Highlife: The sound of Ghana

Exploring the background to the music which has absorbed so many cultural influences

• 44 mins

A history of honey

Uncovering the rich cultural and medical history of the world's oldest sweet

• 44 mins

The amazing Dr Darwin

The life of Erasmus Darwin, one of the most remarkable minds in 18th Century Britain

• 44 mins

Nefertiti: The beguiling Egyptian Queen

The story behind the beautiful bust and the powerful woman it represents

• 38 mins

Li Bai: The revered Chinese poet

The prodigious talent and restless life of Tang dynasty's literary rebel

• 44 mins

The magic of bronze

The stories behind some of the world's greatest masterpieces in bronze

• 44 mins

Man v mosquito

How humans have waged war against the mosquito for thousands of years

• 44 mins

Emilie du Chatelet: a free-spirited physicist

The life and work of a remarkable 18th-century polymath

• 39 mins

Haile Selassie: the last emperor of Ethiopia

The life and legacy of the man who became ‘the Father of Africa’

• 44 mins

Oscar Niemeyer: Brazil's king of curves

Brazil's visionary architect and leading pioneer of modernism

• 44 mins

Guide dogs for the blind: A history

How did the idea of systematically training dogs for the blind originate?

• 44 mins

Artemisia Gentileschi: The painter who took on the men

The Italian Baroque artist who's become a hero for modern-day feminists

• 39 mins

In search of the good life: Epicurus and his philosophy

Exploring how an Ancient Greek school of thought has resonated through the ages

• 44 mins

Natsume Soseki: Japan’s great novelist

The Japanese literary giant of the early 20th Century

• 44 mins

Gretta Cousins: champion of Irish and Indian women

A pianist and activist who fought for women’s votes and better lives

• 39 mins

Gerard Mercator: The man who revolutionised mapmaking

The mapmaker who defined the modern world

• 44 mins

The 1918 Spanish Flu: The mother of all pandemics

The last global pandemic and what it can tell us about tackling Covid-19 .

• 44 mins

Hazel Scott: Jazz star and barrier breaker

An exceptionally talented musician who always stood her ground

• 41 mins

The California Gold Rush

Who made a fortune and who was crushed in the rush for gold in California in 1849?

• 44 mins

Goethe: The story of colour

How colour affects our mood and thoughts

• 44 mins

Aesop and the Fables

A black slave wrote 700 animal tales in Ancient Greece. Why are they still best sellers?

• 44 mins

Babylon, city of wonders

From The Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens to why there are 60 minutes in an hour

• 44 mins

Joan of Arc: Making a martyr

How a teenager fought to save France

• 44 mins

Bertha von Suttner: A champion of peace

The writer who became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

• 39 mins

Silk routes: 2000 years of trading

Luxuries and everyday goods that travelled West and East

• 44 mins

Valkyries: Fierce women of war

Choosing dead heroes from the battlefield, to fight with Odin in the apocalyptic Ragnarok

• 44 mins

Up close with tango

The dance that seduced the world

• 44 mins

Chaucer, father of English poetry

The man who in the 14th Century made English a language fit for literature

• 44 mins

Tolstoy: War and Peace

An epic sweep of war and love and family life set in 19th century Russia

• 44 mins

Picasso, artist of reinvention

How an artist changed our way of seeing

• 44 mins