The Forum

Today, the Istanbul-born Armenian financier Calouste Gulbenkian is mostly remembered as a great art collector and philanthropist; at his death in 1955 he was thought of as the world's richest man. But perhaps more than any of the above, he may have been the world's most tenacious negotiator: how else would he have held on - for decades - to the main source of his fabulous wealth, his minority share in major oil companies, despite their concerted effort to push him out? In the 150th year of Gulbenkian's birth, Rajan Datar follows Calouste's life and deal-making with his great grandson Martin Essayan; historian Dr. Jonathan Conlin, author of a new biography of Gulbenkian; and Professor of Business History Joost Jonker.Photo: Calouste Gulbenkian (credit: Arquivos Gulbenkian)

The story of Robinson Crusoe and his many years of survival alone on a deserted island has enchanted the English-speaking world for centuries. Many people first come across the story as a children’s book or a film portrayal, celebrating Crusoe’s buccaneering adventures and his heroic efforts to tame his wild environment, create shelter and food supplies, and eventually befriend the indigenous man he calls Friday. But closer reading of Daniel Defoe’s original novel, written 300 years ago this spring, reveals a more complex tale of sin and redemption, debating fundamental questions about man’s place in the world against a backdrop of colonial expansion, transatlantic commerce and the slave trade.Bridget Kendall talks to the Defoe scholar Professor Andreas Mueller from the University of Northern Colorado in the USA; Olivette Otele, Professor of History at Bath Spa University in the UK; and Karen O’Brien, Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford in the UK.Photo: Engraving of Robinson Crusoe by Wal Paquet. (Ipsumpix/Corbis via Getty Images)

Lu Xun has been often been called the father of modern Chinese literature. His short stories about the misery and cruelty of ordinary life in China have been interpreted both as revolutionary political statements inspired by the May Fourth Movement of 1919 which wanted to sweep-away outdated social mores, and as a brilliant new take on ancient Chinese literary traditions. Some of his works, both fiction and non-fiction, have been required reading for Chinese schoolchildren since the communists took charge of education in the country. But - like his life - Lu Xun's work doesn't easily fit under any simple banner and reflects the turbulent, confusing and contradictory history of China in the first three decades of the 20th century.Quentin Cooper talks to Professor Eileen Cheng, the author of acclaimed new translations of Lu Xun into English, Ohio State University Professor Kirk Denton, one of today's leading Lu Xun scholars, Professor Hu Ying from University of California who studies the culture of early 20th century China, and writer Yiyun Li. The reader is Paul Courtenay Hyu.Photo:The Chinese writer Lu Xun around 1910 (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The Talking Drum is one of the most sacred instruments of West Africa. Shaped like an hourglass, the drum has a unique melodic sound which means it can imitate the tones of language and in this way speak words. Along with its spiritual power and healing properties, the talking drum is also a source of history, poetry and proverbs.Bridget Kendall traces the story of the talking drum to the present day with Mohamed Gueye from Senegal, who descends from a hereditary drummer family, Richard Olatunde Baker who specialises in the talking drum of the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Ivorian-French poet and novelist Veronique Tadjo who focuses on the influence of the talking drum on African literature and the Senegalese-French social anthropologist Dr Hélène Neveu Kringelbach. Photo: (from left to right) Veronique Tadjo, Mohamed Gueye, presenter Bridget Kendall, Richard Olatunde Baker and Hélène Neveu Kringelbach in The Forum studio.

The North Pole lies at the very top of our world. Covered in a thick layer of sea ice, this uninhabitable frozen point in the Arctic Sea has fascinated us for centuries as both a physical location on a map and as a far away place in our imagination. Warmer than the South Pole, the northernmost point of the Earth’s axis sits outside of any time zone in a place where the sun rises and sets just once a year. Today, it has come to symbolise a warming planet but remains linked to exploration and mythology.Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss the North Pole are the explorer, author and former climate scientist Felicity Aston MBE; Klaus Dodds, Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, and author of the forthcoming book The Arctic: What Everyone Needs to Know; and Michael Bravo, Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, Head of Circumpolar History and Public Policy Research at the Scott Polar Research Institute and author of a new book called North Pole.Photo: Robert Peary's North Pole Expedition. (Getty Images)

What’s in a shoe - apart from a foot? Shoes can be so much more than a protection and ‘dressing’ of our feet: from Egyptian pharaohs to European paupers, footwear has been linked not just with the wearer’s social and economic standing but also cultural identity, personality and even moral values.Rajan Datar follows the history of footwear with the help of Elizabeth Semmelhack, Senior Curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto; Giorgio Riello, Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick; sports shoe historian Thomas Turner; and footwear researcher at the KASK School of Arts in Gent, Catherine Willems.Photo: A fancy high-heeled shoe. (Getty Images)

Explore the life and art of Francisco Goya, the radical Spanish artist who depicted human suffering and societal issues. Learn about his evolution from royal commissions to bold critiques of the church and ruling classes. Delve into Goya's famous series of etchings, 'Los Capricos,' and his role as a war reporter during the Napoleonic era. Discover Goya's lasting legacy, influence on artists like Picasso, and timeless appeal to contemporary society.

The play Antigone by the Greek playwright Sophocles was written almost 2,500 years ago, but to this day it is believed to be the most performed play- anywhere in the world. It tells the story of Antigone, a girl who ends up challenging the power of the ruler of Thebes, in a devastating battle of wills that pits family duty against the law of the state. So why does this story of civil disobedience still speak to people, and how was it originally received by its very first audience in Ancient Athens in the 5th century BCE? Joining Rajan Datar to discuss Antigone and its later modern interpretations are the acclaimed actor, director and former Greek Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou, the theatre director Olivier Py who staged Antigone with male prisoners at this year’s Avignon Theatre Festival in France, the Syrian playwright Mohammad Al Attar who’s the author of a new adaptation of Antigone about Syrian women refugees, and Dr Rosie Wyles, Lecturer in Classical History at the University of Kent, and author of “Costume in Greek Tragedy”.Image: Antiogne and the body of Polynices (Artist: Lachmann. Credit: Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which tells the fantastical story of a visit of the devil to the Soviet Union, is considered to be one of the most successful Russian novels of the 20th Century. Written in secret in the 1930s when Stalinist repression of the arts was at its height, the novel was only published more than 25 years later, when its blend of biting satire and magic realism created a sensation, not just in Russia but also in the West, inspiring rock bands like The Rolling Stones. This programme explores the novel and its cultural influence, and also asks how it reflects Bulgakov’s often traumatic experience as a writer in Stalinist Russia. Joining Bridget Kendall are Julie Curtis, the biographer of Mikhail Bulgakov, and professor of Russian literature at Oxford University, Peter Mansilla-Cruz, the director of the Bulgakov museum in Moscow, Edythe Haber, associate of the Davis Centre at Harvard University and professor emerita at University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Dr Olga Voronina from SSEES, University College, London, who have both published widely on Bulgakov’s writings.(Photo: Improvisation 33 (Orient 1) by Wassily Kandinsky. Credit: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

Whether it’s kimchi, kombucha, kefir or kraut, fermented foods are today all the rage. And yet people have been fermenting food and beverages for thousands of years – to preserve food stuffs, to break down toxins, to mark rituals and to enhance flavour. Without knowledge of the science, local communities practised fermentation instinctively, through trial and error and by careful observation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists argued over why foods fermented as they did. Many believed in the theory of ‘spontaneous generation’. But it was not until the discoveries of Louis Pasteur that the micro-organisms at work in food which bring about fermentation began to be understood. Ironically, Pasteur’s research led to a widespread preoccupation with killing the very bacteria that aid fermentation – combined with the growth of food production on an industrial scale.More recently, fermented food and drink has been marketed for its health benefits, with claims it can enhance the bacteria in our intestinal tracts, boost our immune systems and even lower the risk of contracting some serious diseases. Rajan Datar attempts to separate fact from fiction, with the help of three experts: the American fermentation revivalist Sandor Katz, Danish microbiologist Dennis Sandris Nielsen and the chef and food writer Olia Hercules, who’ll be demonstrating how to make a simple fermented recipe.Photo: Sauerkraut being made in a jar (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)