Best Métis In Space Podcasts (2025)

1
The invention of the automatic electric rice cooker 9:52

25m ago9:52

9:52

In 1955, entrepreneur and engineer Yoshitada Minami came up with a way to liberate women from two to three hours of housework a day. When his water-heating business started losing sales, he was tasked with inventing an automatic rice cooker – something which the men in the home appliances industry didn’t take seriously. With little knowledge of how…

1
Conclave: How a new pope is chosen 10:40

6h ago10:40

10:40

In April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI following the death of Pope John Paul II. The new leader of the Catholic Church was elected after four ballots of the papal conclave. The late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was one of 115 cardinals who took part. He spoke to Rebecca Kesby in 2013. Eye-witness accounts brought to li…

1
Snake: Popularising mobile gaming 10:14

1d ago10:14

10:14

In 1998, the Snake game made its debut on mobile phones. It is known for its simple yet addictive gameplay and played a major role in popularising mobile gaming. Taneli Armanto is the man responsible for bringing it to our phones, but he only got the task because of mistaken identity. He tells Gill Kearsley the story behind the game that made milli…

1
Ten countries join the EU in one night 10:30

2d ago10:30

10:30

On 1 May 2004, the European Union went through its biggest ever enlargement. 10 countries joined including eight from the former Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. For some, it was the moment the Eastern Bloc threw off the shackles of the Cold War and embraced a prosperous future in the EU. For others, it was the moment European countries lost con…

1
The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War 9:43

3d ago9:43

9:43

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietnamese army in their victory in the war in 1975. In 2017 Alex Last spoke…

1
Surviving the fall of Saigon in 1975 9:46

4d ago9:46

9:46

When South Vietnam fell to communist forces in 1975, most could not escape. In the last days, the United States airlifted its remaining personnel and some high-ranking Vietnamese officials - but millions were left behind to await their fate. In 2021 Alex Last spoke to one South Vietnamese veteran who remained in Saigon as North Vietnamese forces to…

1
Doi Moi: Vietnam's economic miracle 10:35

5d ago10:35

10:35

In the late 1970s, Vietnam was one of the poorest countries in the world. Its economy had been destroyed by war with the USA, a trade embargo, and the communist government's restriction of private enterprise. So, at the Vietnam Communist Party’s 6th National Congress in December 1986, radical economic reforms were introduced, known as Doi Moi, mean…

1
The death of Adolf Hitler 9:11

8d ago9:11

9:11

On 30 April 1945 Adolf Hitler killed himself in a bunker in the German capital Berlin as Soviet Red Army soldiers closed in. But first he married his lover Eva Braun, and dictated his will. In 1989, Traudl Junge, one of Hitler’s secretaries who was in the bunker when he died, shared her testimony with Zina Rohan. This episode was first broadcast in…

1
Staging Othello in apartheid South Africa 10:29

9d ago10:29

10:29

In September 1987, Othello was staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg during the apartheid regime in South Africa. The Immorality Act, which banned sexual relationships between white people and non-white people, had been repealed in 1985. But the Shakespeare play was controversial, especially the scene where the black actor, John Kani, kissed…

1
Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke' 10:03

10d ago10:03

10:03

Forty years ago, on 23 April 1985, Coca-Cola decided to change the secret formula of its fizzy drink, in a bid to be market leaders. They launched a new flavour called ‘New Coke’. But, after a public backlash and thousands of angry calls, bosses were forced to act and bring back the old recipe. In 2011, author Mark Pendergrast spoke to Alan Johnsto…

1
The creation of YouTube 10:11

11d ago10:11

10:11

An 18-second clip of a young man standing in front of an elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo in California, describing their “really long trunks” was the first video to be posted onto YouTube in April 2005. It was uploaded by co-founder Jawed Karim, who with friends Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, cooked up the idea for the video-sharing service while …

1
Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal 10:42

15d ago10:42

10:42

In April 1944, the Allies planned Exercise Tiger to practise their landing on France's Normandy beaches ahead of D-Day. During the rehearsal, a German fleet attacked, sinking two allied ships. Around 749 US servicemen died. The Allies’ military leaders ordered troops not to discuss the disaster because they didn’t want to damage morale or give away…

1
The origin of World Book Day 10:05

18d ago10:05

10:05

In November 1995, a proposal of having an annual day focused on celebrating books was put forward at the UNESCO conference in Paris. The idea came from a long-established Spanish celebration ‘The Day of Books and Roses’. The first World Book Day was on 23 April 1996. Although some countries now celebrate World Book Day on different dates, it’s mark…

1
Clearing landmines in Cambodia 9:17

16d ago9:17

9:17

Fifty years after the start of the genocide that wiped out a quarter of its eight million population, Cambodia remains one of the most heavily landmined countries in the world. More than 65,000 people have been killed or injured by explosive devices since the end of the conflict – and almost one million still live in areas affected by the remnants …

1
The Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia 10:02

17d ago10:02

10:02

In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia. Up to two million people are thought to have died - many summarily executed, or starved to death in the communist regime. In 2013, Mike Lanchin spoke to Youk Chhang, who was just 14-years-old when the Khmer Rouge swept to power. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by arc…

1
The invention of the white LED lightbulb 10:08

20d ago10:08

10:08

In 1993, a literal lightbulb moment led to the invention of the first white light emitting diode (LED). These LEDs are now used to light up everything from our streets to our homes to this screen you’re looking at. Along with two other Japanese engineers, Professor Shuji Nakamura, was behind this illuminating invention. But Shuji’s journey to this …

1
The Bali Nine drug smuggling case 9:55

19d ago9:55

9:55

In April 2005, nine young Australians were caught trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia. The Bali Nine, as they became known, faced a maximum sentence of death by firing squad under Indonesia's strict drug laws. Bishop Tim Harris, who formed a close relationship with one of the Bali Nine families, and visited members of the group in pr…

1
Germany’s ‘Green Belt’ 10:27

22d ago10:27

10:27

In December 1989, Germany’s ‘Green Belt’ was born. For more than 40 years, the country had been split by a 1,400km border and, in the decades the so-called ‘death zone’ had existed, life flourished everywhere. In 1989, communism crumbled and, as soon as the borders opened, Kai Frobel knew he needed to act fast to stop farmers and developers.He call…

1
Oklahoma City bombing 10:04

26d ago10:04

10:04

On 19 April 1995, a huge truck bomb killed 168 people in a government building in Oklahoma City, US. There were 19 children among the dead and more than 500 people were injured. One of the perpetrators, Timothy McVeigh, was executed in 2001. Dr David Tuggle was a paediatric surgeon who helped find survivors. He spoke to Golnoosh Golshani in 2015. E…

1
Liberia’s women in white who helped end civil war 9:56

27d ago9:56

9:56

In December 2011, Leymah Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her role in helping to end the devastating civil war in Liberia. She had mobilised thousands of women to take part in daily, non-violent public protests calling for peace – which pressurised ruthless President Charles Taylor into meeting them. When he agreed to peace talks, a del…

1
The Reichstag fire 10:17

28d ago10:17

10:17

On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin, which was home to the German Parliament, was burned down. This was a key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship. Berlin-born journalist, Sefton Delmer, told his story to the BBC World Service in 1967. He grew up in the city so knew people involved with the Nazi party. This meant he…

1
The UN retreat from Somalia 10:03

29d ago10:03

10:03

In 1991, a horrific civil war erupted between rival warlords in Somalia. A US-led United Nations mission tried to restore order and provide humanitarian aid. But, the mission ended in an embarrassing withdrawal in 1995 after US helicopters were shot down, as depicted in the film Black Hawk Down. Halima Ismail Ibrahim risked her life to work for the…

1
Resusci Anne: the world’s first life-saving resuscitation dummy 10:06

1M ago10:06

10:06

In 1960, Norwegian toymaker Åsmund Lærdal began selling his latest invention - a life-size training dummy designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Resusci Anne is made of soft plastic and resembles an unconscious person. Åsmund wanted as many people as possible to be trained in this new method of life saving and he hoped that a female maniki…

1
JFK’s 1963 Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech 9:27

1M ago9:27

9:27

United States President John F Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963. It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 2023, Tom Wills spoke to Gisela Morel-Tiemann, who attended the speech as a student. A Whistledown production. Eye-witness…

1
The wonder woman of DC Comics 10:16

1M ago10:16

10:16

In 1976, Jenette Kahn took on one of the biggest roles in comic books - publisher of DC Comics, home to superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. She was only 28, and the first female boss. Her first mission was to change the company name. For decades it had been known as National Periodical Publications but, with sales stalling, Jenette …

1
The invention of superglue 10:22

1M ago10:22

10:22

In 1951, American chemist Dr Harry Coover was experimenting with a substance called cyanoacrylate but it was sticking to everything. He realised its potential as an adhesive and it went on sale in 1958 as Eastman 910, because it only took 10 seconds to set. But his product only became a commercial success after an appearance on a game show, I've Go…

1
The 'ghost town' of Namibia 9:54

1M ago9:54

9:54

In the early 1900s, the first diamond was found in Kolmanskop, in the African country of Namibia. It led to a diamond rush and the town was created. Having become one of the wealthiest places, when the diamonds ran out it was abandoned. It meant this once vibrant place started being buried by the Namib Desert. Dieter Huyssen speaks to Megan Jones a…

1
The father of Ethio-Jazz 9:59

1M ago9:59

9:59

For more than 50 years, Mulatu Astatke has been performing at venues around the world, inspiring audiences with his original genre of music known as Ethio-jazz. He recorded the volumes of ‘Afro-Latin Soul’ with his band, The Ethiopian Quintet, in 1966. They were the first experiments of this new sound, fusing Ethiopian traditional notes with Afro L…

1
Harold Riley’s 'one of a kind' portrait of Nelson Mandela 10:05

1M ago10:05

10:05

Harold Riley was the only artist in the world granted a sitting to capture Nelson Mandela on canvas. The unique portrait was unveiled in 2005 and raised over $1m for South African children's charities at an auction held at the Rockefeller Centre in New York. Mandela sat for the English artist six times in Cape Town and Johannesburg over 18 months w…

1
The suspicious death of Rear Admiral Durović 9:04

1M ago9:04

9:04

As Yugoslavia began to break down, the Balkans conflict began - a series of brutal wars characterised by disputes over territory, identity, and ethnic divisions. In 1991, the Croatian War of Independence started – the first of the major wars. One of its defining moments came in October, when the Yugoslav People’s Army advanced on the south of the c…

1
Goodluck Jonathan’s phone call that changed Nigeria 10:44

1M ago10:44

10:44

In 2015 Goodluck Jonathan became the first Nigerian president to concede election defeat. It allowed the transfer of power to the opposition party in Africa's biggest democracy - a country that had hitherto experienced vote-rigging and violence. His special adviser on media and publicity Dr Reuben Abati tells Josephine McDermott about the moment wh…

1
The Germanwings plane crash 10:06

1M ago10:06

10:06

When General David Galtier hovered above the French Alps in a helicopter on 24 March 2015 he could not see the 60-tonne plane he was looking for. Instead he saw thousands and thousands of little pieces of metal.“There was nothing,” he says. “Only these little stars shining in the mountains.” Ten years on, he recalls to Josephine McDermott how he le…

1
The visionary behind the European Space Agency 10:02

2M ago10:02

10:02

In October 2012, the founding father of the European Space Agency was honoured when a spacecraft named after him was sent to the international space station. Within the probe – called the Edoardo Amaldi Automated Transfer Vehicle – was a letter which had been written by Edoardo in 1958 detailing his plans for an organisation which would bring toget…

1
The historic handshake in space 10:14

2M ago10:14

10:14

In July 1975, former competitors the Soviet Union and the United States both launched rockets into the sky within hours of each other, as part of a joint project. They wanted two spacecraft, from two different countries, to achieve the first international docking in space. While millions watched on TV, the cosmonauts and astronauts opened the hatch…

1
In event of moon disaster: 'The speech that never was' 11:47

2M ago11:47

11:47

“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.” These are the opening lines of the 'In Event of Moon Disaster' speech, written in 1969 in case the moon landing astronauts did not make it home. They were composed by President Richard Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire, who died in 2…

1
First spacewalk 10:01

2M ago10:01

10:01

On 18 March 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to spacewalk. He spent around 10 minutes floating above the Earth, tethered to the spaceship by a 5-metre “umbilical cord”. Recalling that moment, he said: “I felt almost insignificant, like a tiny ant compared to the immensity of the universe. At the same time, I felt enormously pow…

1
The rocket that revived Brazil’s space programme 9:13

2M ago9:13

9:13

In 2003, 21 people died when a space rocket exploded at Brazil’s Alcantara Launch Centre, three days before its planned flight. It was the country’s third – and most serious - rocket failure in six years. But despite the setback, just 14 months later, Brazil revived its space ambitions by successfully launching its first rocket since the tragedy. J…

1
Bardo Museum attack in Tunisia 10:13

2M ago10:13

10:13

On 18 March 2015, 22 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Hamadi Ben Abdesslem, a tour guide who led tourists to safety, tells Anouk Millet what it was like that day. A Whistledown production. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinat…

1
The Gambia’s ‘Queen of Recycling’ 10:06

2M ago10:06

10:06

In 1997, Isatou Ceesay, who lives in The Gambia had an idea to make bags and purses out of old discarded plastic. Her idea to help the environment started with a group of five women and has grown to become a national project that supports women in the country to improve their skills and income. She is now recognised worldwide for her environmental …

1
The Capitol Crawl 10:13

2M ago10:13

10:13

By the beginning of 1990, the United States Congress stalled on passing the Americans with Disabilities Act, a piece of legislation aimed at prohibiting discrimination against people with disabilities. Frustrated by the government’s inaction, more than 1,000 disability activists showed up in Washington DC to protest on 12 March that year. When the …

1
King Kong: South Africa's first all-black musical 10:10

2M ago10:10

10:10

In 1959, Todd Matshikiza composed the score for King Kong, it was South Africa’s first musical with an all-black cast and it opened to critical acclaim. About the rise and fall of the heavyweight boxer Ezekiel Dlamini, it defied apartheid with the collaboration between black and white artists. Starring Miriam Makebe, it launched the singer's intern…

1
The invention of GPS 9:59

2M ago9:59

9:59

There are few inventions that we rely on as much as the Global Positioning System, also known as GPS. But, when it was created in the late 1970s, nobody wanted it. Prof Brad Parkinson and his team at the US Air Force built it, and the first GPS satellite was launched in 1978. However, GPS wasn’t widely used until an air disaster in 1983 highlighted…

1
How bloodshed in Selma led to the US Voting Rights Act 1965 9:53

2M ago9:53

9:53

In March 1965, hundreds of peaceful civil rights protesters in Selma were brutally beaten by Alabama state troops. They had been marching to demonstrate against the denial of voting rights to Black Americans. The bloodshed in Selma prompted President Lyndon B Johnson to push for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant pieces of l…

1
The Great Toyota War 10:05

2M ago10:05

10:05

In 1987, a decades-long war in Chad reached a dramatic turning point in what would come to be known as the Great Toyota War. Named after the rugged pick-up trucks that transformed modern desert warfare, this campaign saw the lightly armed Chadian forces out manoeuvre Libya’s heavily fortified military. They achieved a string of astonishing victorie…

1
The US invasion of Panama 10:04

2M ago10:04

10:04

In December 1989, more than 20,000 US soldiers descended on the tiny Central American country of Panama. The Americans sought to remove the country’s leader, General Manuel Noriega, who sought refuge from the invading forces with the Papal Ambassador. Noriega was a dictator and had been indicted in Florida over drug trafficking. In 2010, Neal Razze…

1
The invention of the shopping trolley 10:08

2M ago10:08

10:08

In 1937, American supermarket owner Sylvan Goldman came up with a way to get his customers to spend more. He introduced his 'folding basket carriers' in his Humpty Dumpty chain in Oklahoma, hiring models to push them round his stores. They caught on, becoming known as shopping carts in the USA. Rachel Naylor uses clips from a 1977 CBS interview of …

1
The Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp 9:54

2M ago9:54

9:54

In 2015, Europe was in the grip of a migrant crisis, as more than one million people fled regions including the Middle East. Many set their sights on a new life in the UK. But, in order to get there, they had to cross the English Channel. One of the most common methods was to hide aboard vehicles destined for Britain at the French port city of Cala…

1
Africa’s stolen Metis children 10:01

2M ago10:01

10:01

In 1953, in what was then the Belgian Congo, four-year-old Marie-José Loshi was forcibly removed from her family’s village and taken more than 600km away to live in a Catholic institute. The cause of her kidnapping was the colour of her skin. Under Belgium’s colonial rule, thousands of mixed-race children were taken from their homes and separated f…

1
Surviving Chile's tsunami 9:58

2M ago9:58

9:58

In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Chile. It shook the central and southern parts of the country for more than three minutes, causing widespread damage which destroyed buildings, bridges and roads. The earthquake triggered a tsunami in the Pacific Ocean, which travelled 600 kilometres west to the remote island of Juan Fernande…

1
Denmark’s Inuit children experiment 10:01

2M ago10:01

10:01

In 1951, a group of 22 Inuit children from Greenland were sent to live with foster parents in Denmark. It was part of a social experiment aimed at improving the lot of the Inuit people. But, for the children involved it was a confusing experience. Helene Thiesen was one of those children. She spoke to Ellen Otzen in 2015. Eye-witness accounts broug…

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