Roundup

Regency Dinner Parties [11min]

"Invite him to dinner, Emma, and help him to the best of the fish and the chicken, but leave him to choose his own wife." So advises Mr. Knightley to Jane Austen's matchmaking heroine at the end of the first chapter of Emma. During the Regency period, dinner parties ranked first amongst all entertainments and a society hostess was expected to give a dinner party at least once or twice a week. In the first of our new series on food and cookery as would have been familiar to Jane Austen and

Postcode Lottery in Victorian Britain [30min]

Jonathan Freedland puts the UK government's current Education Bill in historical perspective by going back to the Victorian Education Act of 1870. The Prime Minister and his Education Secretary Ruth Kelly have been making the case for creating a new landscape of "trust schools" -- state-funded but independent. But in 1870, before state education existed, arguments raged over whether the mixture of church schools, charity schools, and philanthropic schools which the majority of British

History of American Vaudeville 2nd of 3 [30min]

Geoffrey Wheeler's series about the history of American vaudeville. A profile of Memphis, a city where vaudeville performers mixed with a new generation of musicians -- producing the exciting new sounds of jazz and blues. A city where, even in the days of segregation, Black and white performers were able to mingle freely in the buzzing creative atmosphere of Beale Street, the long-gone Palace Theater, and the still-thriving Orpheum.

The History Boys, by Alan Bennett [2hr30min --thru 18-Mar-06]

I was both entertained and challenged when I saw the brilliant History Boys, Alan Bennett's multi-award-winning play, in London in 2004. The 'history boys' are 18-year-old secondary students preparing to enter the university from a school where Hector, the Humanities teacher, believes teaching should be the nurturing of wisdom, but the headmaster wants the boys prepped for Oxbridge entrance exams to raise the school's visibility."The school gives them an education. I give them the wherewi

Empress -- Victoria & Disraeli [15min]

In 1876 Victoria became Empress of India. In 1858 the Crown had taken over absolute rule of India from the East India Company. This was as the Sepoy Rebellion (aka Indian Mutiny) was being quelled. Victoria now represented the height of British imperial symbolism. It was Disraeli's doing and he brought it about largely to flatter the Queen's own imperialist aspirations. She in turn created Disraeli Earl of Beaconsfield. The magazine Punch observed, 'One Good Turn Deserved Another'. This w

Mankind's Genetic Origins [12min @15:43]

Where do we actually come from? That is the question that the National Geographic Genographic Project has been trying to answer. By collecting DNA samples from people all over the world, the project is trying to unlock the secrets to humankind's ancestral past. To explain how genetic differences can tell us about how humanity spread around the globe, Quentin Cooper is joined by Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic project, and Mark Thomas from the Centre for Genetic Anthropology at Univers

Genealogy Tourism [30min]

Sandi Toksvig takes a journey into the past and looks at the phenomenon which has become known as ancestry tourism. People from across the globe claim to be descended from British emigrants and many spurred on by their own genealogical research are coming to visit the UK to trace their roots. Equally the descendants of those who stayed at home are now seeking out the branches of the family who went abroad to colonise the empire. Sandi is joined by genealogical travellers John McCracken and Ryan

Challenges Ahead in Building The Museum of African-American History and Culture [28min]

The Museum of African-American History and Culture is slated to open its doors in about 10 years on America’s National Mall. On this edition of Press Conference USA, founding Director, Lonnie Bunch, talks about the challenges ahead in creating exhibits and raising funds. In a conversation with host Carol Castiel and VOA TV correspondent Chris Simkins, Mr. Bunch emphasizes the centrality of the African-American experience to U.S. history and explains why African-American culture resonates around

Bomber -- Cold War Submariners [30min]

Writer Andrew Smith goes deep into the lives and adventures of submariners across the generations as he encounters the People of the Abyss. The combination of the ballistic missile and the nuclear-powered submarine changed everything -- warfare, the balance of world power and of course submarining. For the duration of the Cold War, the real front line stretched across millions of miles of dark water. Former Soviet, British and American commanders and crew reveal the unique pressures, intense bor

USS Nautilus -- 20,000 Leagues Under the Ice [60min]

In 1958, in utter secrecy, the black hull of the world's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, voyaged beneath the ice of the North Pole and entered into legend. 'Nautilus 90 degrees North' flashed the telegram, informing the world of the boat's historic undersea crossing -- a message that would sink home both in Washington and Moscow -- hinting at American technical genius and the tilting of strategic power. That voyage was captured on disc and long forgotten. Now Charles Wheeler, speak

Zulu War [15min]

The Zulu War that inspired films but little respect for British colonial diplomacy took place in 1879. Indirectly, the cause was the misjudgement of the colonial secretary Lord Carnarvon who believed Boers and British would come together to protect each other. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian Christopher Lee and narrated by actor

Saving the Real 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' [4min]

Officials of Maryland's Montgomery County and a preservation group have decided to purchase the home of the slave who inspired the main character in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The sale of the cabin prompted commentator Clarence Page to revisit the tale that still elicits a strong response from readers.

Pioneering Photographer Gordon Parks Dies at 93 [6min]

Photographer and film director Gordon Parks died Tuesday at the age of 93. We remember his works and impact on the world of photography. Guest: Deb Willis, professor of photography and imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU and author of Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers, 1840 to the Present.

Christian Numbers on Decline in the Middle East [34min]

The number of Christians who live in the area where their religion began is in decline. Join Neal Conan and guests for a discussion about why Christians are leaving the Middle East and what that means for the future of their faith and the politics from the lands they leave behind. Guests: Charles Sennott, author of The Body and the Blood: The Middle East's Vanishing Christians and the Possibility for Peace; Nina Shea, director, Center for Religious Freedom, Freedom House; Eden Naby, speci

Earlier Eruption Eclipses Destruction of Pompeii [3min]

The Italian city of Pompeii is one of the best-known reminders of how deadly volcanoes can be. Mt. Vesuvius' eruption in AD 79. buried the city, entombing many of the dead in casts of hardened ash that remain today. Now, scientists say the destruction was even worse in an earlier incident -- a deadly day 4,000 years ago. A group of scientists digging northwest of Vesuvius near Naples has found evidence that an enormous eruption during the Bronze Age covered the land almost 15 miles away from the

Cicely Mayhew on 60 Years of Women Diplomats [7min]

Cicely Mayhew was one of the first women to be appointed to the British Diplomatic service. As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office commemorates 60 years of women diplomats, she tells Martha what it was like to serve overseas in the wake of the Second World War.

Bettany Hughes on the Medici: Smart Women, Gay Men and False Gods [30min]

Historian Bettany Hughes concludes her journey through the beauty and the blood of renaissance Florence. This week she finds that, contrary to popular belief, it was smart women, gay men and false gods who made the corner stones of western civilisation.

South Africa -- Boers and Brits [15min]

The Dutch who ceded the Cape to the British at the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) never got on with their landlords, particularly when the British extended their slave-owning ban to the colony. Furthermore, the Dutch wanted more land -- an Afrikaner farmer estimated that to make a profitable business out of cattle ranching he would need about 6,000 acres. Furthermore, the Afrikaners felt threatened by the Xhosa tribes on the other side of the Fish River and, with the slave ban it was clear why t

I Vow to Thee My Country [30min]

A hymn that has recently attracted controversy for its patriotism, "I Vow to Thee My Country", was born just after the First World War. Vaughn Williams had the inspirational idea to put together the stirring music from Holst's Jupiter movement and the poem written by American ambassador Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, which was found on his desk when he left office.

Medieval Pension Crisis [30min]

Today we are faced with rising retirement ages, the collapse of final salary schemes and a government commission into how pensions can survive in the future. But in the middle of the 14th century, Britain faced an earlier crisis in paying for old age. The Black Death had left villages up and down the country bereft of young people. They had died of disease or fled to cities where they could find work, and were no longer at home to support their elderly parents. Jonathan Freedland goes to the vil