The Forum Podcast
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.
Episodes to download
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Rain or shine? A short history of the weather forecast
Thu 15 Jul 2021
A century and a half of scientific meteorology
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Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone
Thu 8 Jul 2021
How mass-produced audio discs transformed our sound world
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The Wizard of Oz: A homegrown American fairy tale
Thu 24 Jun 2021
The magical story of Dorothy, a plucky American heroine who follows the yellow brick road
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Falconry: The history of hunting with birds of prey
Thu 17 Jun 2021
From nomads to nobles, the working relationship between humans and raptors
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Aramaic: An imperial language without an empire
Thu 10 Jun 2021
A history of one of the oldest living languages in the world
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X-rays: New ways of seeing
Thu 3 Jun 2021
The discovery of X-rays in 1895 and how it transformed our world
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Machiavelli, master of power
Thu 27 May 2021
The life and reputation of Niccol貌 Machiavelli鈥檚 The Prince
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The birth of the modern car
Thu 20 May 2021
Design milestones in the early history of motor vehicles
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Ukulele - a history of Hawaii's national instrument
Thu 13 May 2021
The mini guitar that came to symbolise Hawaiian culture
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Tadeusz Kosciuszko, groundbreaking fort builder
Thu 6 May 2021
The engineer who championed freedom on two continents
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The census: A snapshot of life
Thu 29 Apr 2021
Charting the history of counting and classifying people the world over
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Unravelling the history of knitting
Thu 22 Apr 2021
What are the origins of knitting and how did it spread to different parts of the world?
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One Hundred Years of Solitude: The story of Latin America
Thu 15 Apr 2021
Gabriel Garc铆a M谩rquez鈥檚 modern classic that fuses the magical with real life
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Rabindranath Tagore: The Bard of Bengal
Thu 8 Apr 2021
A portrait of the prolific writer who was an environmental thinker before his time
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Pauline Viardot: 19th-Century diva
Thu 1 Apr 2021
The Franco-Spanish singer and composer who charmed European society on and off stage
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The One Thousand and One Nights
Thu 25 Mar 2021
The ancient magical tales whose origins stretch from India to Persia to Arabia
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Adventures with dentures: The story of dentistry
Thu 18 Mar 2021
The painful early roots of a profession we all rely on
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BR Ambedkar: The Dalit hero of India
Thu 11 Mar 2021
The life of perhaps the greatest social reformer in 20th-century India
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Making waves: the history of swimming
Thu 4 Mar 2021
Different strokes for different folks, embracing the story of swimming around the world
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Abraham Maslow鈥檚 psychology of human needs
Thu 25 Feb 2021
An influential 20th-century thinker who identified what motivates us
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The Kalevala: the Finnish epic that inspired a nation
Thu 18 Feb 2021
The collection of folk songs and poetry that articulated Finnish independence
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Mermaids: Tales from the deep
Thu 4 Feb 2021
A history of sea creature folklore from around the world
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Eleusinian Mysteries: Secret ceremonies promising happiness
Thu 28 Jan 2021
The enigma at the centre of ancient Greek religion
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Toussaint L鈥橭uverture: Hero of the Haitian slave rebellion
Thu 21 Jan 2021
The charismatic freed slave who was the true embodiment of French Revolutionary ideals
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Olympe de Gouges: France鈥檚 forgotten revolutionary heroine
Thu 14 Jan 2021
The French social activist, feminist and playwright who was executed at the guillotine
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Alexandre Yersin and the race to fight the plague
Thu 7 Jan 2021
The life and work of a pioneering Swiss microbiologist
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