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The Forum

The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

World Service,758 episodes

Episodes

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What makes us nostalgic?
Recalling a past that wasn’t
24 May 2025,49 mins
How airports took off
The history and evolution of airports, from military airstrips to luxury shopping outlets
26 Apr 2025,49 mins
Libraries in the digital age
What is the role of libraries in the 21st century?
22 Mar 2025,49 mins
How the US dollar came to dominate the world
The story of the world’s pre-eminent currency
22 Feb 2025,49 mins
The seductive dance of charisma
How magnetic personalities cast their spell
25 Jan 2025,49 mins
The rise of fans and fandom
Iszi Lawrence and guests discuss the history and inexorable rise of fandom
28 Dec 2024,48 mins
The enduring allure of jewellery
How precious ornaments have held us spellbound for centuries
23 Nov 2024,49 mins
Why sleep sometimes eludes us
Insomnia in science and the arts
26 Oct 2024,49 mins
The high-speed train race
Celebrating six decades of very fast railways
28 Sep 2024,49 mins
The diary: A life page by page
The centuries-old practice of keeping a personal journal
24 Aug 2024,48 mins
The only way is up: A history of mountaineering
Tracing our fascination with the high peaks
27 Jul 2024,48 mins
Music on the move
A short history of portable audio devices
22 Jun 2024,49 mins
The fight for women’s education
Empowering women through schooling
25 May 2024,49 mins
Feeding the world and the Green Revolution
Turning points in arable farming
27 Apr 2024,49 mins
Etiquette
Manners in the modern world and in the past
23 Mar 2024,48 mins
Supermarkets
How supermarkets came to dominate food retail
24 Feb 2024,48 mins
Diplomacy
The reality of international diplomacy
27 Jan 2024,48 mins
The story of throwaway living
How disposable and single-use items conquered the world
23 Dec 2023,48 mins
Political parties and us
How well do political parties serve their voters?
25 Nov 2023,48 mins
What makes a good boss?
An exploration of how we can get the best out of people in the workplace.
28 Oct 2023,48 mins
The joy and sorrow of roads
Dirt tracks to expressways: how roadbuilding changed the world
23 Sep 2023,48 mins
Pets and us
A scamper through the social history of our best friends
26 Aug 2023,48 mins
The evolution of teenagers
Why do humans have such a prolonged adolescence?
22 Jul 2023,49 mins
Global mass tourism
Has tourism lost its way?
24 Jun 2023,49 mins
A deep dive into deepfakes
Misinformation spread by faked images is almost as old as film itself
27 May 2023,49 mins
How the mobile phone changed everything
Charting the seismic transformation of our lives caused by mobile communications
22 Apr 2023,48 mins
The dam builders
The politics, power and engineering behind monumental dams
23 Mar 2023,39 mins
Alexander the Great or not so great?
One of the world’s most astonishing military leaders, but was he brilliant or brutal?
16 Mar 2023,39 mins
Rituals: Our anchors in a changing world
Why rituals and ceremonies enthral us and endure through the ages
09 Mar 2023,48 mins
Tropicália: the movement that defied Brazil’s dictatorship
The story of Brazil’s counter-cultural push of the late 1960s
02 Mar 2023,42 mins