The Forum

When Alexandre Yersin discovered one of the most lethal bacteria in human history, the tiny bacillus of the plague that over the centuries had killed tens of millions of people, he earned his place in the history books. Working in a straw hut in Hong Kong, armed with just a microscope, Yersin’s methodical mind worked out within just a few days where in human body to look for the plague bacteria. A much bigger and better-equipped Japanese team, competing with Yersin, came away empty-handed. So who was Alexandre Yersin? Why did this pioneering Swiss scientist spend most of his life in Vietnam? And why did it take decades fully to credit Yersin with the discovery of the microorganism that now bears his name, Yersinia pestis?These are some of the questions Bridget Kendall discusses with film director Stephane Kleeb, who made a documentary about Yersin; Professor Maxime Schwartz, medical historian and former director of the Pasteur Institute in France; and Dr. Mary Augusta Brazelton from Cambridge University whose research focuses on medical history of Asia.[Image: Alexandre Yersin in a sailor's uniform, c.1890. Credit: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images]

There have been so many, probably hundreds, different styles and types of hat in history that a question inevitably arises: why? Why did something that began as a simple protection against inclement weather take on such varied forms and social meanings? Bridget Kendall and guests explore not just how hats were made, and by whom, but also how their function has evolved over centuries and across cultures. By focusing on just five distinct hat types, they sketch out a brief social history of headwear. Bridget is joined by Dr. Drake Stutesman, an adjunct professor at New York University, and the author of the book Hat: Origins, Language, Style; Dr. Ulinka Rublack, professor of Early Modern European History at Cambridge University with a particular interest in Renaissance fashion; and Dr. Kirill Babaev, a cultural anthropologist and writer from the Russian Academy of Sciences and founder of the World of Hat museum in Riga, Latvia.[Image: Model Carre Otis wearing a wide-brimmed black straw hat with a print of lemons on the underside. Credit: Arthur Elgort/Conde Nast via Getty Images]

Azerbaijan’s strategic location along the old Silk Road and its wealth of natural resources has made it a prime target for warring empires over centuries. The conquests and the invasions by Turkic and Persian peoples find echoes in the traditional art music of Azerbaijan known as mugham. The influence of the Russian and then Soviet empire also brought change for mugham, the effects of which are still debated today. Mugham is characterised by a large degree of improvisation, but musicians learn for years from mugham masters to acquire the skills which allow them to extemporise within a strict framework. It’s no surprise to learn that in the 20th century, mugham fused with that other great improvisatory music – jazz. With the help of musical examples, Rajan Datar and guests will explore how mugham works and the instruments such as the tar and the kamancha that give this music its unique sound.Joining Rajan will be ethnomusicologist and tar player Dr Polina Dessiatnitchenko who’s writing a book on mugham in post-Soviet Azerbaijan; Jeffrey Werbock, musician and chair of the Mugham Society of America; and music producer and artistic patron Nasib Piriyev, who set up BUTA Arts, an organisation designed to raise awareness of Azeri music and culture. Produced by Fiona Clampin for BBC World Service.Image: Alim Qasimov sings an improvised Mugham during the Opening Ceremony for the Baku 2015 European Games Image credit: Francois Nel/Getty Images for BEGOC

At its height, the Aksumite Empire extended across the northern Ethiopian and Eritrean highlands, and even included parts of Sudan, Somalia and modern-day Yemen. From the first century BC to the seventh or eighth centuries AD it was one of the most important trading hubs in north-east Africa. It was also one of the earliest states in the world to adopt Christianity. In fact the Persian prophet Mani named the Aksumite Empire as one of the “four great kingdoms on Earth” together with Persia, Rome and China. But despite its power and reputation, we’re only now beginning to understand more about the lives of the people who lived there.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the Aksumite Empire and its legacy are Helina Solomon Woldekiros, Assistant Professor of Archaeology at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri; Felege-Selam Solomon Yirga, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tennessee; and Dr. Niall Finneran, Reader in Historical Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Winchester in the UK. He is author of The Archaeology of Ethiopia.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World Service.Image: 4th century stelae in Aksum, Ethiopia Image credit: Arterra / Marica van der Meer / Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Umm Kulthum’s powerful voice and talent for communicating poetry was spotted early, when she accompanied her family to perform at weddings and special occasions. It wasn’t long before she was performing in the elite salons of early 20th-century Cairo, although her father dressed her as a boy to protect her from any unwelcome interactions with strangers.In the Egyptian capital she quickly associated herself with the most talented musicians of the day, and from then on she never looked back. She explored the major Arabic song forms of the period, collaborating with composers and poets. She dabbled in film, negotiated record deals, and when public service broadcasting began in the 1930s, she secured herself a monthly slot on national radio. In awe of her talent and mesmerising presence, the Arab world practically came to a standstill whenever she was heard on the airwaves.Joining Bridget Kendall to explore Umm Kulthum’s life are Virginia Danielson, author of The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song and Egyptian Society in the 20th Century; Salwa el-Shawan Castelo-Branco, professor of ethnomusicology at the New University of Lisbon and president of the International Council for Traditional Music; and Yara Salahiddeen, whose current research at the University of Oxford focuses on music-making in 19th and early 20th century urban Egyptian society.[Image: Umm Kulthum performs on Nov 16 1967 at the Olympia concert hall, Paris. Credit: STRINGER, AFP via Getty Images]

The word 'swashbuckling' is often used to describe the novels of Alexandre Dumas the Elder, the creator of D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers, the Count of Monte Cristo and the Man in the Iron Mask. But Dumas himself led a life as colourful as many of his gallery of rogues, villains and heroes. Having grown up in poverty, he found employment in the household of a future king of France. He was prolific on the page and pretty active away from it. At first with a series of highly successful plays and then with serialised novels, his production house churned out hundreds of thousands of pages of gripping narrative. He had pet projects like building a mansion and theatre, he had countless mistresses and he frequently found himself in legal disputes and on the run from debt collectors. In the 150th anniversary year of Dumas’ death Rajan Datar explores the writer's life and work with Claudie Bernard, professor of French Literature, Thought and Culture at New York University; Daniel Desormeaux, professor of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore; Sylvain Ledda, professor of 19th Century Literature at Rouen University in France; and Anne O'Neil-Henry, associate professor of French and Francophone Studies at Georgetown University in Washington.[Image: Alexandre Dumas the Elder. Credit: The Print Collector/Getty Images]

Cuneiform is an ancient writing system distinguished by wedge-shaped marks made into clay. It developed over 5,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia. At its height it was used to write languages across the ancient Middle East, from Iran to Syria to Anatolia in Turkey. But cuneiform writing fell out of use about 2,000 years ago in favour of alphabetic scripts. When scholars in the 19th century finally managed to redecipher it, they discovered fascinating insights into the culture and rituals of people living in the ancient Middle East, unlocking texts that have changed our understanding of history, including The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Code of Hammurabi and The Amarna Letters of Ancient Egypt. And cuneiform has even seen something of a revival in modern-day Iraqi visual culture. Joining Rajan Datar to discuss cuneiform script are Professor Eleanor Robson of University College London, Dr Mark Weeden of SOAS, University of London and Ahmed Naji, author of 'Under The Palm Trees: Modern Iraqi Art with Mohamed Makiya and Jewad Selim'.Image: Cuneiform writing of the ancient Sumerian or Assyrian civilisation in Iraq Image credit: Getty Images

When the fifteenth century German entrepreneur Johannes Gutenberg pioneered the printing press, he made an indelible mark on the history of communication. Here was a way to print pages in high quality and high quantities, using methods more efficient than had ever been seen before.Rajan Datar and guests explore the story of how the printing press was born, and how it changed our world - from the birth of the modern book to the rise of the information society, and the transformation of fields including scholarship and religion.Rajan is joined by art historian Hala Auji, publisher Michael Bhaskar, scholar Cristina Dondi and the writer John Man.[Image: A bas-relief of Johannes Gutenberg checking his work while his assistant turns the press, c.1450. Credit: by Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

The story of a young mother who unwittingly left behind a vast medical legacy. Henrietta Lacks died of cancer in Baltimore in 1951 and though she never gave consent to her tissue being used for research, doctors at the time found that her unusually virulent tumour had extraordinary properties. As her cells multiplied in labs around the world, they helped make possible all sorts of medical breakthroughs, from the polio vaccine to cancer drugs and IVF treatment. But it took the Lacks family decades to discover what was going on, and the story raises questions for all of us – about medical ethics, institutional racism, and our right to privacy.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss this remarkable story are: Henrietta Lacks' grandson David Lacks Jnr who's on the board of the HeLa Genome Access Working Group; the award-winning science writer, Rebecca Skloot, whose book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks brought the story to the world's attention a decade ago; and Sir John Burn, Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World ServiceImage: Henrietta Lacks Image credit: Lacks Family

Teaching not by rote but through play? That's credited to the 17th-century Czech pastor and thinker called Jan Amos Comenius. Splitting schoolchildren up into year groups? That's Comenius. Universal education for all, rich and poor? That's down to him too. Nearly four centuries ago, Comenius came up with principles of modern education but they were only implemented hundreds of years after his death. That these ideas are now so widely accepted obscures the fact that they were ground-breaking - indeed too radical - in his day. Comenius lived through turbulent times: the devastating Thirty Year served as the backdrop to much of his life. He was suffered personal tragedy during the bitter battles between Protestants and Catholics in Europe and spent most of his adult life in exile. Joining Rajan Datar to analyse the contribution to modern thinking made by Comenius in this, the 350th anniversary year of his death are Dr. Vladimir Urbanek, Head of the Department of Comenius' Studies and Early Modern Intellectual History at the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague; Howard Hotson, Professor of Early Modern Intellectual History at Oxford University; and Dr. Yoanna Leek from the Faculty of Education Sciences at Lodz University in Poland.[Image: Portrait of Comenius by Jurgen Ovens, painted c. 1650 - 1670. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images]

A Phoenician princess, who fled into exile to escape the cruel king of Tyre, sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to North Africa, where she founded the great city of Carthage in the ninth century BC. Well, that is one story about Dido, or Elissa, as she is known in today's Lebanon and Tunisia. Another, from the Roman poet Virgil, puts her at the centre of a tragic love story: first entranced, then abandoned by the wandering Trojan hero Aeneas, Dido curses him and takes her own life. So who was the real Dido? Was she a powerful independent queen, or a victim - a spurned lover? And did she exist at all? Bridget Kendall is joined by Josephine Quinn, professor of Ancient History at Oxford University, and the author of the book In Search of the Phoenicians; Helene Sader, professor of Archaeology at the American University of Beirut, and the author of The History and Archaeology of Phoenicia; Roald Docter, professor of Archaeology at Ghent University and the editor of Carthage Studies; and Boutheina Maraoui Telmini, professor of Punic History and Archaeology at the University of Tunis.(Image: A drawing of Dido and Aeneas hunting deer. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

The multi-talented Paul Robeson could have turned his hand to pretty much anything he set his mind to: lawyer, athlete and linguist were just some of the career paths he could have taken. But he chose to become an actor and singer, and in doing so reached into the lives of huge numbers of people as one of the most popular American entertainers of his time.Outspoken on the issues of racism, colonialism and the rights of workers, he used his popularity to campaign against the injustice he saw in many countries across the world – not just injustice suffered by his fellow African Americans. During the Cold War, his support for Soviet-style communism was deemed unacceptable by the American establishment, and some set out to destroy his career. Joining Bridget Kendall to examine Paul Robeson’s life are Dr Gerald Horne, the Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and the author of Paul Robeson: The Artist as Revolutionary; Dr Shana L Redmond, Professor of Musicology and African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of Everything Man: The Form and Function of Paul Robeson; and Tayo Aluko whose one-man play Call Mr Robeson has won numerous awards and toured countries around the world since its premiere in 2007.Photo: Paul Robeson Credit: Keystone Features/Getty Images

Many of us can find the time of day quickly and accurately but where did the idea of time keeping originate and how did our ancestors manage without the instant access we take for granted today?From ancient shadow and water clocks to the latest super accurate optical clocks, Bridget Kendal explores time keeping with the Curator of the Royal Observatory in London, Dr Louise Devoy; the Director of the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, Dr Silke Ackermann; and watch and clock expert Grégory Gardinetti from the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva.Photo: World Clocks (Credit: EyeWire, Inc.)

‘We accept reality so readily - perhaps because we sense that nothing is real.' A typically paradoxical quote from the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges whose works have become classics and an influence not just on many Latin American novelists but on countless authors around the world. Yet although he is one of the most analysed figures in literature, even his greatest fans struggle fully to explain his writing. So who was Jorge Luis Borges? And what is it that makes his writing so compelling?To find out, Bridget Kendall talks to three Borges experts: Dr. Patricia Novillo-Corvalán, from the University of Kent, author of Borges and Joyce, An Infinite Conversation; Prof. Evelyn Fishburn, from University College London, author of Hidden Pleasures in Borges’s Fiction; and Edwin Williamson, Professor at Oxford University and editor of the Cambridge Companion to Jorge Luis Borges.(Image: Jorge Luis Borges in 1973 Photo: Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images)

Life behind bars in English prisons in the early nineteenth century was, to put it mildly, grim. Prisons at the time were often damp, dirty and over-crowded. Common punishments included shipping convicts to colonies like Australia - and many crimes carried the death penalty. And the poor suffered most of all, because they couldn’t buy privileges like extra food rations. Into all this walked a woman known as the "angel of prisons", Elizabeth Fry. She was one of the major driving forces behind a new way of thinking about prisons – one that stressed that improving conditions for prisoners and treating them with humanity would lead to better outcomes and lower re-offending rates. A Christian philanthropist from a large Quaker family, her ideas were taken up across much of Europe, and she became something of a celebrity in Victorian England.Joining Rajan Datar to discuss her work and legacy are: Averil Douglas Opperman, author of a biography of Elizabeth Fry called 'While It Is Yet Day'; Criminal barrister, Harry Potter, author of 'Shades of the Prison House – A History of Incarceration in the British Isles'; And Rosalind Crone, historian and author of 'The Guide to the Criminal Prisons of Nineteenth-Century England'.Produced by Jo Impey for the World Service.Image: Painting by Jerry Barrett depicting Elizabeth Fry reading to prisoners at Newgate, 1816 Image credit: Henry Guttmann / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Greenwood was an African American success story: a thriving, wealthy district of Tulsa. Over the course of two days at the end of May 1921 it was the scene of looting, rioting and murder. After 18 hours the area was razed to the ground by vigilantes. One eye witness said it looked like the world was coming to an end with bullets.Nobody to this day has been able to establish the true number of deaths. Some put the figure in the hundreds, with casualties on both sides. The community rebuilt itself however, and today it’s the focus of a multi-million dollar investment and education programme.Joining Rajan Datar to examine the events of 1921 are Carol Anderson, the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and the author of White Rage; Hannibal B Johnson, lawyer and author of numerous books on the city’s history including the forthcoming Black Wall Street 100: An American City Grapples With Its Historical Racial Trauma and John W Franklin, cultural historian and former senior manager at the Smithsonian National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC. He’s also the grandson of Buck Colbert Franklin, a lawyer and leading community figure who survived the massacre.There is language in the programme which reflects the historical records and accounts recorded at the time of the events in Tulsa, which some listeners may find offensive.(Image: The aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre at east corner of Greenwood Avenue and East Archer Street. Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Queen Tamar was one of Georgia’s most iconic and colourful rulers, a powerful medieval sovereign who controlled large parts of the Caucasus and the eastern side of the Black Sea and forged strong cultural links with both the Byzantine West and the Persian South. Her influence extended beyond the battlefield: she presided over the last phase of the Georgian ‘Golden Age’ which saw the building of classic Georgian churches and a flowering of the Arts that produced one of Georgia’s most important poets. So who was Queen Tamar? How did she rise to power and outmanoeuvre her enemies? And why do the myths about her rule publicised by her faithful chroniclers persist till today? Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Ekaterine Gedevanishvili, Senior Researcher at the National Centre for the History of Georgian Art in Tbilisi; Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History at Louisiana State University; Dr. Sandro Nikolaishvili, researcher at the University of Southern Denmark, who works on retracing connections between the Byzantine and Georgian worlds; and Donald Rayfield, Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary, University of London.(Image: Queen Tamar, detail of a mural in Vardzia monastery, Georgia, c. 12th century. Credit: G. Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation, Tbilisi)

The Huguenots gave the word 'refugee' to the English language - they were French protestants escaping religious persecution, who fled from France to neighbouring states between the 16th and 18th centuries. Despite their early experience of violence and religious upheaval, they are widely celebrated for their contribution as migrants, famously as silk weavers and silversmiths, traders and teachers.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the Huguenots and their global legacy are three experts: Owen Stanwood is Associate Professor of History at Boston College in the United States and is the author of 'The Global Refuge: Huguenots in an Age of Empire'; Ruth Whelan is Professor of French at Maynooth University in Ireland, where she researches the religious and intellectual culture of French Protestants between 1680 and 1730; and Kathy Chater is a London-based historian and genealogist. She’s the author of 'Tracing Your Huguenot Ancestors'.Image: Engraving depicting French Huguenot refugees as they landed in Dover Image Credit: adoc-photos / Getty Images

As scientists around the world look for ways to combat COVID-19, the only human disease ever to be eradicated by vaccination could provide us with some insights.Since 1979 the world has been free from smallpox. But before the WHO’s concerted effort to eradicate the disease, it claimed millions of victims every year. It’s estimated that 300 million people died from it in the 20th century alone, and those who survived were often left with disfiguring scars or sometimes blind. Such was its destructive power, some commentators have argued that smallpox changed the course of human history, wiping out indigenous populations and allowing imperial nations to colonise new territories with little resistance. The English doctor Edward Jenner developed the first vaccine against smallpox in 1796. This procedure laid the foundations for immunisation programmes which have saved hundreds of millions of lives ever since, by giving people protection against a whole range of diseases - not just smallpox.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the history of smallpox are Professor Gareth Williams, author of Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox; former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, Dr Bill Foege who worked on the WHO smallpox eradication programme in Africa and India, and Dr Anne-Marie Moulin, author of The Vaccine Adventure.(Photo: Man with smallpox in the Middle East, 1898. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the poems attributed to the female Kashmiri poet, mystic and sage known as Lal Ded or Lalla. There are no records of her life but what is beyond doubt is the vitality, wisdom and endurance of her work. Her poems, usually just four lines long, have been around for centuries and remain so popular that some of them have passed into everyday speech in Kashmir. Lal Ded’s poems are also celebrated for their independence of thought and spirit and for challenging stereotypical images of what counts as female poetry during the Middle Ages. Rajan Datar is joined by leading Kashmiri writer and translator Neerja Mattoo; poet Ranjit Hoskote, author of a complete rendering of Lalla's poetry into English; Andrew Schelling, professor of poetry at Naropa University in Colorado who has translated and edited Indian devotional poetry for many years; and Dean Accardi, professor of history at Connecticut College who specialises in medieval Kashmir.(Photo: a woman at sunset. Credit: rvimages/Getty Images)

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. It is the largest pyramid ever built and even today, with advanced satellite and thermal imaging and other high tech science, we don’t know everything about the pyramid- exactly what’s inside or how it was built. To explore the history of The Great Pyramid - also known as the Pyramid of Khufu, after the Pharaoh who commissioned it as his tomb - Rajan Datar is joined by Salima Ikram, Distinguished University Professor and Egyptology Unit Head at the American University in Cairo, space archaeologist Sarah Parcak, a National Geographic fellow and Professor at Birmingham University Alabama in the USA, and Professor Joyce Tyldesley, an archaeologist and Egyptologist from the University of Manchester in the UK.Photo: The Pyramids at Giza (Getty Images)

”People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it.” Ray Bradbury has been acclaimed as the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream but, as the quote above shows, he regarded himself as the author of modern philosophical fables, rather than a sci-fi writer. In his dystopian works, such as Fahrenheit 451, he holds up a mirror to contemporary society and then transposes it into fantastical and futuristic scenarios. Bradbury was a prolific writer who tried his hand at everything from poems and novels to TV and radio scripts but it’s his early short stories which he produced in his twenties that are perhaps the most imaginative.To mark the centenary of Bradbury’s birth, Rajan Datar is joined by three Bradbury experts to help him navigate through the author’s prodigious output: Professor Jonathan Eller from Indiana University who is also the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies; Dr. Miranda Corcoran who teaches American literature at University College Cork with particular interest in science fiction, horror and the gothic; and Dr. Phil Nichols who combines research into Bradbury's TV and other media work with the teaching of Film and Television Production at Wolverhampton University. (Photo: Ray Bradbury in Los Angeles, circa 1980. Credit Michael Montfort/Pix/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

In 476, the last of the Roman emperors in the West was deposed; in 1776, historian Edward Gibbon wrote “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, and Rome’s fate became a major point of comparison for all empires. In Gibbon's view, instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed precisely 1300 years before, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. Ever since, there has been a fascination with what changed in Rome in 476 and why, and whether there were more significant changes earlier or later than that date and, importantly, what stayed the same.In this edition of The Forum, Rajan Datar explores the ideas about Rome’s Fall with Sarah E. Bond, Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa, USA; Meaghan McEvoy, Lecturer in Byzantine Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia; and Peter Heather, Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London, UK.(Photo: Sack of Rome by the Visigoths led by Alaric I in 410. Coloured engraving. Credit: Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Pablo Picasso is commonly regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, changing our way of seeing with his radical innovation and revolutionary approach. As pioneer of Cubism, godfather to the Surrealists, and creator of the enduring anti-war painting Guernica, he produced thousands of paintings in his lifetime, not to mention his sculptures, ceramics, stage designs, poetry and plays.Rajan Datar discusses his life and work with curators Ann Temkin and Katharina Beisiegel, and art historian Charlie Miller.(Photo: Pablo Picasso in 1955. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

'War and Peace' by the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy charts the story of Russia during the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, covering the pandemonium and brutality of the battlefield, as well as the equally intense dramas and loves of several families. It is a monumental novel, tracking the fortunes of dozens of brilliantly drawn individuals, with a cast of more than six hundred characters, both historical and fictional. So why is 'War and Peace' still such a compelling masterpiece, and why did Tolstoy later disown it?Joining Bridget Kendall are Dr Galina Alexeeva, head of Research at Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy’s former country estate in Russia; Andrei Zorin, Professor of Russian at Oxford University and author of a new biography of Tolstoy, and Professor Donna Orwin, author of 'Simply Tolstoy', who’s from the University of Toronto in Canada. (Image: Anthony Hopkins as Pierre Bezukhov in the 1972 BBC 20- part dramatization of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Credit: BBC Copyright pictures)

Geoffrey Chaucer has been called the father of English poetry and the greatest poet in English before Shakespeare. He is best known for The Canterbury Tales, stories told by a band of pilgrims on their way from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral two centuries before. Chaucer’s was an age of plague, war and revolt and his pilgrims bring insight into the life and values of those tumultuous times, from the bawdy Miller and the earthy Wife of Bath to the corrupt Pardoner and the Knight whose chivalry was increasingly out of step with the times. Bridget Kendall explores the range of Chaucer’s world with Emily Steiner, Professor of English at University of Pennsylvania; Mary Flannery, Professor of Medieval English Studies at Bern University; and Anthony Bale, Professor of Medieval Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.(Image: Portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer based on a 19th century engraving by James Thomson Credit: Stock Montage/Getty Images)

Tango is easy to recognise: those daring steps, the tight hold of the dancing partners, the intense yet melancholy music dominated by the plaintive sounds of the bandoneon. But if you ask what exactly tango is and where it came from, the answer may not be so immediately clear – because it’s more than a genre of music, more than just a style of dance. To get insights into the roots, the culture and even the magic of tango, Rajan Datar is joined by leading tango historians Maria Susana Azzi, Christine Denniston and John Turci-Escobar.Photo: Argentine dancers on stage at the World Tango Championships in 2014 (Getty Images)

In Norse mythology, Valkyries were women who went out into battles to choose the slain warriors who deserved to be in Valhalla, Odin’s place in Asgard, to carry on fighting in preparation for the final apocalyptic confrontation of Ragnarok, between gods and giants. Fighters would see the Valkyries flying through the air or riding on horses, with shields and helmets, some saving the lives and ships of those they favoured, some causing death to those they disliked. These stories of Valkyries and Valhalla offer insights into the lives and values of the people who told them, with the possibility that human women went into battle too.Bridget Kendall is joined by Sif Rikhardsdottir, Professor and Chair of Comparative Literature at the University of Iceland, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Associate Professor of Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo in Norway, and Judith Jesch, Professor of Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham, in the UK.(Picture: Illustration from The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie, 1910. Artist: Arthur Rackham Credit: Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

China, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Uzbekistan and India: if you went to any of these places a thousand years ago, you would find goods and produce from the others. But how did they get there and why? This week’s Forum explores the ancient pattern of trading networks which criss-crossed the plains, deserts and mountains of China, Central Asia and points further West, and which encouraged not just the exchange of commodities such as silk, paper and horses but ideas and people too. Bridget Kendall talks to Valerie Hansen, professor of history at Yale University who has a particular interest in trade and exchanges across Eurasia; historian Dr. Susan Whitfield, former curator of the Central Asian collections at the British Library in London; and Tamara Chin, professor of comparative literature at Brown University whose work focuses on ancient China.(Photo: A man rides a horse at Band-e-Amir lake, central Afghanistan, on a former Silk Route that once linked China with Central Asia and beyond. Credit: Getty Images)

Bertha von Suttner’s path to becoming a leading 19th-century pacifist and the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was far from straightforward. The product of the aristocratic and militaristic world of 19th century Bohemia, as a young woman von Suttner eloped to the Caucasus and turned her hand to writing for a living. On her return to Europe she published an acclaimed anti-war novel, Lay Down Your Arms, a work that marked the start of her quest for disarmament. Her long friendship with Alfred Nobel finally bore fruit in the Swedish industrialist’s last will which included the Peace Prize.Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Barbara Burns, Reader in German at Glasgow University, and the editor of a new English edition of Lay Down Your Arms; Dr. Peter van den Dungen, former Lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and until recently General Coordinator of the International Network of Museums for Peace; and musician Stefan Frankenberger, the author of an audio book called The Unknown Soldier, In memory of Bertha von Suttner. [Photo: Bertha von Suttner (nee Kinsky),c.1870 Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

Born more than six hundred years ago, Joan of Arc is regarded as a French national heroine – a peasant girl who, inspired by saintly visions, battled to break the Siege of Orléans and see Charles VII finally crowned King of France in a grand cathedral. But in 1431, she was burned at the stake.Bridget Kendall and guests discuss the life and death of this medieval teenage celebrity who helped to shape the course of the Hundred Years War with England. They also reflect on her status as an enduring symbol in popular culture through the ages, including on the stage and the big screen. Bridget is joined by film scholar Robin Blaetz, and historians Juliet Barker, Xavier Helary and Daniel Hobbins.Photo: Joan of Arc: Painting by J D Ingres in the Louvre. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

With its Hanging Gardens and huge walls, Babylon was celebrated as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world; to the Israelites enslaved there under Nebuchadnezzar, it was a lasting emblem of oppression and depravity, where they wept as they remembered Zion. It is only in the last two hundred years that Babylon's fuller history has been unearthed, both the remains of its buildings and a huge number of clay tablets covered in writing, revealing a complex world that created epic stories, powerful people and an understanding of science and the stars, and it was their 60 based numbering system that led to our 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour. It has been called a cradle of civilisation.Bridget Kendall explores the reputation of Babylon and its contribution to the world with four experts: Frances Reynolds, Shillito Fellow in Assyriology at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford; Grant Frame, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Pennsylvania and Curator of the Babylonian Section of Penn Museum; Daniel Schwemer, Chair of Ancient Oriental Studies at the University of Würzburg; and Jaafar Jotheri, Assistant Professor in Geoarchaeology at the University of Al-Qadisiyah, Iraq.(Image: Detail of the Ishtar gate, Babylon. Credit: Veronique Durruty/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Aesop, with his tales of tortoises and hares, foxes and grapes, and wolves in sheep's clothing has been a part of world literature for over two thousand years. Since the time of the Ancient Greeks successive generations have drawn moral lessons from his fables, and over history his animals' exploits have been used to support differing ideals. Malcolm X was a fan, as was Imperial Britain, the Nazis had their version and the Trade Union movement published the fables too. There are over 700 fables, and they are supposedly written by a black slave far clever than his philosopher master. Bridget Kendall traces the origin and meaning of Aesop's fables and explores what they can teach us about understanding our own extraordinary times with three world experts: Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Kings College London; Vayos Liapis, Professor of Theatre at the Open University of Cyprus; Dan-el Padilla Peralta, Associate Professor of Classics at Princeton University. (Image: The fox telling Aesop about animals, decoration from a Greek vase, 5th century BC, Vatican Museums. Credit: De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)

The German polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe considered his monumental book known in English as The Theory of Colours to be his greatest achievement. The book is a record of hundreds of Goethe’s observations about the way colour affects our mood, as well as a long and heated polemic with Isaac Newton’s colour theory. Goethe’s understanding of light and colour was scientifically flawed yet his book had a surprisingly strong influence on the fine and applied arts. To find out why, Bridget Kendall talks to art historian Alexandra Loske, colour writer Victoria Finlay and designer Odette Steele. Alexandra Loske is an art historian who teaches at the University of Sussex, Curator at the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museums and co-editor of the book Languages of Colour; Victoria Finlay is a writer, former arts editor of the South China Morning Post and the author of Colour, Travels through the Paintbox and The Brilliant History of Color in Art; Odette Steele is a Zambian textile designer recent and a graduate from the London College of Fashion at the University of the Arts, London.Photo: Goethe’s colour wheel, 1809. (Credit: Freies Deutsches Hochstift / Frankfurter Goethe-Museum)

From 1849, hundreds of thousands of prospectors from across the USA headed for California in the hope of finding gold. Some made great fortunes, and there was a new Californian dream for these 49ers, willing to risk everything and, if they failed, to try again. California was to become the engine house of the US economy, while expanding so rapidly that it unbalanced the free and slave-owning states and hastened the USA towards civil war. Yet the new arrivals also drove out competing miners from around the Pacific who had reached the goldfields first, and destroyed the lives of Native Americans there, and excluded Chinese people who had begun to settle, with lasting consequences.Joining Bridget Kendall to explore who won and who lost in the California Gold Rush are Cliff Trafzer, Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, Riverside; Mae Ngai, Professor of History at Columbia University, and author of the forthcoming book The Chinese Question, a study of Chinese gold miners; and HW Brands, Professor of History at The University of Texas at Austin and author of Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West.(Image: Gold Nuggets Credit: bodnarchuk/Getty Images)

A century ago a deadly flu virus swept the planet, uniting the world in a disaster on a par with World War One. Over 50 million people died. Social distancing was put in place but drugs were ineffective, there was no vaccine, and in many places medicine could not cope. The world recovered but was never the same again. What can the last great pandemic teach us about how to combat Covid-19 today? Three world experts join Bridget Kendall: Laura Spinney, science journalist and author of Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World;. Svenn Erik Mamelund, historical demographer and research professor at Oslo Metropolitan University; Siddharth Chandra, director of the Asian Studies Centre and professor at James Madison College, Michigan State University.(Photo: Japanese school girls wear protective masks to guard against the influenza outbreak. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

It’s the map of the world we all recognise today, but until Gerard Mercator came up with his elegant solution in 1569, the question of how to turn the earth’s three dimensional sphere into a flat image had long flummoxed mapmakers. Nearly 500 years later, Mercator’s model is still the standard for modern mapmaking. What makes it so enduring?Joining Rajan Datar to discuss the man who defined the way we see the world are geographer and explorer Nicholas Crane, philosopher Emily Thomas and professor of cartography Philippe De Maeyer.Illustration: Portrait of Gerard Mercator, Flemish cartographer (born Gerard de Kremer, 1512 - 1594). Image credit: Stock Montage/Getty Images

How many people can lay claim to playing a key role in three different 20th century protest movements across the world, each of which largely succeeded in their aims? Margaret ‘Gretta’ Cousins, the daughter of a minor court official from Boyle in Ireland and a musician by profession certainly can. The common thread in all of these battles for this driven, feisty activist was the demand for equality for women: Gretta Cousins spent time in jails in Ireland, England and India for her beliefs and remained a catalyst for change throughout her life. As a suffragette she was involved in high-profile direct action in London and Dublin, while in India she not only contributed to the improvement of women’s lives but also became the country’s first female magistrate.Rajan Datar is joined by historians Dr. Margaret Ward from Queen's University in Belfast, Dr. Jyoti Atwal from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and University of Limerick and Dr. Emily Rook-Koepsel from the University of Pittsburgh.(Photo: Margaret Cousins, c.1931)

Natsume Soseki is one of the greatest writers in the history of Japan. The backdrop to his work is the disorientation and social anxiety of the early 20th Century as Japan undertook rapid modernization after centuries of being closed to the world. Soseki has had a huge influence on generations of Japanese authors and has obsessed some international artists. His work is taught to generations of school children in Japan and greatly admired by scholars but remains obscure to much of the rest of the world. Why? Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the life and work of Japanese writer Natsume Soseki: The author and critic Damian Flanagan; Michael Bourdaghs, Professor of East Asian Languages at the University of Chicago; and Reiko Abe Auestad, Professor of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo.(Photo: Natsume Soseki on a 1000 Yen note, series D. Credit: A Dagli Orti/DEA/Getty Images)

The popular view of an Epicurean is that of somebody who focuses on pleasure as our guiding principle, indulging in the finer things of life to achieve happiness. And yet what the Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus understood by pleasure was far more nuanced. In fact, Epicurus and his followers advocated a simple lifestyle, withdrawn from society, where we are content with little. What is perhaps less known is how Epicurean writings on physics foreshadowed some of the most significant developments in early modern science – including Darwin’s theory of evolution and even Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. Joining Bridget Kendall is Catherine Wilson, visiting Professor at the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York, and the author of various works on Epicureanism, including How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well; Dr Sonya Wurster, Honorary Fellow at La Trobe University in Australia who’s working on a book about the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus; and philosopher and historian David Sedley, Emeritus Laurence Professor of Ancient Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, and the author of numerous publications on Greek and Roman thought.(Image: Bust of Epicurus. Photo: DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini via Getty Images)

One of the most celebrated female painters of the 17th century, Artemisia Gentileschi was the first woman to become a member of the Academy of the Arts of Drawing in Florence. Through her talent and determination - and despite massive obstacles - she forged a 40-year career, and was collected by the likes of Charles I of England and Philip IV of Spain. But after her death, it wasn’t until the 20th century that people began to reinterpret her work in the light of her remarkable life story, including the well-documented fact that she was raped at the age of 17 by fellow painter, Agostino Tassi.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the life and work of Italian Baroque artist, Artemisia Gentileschi are four experts: Letizia Treves is curator of the 2020 Artemisia exhibition at London’s National Gallery; Mary Garrard is Professor Emerita of Art History at American University in Washington DC; Jesse Locker is Assistant Professor of Italian Renaissance & Baroque Art at Portland State University; and Patrizia Cavazzini is Research Fellow at the British School at Rome, Italy.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World ServiceImage: Self-Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Artemisia Gentileschi Credit: National Gallery, London

We are now familiar with dogs helping people with sight loss but where did the idea come from? And how have the ways of selecting, training and using guide dogs changed over time? Bridget Kendall explores the history of guide dogs with Pieter van Niekerk, Head of Public Relations for the South African Guide-Dogs Association and with Karin Floesser, one of the guide dog leaders of the German Federation for the Blind and Partially Sighted. Bridget is also joined by journalist and educator Miriam Ascarelli, biographer of Dorothy Harrison Eustis, the philanthropist who in the 1920s co-founded the American Seeing Eye school, and she hears from Michael Hingson, a blind survivor of the 9/11 attacks.(Image: A guide dog in Shanghai, China. Credit: Wang He/Getty Images)

Best known for his curvaceous buildings and his design of Brasilia, Oscar Niemeyer was one of Brazil’s greatest architects and a leading pioneer of modernism. During his seven- decade career, Niemeyer designed hundreds of remarkable buildings not just in his native Brazil but also in Europe and as far afield as Algeria. His experimentation with reinforced concrete produced organic curved shapes that were a significant departure from the austere style of European modernism. An ardent communist, Niemeyer hoped his beautiful buildings would be for all sections of society to enjoy, but how does his vision and influence endure today, and are his striking creations still functional and sustainable?Joining Rajan Datar to discuss Oscar Niemeyer and his work are Professor Richard Williams from the University of Edinburgh and the author of “Brazil: Modern Architectures in History”; the Brazilian architect and lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr Juliana Calabria Holley, and Maria Paz Gutierrez, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. (Image: a view of the Contemporary Art Museum (MAC) in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro state, with the Sugar Loaf mountain in the background. Credit: REUTERS/Pilar Olivares)

Emperor Haile Selassie was the last in the line of Ethiopia’s ancient monarchy. During his long rule he was revered as an international statesman and reformer, demonised as a dictator, and even worshipped as a God incarnate by the Rastafarians of Jamaica. He was without doubt a controversial figure, but achieved a status in the global arena previously unheard of for an African ruler.Bridget Kendall discusses Haile Selassie’s life and legacy with Prince Asfa-Wossen Asserate, political analyst and author of ‘King of Kings: The Triumph and Tragedy of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia’, who is also the great-nephew of Haile Selassie; Gerard Prunier, Independent Consultant on Eastern and Central African affairs, and former Director of the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in Addis -Ababa; and Laura Hammond, an anthropologist specialising in Ethiopia at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Image: Haile Selassie Credit: Henry Guttmann/Getty Images

Emilie du Chatelet was esteemed in 18th-century France as a brilliant physicist, mathematician, thinker and linguist whose pioneering ideas and formidable translations were known all across Europe. And yet, after her death in childbirth in her mid-40s she was nearly forgotten, and if she was remembered at all, then as a companion and collaborator of the famous writer Voltaire. Du Chatelet’s insights into kinetic energy foreshadowed Einstein’s famous equation and her suggestions for experiments with the different colours of light would only be carried out half-a-century after she’d written about them. Plus she was a remarkable personality, determined to live a life of an independent woman, often pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable even in the liberal social circles of her day.Bridget Kendall discusses du Chatelet’s life and work with history professor Judith Zinsser, Chatelet’s biographer David Bodanis and philosophy professor Ruth Hagengruber.Painting: Gabrielle Emilie de Breteuil (1706 -1749), marchioness of Le Chatelet by Marianne Loir. (Photo by Raphael Gaillarde/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

Mosquitos are a fast-adapting, elusive enemy which humans have been trying to combat for thousands of years. As vectors of dangerous diseases, these tiny insects have killed more people in human history than any other animal. So what impact has the mosquito had on our lives? How have humans tried to halt its spread? And who is winning the battle?Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the history of man and the mosquito are Dr. Erica McAlister, Senior Curator of Diptera - Flies - at the Natural History Museum in London; Dr. Timothy Winegard, historian and author of The Mosquito: A Human History of our Deadliest Predator; and Dr. Clifford Mutero of the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya, and author of Mosquito Hunter: Chronicles of an African Insect Scientist.Image: Health workers tackling the spread of the Zika virus in Brazil, 2016 Credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images

From Cellini's magnificent Perseus statue to the humblest of tools, people have been using bronze for at least five thousand years. So what makes bronze such a versatile material, how did we first discover it and why have so many precious bronze art works failed to survive? Bridget Kendall is joined by Carol Mattusch, Professor Emerita of Art History at George Mason University; Professor Jianjun Mei, from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing and Director of the Needham Institute in Cambridge who specialises in ancient metallurgy; and David Ekserdjian, Professor of Art and Film History at Leicester University. Also in the programme: Dutch sound artist Floris van Manen follows the key stages of making a bronze bell at Eijsbouts, one of Europe's leading foundries. Photo: Cellini's statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa (Getty Images)

A nomadic wanderer and free-spirited romantic, Li Bai 李白, also known as Li Po, lived some 1300 years ago and yet his poems are still cherished for their wild imagination and effortless artistry. There are many colourful stories about his life but how much can we really know about someone who not only lived so long ago but was also very good at projecting an image of himself as a rebel? And how much of Li Bai's intricate, allusion-rich poetry can be translated successfully into other languages? These are some of the issues that Bridget Kendall discusses with Li Bai scholars Paula Varsano and Wilt Idema, and writer and Li Bai biographer Ha Jin.(Picture: Li Bai sitting on a tree branch. Detail of the decoration on a large ceramic plate from China, 17th-18th century. Credit: DeAgostini/Getty Images)

A mysterious Egyptian Queen who lived more than 3,000 years ago, Nefertiti still dazzles the modern imagination. Once the wife of a Pharaoh, she might have faded into obscurity, but for the 1912 discovery of an extraordinary bust of her wearing a distinctive flat-topped crown, which captured her very modern beauty and made her into a global celebrity.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the story of Queen Nefertiti are Tarek Tawfik, Associate Professor of Egyptology at Cairo University and former Director General of the Grand Egyptian Museum Project; Christian Loeben, curator of the Egyptian and Islamic Collections at the Museum August Kestner in Hannover, Germany; And Joyce Tyldesley, Reader in Egyptology at the University of Manchester, and author of Nefertiti’s Face: The Creation of an Icon.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World Service(Image Credit: Oliver Lang / DDP / AFP / Getty Images)

Erasmus Darwin was a man of many talents; not only was he a successful physician, a popular poet, an ardent abolitionist and a pioneering botanist, he also worked out how organisms evolve, some 70 years before his grandson Charles’s theories about this revolutionised science. He is credited with many inventions and discoveries including the steering mechanism used in modern cars, the gas laws of clouds and a document copying machine. And he knew how to live life to the full; he fathered at least 14 children and his love of food meant that his dining table had to have a chunk sawn out of it to accommodate his considerable waistline.Joining Rajan Datar to explore the life and work of this remarkable man are Dr Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and biographer of Erasmus Darwin; Dr Malcolm Dick, director of the Centre for West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham; and Maurizio Valsania, professor at the University of Turin in Italy who specialises in 18th Century intellectual history.(Picture: Portrait of Erasmus Darwin by Joseph Wright of Derby. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)