The Forum

Boudica, also known as Boadicea, was a member of Iron Age aristocracy in Roman-occupied England, and her husband was the ruler of the Iceni people. When he died in around 60AD, Boudica, driven by Roman brutality, led a rebellion against the Roman army and marched on London. It was a ferocious attack that nearly drove the Romans out of Britain before Boudica was finally defeated. Today, she is an iconic and sometimes controversial figure.To explore Boudica, Bridget Kendall is joined by Professors Richard Hingley and Miranda Aldhouse-Green and Dr Jane Webster.Photo: Queen Boudica of the Iceni (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev attempted nothing less than to pull apart the fabric of reality and expose the hidden patterns that lie beneath everything in existence, from shoes and ships and sealing wax to cabbages and kings. The result was something known to almost everyone who has ever been to school: the Periodic Table of the elements. But why this particular arrangement? And why is it still the foundation of chemistry?Quentin Cooper is joined by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, who since he was a teenager has collected samples of elements and has drawn on his samples and knowledge to write Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements; Michael Gordin, Professor of History at Princeton University and the author of A Well-Ordered Thing: Dmitri Mendeleev and the Shadow of the Periodic Table; Ann Robinson, Historian at the University of Massachusetts studying the development of the periodic table; And Eugene Babaev, Professor of Chemistry at Moscow State University who maintains both Russian and English websites on Mendeleev and his work.Photo: Periodic Table Concept Illustration. (Getty Images)

“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree … “ - Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is one of the most famous poems in the English Language. But it is also one of the strangest. It was composed during an opium dream, it remains unfinished and according to one theory, was implicated in a war in South Africa. And what is its relation to the real life Kublai Khan, the 13th century Mongol emperor who conquered China? Joining Rajan Datar to discuss this mysterious poem is Coleridge’s award winning biographer Richard Holmes, the poet and senior lecturer in English Dr Peter Anderson from Cape Town University in South Africa, Professor Samantha Harvey from Boise State University in the US, and the Chinese historian Professor Kent Deng from the London School of Economics.(Photo: Royal Pavilion in the Phraya Nakhon Cave, Thailand. Credit: Mazzzur/GettyImages)

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 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Flamenco is easily recognised across the world thanks to certain stereotypes, namely spotty dresses, shirt-tearing and lots of foot stamping. The reality however is far more nuanced, and this extraordinarily complex music and dance form can take many years – if not a lifetime – to master. For those steeped in its traditions, they describe it as a way of life. With the help of musical examples, Rajan Datar and guests explore how flamenco works, and discuss how it’s grown from its origins in the marginalised communities of southern Spain to become a commercial success the world over. Joining Rajan are flamenco aficionado and guitarist Brook Zern, dancer María Bermúdez from flamenco’s heartland in Jerez de la Frontera and Dr Matthew Machin-Autenrieth from the University of Cambridge in the UK.Photo: Flamenco dancing (Getty Images)

Thomas Sankara is the revolutionary who became the first president of Burkina Faso in West Africa, and gave the country its name, meaning 'the land of upright people'. In his short time as leader of Burkina Faso, Sankara instituted sweeping reforms to make the country more self-sufficient and society more equal. For some Sankara was a hero, for others, he was a ruthless autocrat. This year marks 30 years after his mysterious -and as yet unsolved- assassination, but why do memories of him still haunt Africa to this day? Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss Thomas Sankara, are Dr Amber Murrey-Ndewa from the American University in Cairo, Lamine Konkobo BBC Afrique journalist from Burkina Faso, and Aziz Fall, Professor of International Studies in Canada and campaigner for justice on behalf of the Sankara family. Photo: Thomas Sankara at a press conference in Paris, 1986. (Getty Images)

It is a fibre and a fabric that is part of many people's daily lives, it grows wild on at least three continents, it has been woven into cloth and traded all over the world for thousands of years. And when machines made possible the mass production of cotton, its story became entwined with the history of human slavery: making fortunes for a few, and condemning many to a life of misery. So what are the milestones in the history of cotton? And why has it always proved such a popular clothing material across the centuries and across the world?Bridget Kendall is joined by four textile historians to trace cotton's origins and its evolution into one of the world's most important global commodities: Sven Beckert, Professor of History at Harvard, Prasannan Parthasarathi, Professor of History at Boston College, Giorgio Riello, Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick and the President of the Textile Society Mary Schoeser.Photo: Cotton yarn (Getty Images)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was formed in 1863 and its objectives have been to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict ever since.It's a story about the often challenging and sometimes controversial development of global humanitarian intervention, the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.Bridget Kendall and guests Dr Hugo Slim, Professor Andrew Thompson, Caroline Morehead and Syrian Canadian aid worker Layal Horanieh will explore the story of the ICRC and the complex negotiations required to operate in conflicted parts of the World.Photo: An aircraft of the International Committee of the Red Cross (AFP/Getty Images)

It was at the Moscow Art Theatre from the 1890’s onwards that Stanislavsky developed an innovative acting system that demanded actors really inhabit the role they are playing. This then inspired Method acting, which originated in the United States, and whose disciples range from Marlon Brando to Marilyn Monroe to the majority of big stars around the world today - some of whom have taken the system to an alarming extreme. This programme explores Stanislavsky's life and legacy, and also asks if his work has a role outside the theatre. Joining Bridget Kendall are Maria Shevtsova, Professor of Drama at Goldsmiths University of London, the Russian theatre historian Dr Arkady Ostrovsky, and the actor and director Bella Merlin.Photo: Anton Chekhov, in the centre of the picture, reading his play 'The Seagull' with theatre director Stanislavsky on Chekhov's right. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The extraordinary life and prophetic inventions of the Serbian-American engineer Nikola Tesla. Bridget Kendall and guests discuss not just Tesla's key contributions to the design of modern electrical appliances and systems but also his dream of a worldwide system of free wireless electricity, his ambitious scheme to build huge towers to make it happen and why in 1917 his plans and the first tower at Wardenclyffe near New York City came crashing down.Bridget is joined by Jasmina Vujic, Professor of Nuclear Engineering at Berkeley, University of California, and a Vice President of the Tesla Memorial Society of New York; Jane Alcorn, the President of the Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe; and Michael Krause, a historian, writer and director of the documentary All About Tesla.Photo: A Tesla Coil in action. The man in the photo is wearing a specially designed ferroalloy metal suit which keeps him safe while the high voltage crackles from him.(Getty Images)