The Forum

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

World Service,763 episodes

Episodes

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Rain or shine? A short history of the weather forecast
A century and a half of scientific meteorology
15 Jul 2021,39 mins
Emile Berliner, inventor of the gramophone
How mass-produced audio discs transformed our sound world
08 Jul 2021,40 mins
Tracing the roots of ancient trees
What can we learn from the oldest trees on earth?
01 Jul 2021,39 mins
The Wizard of Oz: A homegrown American fairy tale
The magical story of Dorothy, a plucky American heroine who follows the yellow brick road
24 Jun 2021,39 mins
Falconry: The history of hunting with birds of prey
From nomads to nobles, the working relationship between humans and raptors
17 Jun 2021,39 mins
Aramaic: An imperial language without an empire
A history of one of the oldest living languages in the world
10 Jun 2021,39 mins
X-rays: New ways of seeing
The discovery of X-rays in 1895 and how it transformed our world
03 Jun 2021,39 mins
Machiavelli, master of power
The life and reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince
27 May 2021,39 mins
The birth of the modern car
Design milestones in the early history of motor vehicles
20 May 2021,39 mins
Ukulele - a history of Hawaii's national instrument
The mini guitar that came to symbolise Hawaiian culture
13 May 2021,39 mins
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, groundbreaking fort builder
The engineer who championed freedom on two continents
06 May 2021,39 mins
The census: A snapshot of life
Charting the history of counting and classifying people the world over
29 Apr 2021,39 mins
Unravelling the history of knitting
What are the origins of knitting and how did it spread to different parts of the world?
22 Apr 2021,40 mins
One Hundred Years of Solitude: The story of Latin America
Gabriel García Márquez’s modern classic that fuses the magical with real life
15 Apr 2021,39 mins
Rabindranath Tagore: The Bard of Bengal
A portrait of the prolific writer who was an environmental thinker before his time
08 Apr 2021,39 mins
Pauline Viardot: 19th-Century diva
The Franco-Spanish singer and composer who charmed European society on and off stage
01 Apr 2021,38 mins
The One Thousand and One Nights
The ancient magical tales whose origins stretch from India to Persia to Arabia
25 Mar 2021,40 mins
Adventures with dentures: The story of dentistry
The painful early roots of a profession we all rely on
18 Mar 2021,39 mins
BR Ambedkar: The Dalit hero of India
The life of perhaps the greatest social reformer in 20th-century India
11 Mar 2021,39 mins
Making waves: the history of swimming
Different strokes for different folks, embracing the story of swimming around the world
04 Mar 2021,40 mins
Abraham Maslow’s psychology of human needs
An influential 20th-century thinker who identified what motivates us
25 Feb 2021,39 mins
The Kalevala: the Finnish epic that inspired a nation
The collection of folk songs and poetry that articulated Finnish independence
18 Feb 2021,39 mins
Sister Juana, a great mind of Mexico
An outspoken nun who was also a daring poet
11 Feb 2021,39 mins
Mermaids: Tales from the deep
A history of sea creature folklore from around the world
04 Feb 2021,38 mins
Eleusinian Mysteries: Secret ceremonies promising happiness
The enigma at the centre of ancient Greek religion
28 Jan 2021,39 mins
Toussaint L’Ouverture: Hero of the Haitian slave rebellion
The charismatic freed slave who was the true embodiment of French Revolutionary ideals
21 Jan 2021,39 mins
Olympe de Gouges: France’s forgotten revolutionary heroine
The French social activist, feminist and playwright who was executed at the guillotine
14 Jan 2021,40 mins
Alexandre Yersin and the race to fight the plague
The life and work of a pioneering Swiss microbiologist
07 Jan 2021,44 mins
Famous hats in history
The uses and meanings of headwear from prehistory to today
31 Dec 2020,44 mins
Mugham: the sound of Azerbaijan
Transcendental music from the Caucasus
24 Dec 2020,44 mins