The Forum

Unearthed from the ruins of ancient cities in modern-day Iraq, the reconstruction of the epic from fragments of clay tablets has been a labour of love for scholars of ancient Mesopotamia. This painstaking work has brought to life a sophisticated story of adventure, heroism and friendship, as well as a reflection on the human condition.Today, experts are uncovering additional fragments of cuneiform script and using artificial intelligence to decipher the text and fill in the gaps of this and other stories. Professor Anmar Fadhil from the University of Baghdad tells the programme about the latest discoveries.Bridget Kendall is joined by Andrew George, Emeritus Professor of Babylonian at SOAS at the University of London and author of an acclaimed English translation of the epic; Professor Enrique Jiménez, chair of Ancient Near Eastern Literature at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany who has published widely on Babylonian literature of the first millennium BC; and Dr Louise Pryke, Honorary Associate in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney in Australia who is the author of Gilgamesh, a guide to the epic which was published in 2019.Producer: Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service(Photo: The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet. Credit: Wisam Zeyad Mohammed/Anadolu Agency/Getty Image)

As the spotlight falls on Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, we tell the story of how the world's biggest sporting spectacle began, in Uruguay in 1930. How did a small South American nation of just two million people, thousands of miles from football's centre of power in Europe, come to launch this major global competition? We discuss the fractious international relations, the political cunning, and the sporting excellence behind the successful bid. We learn how football helped shape a nation riven by civil war for much of its short existence, and hear about the tournament itself - the unfinished stadium, the dodgy refereeing decisions and, for some of the teams, the sheer ordeal of just getting there.Rajan Datar is joined by Andreas Campomar, a writer and publisher from London and author of Golazo! A History of Latin American Football; Dr Philippe Vonnard, a historian specialising in the internationalisation of sport at the University of Fribourg and the University of Lausanne, both in Switzerland; and Brenda Elsey, a professor of Latin American sports and cultural history at Hofstra University, New York.Producer: Simon Tulett(Picture: Stamp issued by the Hungarian Post to commemorate the 1930 World Cup final between Uruguay and Argentina. Credit: Fototeca Gilardi/Getty Images)

The moth is an insect that’s almost 200 million years old. Throughout human history, its attraction to light, its amazing ability to camouflage, and its nocturnal activity have given rise to myths, spiritual beliefs and been the inspiration for art and literature – especially the genres of horror and the supernatural. In the natural world, moths also play a hugely important role in promoting global diversity as prolific pollinators. Yet, this ancient insect is often regarded as little more than the poor relation of the butterfly, an annoying creature that feeds on our favourite clothes and eats crops. Today, the moth is under threat from light pollution and climate change. So is it time we re-evaluate our views on moths?Rajan Datar is joined by Professor Matthew Gandy, from the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge in the UK; Dr Alma Solis, research scientist on moths for the US department of Agriculture, and curator at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC; Dr Franziska Kohlt, a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of York who has studied the history of insects in literature and science; and the Estonian artist Liina Lember, creator of a moths art installation. With the contribution of Shirley Camia, whose poetry collection is called “The Significance of Moths”. Producer: Anne Khazam (Picture: The Death's-head Hawkmoth, with its characteristic skull-shaped pattern on the thorax. Credit: Choia/Getty Images)

More than 3,000 years ago a group of powerful and intricately connected Mediterranean kingdoms collapsed over the course of just a few decades. The palaces of Mycenaean Greece were destroyed, entire cities in Hittite Turkey were abandoned, and whole empires disintegrated. Some civilisations disappeared completely. But what caused the so-called Bronze Age collapse - climate change, trade breakdown, internal rebellion, or a mysterious group of invaders known as the ‘Sea Peoples'?Some historians have called the aftermath a 'dark age', but was it really as gloomy as that, and might this period of wealth, pressure, and decline offer us any lessons today?Rajan Datar is joined by İlgi Gerçek, assistant professor of ancient Near Eastern languages and history at Bilkent University, in Ankara; Eric Cline, professor of classics, history, and anthropology at The George Washington University, in Washington DC, and author of ‘1177BC: The Year Civilisation Collapsed’; and Marc van de Mieroop, professor of history at Columbia University, in New York.Producer: Simon Tulett(Photo: The ancient site of Patara in Turkey's Antalya province. Patara (Patar in Hittite language), was once the capital of the Lycian Union. Credit: Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Today, we can’t imagine an election without an opinion poll gauging public opinion on who’s leading, who’s won a debate or who’s more popular with a specific group of voters. Even our favourite chocolate bars and footballers are subject to a poll. But how did straw polls evolve into the scientific number crunching we know now? What is their purpose and impact? How differently are they used around the world? And just how reliable are they?Bridget Kendall is joined by economist and chairman of Gallup Pakistan, Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani; Scott Keeter, Senior Survey Advisor for the Pew Research Center in Washington; and Sir John Curtice from the University of Strathclyde.(Photo: American President Harry S. Truman smiles and waves to the excited Kansas City crowd after hearing the news that he had won the United States elections in 1948, despite what the polls had predicted. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

The 46-year reign of Süleyman the Magnificent across central Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East was defined by territorial expansion and economic growth, as well as a flowering of art, architecture and culture.The epithet ‘magnificent’ invites us to believe the Ottoman sultan could do no wrong. But he broke with precedent on several occasions and his private life came in for criticism. So how much does he owe his reputation to his advisers?Bridget Kendall is joined by Gábor Ágoston, professor of history at Georgetown University in Washington DC and author of many books on the Ottomans, including The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe; Ebru Turan, assistant professor of History at Fordham University. She’s writing a book entitled Last World Emperor: The Origins of Ottoman-Habsburg Imperial Rivalry in the Apocalyptic Mediterranean, 1516-1527; and Marc David Baer, professor of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He’s published widely on the Ottoman empire, including The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs, which was published in 2021. Produced by Fiona Clampin for the BBC World Service(Picture: Suleyman the Magnificent. Credit: Hasan Esen/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

William Cobbett was a 19th century English writer, politician and campaigner, at a time when England was on the verge of riots and revolution, and many lived in extreme poverty. Born in 1763, Cobbett started off as a ploughboy, educated himself to run a best-selling newspaper, wrote beautifully accurate descriptions of the countryside which were to form his classic book Rural Rides, and later in life, even became a member of parliament. But it was for his sharp-tongued criticism of the British establishment that William Cobbett became most famous, exposing the corruption and hypocrisy of a system that favoured the rich over the poor, and in 1810, Cobbett was even jailed for his writings for two years, when he condemned the flogging of soldiers who were protesting about their pay. William Cobbett was often greeted by adoring crowds wherever he went, but some of his populist ideas and his dream of a return to an idealised vision of England’s past, also makes him a controversial and divisive figure today. Joining Bridget Kendall is Ruth Livesey, Professor of English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London; Dr Richard Thomas, chairman of the William Cobbett society and co-editor of “The Opinions of William Cobbett” with James Grande and John Stevenson; and Katharine Stearn, the editor of “Cobbett’s New Register” and lecturer on Cobbett for the Workers’ Educational Association. With the participation of Dr Mihika Chatterjee, lecturer in International Development at the University of Bath in the UK. Produced by Anne Khazam for the BBC World Service. (Picture: The General of Patriotism, - or -The Bloomsbury Farmer, Planting Bedfordshire Wheat, James Gillray. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

They are the bane of every celebrity’s life: that pack of press photographers who stake out the homes, hotels and other haunts of the rich and famous in the hope of bagging a revealing and lucrative image to sell to newspapers and magazines around the world. Known as paparazzi, these photo journalists stop at nothing to catch their prey – climbing trees, hiding in cars and chasing after their quarry on motor scooters at high speed. But where does the term ‘paparazzi’ come from? When did these celebrity snappers first appear? And why were the most famous of them almost all Italian to start with? To seek out the origins of the paparazzi, the Forum takes you back to the glitzy world of film stars in 1950s Rome. Bridget Kendall is joined by Antonella Pelizzari, professor of the history of photography at Hunter College in New York and author of many books on Italian photography; the film critic Shawn Levy whose books include Dolce Vita Confidential about film and photography in 1950s Rome; and cultural historian and photographer Giuliana Minghelli whose books, including Stillness in Motion, look at the interaction between Italian film, photography and the wider arts world. With a contribution from cultural historian Luca Cottini from Villanova University. The readers are Giovanni Noto and David McGuire.Image: English rock 'n' roll star Wee Willie Harris (right) brawls with a persistent photographer on the Via Veneto in Rome in 1962 (Credit: Keystone Features/Getty Images)

The sun might not shape the pattern of our daily lives to the extent it did in the past. But understanding its behaviour is a focus of scientific research to grasp how activity on the surface of the sun - such as geomagnetic storms - can affect life on earth. "Space weather" can take out whole power networks, damage satellites and disrupt communication lines – the technology on which so many people rely. Bridget Kendall and guests examine the sun's impact throughout history, and discuss what we know about its internal structure and magnetic fields.Claire Raftery is a solar physicist and the Head of Education and Outreach at the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado; Philip Judge is a senior scientist at the High Altitude Observatory also in Boulder, Colorado. He’s written many papers on aspects of solar physics, as well as a book entitled The Sun: A Very Short Introduction; and philosopher Emma Carenini is the author of The Sun: Myths, History and Societies which considers how the sun has shaped philosophy and thought.Producer: Fiona Clampin(Photo: Post-Flare Loops Erupt From Suns Surface. Credit: Nasa/Getty Images)

Eunice Newton Foote was the first person to suggest that an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide would lead to a warmer planet, but her discovery was largely ignored and her name disappeared for more than 150 years. She fell into such obscurity that there’s no known picture of her.Bridget Kendall explores the life of this American scientist and inventor and asks why her ground-breaking research, carried out in the 1850s, was overlooked for so long. Discrimination against women, especially in the sciences, was a major reason, but might a transatlantic power struggle and even a case of intellectual theft have played their parts? Eunice was also one of the founding members of the women’s rights movement in the United States – we discuss how she helped launch a campaign that would eventually win women the right to vote.Plus, the story of how her work was recently re-discovered, and the quest to ensure her name gains greater recognition.For more on Eunice and other key figures in the history of climate change visit https://bbc.in/3QXkiruProducer: Simon TulettContributors:John Perlin, a research scholar in the department of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, who is working on what’s thought to be the first biography of Eunice Newton Foote; Sally Gregory Kohlstedt, a recently retired professor of history from the University of Minnesota, USA, and expert on women and gender in the history of science;Roland Jackson, a historian of nineteenth century science, honorary research Fellow in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at University College London, and author of ‘The Ascent of John Tyndall’;Ray Sorenson, retired petroleum geologist, Oklahoma, USA;Judith Wellman, professor emerita at the State University of New York at Oswego, USA. (Picture: Smoke billowing from chimneys at the coal-fired Bełchatów Power Station, Poland, in 2009. Credit: Peter Andrews/Reuters).