Podcast Episodes

MH370: The plane that vanished

On 8 March 2014, a plane carrying 239 passengers and crew disappeared.

What happened to missing flight MH370 remains one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.

Ghyslain Wattrelos’ wife Laurence and…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Rehabilitating Kony's child soldiers in Uganda

In 2002, a Catholic nun arrived in Gulu, a town in northern Uganda, to help set up a sewing school for locals.

For years, the town had been the target of brutal attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

The Carnation Revolution in Portugal

25 April is Freedom Day in Portugal. Five decades ago on that date, flowers filled the streets of the capital Lisbon as a dictatorship was overthrown.

Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime w…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

French child evacuees of World War Two

In August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris.

The move, part of France's 'passive defence' tactic, aimed to protect children from the threat of German b…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Uruguay v the tobacco giant

Uruguay was one of the first countries in the world to introduce anti-smoking laws.

But in 2010, the tobacco giant Philip Morris took the country to court claiming the measures devalued its investment…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

The Whisky War: Denmark v Canada

In 1984, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Canada and Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island in the Arctic.

The fight for Hans Island off the coast of Greenland became known as the Whisky Wa…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

The discovery of the Lord of Sipan in Peru

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva received a call from the police urging him to look at ancient artefacts confiscated from looters.

The seized objects were so precious that Walter decided to…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

The lost Czech scrolls

On 5 February 1964, an unusual delivery was made to a synagogue in London. More than 1,500 Torah scrolls, lost since the end of World War Two, were arriving from Czechoslovakia. The sacred Jewish tex…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Crimea's Soviet holiday camp

Artek, on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea, was a hugely popular Soviet holiday camp.

Maria Kim Espeland was one of the thousands of children who visited every year.

In 2014, she told Lucy Burns a…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Russia annexes Crimea

In 2014, Russia annexed the strategic Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, a move seen by Kyiv and many other countries as illegal.

The crisis it caused was so acute the world seemed on the brink of a new …

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago