The Forum

The birth of modern plastic began in 1907 with the invention of Bakelite, one of the first plastics to be made from entirely synthetic components. But plastic in a particular form was being used many thousands of years ago by the Olmec, the earliest known civilisation in Mexico, who played with balls made of a natural polymer - rubber. Over the years the plastics industry has grown from the work of a handful of inventors to a global player whose products reach into almost every corner of our lives. Plastic has been at the heart of one of the most important changes in virtually all societies since the second world war: the consumer revolution. But while it is a force for good in many areas and a highly versatile material that appears in the most surprising places, plastic today is a major environmental preoccupation. Can we modify our use towards this wonder material, or can scientists rise to the challenge of creating a plastic that will break down completely when it has reached the end of its useful l

Rarely has one foodstuff had such global influence as Sugar – on our trade and economy, movement of people around the world, and health and treatment of fellow humans. Once a costly luxury called “white gold”, it was pivotal in one of mankind’s most shameful chapters – slavery. Joining Rajan Datar to find out more about Sugar and its connection with power is the Canadian historian Dr Elizabeth Abbott, the writer Marina Budhos whose Indian background inspired her research, and the Columbian political scientist Dr Eduardo Gomez, author of ‘Geopolitics in Health’.Photo: A sugar bowl (Getty Images)

It is a religion that has lasted three millennia, claims to be the world's first monotheistic creed and to have influenced major faiths such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam, inspired artists from Voltaire to Freddie Mercury but Zoroastrianism may be heading for extinction: in some communities only children of male Zoroastrians are admitted to the faith and there are probably fewer than 200 thousand left now. Rajan Datar talks about the history of Zoroastrianism with Dr. Sarah Stewart, Shapoorji Pallonji Lecturer in Zoroastrianism at SOAS, University of London, Malcolm Deboo, President of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, the oldest Zoroastrian organisation on the continent, and Yuhan Vevaina, professor of Sasanian Studies at Oxford University.Photo: Faravahar - relief of winged sun symbol of Zoroastrianism in Persepolis city, Iran. (Getty Images)

It was exactly a hundred years ago that women in the UK won the right to vote: though at first it was only for property owning women over thirty. But Britain wasn’t the trail blazer. Seven countries were ahead of it including two of its colonies. So what were the deciding factors? Was it the changing circumstances created by wars and the collapse of Empires? Or was it the suffragettes’ sometimes violent tactics? And why did Switzerland take as long as 1971 to enfranchise women? Joining Bridget Kendall to look at the global story of how women got the vote is the Indian social scientist Nikita Sud, Jad Adams the author of “Women and the Vote”, and Lindie Naughton the biographer of the first woman elected to the British parliament Constance Markievicz.Photo: Women voting (Reuters)

Today, we can’t imagine an election without an opinion poll gauging public opinion on who’s leading, who’s won a debate or who’s more popular with a specific group of voters. Even our favourite chocolate bars and footballers are subject to a poll. But how did straw polls evolve into the scientific number crunching we know now? What is their purpose and impact? How differently are they used around the world? And just how reliable are they?Bridget Kendall is joined by economist and chairman of Gallup Pakistan Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani; Scott Keeter, senior survey advisor for the Pew Research Center in Washington; and Sir John Curtice from the University of Strathclyde.Picture: American President Harry S Truman smiles and waves to the excited Kansas City crowd after hearing the news that he had won the United States elections in 1948 and retained the Presidency, despite of what many polls had predicted, Credit: Keystone, Getty Images.

T.E Lawrence was a British scholar and adventurer whose involvement with the Arab Revolt during the World War One inspired one of the most celebrated films in cinema history. So how did a man who was offered a knighthood and became an international celebrity end his days in near obscurity? Bridget Kendall is joined by historians James Barr and Juliette Desplat, and writer Scott Anderson to discuss his life and legacy.Photo: T. E. Lawrence. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images.

In the ten years since his death, the impact of designer Yves Saint Laurent on women’s fashion remains undimmed. The pea coat, the trench, the trouser suit – many of his designs are now staples of the modern Western woman’s wardrobe. So how did this famously shy and retiring man achieve global success? And did his fashion innovations for women shape social change in the 1960s, or were they a response to his times? Bridget Kendall looks back at Saint Laurent’s life and legacy with director of the Yves Saint Laurent Museum, Olivier Flaviano, fashion historian Emilie Hammen and one of Saint Laurent’s last assistants, designer Charles Sébline.Photo: Yves Saint Laurent, French designer, with two fashion models, Betty Catroux (left) and Loulou de la Falaise, outside his 'Rive Gauche' shop. Credit: John Minihan, Getty Images.

Moby Dick is the story of a crazed and vengeful sailor, Captain Ahab, hunting a giant whale that bit off his leg. It's a large and challenging book and its author, Herman Melville died without knowing how influential or revered it would become. Although it failed to impress when it first came out in 1851, it’s now hailed as a ‘great American novel’, one of the towering achievements of American literature. With Bridget Kendall to explore the book and its author, Professor Jamie Jones from the University of Illinois, Emily Ogden from the University of Virginia and poet and academic from Lancaster University in the UK, Paul Farley. Photo: Sperm Whale (Martin Camms/Getty Images)

The Goths were a Germanic tribe infamous for their brief sack of Rome in 410 AD, but their cultural and political influence was felt throughout Europe for centuries. They re-shaped the Balkans, preserved the Roman way of life in Italy, and presided over a cultural flourishing in Spain. But how, many centuries after their demise, did they come to give their name to an important architectural style in medieval Europe and, in the 20th century, to a subculture popular all over the world?Bridget Kendall talks all things Gothic with David Gwynn, historian at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of Goths, the Lost Civilisation. Also on the panel are Janina Ramirez, a cultural historian, broadcaster and author who focuses on the Middle Ages, based at the University of Oxford, and Mischa Meier, professor of ancient history at the University of Tubingen in Germany.(Photo credits: Goth girl - BBC, Gothic King Theodoric coin - Mark Cartwright)

Inferno is the 14th century epic that tells the story of Dante Alighieri’s imaginary journey through the underworld. It is the first part of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, and is widely considered to be one of the world’s greatest poems. “Abandon all hope you who enter here” is the famous phrase inscribed on the gates of Dante’s Inferno, and Hell is divided into nine circles, with cruel and unusual punishments afflicting the sinners, who range from the lustful and cowardly in the upper circles to the malicious at the bottom of Hell. Joining Rajan Datar to explore Dante’s Inferno is Dr Vittorio Montemaggi, author of Reading Dante’s Commedia as Theology; Claire Honess, Professor of Italian studies at the University of Leeds, and Sangjin Park, Professor of Italian at Busan University of Foreign studies in South Korea, who will be speaking about the role Inferno played in shaping Korea’s national identity.Photo: A visual interpretation of red hell-fire (Getty Images)

Portuguese sailor and explorer Ferdinand Magellan set out 500 years ago to find a route to the riches of the spice islands, north east of present day Indonesia. Through a series of adventures and tragedies, Magellan’s voyage discovered the Straits of Magellan joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Southern America and was the first expedition to completely circumnavigate the World. But Magellan died on the way and the remaining crew were in fact first round the globe. To explore an achievement that changed the World and still influences us today, Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr Rodrigo Cacho, Dr Alison Sandman and Dr Rachel Winchcombe.Photo: An illustration of Ferdinand Magellan (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

‘It is only with the heart that one can see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’ Words of advice from a wily desert fox to a little boy who fell to Earth from an asteroid. That quote, by the French author and pilot Antoine Saint-Exupery, is one of the most memorable passages from The Little Prince, a slim volume that is one of the most frequently translated books of all time and has achieved this in just 75 years since its first publication. But who was Saint-Exupery? How did he come to write The Little Prince? And what else do we know about this adventurer and romantic who risked his life as a pilot many times and captivated the world with his writing?Bridget Kendall is joined by Olivier d'Agay, great-nephew of the writer and Director of the Antoine de Saint-Exupery Estate and Youth Foundation, Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer-prize winning author of an acclaimed biography of Saint-Exupery, and Bernard Chabbert, pilot and historian of French aviation.Antoine de Saint-Exupery (Photo by Hulton Archive/G

The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe is regarded as a giant of world literature. Best known as the author of the ground-breaking novel Things Fall Apart, he was also acclaimed for his works of non-fiction, poetry and his books for children. Raised and educated when his country was still under British colonial rule, Achebe witnessed great change, experiencing both the dawn of an independent Nigeria and the devastation of civil war. He is a writer famed for depicting, in English, the traditions of Igbo society in south-eastern Nigeria, and for engaging with subjects such as conflict, corruption and colonialism. In this programme, Rajan Datar and guests reflect on the life and legacy of this academic, author and advocate of African fiction. Featuring scholars Louisa Egbunike, Ernest Emenyonu and Terri Ochiagha.Photo: Chinua Achebe (Getty Images)

Boudica, also known as Boadicea, was a member of Iron Age aristocracy in Roman-occupied England, and her husband was the ruler of the Iceni people. When he died in around 60AD, Boudica, driven by Roman brutality, led a rebellion against the Roman army and marched on London. It was a ferocious attack that nearly drove the Romans out of Britain before Boudica was finally defeated. Today, she is an iconic and sometimes controversial figure.To explore Boudica, Bridget Kendall is joined by Professors Richard Hingley and Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Dr Jane Webster.Photo: Queen Boudica of the Iceni (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev attempted nothing less than to pull apart the fabric of reality and expose the hidden patterns that lie beneath everything in existence, from shoes and ships and sealing wax to cabbages and kings. The result was something known to almost everyone who has ever been to school: the Periodic Table of the elements. But why this particular arrangement? And why is it still the foundation of chemistry?Quentin Cooper is joined by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, who since he was a teenager has collected samples of elements and has drawn on his samples and knowledge to write Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements; Michael Gordin, Professor of History at Princeton University and the author of A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitri Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table; Ann Robinson, Historian at the University of Massachusetts studying the development of the periodic table; And Eugene Babaev, Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University who maintains both Russian and English

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree … “ - Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of the most famous poems in the English Language. But it is also one of the strangest. It was composed during an opium dream, it remains unfinished and according to one theory, was implicated in a war in South Africa. And what is its relation to the real life Kublai Khan, the 13th century Mongol emperor who conquered China? Joining Rajan Datar to discuss this mysterious poem is Coleridge’s award winning biographer Richard Holmes, the poet and senior lecturer in English Dr Peter Anderson from Cape Town University in South Africa, Professor Samantha Harvey from Boise State University in the US, and the Chinese historian Professor Kent Deng from the London School of Economics.(Photo: Royal Pavilion in the Phraya Nakhon Cave, Thailand. Credit: Mazzzur/GettyImages)

Eva Peron rose from a childhood of poverty to become one of the most powerful figures in Latin America. An illegitimate small town girl, she smashed class and gender barriers to become Argentina’s controversial First Lady. Loved and loathed, Rajan Datar discusses her life, work and remarkable afterlife with biographer Jill Hedges, historian Ranaan Rein, and cultural theorist Claudia Soria.Photo: Eva Peron in 1951 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Flamenco is easily recognised across the world thanks to certain stereotypes, namely spotty dresses, shirt-tearing and lots of foot stamping. The reality however is far more nuanced, and this extraordinarily complex music and dance form can take many years – if not a lifetime – to master. For those steeped in its traditions, they describe it as a way of life. With the help of musical examples, Rajan Datar and guests explore how flamenco works, and discuss how it’s grown from its origins in the marginalised communities of southern Spain to become a commercial success the world over. Joining Rajan are flamenco aficionado and guitarist Brook Zern, dancer María Bermúdez from flamenco’s heartland in Jerez de la Frontera and Dr Matthew Machin-Autenrieth from the University of Cambridge in the UK.Photo: Flamenco dancing (Getty Images)

Thomas Sankara is the revolutionary who became the first president of Burkina Faso in West Africa, and gave the country its name, meaning 'the land of upright people'. In his short time as leader of Burkina Faso, Sankara instituted sweeping reforms to make the country more self-sufficient and society more equal. For some Sankara was a hero, for others, he was a ruthless autocrat. This year marks 30 years after his mysterious -and as yet unsolved- assassination, but why do memories of him still haunt Africa to this day? Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss Thomas Sankara, are Dr Amber Murrey-Ndewa from the American University in Cairo, Lamine Konkobo BBC Afrique journalist from Burkina Faso, and Aziz Fall, Professor of International Studies in Canada and campaigner for justice on behalf of the Sankara family. Photo: Thomas Sankara at a press conference in Paris, 1986. (Getty Images)

It is a fibre and a fabric that is part of many people's daily lives, it grows wild on at least three continents, it has been woven into cloth and traded all over the world for thousands of years. And when machines made possible the mass production of cotton, its story became entwined with the history of human slavery: making fortunes for a few, and condemning many to a life of misery. So what are the milestones in the history of cotton? And why has it always proved such a popular clothing material across the centuries and across the world?Bridget Kendall is joined by four textile historians to trace cotton's origins and its evolution into one of the world's most important global commodities: Sven Beckert, Professor of History at Harvard, Prasannan Parthasarathi, Professor of History at Boston College, Giorgio Riello, Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick and the President of the Textile Society Mary Schoeser.Photo: Cotton yarn (Getty Images)