Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe history of the Volkswagen Beetle
How the British army helped rebuild the German car industry after WW2, plus the fight to ban leaded petrol, psychiatry as punishment in the USSR, str…
6 years ago
Freeing American prisoners from Iran
How a former prisoner in Iran fought to free her friends, a 200-year-old Antarctic mystery, eradicating small pox, the first mobile phone and rebel …
6 years, 1 month ago
Saving Antarctica
In October 1991, an international protocol to protect the world’s last wilderness, Antarctica, from commercial exploitation was agreed at a summit in…
6 years, 1 month ago
The publication of Harry Potter
A look back at some of the most influential books of modern times, including an interview with the publisher who first spotted Harry Potter's potenti…
6 years, 1 month ago
London's first black policeman
The prejudice faced by London's first black policeman, how a new sign language emerged in 1980s Nicaragua, the Native American casino boom, plus the …
6 years, 1 month ago
The early days of the European Union
The hurried signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 which led to greater European unity, plus 1992 - when the British royal family started to reform it…
6 years, 1 month ago
The mystery of the disappearing frogs
This week we're looking at extinction. The deadly fungus that's killing amphibians, the story of the Dodo, plus why discovering that whales 'sing' he…
6 years, 2 months ago
Storming the Stasi HQ
The fall of East Germany's secret police; racism, injustice and a child execution in the US, plus the killing of Osama Bin Laden; the woman who negot…
6 years, 2 months ago
The Computers for Schools revolution
In 2009, Uruguay became the first country in the world to give a laptop computer to every child in state primary schools. We hear from the man whose …
6 years, 2 months ago
The book that warned of an end to civilisation
In 1972 a book which outlined the possible future of the world became a best-seller. 'The Limits to Growth' was based on computer modelling which sug…
6 years, 2 months ago