Podcast Episodes

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 but were furious that wages remained low and mana…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

The birth of the Excel spreadsheet

In September 1985, Microsoft introduced Excel, an electronic spreadsheet program that revolutionised the way we organise and analyse data.

With its grid of rows and columns, it allows users to sort in…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

The Cradock Four killings

On 27 June 1985, four anti-apartheid activists from the rural town of Cradock in South Africa’s Eastern Cape were abducted at a roadblock. Their bodies were later found mutilated and burnt.

Known as t…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

Guinea stadium massacre

On 28 September 2009, around 50,000 people took part in a rally to protest reported plans by military leader Moussa Dadis Camara to stand in the presidential election.

It started peacefully, until tr…

Published on 2 months, 3 weeks ago

The secretary who made millions from her typos

In the 1950s, secretary Bette Graham from Texas was struggling to cope with her new electric typewriter.

“My fingers would hang heavy on the sensitive keyboard and the first thing I'd know, I'd have a…

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago

DDLJ: India’s longest-running film

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the ultimate Bollywood romance was released to critical acclaim in October 1995, becoming the longest-running movie in Indian cinema history.

The premiere was held at the …

Published on 2 months, 4 weeks ago

The birth of Médecins Sans Frontières

In 1971, 13 men sat down in a Paris office to launch what would become one of the world’s best known humanitarian organisations: Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors without Borders.

The men were amon…

Published on 3 months ago

The start of Scouting

In the early 1900s, while serving in the British Army, Lord Robert Baden-Powell laid the foundations for what would become one of the largest international youth movements, Scouting.

His vision was t…

Published on 3 months ago

Omar Sharif stars in Lawrence of Arabia

In 1962, Egyptian actor Omar Sharif made his Hollywood debut in Lawrence of Arabia, a sweeping epic that would become one of cinema’s most popular films.

Using archive recordings, Gill Kearsley tells…

Published on 3 months ago

The Aswan High Dam

In the early 1960s, Unesco appealed for scientists to go to Egypt to save antiquities that were threatened by the construction of one of the largest dams in the world, the Aswan High Dam on the River…

Published on 3 months ago