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The First Skyscrapers
How America reached for the skies
Adam Smith: Father of Capitalism
Exploring the work of the 18th century moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith
Nikola Tesla鈥檚 electric dreams
A showman and a dreamer or an engineering genius well ahead of his time?
Stanislavsky: Founder of modern acting
Konstantin Stanislavsky: the greatest single influence on acting today
Life Support: The Story of the Red Cross
The Story of The International Committee of the Red Cross
Cotton: a Yarn with a Twist
The chequered history of the original global fabric
Sankara: Africa鈥檚 Revolutionary President
Thomas Sankara: why his assassination and time in power still haunts Africa to this day
Flamenco: Darkness and light
Rajan Datar and guests explore the origins and evolution of flamenco
The story of Evita
Eva Peron rose from poverty to become one of the most powerful figures in Latin America
Kubla Khan: A vision in a dream
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epic is one of the most famous poems in the English language
The alphabet of chemistry
The history of the Periodic Table of the elements
Boudica: Warrior queen
The Iron Age English warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans
Chinua Achebe: Rewriting the African story
The life and work of the ground-breaking Nigerian author
The Little Prince: Lessons from an aviator鈥檚 life
Who was Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and how did he come to write The Little Prince?
Magellan: First Man Round the Globe?
The story of the man whose voyage accidently circumnavigated the globe
Dante鈥檚 Inferno: The poetry of Hell
The imagined poetic voyage through Hell that explores the meaning of human existence
The original Goths
The ancient tribe which shaped Europe's history
Herman Melville: Moby Dick
The 19th Century epic novel on a vengeful sailor鈥檚 battle with the great 鈥榳hite whale鈥
Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary
Bridget Kendall and guests on the glamorous world of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Lawrence of Arabia
The life of T.E Lawrence renowned for his involvement with the Arab Revolt during WW1
From Straw Poll to Opinion Poll
With us since the 1930s, polls help forecast elections and conduct market research
Votes for Women: the Global Story
The extraordinary stories of the women around the world who won the right to vote
What is Zoroastrianism?
The history of a venerable religion
Sugar: A Sweet Menace
How sugar travelled across the world and seduced all on its path
Plastic: How it Changed the World
Experts from the world of science discuss the story of plastic with presenter Rajan Datar
Machu Picchu: The secrets of a forgotten city
The enigma of the Inca mountain retreat
Material World: Making the Modern Factory
The global factory story
Catherine the Great of Russia
A woman and a foreigner who usurped her way to the throne in 18th century Russia
Simone de Beauvoir: Feminist thinker for modern times
How a philosophical thinker radically changed the way we see women
The piano: Hitting the right keys
Bridget Kendall and guests lift the lid on 300 years of the piano
The tales of Timbuktu
How a remote desert town in Mali became world famous