Taras Shevchenko: The slave who became a symbol of Ukrainian independence

The life and work of Ukraine's national bard

• 39 mins

La Malinche: Mexico's great 'traitor'

The indigenous slave girl who helped the Spanish conquer the Aztecs

• 43 mins

Eleonora Duse: The first great modern actress

The early feminist icon who challenged theatrical convention

• 39 mins

Making scents: The story of perfume

How fine fragrance became what it is today

• 39 mins

Gandhi: Architect of Indian independence

How a shy, mediocre schoolboy went on to shake the British Empire and inspire the world

• 46 mins

The Art of War: Ancient Chinese guide to victory

A manual for achieving success on the battlefield, and in life

• 39 mins

Bluegrass: Virtuoso music of Appalachia

The rich history of music from America's rural south

• 42 mins

Brazil's Palmares: A beacon of freedom

An inspirational settlement of people seeking freedom from slavery

• 39 mins

Yves Saint Laurent: Fashion revolutionary

Bridget Kendall and guests on the glamorous world of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent

• 39 mins

Dreams: Prophecy, propaganda and psychoanalysis

How our sleeping visions have wielded great influence throughout history.

• 39 mins

A forgotten founder of climate science: Eunice Newton Foote

The first person to link CO2 with global warming, and why she vanished from history

• 39 mins

The Sun: Myths and magnetism

Understanding the star that makes all life on Earth possible

• 39 mins

William Cobbett: Champion of rural workers

William Cobbett: Industrialization and its impact on England’s rural population

• 39 mins

How the paparazzi transformed photojournalism

Why 1950s Rome was the birthplace of the paparazzi

• 39 mins

Süleyman the Magnificent: longest-reigning Ottoman sultan

The 16th century Ottoman sultan who shaped a vast empire across three continents

• 39 mins

From straw poll to opinion poll

Exploring the past, present and future of opinion polling

• 39 mins

The end of civilisation: Bronze Age collapse

One of the earliest examples of globalisation, and why it came crashing down

• 41 mins

Moths: The story of the butterfly of the night

The much maligned moth – pest or saviour?

• 39 mins

Uruguay 1930: The first football World Cup

How FIFA's global sporting spectacle began

• 43 mins

The Epic of Gilgamesh: A quest for immortality

One of the oldest works of literature can speak to us even today

• 39 mins

Alice Guy: The first female movie mogul

The pioneer of early cinema who was overlooked by history

• 39 mins

Margaret Sanger: Mother of birth control

The controversial campaigner who founded Planned Parenthood and helped develop the pill

• 39 mins

Belarus: The crossroads of Eastern Europe

History of Belarus from the Middle Ages to Lukashenka

• 39 mins

Calories: How to fuel a human

The invisible force that shapes the way we feed ourselves

• 43 mins

The Cynics: Counter-culture from Ancient Greece

Itinerant philosophers who advocated leading radically simplified lives.

• 39 mins

Forugh Farrokhzad: A trailblazing voice for women in Iran

How the courage and audacity of an Iranian writer continues to inspire

• 39 mins

Why do we have a seven-day week?

How this unnatural cycle came to organise our lives

• 45 mins

The writer Rachel Carson who fought insecticide wars

How Silent Spring, a book about DDT use, changed the way we think about the environment

• 39 mins

When money died: The world's worst inflation

Hungary, 1946, where prices doubled every 15 hours

• 43 mins

How we work: Redesigning the office

The concept of the office is being reimagined. What can we learn from its history?

• 39 mins