The Deaf Composer: How Beethoven wrote music he couldn’t hear
What happens when one of history’s greatest composers begins to lose the very sense he relies on most? In this episode, we explore how Ludwig van Beethoven continued to create…
Sound Off: Pinball Pings, Borrowed Melodies & Airport Acoustics
Presenting the second short story collection from our Sound Off competition, featuring five pieces written and produced entirely by our listeners. From the sonic evolution of pinball to reused classical…
Super Mario Bros: Koji Kondo’s 8-Bit Masterpiece
From the springy jump sound to the iconic Overworld Theme, the sound of Super Mario Bros. is instantly recognizable. With just five lo-fi audio channels and 40 kilobytes of space,…
History Extra podcast Zoot suits, mashers & New Romantics: the evolution of the dandy
From zoot suiters and mods, to mashers and Congolese sapeurs, since the early 19th century, fashionable male subcultures have popped up across the globe. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Peter Andersson…
History Extra podcast: Queen Victoria’s secret love affair
Ever since the 1870s, rumours have swirled around Queen Victoria and her Highland servant John Brown. Were the pair in love? Could they have got married? And might they even have…
Noble Blood: The Thousand-Day Conclave
1268–1271 papal election The papal election that followed the death of Pope Clement IV lasted from 1 December 1268 to 1 September 1271 and was the longest in the history…
Noble Blood: The ”Wild” Nobleman of French Court
Petrus Gonsalvus was born with a rare genetic condition that meant he was entirely covered in hair. His life took him to French court, where he lived as an oddity,…
Noble Blood Through the Eyes of La Castiglione
More than a hundred years before the selfie became commonplace, a woman in France used photographs to immortalize her favorite subject: herself. But as she aged, she became a lighting…
8-Bit to Orchestras: Video Game Music Scores
Creating a musical score for interactive video games is like trying to hit a moving target. Luckily, Hans Zimmer’s studio Bleeding Fingers has developed some clever strategies. I talk with…
Dreaming of Coney Island’s Dreamland
Coney Island still has the classic amusements you’d expect today like roller coasters, water slides, and carnival games. But over a century ago, it looked more like a proto–Disney World,…