Roundup

Olympics history rife with politics, protest [audio 7min]

Despite the modern Olympics rhetoric about peace through sport, its history is rife with politics and protest. Olympic historian David Wallechinsky explains how the Games became a contest for attention.

Iraq War's impact on America's international reputation, role [audio 23min]

Four leading voices of the BBC's coverage in the last five years (Jim Muir; Magdi Abdelhadi; Lyse Doucet; John Simpson) give their varying assessments of how the Iraq invasion and subsequent insurgency developed, charting the missed opportunities and faulty assessments by the Coalition, and the murderous exploitation of Iraq's post-war frailty by Saddam loyalists and foreign Islamists. They also look at how the ripples begun in the Sunni triangle have since spread globally, affecting the politic

Matthew Parker & 'Panama Fever' [audio 51min]

The Panama Canal remains one of the engineering marvels of all time. Author Matthew Parker examines the cost - in lives and treasure - of what Theodore Roosevelt called 'one of the great works of the world.' Parker is author of The Battle of Britain and Monte Cassino.

I Am Woman [audio 57min]

BBC presenter Mariella Frostrup takes a look at Helen Reddy's classic hit "I Am Woman", and explores how successful it has been as an expression of feminism. She explains some of the tangled complexities of the women's movement, with particular emphasis on the entertainment industry. Music business executives and artists including Spice Girl Mel C, K.D. Lang and Tracy Chapman share their experiences as women working in the record industry. Mariella also examines the so-called First, Se

Have there been 50 years of education progress since Brown v Board of Education? [audio 29min]

Brown vs. the Board of Education was the 1954 Supreme Court decision that declared the old "separate but equal" policies of many school boards unconstitutional. Producer Kathy Baron takes a look at how far school systems have come over the past 50+ years in assuring equality for all students and whether technology plays a role in giving these students access. The Brown case triggered numerous court mediated desegregation policies around the country. Some school systems are only now eme

Modern piracy not always at sea [audio 23min]

From Black Beard to bandits who trail the coasts of Somalia, Nick Rankin takes a journey through history looking at pirates of the past, present and future. Rankin is Chief Producer, Arts, at the BBC World Service. He also looks at the issue of modern-day piracy, from illegal downloads of music and software to counterfeit DVDs. You could even be a pirate without realising. In Part Three - Mind-thieves - Nick traces the origins of copyright back to medieval times, where scholars would right curse

Iraq War changed regional balance of power [audio 23min]

Four leading voices of the BBC's coverage in the last five years (Jim Muir; Magdi Abdelhadi; Lyse Doucet; John Simpson) give their varying assessments of how the Iraq invasion and subsequent insurgency developed, charting the missed opportunities and faulty assessments by the Coalition, and the murderous exploitation of Iraq's post-war frailty by Saddam loyalists and foreign Islamists. They also look at how the ripples begun in the Sunni triangle have since spread globally, affecting the politic

Dissolution of the monasteries: Religion in ruins [audio 43min]

When he was an old man, Michael Sherbrook remembered in writing the momentous events of his youth:"All things of price were either spoiled, plucked away or defaced to the uttermost...it seemed that every person bent himself to filch and spoil what he could. Nothing was spared but the ox-houses and swincotes..." He was talking about the destruction of Roche Abbey, but it could have been Lewes or Fountains, Glastonbury, Tintern or Walsingham, names that haunt the religious past as their ruins haun

The Greek myths: Soap opera of the gods [audio 43min]

Are you a touch narcissistic? Do you have the body of an Adonis? Are you willing to undertake Herculean tasks or Promethean ventures? Perhaps you have an Oedipus complex? If you answer to any or perhaps all of these, you owe something to the Greek myths, a collection of weird and wonderful stories that, like Penelope’s shroud or the needlework of Arachne, was constantly woven and unpicked across centuries of Greek and Roman civilisation. The myths have a cast of thousands, including mighty Zeus,

Untold history of post-Civil War 'neoslavery' [audio 30min]

In Slavery by Another Name, Douglas Blackmon of the Wall Street Journal argues that slavery did not end in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. He writes that it continued for another 80 years, in what he calls an Age of Neoslavery: "The slavery that survived long past emancipation was an offense permitted by the nation," Blackmon writes, "perpetrated across an enormous region over many years and involving thousands of extraordinary

The women who stayed at home while their men went to sea [audio 7min]

In the 18th century, Britannia ruled the waves; the British navy at its height employed 140,000 men. Many of these sailors were press-ganged into service, so who was looking after their families and businesses while they were at sea? A new study of correspondence between naval wives and husbands shows that, without women holding up morale and the home front, the imperial war effort would simply not have been possible. Margarette Lincoln, deputy director of the National Maritime Museum, joins Jan

Thomas Malthus is back [audio 30min]

The ideas contained in Thomas Malthus's famous Essay on the Principle of Population, published over 200 years ago, have been revived and dismissed in almost equal measure over the years. But perhaps Malthus's contention that world population growth is unsustainable has found its most powerful ally in the effects our society is having on the world's ecology. By UN estimates, the population of poor countries alone will rise by almost 3 billion in the next 30 years. Mineral resources are fin

'Space Odyssey' author Clarke dies at 90 [audio 2 x 4min]

Writer Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka. He was 90. He's best known for writing 2001: A Space Odyssey, but he wrote many dozens of science fiction novels. Clarke, a trained scientist who united intellectual rigor with imagination, inspired generations of writers and scientists with his powerfully humane vision of the future.

Scotland independence [audio 1st 18min]

Laurie Taylor is joined by Professor Murray Pittock, the author of a new book, The Road To Independence? Scotland Since the Sixties (Reaktion Books), and Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford University and author of Devolution in the United Kingdom (Oxford Paperbacks), to consider the reasons behind the rise of Scottish nationalism since the end of World War Two and to find out if the next step on the road will be a vote for full independence.

High-tech hunt aims to find missing Da Vinci mural [audio 6min]

It's one of the great mysteries of the history of Western art: A mural by Leonardo da Vinci that has not been seen for 500 years. The vast painting of the fury of war is said to have been one of the landmarks of Renaissance art. Now, an Italian engineer has joined his scientific knowledge with his passion for art in an Indiana Jones-type quest. He believes the mural is hidden behind another frescoed wall, and he says he can prove it. Da Vinci left copious notebooks and, in 1505, he

Jean Strouse & 'Morgan: American Financier' [audio 34min]

Award-winning historian Jean Strouse prefaces her discussion of her new book with a warning: "It took J.P.Morgan seventy-six years to live his life, and it took me fifteen years to write about it." In this short presentation, she touches on different aspects of her research into the life of J.P. Morgan, America's most influential banker. She looks at the reasons for his success and delves into his inscrutable personal life. Strouse's extensive scholarship offers many insights into her

Eric Lane & 'The Genius of America' [video 57min]

Public policy expert Eric Lane talks about his new book, The Genius of America: How the Constitution Saved our Country - and Why it Can Again. Although his book has a contemporary outlook, Lane does consider the historical trends in the developing relationship between the Constitution and the government that it established in 1787. During the question-and-answer session, Lane is prompted to respond to the suggestion that the government as established by the Constitution has similarity to

St Patrick's Day looms large in US consciousness [audio 5min]

Boston Globe journalist Kevin Cullen tells RTÉ the event still has importance for many Irish Americans.

McGuinness to lead White House delegation [video 2min]

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will lead a delegation to the US for St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House. Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson will be joining him in place of the First Minister Ian Paisley. Meanwhile, Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg has confirmed he will attend a major economic investment conference in Belfast. Earlier this month, Dr Paisley announced that he would step down as First Minister and DUP leader after the conference in May.

Ireland celebrates St Patrick's Day [audio 4min]

Parades are taking place at home and around the world to mark St Patrick's Day. For marchers and spectators in Ireland, the weather is forecast to be generally dry though with some rain in the east. The biggest march in Ireland will be broadcast live from Dublin on RTÉ One Television. Up to 3,000 marchers will take part and as many as 500,000 people are expected to turn out to see it. Lead by Grand Marshall Eamon Coughlan, marchers began their 3km journey through the city centre at midday, leavi