Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchJorge Luis Borges: 'Father' of Latin American fiction
In 1961, the Argentine poet and short story writer Jorge Luis Borges won the Formentor Prize for literature.
Borges’ stories were characterised by min…
1 year ago
Wallander and the rise of Nordic Noir
Published in 1991, Faceless Killers was the first of Henning Mankell’s crime novels featuring police inspector Kurt Wallander. The series changed the…
1 year ago
How BRICS got its name
In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big pl…
1 year ago
Japan surrenders in Beijing
Eighty years ago, in the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire.
The one in China was held at the For…
1 year ago
The remote island that was evacuated to 10,000km away
On 10 October 1961, a volcanic eruption threatened the population of Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, and all 26…
1 year ago
'I designed the Indian rupee symbol'
In 2009, the Indian government launched a national competition to find a design for the Indian rupee.
With more than 3,000 entries and five finalists,…
1 year ago
The home video war
Before streaming and catch-up TV, owning a video recorder was one of the only ways to watch on-demand entertainment.
In 1975 Sony launched Betamax wi…
1 year ago
The acquittal of OJ Simpson
It’s 30 years since American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Ron…
1 year ago
'I took the famous photo of JFK and his son'
On 2 October 1963, American photographer Stanley Tretick took the best picture of his life – a photo of President John F Kennedy working at the Resol…
1 year ago
The strike that shook up India's tea industry
In September 2015, thousands of women tea pickers went on strike at one of India’s biggest tea producers.
They had picked more tea than ever that year…
1 year ago