Podcast Episodes

The Bard of Bengal

In August 1941, one of the greatest poets India has ever produced died.

Known as the "Bard of Bengal", Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Farhana Haide…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

The death of Jawaharlal Nehru

In May 1964 India's first prime minister and the man who led India to independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, died.

On the 50th anniversary of his death in 2014, Nehru's niece, the writer Nayantara Sahgal, s…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

The last Viceroy of India

The daughter of the last British Viceroy in India, Lord Mountbatten, remembers the transfer of power in 1947. Lady Pamela Hicks accompanied her father as he attended celebrations in both Karachi and …

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

India's Partition - Part Two

The partition of India led to millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs fleeing their homes during horrific religious violence. This is the second of two programmes remembering that time.

Lucy Williams sp…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

India's Partition - Part One

The partition of India led to millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs fleeing their homes amid horrific violence. This is the first of two programmes remembering that time.

Listen to the story of Saleem…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

The nightclub that changed Ibiza

In June 1973, the nightclub Pacha opened in Ibiza. Other clubs with the capacity to fit thousands of people on the dancefloor opened in the years after, turning Ibiza into a destination for music and…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

Discovering Hale Bopp

Hale Bopp is one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century. Its discovery in 1995 resulted in huge advances in science. Russell Crewe spoke to astronomer Dr Alan Hale who discovered the …

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

Indonesia's forest fires

Twenty five years ago in Indonesia, some of the worst forest fires in history devastated the environment and resulted in a smog which engulfed South East Asia for months. The fires, which were set de…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

Sweden’s pronoun battle

Sweden has a long history of championing LGBTQ+ rights. But campaigners spent years battling to get the gender-neutral personal pronoun ‘hen’ included in Swedish dictionaries. The word was finally ad…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago

The resignation of President Nixon

On 8 August 1974 Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. In 2014, Farhana Haider spoke to journalist Tom DeFrank, who watched th…

Published on 3 years, 4 months ago