Podcast Episodes

The first dog in space

Laika the Russian stray was the first dog to orbit the Earth. She was sent into space on a flight in 1957 which had been timed to mark the anniversar…

3 years, 5 months ago

Richard Dimbleby describes Belsen

The BBC’s Richard Dimbleby was the first reporter to enter the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

His report describing the unimaginable hor…

3 years, 5 months ago

I led the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers

On 15 April 2013, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon and killed three people.

After the attack they disa…

3 years, 5 months ago

Mass grave at Sernyky

In 1990, archaeologist Richard Wright flew half way around the world to unearth a mass grave in Sernyky, Ukraine as part of an Australian Nazi war cr…

3 years, 5 months ago

The universal recycling symbol

In 1970, American architecture student Gary Anderson won a competition, to mark the first Earth Day on 22 April, to design a logo for recycled paper …

3 years, 5 months ago

Emperor Tewodros II

Emperor Tewodros II is one of the towering figures of modern Ethiopian history.

He tried to unify and modernise Ethiopia but his reign was also marke…

3 years, 5 months ago

The Good Friday Agreement referendum

On 22 May 1998, a referendum was held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland asking voters if they supported the Good Friday Agreement.

In bo…

3 years, 5 months ago

Beto Perez: 'I created Zumba by accident'

In 2001, Colombian born choreographer Beto Perez created Zumba, a fitness craze which would go on to become a global phenomenon. The aerobic workou…

3 years, 6 months ago

Awaji Kannon: One of the world's tallest statues

In 1982, a Japanese businessman unveiled one of the tallest statues in the world called the World Peace Giant Kannon in Awaji Island, Japan.

At 100 m…

3 years, 6 months ago

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…

3 years, 6 months ago