Podcast Episodes

Brazil’s electronic voting

In 1996, Brazil introduced a pioneering electronic voting system, revolutionising its election process. Carlos Velozo, an electoral lawyer and judge, played a pivotal role in implementing this system…

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

The Ken Burns Effect

In 2002, filmmaker Ken Burns received an intriguing proposition from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. He wanted Burns’ signature filming style to be inserted into the video editing software of every Macintosh …

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

Jean Batten: New Zealand’s record breaking aviator

New Zealander Jean Batten was nicknamed the ‘Queen of the Skies’ for her record breaking flights of the 1930s.

After abandoning a career in music, Jean learnt to fly at the age of 21. She soon joined…

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

The creation of Greenwich Mean Time

In 1676, Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed was looking to find a way to determine longitude at sea, so ships could know their position and hazards.

Feuds with Sir Isaac Newton, dirty rivers and a missin…

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

My dad created Dungeons & Dragons

In 1970, father of five Gary Gygax was fired from his job as an insurance underwriter in Chicago, in the United States of America. It may sound like a mundane event to read about but, believe it or n…

Published on 1 year, 1 month ago

Bonga Kwenda: Music banned in Angola and Portugal

Star athlete, Jose Adelino Barceló de Carvalho, abandoned his career in 1972 to follow his one true passion, music.

After growing up under Portuguese colonial rule, he became an outspoken supporter of…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago

Ethiopia's 1984 famine

In 1984, Ethiopia suffered one of its worst ever famines.

A BBC news report from the area shocked the world - and led to a huge global fundraising campaign.

In 2014, Lucy Burns spoke to Dawit Giorgis,…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago

I found the first dinosaur remains in Antarctica

Argentinian geologist Eduardo Olivero became the first scientist to find the remains of a dinosaur in Antarctica in 1986. But digging in frozen ground is not easy, so recovering them took several tri…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago

The fight to stop skin lightening in India

In 2013, Emami, an Indian beauty and wellness company, put out an advert for their skin lightening product 'Fair and Handsome'.

It features billionaire blockbuster actor Shah Rukh Khan telling a young…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago

Eight years trapped on the Suez Canal in Egypt

After the Six Day War in June 1967, the Suez Canal in Egypt was closed.

It meant 14 ships from eight different countries, including the United States, Bulgaria and France, were trapped in an area call…

Published on 1 year, 2 months ago