The Forum Podcast
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.
Episodes to download
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Natsume Soseki: Japan’s great novelist
Thu 9 Apr 2020
The Japanese literary giant of the early 20th Century
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In search of the good life: Epicurus and his philosophy
Thu 2 Apr 2020
Exploring how an Ancient Greek school of thought has resonated through the ages
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Artemisia Gentileschi: The painter who took on the men
Thu 26 Mar 2020
The Italian Baroque artist who's become a hero for modern-day feminists
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Guide dogs for the blind: A history
Thu 19 Mar 2020
How did the idea of systematically training dogs for the blind originate?
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Oscar Niemeyer: Brazil's king of curves
Thu 12 Mar 2020
Brazil's visionary architect and leading pioneer of modernism
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Haile Selassie: the last emperor of Ethiopia
Thu 5 Mar 2020
The life and legacy of the man who became ‘the Father of Africa’
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Emilie du Chatelet: a free-spirited physicist
Thu 27 Feb 2020
The life and work of a remarkable 18th-century polymath
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Man v mosquito
Thu 20 Feb 2020
How humans have waged war against the mosquito for thousands of years
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The magic of bronze
Thu 13 Feb 2020
The stories behind some of the world's greatest masterpieces in bronze
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Li Bai: The revered Chinese poet
Thu 6 Feb 2020
The prodigious talent and restless life of Tang dynasty's literary rebel
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Nefertiti: The beguiling Egyptian Queen
Thu 30 Jan 2020
The story behind the beautiful bust and the powerful woman it represents
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The amazing Dr Darwin
Thu 23 Jan 2020
The life of Erasmus Darwin, one of the most remarkable minds in 18th Century Britain
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A history of honey
Thu 16 Jan 2020
Uncovering the rich cultural and medical history of the world's oldest sweet
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Highlife: The sound of Ghana
Thu 9 Jan 2020
Exploring the background to the music which has absorbed so many cultural influences
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Yiddish: A story of survival
Thu 2 Jan 2020
Regenerating Yiddish – the language and culture of the European Jews
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A history of the restaurant
Boxing Day 2019
From dining in Song-dynasty China to the modern open kitchen
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Eleanor Roosevelt: Redefining the First Lady
Thu 19 Dec 2019
How the wife of US President Franklin Roosevelt became a powerful political operator
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Ibn Khaldun: 14th Century sage
Thu 12 Dec 2019
The life and work of a pioneering social scientist and historiographer
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Cyrano de Bergerac: Big-nosed hero
Thu 5 Dec 2019
The swashbuckling poet of a late 19th-century French play and his real-life inspiration
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The Scythians: Masters of the steppe
Thu 28 Nov 2019
The nomadic warriors who ruled vast swathes of Asia and Europe and who knew how to party
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The Russian civil war: How the Soviets rose to power
Thu 21 Nov 2019
How the events of the Russian civil war led to Lenin’s communist dictatorship
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Fridtjof Nansen: Norway's great explorer
Thu 14 Nov 2019
The polar adventures of a remarkable man whose humanitarian work saved thousands of lives
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Rudolf Nureyev: Superstar Russian dancer
Thu 7 Nov 2019
Exploring the life of a man who pushed the boundaries of ballet.
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John Harvey Kellogg: The ‘wellness’ pioneer
Thu 31 Oct 2019
How the co-inventor of cornflakes inspired a healthy living revolution
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Indigo: the bluest blue
Thu 24 Oct 2019
Blue Gold or Devil's Dye? The complex history of the precious blue dye
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The Cat: In from the wild
Thu 17 Oct 2019
Domesticated cats have been worshipped, vilified and revered throughout history
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Manuela Sáenz: South America’s revolutionary heroine
Thu 10 Oct 2019
The Ecuadorian woman who fought for South American independence in the 19th Century
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Electric telegraph: the first worldwide web
Thu 3 Oct 2019
The Morse code messaging network that changed the world forever
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The history of opium
Thu 26 Sep 2019
Opium’s journey from vital medicine to dangerously addictive drug
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Albert Camus: Embracing life’s absurdity
Thu 19 Sep 2019
The Stranger and other key works of Algeria’s great humanist Albert Camus
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