The Forum

In Mexico the name La Malinche has become synonymous with treachery and betrayal - it even forms one of the country’s most vicious insults. Some have described its owner, an indigenous slave who became the interpreter and mistress of conquistador Hernán Cortés, as the most hated woman in Mexico’s history.But by helping the Spanish topple the Aztecs in the early sixteenth century was she really guilty of selling out her own people, or simply doing everything she could to survive? Might we credit her with limiting the lives lost in the bloody conflict – one she knew her people could not hope to win?Bridget Kendall explores the little-known life, and hotly-contested legacy of one of the most controversial figures in Latin American history, and the role she played in the meeting of the Old World and the New.We hear how La Malinche’s story, and motives, have been re-interpreted over the last 500 years, and learn why she remains important in discussions of national identity, gender, culture and politics in Mexico t

There are hundreds of monuments to the poet and painter Taras Shevchenko not just in Ukraine but all over the world. It is hard to overstate the importance of Shevchenko for most Ukrainians. For them he is not just the national poet who breathed new life into the Ukrainian language but a symbol of their country’s independence. His words kept the national spirit alive during the decades of forced Russification in the 19th Century and they found renewed resonance during the 2014 Maidan uprising. But Shevchenko's work is less well known beyond eastern Europe. To remedy this Bridget Kendall is joined by Ukrainian writers and literary scholars Olha Poliukhovych from the National University of Kyiv - Mohyla Academy and Mykhailo Nazarenko from Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, and by professor of Slavonic studies at Vienna University Michael Moser. The reader is Ivantiy Novak.(Photo: A monument to Taras Shevchenko by Igor Grechanyk in Kyiv, Ukraine. Credit: Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto/Corbis/Getty Images)

Oranges have long represented love, wealth and status - since they originated in South East Asia, around the 8th Century BCE. The orange tree's ability to carry fruit and blossom at the same time made it a symbol of fertility and purity in religious art and painting, and the intoxicating fragrance of the blossom, the perfect sphere of the mature fruit and its sensuously refreshing taste inspired writers and artists, as well as growers to produce ever more spectacular creations. With the advent of artificial refrigeration in the 19th Century, oranges then became big business and widely available to all. By the mid 1880’s it’s said more than 2.5 million cases of Italian citrus fruit arrived in New York every year. Today, while oranges are enjoyed by many, their production also has a bitter side – the sad plight of many of the orange pickers, and the impact of the orange juice industry affecting the diversity of orange trees and profit margins of the growers.Joining Bridget Kendall is Cristina Mazzoni, professo

Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath: a physicist, biologist and early writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics. He made significant contributions to plant science, designing ingenious devices to measure plant growth and responsiveness. He founded one of India’s oldest and most distinguished research institutes. During his life he was honoured at home and in Britain he was knighted for his achievements and made a Fellow of the Royal Society. So why, outside India and his native Bangladesh, is J C Bose not better known?Bridget Kendall asks four historians of science: Bose's biographer Subrata Dasgupta from Lafayette in the United States where he is emeritus professor at the University of Louisiana; Christin Hoene who is assistant professor at Maastricht University in the Netherlands where one of her research interests is the cultural history of radio in colonial India; author, film-maker and historian of science Jahnavi Phalkey who is the Founding Director of

The reality behind the stereotypical image of Japan’s fearsome elite warriors is more nuanced than we are led to believe. It is thought the samurai developed as a social class in medieval Japan, when the term could encompass lowly foot soldiers or mercenaries, and often untrustworthy ones at that. A far cry from the skilled fighters who supposedly pledged undying loyalty to their lord, and followed a code of honour.In fact, it was during peacetime that the image of the samurai came to be defined when their role as warriors was no longer necessary. During Japan’s aggressive imperial expansion in the early 20th Century, the samurai ideal was once again manipulated for nationalistic purposes.Rajan Datar’s guests include Michael Wert, who has published several books on Japan’s warrior class, including Samurai: A Concise History. He is associate professor of East Asian History at Marquette University in Milwaukee; Marcia Yonemoto, professor and hair of the Department of History at the University of Colorado Boulde

There are almost as many ice cream origin stories as there are flavours, but where did the frozen treat really come from, and who invented it? Rajan Datar explores the dessert’s murky history, from the harvesting and flavouring of snow in China and the Middle East thousands of years ago, to the experimental kitchens of the European aristocracy. Ice cream’s evolution has, of course, closely followed that of refrigeration – we learn why salt was crucial for keeping early versions cold, and hear about the daring entrepreneur who began the global ice trade. Plus, who really invented the ice cream cone? Producer: Simon TulettContributors: Robin Weir, author of ‘Ice Creams, Sorbets and Gelati: The Definitive Guide’; Najmieh Batmanglij, Iranian-American chef and cookbook author; Dr Melissa Calaresu, Cambridge University; Farid Rostami, co-founder of Silk Road ice cream.(Picture: A woman licking an ice cream. Credit: Getty images)To find out how to make ice cream yourself visit www.bbc.co.uk/food/ice_cream

Mythological sagas are often fantastical and push the imagination to the limit but the Popol Vuh, which originates in what is Guatemala today, has a gallery of extraordinary characters both good and bad. They get involved in a series of mind-boggling battles and challenges and this eventually leads to the creation of the human race. The Maya K’iche’ story of the Popol Vuh has come down to us in an 18th-Century transcription and Spanish translation by a priest called Francisco Ximenez, and as with many ancient stories, there are tantalising questions about the history of the manuscript and the origins of the tale itself.Rajan Datar traces the meanings and significance of the Popol Vuh with the help of Frauke Sachse who is director of Pre-Columbian Studies at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington DC; Iyaxel Cojti Ren, professor at the University of Texas; Allen Christenson who is professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah as well as an ethnographer and author of a new transl

Today Korea is divided between North and South, but the founding of the Koryo Kingdom in the 10th Century was the first time the peninsula was truly united and when a sense of nationhood emerged. The Koryo Kingdom is remembered for some of the finest cultural achievements in the country’s history; it developed the world’s first printing press – 200 years before the German inventor Johannes Gutenberg came up with his own version, and it is also a period marked by beautiful ceramics and art. But what is less well known is how progressive its politics and society were; promotion was based on merit, women were given greater rights, and monarchs ruled through co-operation. It was also a turbulent time with personal intrigue and back stabbing at court, and constant threats of foreign invasion.Rajan Datar finds out more about the Koryo Kingdom. He is joined by Sang’ah Kim, the Korean Collections’ Curator at the British Museum in London; Dr Charlotte Horlyck, reader in Korean Art History at SOAS, University of Londo

The story of the discovery and development of insulin is a tale full of twists and turns, Nobel prizes and fierce rivalries. Scientists in the late 19th Century established the connection between the pancreas and diabetes, isolated the hormone insulin, and even patented the extract that lowered blood sugar. But it was not until a Canadian team published results in 1922 of their attempts to inject insulin into a patient that diabetes was transformed from a fatal condition to a manageable one.Bridget Kendall is joined by science historian Dr Alison Li, who has studied the life of one of insulin's early pioneers in her book J.B. Collip and the development of medical research in Canada; Dr Viktor Joergens, a retired diabetologist who for more than two decades was the executive director of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. He is also the co-author of Unveiling Diabetes: Milestones in Diabetology; and Dr Kersten Hall, visiting fellow in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the Un

Since ancient times the practice of castrating pre-pubescent boys, and sometimes men, was thought to make them loyal servants, suitable for roles at the heart of many imperial courts. Some historians believe this began with human slaves who were treated in the same way as animals – as lesser beings to be managed and controlled – with no free choice.The effects of castration on the male body – the loss of testosterone being the principal one – had a huge impact on how eunuchs have been viewed throughout history. Being unable to father children who could threaten lines of succession, certain eunuchs rose to power precisely because of their exclusive access to the inner workings of empires. Castrated men were also prized for their singing voices in 17th and 18th century Europe, as Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland explains.Bridget Kendall discusses this painful episode with Norman Kutcher, Professor in the Department of History at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in the US. He specialises in imperial Chines

Vikings were addicted to silver; they collected it as coins, as ingots, arm-rings, jewellery. On one Swedish island alone archaeologists and metal detectorists found some 200,000 silver coins and there is a silver hoard there for almost every Viking farm. Why? What can the coins, many of which came from Asia, tell us not just about the huge Viking trading area but also about their society? And how did this influx of silver transform European economy and life in the early Middle Ages? These questions have occupied historians and archaeologists for a long time but now advanced scientific techniques such as DNA analysis and microscopic laser sampling are yielding new, more detailed and sometimes surprising answers.Rajan Datar gets an update on Viking research from archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen from the University of Leicester; Anders Winroth, historian from the University of Oslo; Soren Sindbaek, archaeologist from Aarhus University; and sound archaeologist Rupert Till from Huddersfield University.(Photo: A

German chemist Fritz Haber's discovery of how to turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia is seen as one of the most significant of 20th century science - it enabled the industrial manufacture of fertilisers, which now provide food for up to half the planet's people.But he was also responsible for the development and deployment of poison gas on the battlefields of World War One and is remembered by some as the 'father of chemical warfare'. His was also a life touched by personal tragedy and a struggle against a Jewish heritage that at first threatened to hold back his career, and would later send him into exile.Bridget Kendall examines a life that epitomises science’s capacity to create and to destroy.Contributors:Dan Charles, US journalist and author of ‘Master Mind: The Rise And Fall Of Fritz Haber, The Nobel Laureate Who Launched The Age Of Chemical Warfare’; Shulamit Volkov, professor emerita of European and especially German History at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel; Dr Anthony Travis, senior researche

Nero fiddled while Rome burned, didn’t he? At least, that’s what the history books tell us. Nero’s image as a depraved tyrant has been handed down to us by three biased sources, written after the emperor’s suicide in 68AD. These sources have informed interpretations of Nero’s legacy ever since, so much so that his involvement in the Great Fire of Rome has become a meme.Recent scholarship has sought to rehabilitate Nero to a certain extent, to try to understand him in the context of his time. He was indeed a man who succeeded in shocking the Roman elite, but also someone who could strike a chord with the public and was well thought of outside the centre of political intrigue.Rajan Datar attempts to separate fact from fiction, with guests Dr Ginna Closs, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the US and author of While Rome Burned: Fire, Leadership, and Urban Disaster in the Roman Cultural Imagination which was published in 2020; and Dr Evan Jewell, Assistant Professor of

For the Ancient Egyptians they were seen as receptacles for the soul, for the Aztecs they were used to tell the future and for the early Christians, they were an aid for reaching self-knowledge. And mirrors’ key role in the reflection of light led to the development of high-powered telescopes to explore the universe. No human invention has been so closely tied with our sense of self and the world around us. And yet mirrors also have a capacity to deceive us – so how much attention should we give them in our lives, and are we overly obsessed with our image in the mirror? Joining Rajan Datar to find out more about the history of mirrors is Dr Elizabeth Baquedano, a specialist in the indigenous cultures of Mesoamerica and Senior Honorary Lecturer at the Institute of Archaeology, University College, London. Dr Franziska Kolt, a post-doctoral research fellow in the history of science at the University of York in England, who’s written Alice Through the Wonderglass: the Surprising Histories of a children's classic

Kwame Nkrumah was considered by some as a visionary hero who urged would-be leaders in Africa to embrace the idea of unity for the continent, and led Ghana to independence from British colonial rule in 1957.But in becoming Ghana’s first prime minister, and then president, he was criticised for his autocratic style of government and the way in which he pursued his Pan-African ideology seemingly at the expense of his own people. In 1966 Nkrumah was removed from power in a coup, and never returned to Ghana. Bridget Kendall’s guests include Ghanaian journalist-turned-historian, AB Assensoh, who interviewed Nkrumah in exile. Assensoh is emeritus professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, and Courtesy Emeritus Professor in the History Department of University of Oregon. He’s the author of many books on Nkrumah, including a collaboration with his wife Yvette entitled Kwame Nkrumah’s Political Kingdom and Pan-Africanism Reinterpreted, 1909–1972. Joining them are Kwa

President Harry Truman's address to the United States Congress, and the world, in March 1947 is seen by some historians as marking the start of the Cold War.In it, the President committed the USA to the role of defender of global democracy, and pledged to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and the spread of communism. The Truman Doctrine, as it became known, led to the establishment of NATO and, later, US involvement in conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.But, as Bridget Kendall discovers, the speech and the policy it set out were by no means inevitable - both were shaped as much by misunderstandings and exaggerated fears as they were conflicting ideologies and the actions of the former World War Two allies.Producer: Simon TulettContributors:Melvyn Leffler, Edward Stettinius Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Virginia, USA; Vladislav Zubok, professor of international history at the London School of Economics, UK; Denise Bostdorff, professor of communication studies at The College of Wooste

In in her 1843 essay The Great Lawsuit, the American journalist and early feminist Margaret Fuller forcefully argued for the rights of women to work, think and live on their own terms, not just as companions and foils for men. She was one of the first Americans to do so. Fuller was a pioneer in other respects too: a trail blazer for advocacy journalism and for unrestricted female education. In the 1840s she became the first paid US war correspondent, reporting from Rome besieged by the French army. Fuller packed a lot into a life of just 40 years; so much so that after her tragic death in a shipwreck, the men around her - some of them rather famous - did their best to diminish her memory. They exaggerated what they saw as her personal failings and in some instances even falsified her record. As a consequence, we are still discovering the true extent of her life and work.Bridget Kendall talks to three Fuller experts: Megan Marshall, Professor at Emerson College in Boston whose book Margaret Fuller: A New Ame

From Mesopotamian loan records which are over 4,000 years old to the cryptocurrencies of today, money has been with us for a long time. But how did we get from exchanging bits of metal or cowrie shells to the algorithmic trading of shares? Why did paper money originate in Song-dynasty China? Why was the Gold Standard adopted in the 19th Century? And what is money anyway? These are some of the questions that Bridget Kendall investigates with the help of three financial historians: Ute Wartenberg, president of the American Numismatic Society; William Goetzmann, professor of Finance and Management Studies at Yale University; and Christian de Pee, professor of History at the University of Michigan. They also answer listeners' questions about the history of finance.(Photo: Roman gold coins found in Corbridge, UK in 1911. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Pinocchio is a cultural icon. He is the wooden puppet who can talk and walk. A cheerful headstrong character who keeps breaking the rules, and whose dream is to become a real boy. His story has been the subject of many retellings, and his growing nose when he lies has become a way to satirise politicians the world over. But Pinocchio’s origins are largely unknown outside Italy, and couldn’t be more different from his portrayal in the 1940 Disney film. The original novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by the 19th century Italian writer Carlo Collodi is much darker and brutal, and originally ended with Pinocchio’s execution, but it was also a way of educating the children of a newly unified Italy. The actual literary text also provided a model, which is still used today, for a more standardised form of the Italian language. So why has Collodi’s original – which is one of the most translated books in the world and one of the most adapted – been largely ignored and why should we go back to it? Joining Bridget Kendal

Try and imagine a world without numbers. Telling people how many siblings you have, counting your wages or organising to meet a friend at a certain time would all be much more difficult. If you’re reading this on a digital screen, even these words are produced through a series of zero and one symbols. We take them so much for granted yet some cultures don’t count and some languages don’t have the words or symbols for numbers. This programme looks at when and why humans first started start to count, where the symbols many of us use today originate from and when concepts like zero and infinity came about.Joining Bridget Kendall to explore the history of numbers and counting are anthropological linguist Caleb Everett from the University of Miami, writer and historian of mathematics Tomoko Kitagawa, and Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University in the UK, Ian Stewart.Photo: An abacus on a table.(CaoChunhai//Getty Images)