Half-Life: 1. Daughter of Radium
Hidden on page 1692 of his great-grandfather's memoir, Joe Dunthorne finds a confession.
The History Podcast · BBC Radio 4
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Show Notes
Drawn to a family legend about his German-Jewish family’s dramatic escape from Nazi Germany in 1936, the writer Joe Dunthorne accidentally discovers a far more disturbing history.
A conversation with his granny, who spent her childhood brushing her teeth with the radioactive toothpaste her father Siegfried manufactured, leads Joe to finally read his great-grandfather's nearly 2000-page long unpublished memoir. Hidden on page 1692 he finds an unsettling confession.
Written and presented by Joe Dunthorne, (based on his book Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance) Produced by Eleanor McDowall Music by Jeremy Warmsley Mixing engineer, Mike Woolley Story consultant, Sarah Geis Executive producer, Alan Hall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4