Podcast Episodes

Inventing Chicken Manchurian

Chef Nelson Wang created his signature dish Chicken Manchurian in 1975. It was the birth of modern Indo-Chinese cuisine which went on to become hugely popular around the world.

He went on to open Chi…

Published on 2 years, 11 months ago

Creating ciabatta bread

In 1982, rally driver Arnaldo Cavallari created ciabatta bread in Adria, in northern Italy.

His family owned a flour mill and he wanted to invent a loaf to rival the French baguette.

Rachel Naylor spea…

Published on 2 years, 11 months ago

Chile mine rescue

On 5 August 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground after a rockfall in the San José copper and gold mine in Chile.

They were rescued 69 days later.

Rachel Naylor speaks to one of the miners, Mario Se…

Published on 3 years ago

Grozny siege

In December 1994, Russian forces began the siege of Chechnya’s capital Grozny.

Dr Aslan Doukaev was a university teacher when the first Chechen war started.

In this programme first broadcast in 2010 …

Published on 3 years ago

Colombia's 'false positives' killings

In 2008, it was revealed that Colombia’s army had been executing civilians and pretending they were rebels killed in the country’s ongoing civil war. At least 4,600 innocent people were murdered in t…

Published on 3 years ago

The BBC broadcasting through the Iron Curtain

It is the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service. Broadcasting to countries behind the Iron Curtain without a free or independent media between 1947 and 1991 was arguably the service’s finest hour…

Published on 3 years ago

Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service

To mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service, we trace the development of the Caribbean Service.

Its beginnings go back to the early 1940s when the BBC’s first black producer, Una Marson was …

Published on 3 years ago

Felix Baumgartner's huge leap

In October 2012, skydiver and former Austrian paratrooper Felix Baumgartner was watched live by millions as he ascended into the stratosphere in a helium balloon. He then jumped an estimated 38km fro…

Published on 3 years ago

Soviet fashionista

Slava Zaitsev was the first designer to create high fashion collections in the Soviet Union.

He tells Dina Newman about the challenges he faced working under communism.

This programme was first broadc…

Published on 3 years ago

Returning to District Six

When Zahra Nordien was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977, she vowed to one day return.

She was one of the 60,000 people who were forcibly removed from the neighbourhood because of the r…

Published on 3 years ago