Whether photographed in a coffin or depicted on an Art Nouveau poster, the French actor Sarah Bernhardt knew exactly how to get maximum publicity. Although her first outings on the stage were unremarkable, she refined her skills and rose to become the leading actor of her generation and a world-famous name. Her life off-stage was a further source of endless fascination, her eccentric and occasionally arrogant behaviour only adding to her allure. Her critics saw her as manipulative and hackneyed. For her admirers, seeing Bernhardt ‘die’ on stage was a moment to be treasured for ever.Bridget Kendall charts Sarah Bernhardt’s life and career with John Stokes, emeritus professor of modern British literature at King’s College London and author of The French Actress and Her English Audience; Victoria Duckett, senior lecturer in screen and design at Deakin University in Melbourne and the author of Seeing Sarah Bernhardt: Performance and Silent Film; and Sharon Marcus, the Orlando Harriman professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Her 2019 book The Drama of Celebrity is an exploration of the processes that propel a figure such as Sarah Bernhardt to global fame.Producer: Fiona Clampin(Photo: Posters showing Sarah Bernhardt as Camille in La Dame Aux Camelias (Lady of the Camellias) by Alphonse Mucha. Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG/DeAgostini/Getty Images)

We seem to have an almost insatiable appetite for the glitter and sparkle of diamonds. Yet transforming these stones into jewels fit for princesses and film stars involves a long chain of production and distribution. And the diamond industry has long been bound up with a much darker side: the exploitation of workers, environmental damage, all-powerful monopolies and violent mafias, not to mention the so-called Blood Diamonds used to finance armed conflict. So how is the industry trying to clean up its image and regulate the trade?Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the history of the diamond trade are:Dr. Lansana Gberie, former coordinator for the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Liberia. He is the author of A Dirty War in West Africa: The RUF and the Destruction of Sierra Leone. He’s also Sierra Leone’s current Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva and the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to Switzerland - though his contributions to this programme are in a personal capacity.Ian Smillie, founder of the Diamond Development Initiative, now DDI at Resolve, an organisation which works to improve conditions for small-scale miners. He is the author of several books, including Blood on the Stone: Greed, Corruption and War in the Global Diamond Trade. He is based in Canada.Dr. Tijl Vanneste, researcher at the Portuguese Institute of International Relations at Nova University in Lisbon. He is the author of Blood, Sweat and Earth: The Struggle for Control over the World's Diamonds Throughout History.[Image: Examining a gem diamond in Antwerp, Belgium; Credit: Paul O'Driscoll/Getty Images]

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. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images]

It’s one of the most popular dishes in the world today, but the story of sushi can be traced back more than 2,000 years. The earliest records document a preserved fish dish in ancient China and it later became a medieval luxury in Japan, before evolving into a variety of different regional styles and recipes. Today, thanks to waves of migration from Japan, there is a veritable smorgasbord of international varieties… California roll, anyone?  Joining Rajan Datar to discuss the history of sushi are James Farrer, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Graduate Programme in Global Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is the author of Globalisation and Asian Cuisines; Eric C. Rath is Professor of Premodern Japanese History at the University of Kansas in the US. He’s the author of Oishii: The History of Sushi; and Michelin-starred Japanese sushi master, Endo Kazutoshi, who is head chef at The Rotunda in London.Presenter: Rajan Datar[Image: Young woman eating sushi; Credit: Getty Images]

The American writer Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” It was an urge which in her case yielded a rich array of novels, children’s books, plays and essays. Toni Morrison stands tall, as the first black woman of any nationality to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Celebrated for her masterpiece Beloved, she remains a towering figure, one of the most well-known and oft-taught authors of our age. Since her death in August 2019, many have been reassessing her multiple legacies: as a novelist, cultural critic, and editor.Joining Bridget Kendall to explore the life, work and impact of Toni Morrison are Dana Williams, Professor of African American Literature at Howard University in Washington DC and current President of the Toni Morrison Society; Janis A. Mayes, Emerita professor of African American Studies at Syracuse University, US; and Aretha Phiri, Associate Professor at Rhodes University in Grahamstown / Makhanda, South Africa.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World Service Additional research by Tessa Roynon[Photo: Toni Morrison in Chicago, Illinois in 2010. Credit: Getty Images / Daniel Boczarski / FilmMagic]

Hidden from view, complex to understand and often controversial, algorithms are at the heart of computer coding that underpins modern society. Every time we search the internet, every time we pay by credit card, even the romantic partners suggested to us by online dating sites – they’re all powered by algorithms. And their reach is growing all the time, as some societies use them to automate decisions regarding criminal justice, mortgage applications and job recruitment.The history of algorithms is surprisingly ancient, stretching back to the Babylonian empire where large societies required a systematic way to count and order different aspects of citizens’ lives. Today some people are questioning their use, as some algorithms have been shown to replicate bias and there are fears that algorithms have the potential to undermine democracy.Bridget Kendall is joined by Ramesh Srinivasan, Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of California Los Angeles and the author of Beyond the Valley: How Innovators around the World are Overcoming Inequality and Creating the Technologies of Tomorrow; the French computational scientist, consultant and entrepreneur Aurélie Jean, who’s published From the Other Side of the Machine: A scientist’s journey in the land of algorithms; and Ian Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University who’s written more than 120 books on aspects of mathematics and science.Produced by Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service[Image: Digital data and binary code. Credit: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images]

Whether it be a kerrang, a chop, a blistering solo, some finger picking or a subtle flange, the electric guitar is one of the defining sounds of the 20th century. Without it – and its constant companion, the amplifier - popular culture would be unrecognisable today: no big gigs, no stadium concerts. And almost certainly no rock music. But why was it needed and how was it created? Who were the pioneers of the technology and who were the early-adopting exponents?Rajan Datar and his three guest experts delve into the roots of this iconic instrument. Monica Smith is Head of Exhibitions and Interpretation for the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Among the many projects she has curated at the museum is From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the Electric Guitar. Paul Atkinson is professor of Design and Design History at Sheffield Hallam university and the author of Amplified: A Design History of the Electric Guitar. HP Newquist is the founder of the National Guitar Museum in the United States. He has written numerous books on the guitar and its history, and was the editor-in-chief of Guitar Magazine.[Image: electric guitars. Credit: ilbusca/Getty Images]

It’s a hundred years since the infamous premiere of Luigi Pirandello’s experimental play Six Characters in Search of an Author, when an enraged Rome theatre audience yelled abuse at the Italian playwright and chased him out of the theatre. Since then, the play has gained iconic status as a piece of theatre which helped move Western culture into modernity. But what of the author of this play? He was a complex figure who found inspiration from his wife’s madness as well as the actors he worked with, and he formed an unlikely association with the Italian Fascist Prime Minister Benito Mussolini which still intrigues theatre critics and academics to this day. Joining Rajan Datar to discuss Luigi Pirandello and his work are Guido Bonsaver, Professor in Italian Cultural history at the University of Oxford; Dr Enza de Francisci, lecturer in Translation studies at the University of Glasgow, who specialises in Pirandello’s Sicilian identity and his portrayal of women, and is the author of A 'New' Woman in Verga and Pirandello: From Page to Stage; and Patricia Gaborik, who teaches theatre history at the University of Calabria in Italy, and has studied Pirandello’s relationship with the Italian Fascist leader Mussolini and is the author of Mussolini’s Theatre: Fascist Experiments in Art and Politics. The readings were by Marco Gambino.Produced by Anne Khazam for the BBC World Service. (Image: A scene from a production of Pirandello's play, Six Characters in Search of an Author, staged by French theatre director Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota at the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre. Credit: Artyom Geodakyan\TASS via Getty Images)

With three separate missions exploring the Red Planet in 2021, Mars is once again under the spotlight. But to tell the truth, it’s never been away. Mars has fascinated people for centuries with its seemingly curious motion in the night sky, its red colour and the eternal question as to whether it may or may not harbour life, past or present.Since the 1960s, robotic exploration of Mars has provided us with evidence that it may have had periods where it was once a warm and wet planet. That’s in contrast to the arid, cold celestial object we know today. The harsh Martian atmosphere presents challenges for anyone hoping to land humans on the planet. But nevertheless, the next few decades could potentially see either a private commercial operator, a national space agency or an international partnership make history with the planet’s first human exploration. Some have even argued that’s a first step to ‘terraforming’ or populating Mars in the future.Bridget Kendall is joined by Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Programme; Sarah Stewart Johnson, Associate Professor of Planetary Science at Georgetown University and author of The Sirens of Mars; Jorge Vago, the Scientist for Mars Missions at the European Space Agency, and curator Matthew Shindell from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Produced by Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service.[Image: Creative image of the space station orbiting Mars. Credit: Cokada via Getty Images]

The writer Amir Hamza is a national hero in Indonesia celebrated for both his poetry and his role in the development of the country’s national language. Hamza was an emotional man who struggled with thwarted love and inner conflict and created a beguilingly intense body of work. His poetry paid homage to Malay literary tradition infused with Islamic mysticism but also reflected new ideas springing up in the artistic circles in Java where he worked in the 1930s. Towards the end of that decade events conspired to enforce his return to the family home in Sumatra and ultimately led to his becoming a tragic victim of brutal retribution during Indonesia’s transition to independence. Rajan Datar is joined by Ayu Utami, an award-winning Indonesian novelist, playwright and broadcaster; Ben Murtagh, Reader in Indonesian and Malay at SOAS, University of London, and managing editor of the journal Indonesia and the Malay World; and Taufiq Hanafi, an Indonesian literary scholar currently at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden. The reader is Sallehuddin Abdullah-Sani.[Photo: Amir Hamzah]