Roundup

550 BC with Adam Hart-Davis [30min]

Adam Hart-Davis explores spectacular years in the long history of science, when brilliant ideas emerged from the maelstrom of mad, bad and dangerous thinking. Did Pythagoras really come up with the mathematical theorem that carries his name? How did Thales, the first of the philosophers, demonstrate the worth of science and learning with a little help from some olives? And how do you prove that air isn't nothing?

Lucinda Lambton's Hidden Treasures 4th of 5 -- Mr Straw's House [15min]

Lucinda Lambton finds some magical sights in extraordinary places. An ordinary looking house in Worksop is a time machine: The interior has remained unchanged since the 1930s. Wikipedia describes Lambton as "a British writer, photographer, television presenter and producer. She specialises in taking a quirky view of architectural history."

Mozart's Last Symphony: The Giant 'Jupiter' [8min]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last work, the Jupiter Symphony (No. 41), was written along with two other, full-length symphonies in the summer of 1788 -- in just six weeks. Mozart had recently been idolized all over Europe for operas such as Don Giovanni and for his spectacular performances of his own piano concertos. But, by most accounts, Mozart was near the bottom when he wrote it: broke and in debt. His audiences had become interested in other composers. Austria was at war with Tur

The Mathematics of Mozart's Music [8min]

Author Mario Livio has studied the relationship between art and mathematics. He tells Michele Norris most of us are attracted to symmetry spiced by some elements of surprise... and that combo is the essence of Mozart's music.

The Challenger Shuttle Tragedy, 20 Years Later [4min]

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. David Kestenbaum looks back on what went wrong on January 28, 1986, and how the incident has affected NASA in the years since.

Mozart's Less-Than-Warm Relationship with Salzburg [7min]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday is being celebrated in a major way Friday in Salzburg, Austria, the composer's birthplace. The city has made an industry of the commercialization of Mozart, and the celebration of his music -- even though Mozart couldn't wait to leave it.

'Gong Show' Creator Chuck Barris on a Life in TV [min]

He's worn many hats -- and not just those goofy hats on The Gong Show. Game show creator Chuck Barris talks about his career in television.

Mozart’s 250th Birthday! [51min]

250 years ago today, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, and during his short life he composed some of the most beloved and beautiful music yet written. His life was marked by turmoil, and a great deal of myth has sprung up about Mozart, his music and his death. To mark this occasion, we’ll discuss what makes Mozart’s music so popular, and share some of his most enduring compositions. Guests: Danielle Talamantes, Washington DC-based soprano from "Bel Cantanti" and other vocal

Duke of Edinburgh Recalls WWII Rescue Mission [30min]

Two Second World War naval air veterans recount the day they were shot down over Japan, only to be rescued by the man who would become The Duke of Edinburgh.

Wasting Away in Guantanamo Bay [5min]

The world's view of the American legal system is not quite as robust as it once was. Everybody's heard about Guantanamo, where critics say the usual legal rights of prisoners have been severely curtailed. But it gets a lot less abstract, and a lot more personal, when you're a defense lawyer representing some of the inmates. Meet Clive Stafford Smith, Legal Director of Reprieve, a British charity that defends cases involving alleged human rights abuses. He's put together a little audio diary for

What Should an American Citizen Know? [30min]

The U.S. government's Office of Citizenship wants to introduce a new citizenship test that is more than civics trivia. The changes would focus on what it means to be an American citizen. Experts and guests weigh in on the proposed changes and try their hand at questions from the current quiz. Guests: Matthew Spalding, director of the Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation, and one of the advisers on redesigning the citizenship test for the Office of Citizenship; Lani Guinier, law

Mozart's 250th Birthday [17min]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart turns 250 years old Friday. Guests in Salzburg, Austria, talk about his life and the tributes and concerts marking his birthday. Guests: Hannes Eichmann, cultural/music programming producer for Austrian Broadcasting Corp., who teaches at the Dept. of Mass-Media and Communciation at Salzburg University; and Dr. Ulrich Leisinger, head of the Mozarteum, the center for research and archival materials on Mozart and presenter of Mozart festival in Salzburg.

Local History from BBC Scotland [25min]

Puzzled by the past and don't know who to ask? Let Mark Stephen help! For the first programme in the new series of "Past Lives", listen in to hear Mark reporting from Fort William, and the banks of the Caledonian Canal. Ron Cameron is a local historian who told "Past Lives" how the canal came to be built as a job creation scheme for people cleared from the Highlands. He also pointed out how much of the workmanship is not of a very high standard, as shown by the huge leak.

Michael D'Antonio: 'Hershey' [51min]

The story behind a chocolate empire: Milton S. Hershey's rags to riches life and his enduring vision of a Utopian society. Diane Rehm's guest is Michael D'Antonio, author of Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams (Simon & Schuster).

Ten Millennia on the English/Welsh Border [30min]

Fenn's, Whixall & Bettisfield Mosses National Nature Reserve is part of Britain's third-largest raised bog -- so big that it's visible from space. The Mosses formed through glacial action at the end of the last Ice Age -- open water meres become mosses as peat builds up over thousands of years, here this created a large dome of peat towering up to 8m above the landscape -- a raised bog, fed only by rainwater. Dr Joan Daniels, English Nature Site Manager for the Mosses, takes presenter Richar

Gingrich Interviewed by BBC World Service [26min]

Newt Gingrich is often described as one of the big thinkers of American politics. He built the policy programme which won Congress for the Republicans in the mid-90s only to fall victim himself to the same ethics questions he had used to damage the Clinton presidency. Now, having done a lot of thinking about America’s place in the world, he’s being touted as a possible presidential contender in 2008. Carrie Gracie speaks to Newt Gingrich in this week's programme.

17th Century English Print Culture [45min]

From the advent of the printing press in England, the number of books printed each year steadily increased, and so did literacy rates. With a growing and socially diverse readership appearing over the 16th and 17th centuries, printed texts reflected controversy in every area of politics, society and religion. In the advent of the Civil War, print was used as the ideological battleground by the competing forces of Crown and Parliament. What sorts of printed texts were being produced? How widespre

Darrin McMahon: "Happiness: A History" [51min]

In modern society, happiness is everywhere. It's promised by prescription drugs, used to sell just about anything and everything, and leads many on a fruitless quest. Diane Rehm looks at the history of happiness with Florida State University professor Darrin McMahon, author of Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity.

Thoughts on Mozart's Birthday [9min]

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz shares his thoughts on the 250th anniversary of his favorite composer's birth: Mozart. Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756. (Music in the segment is from Mozart's opera Cosi Fan Tutte, taken from the DVD of the Peter Sellars production, conducted by Craig Smith on the Universal label.)

African Slave Descendents Trace History in Ghana [9min]

Centuries after their ancestors were forced onto slave ships off the coast of West Africa, African Americans and others continue to trace their roots back to the continent to learn more about their history. One country making a special effort to welcome them is Ghana, where the tourism minister, Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, wants African Americans and other Africans in the diaspora to consider Ghana their gateway back to the continent. Ghana is hoping to woo the descendants of slaves to think o