Podcast Episodes

Pan-European picnic

In 1989, a picnic was held on the border between Austria and Hungary, as a demonstration for peace and European integration.

It prefigured the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union and finished wi…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

Escaping national service in Eritrea

In 2002, the Eritrean government extended its programme of compulsory national service to make it open-ended.

Instead of serving 18 months as the government had originally decreed, most students fini…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time, the best-selling book written by the renowned theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking, was published in March 1988.

In this programme first broadcast in 2018, Louise Hidalg…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

The first photo sent from a phone

On 11 June 1997, French software engineer Philippe Kahn shared the first ever photo from a mobile phone.

It was of his newborn daughter, Sophie.

He created a prototype of a camera phone by connecting…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

Godfather of manicures

In November 1975, Vietnamese Navy commander Minh Nguyen, left behind his macho military life and retrained as a manicurist. He migrated from Vietnam to the United States during the fall of Saigon.

He…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

How Bengaluru became India’s Silicon Valley

The city of Bengaluru in southern India, previously called Bangalore, is renowned for its huge technology companies and buzzy start-up culture.

But, 50 years ago it was a technological backwater.

Ent…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

The windmill that revolutionised wind power

In 1978, with energy prices rocketing due to the oil crisis, a group of volunteers in Denmark took matters into their own hands and built a wind turbine to power the town's school.

They called it Tvi…

Published on 2 years, 8 months ago

Keiko: Freeing 'Free Willy'

In 1998, Keiko became the first ever killer whale to be released back into the wild after a life of captivity.

Keiko shot to fame as the star of the 1993 Hollywood blockbuster, Free Willy.

A multimilli…

Published on 2 years, 9 months ago

The man who lived in an airport

In 1988, Mehran Karimi Nasseri, from Iran, flew into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris intending to transfer onto a flight to London.

But he wasn’t allowed to board, as he didn’t have a passport.

Ca…

Published on 2 years, 9 months ago

DDLJ: India’s longest running movie

In 1995, Bollywood film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was released to critical acclaim.

It premiered at the Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai. It's been screened there every day since then for the past …

Published on 2 years, 9 months ago