The Forum Podcast
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.
Episodes to download
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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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The Kingdom of Aksum: Africa's trading empire
Thu 17 Dec 2020
An ancient state in the Horn of Africa that is famed for its monumental stelae structures
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Umm Kulthum: Egypt鈥檚 singing superstar
Thu 10 Dec 2020
Exploring the life of a woman whose voice still captivates people across the Middle East
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Alexandre Dumas: The man behind the Musketeers
Thu 3 Dec 2020
The adventurous life of the much-loved French novelist
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Unlocking the mysteries of cuneiform tablets
Thu 26 Nov 2020
We explore the system of writing that developed 5,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia
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First impressions: The printing press
Thu 19 Nov 2020
How the machine pioneered by 15th Century entrepreneur Johannes Gutenberg changed history
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The woman whose cells changed medical history
Thu 12 Nov 2020
The story of Henrietta Lacks who unwittingly left behind an extraordinary medical legacy
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Comenius, a pioneer of lifelong learning
Thu 5 Nov 2020
The life and work of the father of modern education
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Dido of Carthage: A love story gone wrong
Thu 29 Oct 2020
What makes the legend of Dido so appealing to the arts and beyond?
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Paul Robeson: Singer, actor and civil rights activist
Thu 22 Oct 2020
Exploring the life of a man who campaigned for disenfranchised people around the world
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