's Natio…

3 weeks, 2 days ago

Star Trek: America's first interracial TV kiss

In 1968, American television boldly went where it had never gone before, broadcasting what's claimed to be the country's first interracial kiss in a …

3 weeks, 5 days ago

The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

In 1982, audiences around the world fell in love with a gentle alien stranded on Earth and the young boy determined to help him get home. Steven Spie…

3 weeks, 6 days ago

‘Genius’ sci-fi writer Octavia E Butler

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing.

From a young age she dreamed of w…

4 weeks ago