Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Georgian exodus from Abkhazia
In 1993, separatist forces took Sukhumi, the capital of the former Soviet territory of Abkhazia.
As Georgian authorities lost control of the region, …
2 weeks ago
Hussein of Jordan: The survivor king
In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan survived after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade close to his summer palace. The king remained unharmed, but his dr…
2 weeks, 3 days ago
The inspiration for Chekhov's Three Sisters
In 1897, Paul Shishkoff was 10 years old and living with his family in rural Russia.
It was there he met the great Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov, …
2 weeks, 4 days ago
Picasso and the Surrealist summer
In the summer of 1937, some of the 20th Century's most famous artists, writers and photographers were holidaying in the south of France.
They include…
2 weeks, 5 days ago
Mstislav Rostropovich: Virtuoso cellist
In 1978, Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the greatest cellists in history, was stripped of his Soviet citizenship for engaging in 'unpatriotic activity…
2 weeks, 6 days ago
Nelson Mandela's incarceration at Robben Island
On 13 June 1964, Nelson Mandela, who later became South Africa's president, was taken to the maximum security prison on Robben Island off the coast o…
3 weeks ago
The creation of Inspector Montalbano
On 10 March 1994, Italian author Andrea Camilleri's The Shape of Water was published.
It features Inspector Montalbano in the fictional Sicilian town …
3 weeks, 3 days ago
The protests that sparked the Tiananmen Square massacre
One month before the bloodshed in Beijing, a 10km line of protestors snaked through the city.
For over a decade China had been opening up to global t…
3 weeks, 4 days ago
Australia's first Big Thing
In 1963, a giant Scotsman sculpture appeared outside the Scotty Motel in Adelaide, in South Australia. A banana, a koala, and even a potato soon foll…
3 weeks, 5 days ago
The first Irish language television channel
In 1996, Ireland launched its first television channel broadcasting exclusively in the Irish language.
Teilifís na Gaeilge, later renamed TG4, went o…
3 weeks, 6 days ago