This week’s questions are all about our bodies! Find out why we have an appendix with Dr. Chiara Hunt, she is a doctor and runs The Bump Class for Mums and Dads who are about to have a baby. She also co-hosts a podcast for parents called The Parent Hood with her sister Marina Fogle, which I went on earlier this year to talk about children and curiosity! So Chiara is the perfect person to answer your question! Next up we have a question from Otto, he would like to know about ear wiggling! Find ou...
Aug 16, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Hello and welcome to episode 37 of Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering all the most pressing questions children around the world have about life on earth. Today our questions are all about animals and eating! Our question comes Cormac who wants to know about snakes and eating! He’d like to know how many monkey a python can eat in one go? To answer him we have Crocodile Joe who knows all about crocodiles, snakes and spiders and does educational shows about the creatures for child...
Aug 09, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Hello! This week because the Ashes cricket match between England and Australia has just begun our first question is about cricket. It is from Matilda who would like to know why cricket is called cricket and what are the ashes? To answer it I have cricket legend, Mikey Holding, one of the fastest bowlers ever and a top cricket commentator who knows all about the game. Our second question is about a creature related to the insects called crickets. It’s from Aveline, and she asks how grasshoppers e...
Aug 02, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Hello! This week we’re chatting about the sky! The sky itself and why it is blue, clouds that float through it and birds that fly through it. Our first question comes from Sophia she would like to know why the sky is blue? We find out all about how sunlight is filled with all the colours of the rainbow and how it moves in waves, some short and some long and how the shorter blue light gets through the blanket around earth to make the sky look blue. But did you know, scientifically the sky is actu...
Jul 26, 2019•16 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Everything Around The MOON! July the 20th will mark the 50th anniversary of when humans first landed on the moon! Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins made it to the moon. Mike Collins stayed in the command module and Buzz and Neil walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong strode out first and said: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” I saw the boot he was wearing in the Smithsoanian Museum in Washington DC and wrote about it in my book, The Secret Museum, if you want...
Jul 19, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Hello and welcome to episode 32 of Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering all the most pressing questions children around the world have about life on earth. Our first question comes from a whole class full of children, from Year three at Bolton Primary School, they would like to know: Why did Tut become King at age 9 and how did he die? To answer it I have a historian named Justin Pollard who has made a TV series about the Egyptians for the BBC and knows all about them! Next up we...
Jul 12, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Hello and welcome to episode 32 of Everything Under the Sun! This week I went to the Bradford Literary Festival to talk about my books, The Secret Museum, WOW Museums, Natural Wonders of the World as well as Everything Under The Sun. When I was there talking to 400 children we all recorded a question, from Darrell who was one of the children at the talk. It is - why do monkeys throw poo? We find out the reason and chat about some of the 260 species of monkey! Next up we have a question about Sal...
Jul 05, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Everything in the Multiverse! This week is episode 31 of Everything Under The Sun and we’re answering questions from Charlie, Menashe and Ray about The Big Bang, the storm on Jupiter and all the funny noises a capybara makes! They're a giant rodent that looks like a huge guinea pig that lives in South America. To answer Charlie’s question we have Professor Jim Al-Khalili who knows everything about physics and science - he teaches at a university and writes books, makes TV shows and radio program...
Jun 28, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Reptiles! Lizards that walk on Water! Toes! Join us today to listen to the answers to three questions, from Ralph, Lila and Julia. They would like to know why reptiles are so shy, how some lizards walk on water and what our toes are for! To answer Ralph’s question we have Paolo Viscardi, who is a curator in the National Museum of Ireland, he works in zoology so knows all about reptiles! I met him when I was writing my first book, The Secret Museum and he showed me all the things hidden behind th...
Jun 21, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 30
This Sunday is Father’s Day in the UK, so this week is a celebration of Daddy’s and male things! Our first question is from Tasso who would like to know which animal makes the best Daddy? Find out about a tiny monkey called a Pygmy marmoset – the smallest monkey in the world - arctic wolves, emperor penguins and perhaps the best Dads of all – seahorses! To tell us about seahorses we have marine biologist Helen Scales who has written a book about them, called Poseidon's Steed. Next up is Reuben w...
Jun 14, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Today I have three questions about the OCEAN and creatures in it! Because June 8th is World Oceans Day, a global celebration with hundreds of events around the world celebrating the ocean, including Everything Under The Sun with this show! Our first question comes from Emmeline and Elkie, they would like to know why the sea is salty? Our answer comes from Philip Hoare, a writer who loves the ocean and has written books about whales and the sea. He swims in the ocean every day, no matter the weat...
Jun 07, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Everything Under The Sun is on holiday this week (researching next week’s episode about the oceans by swimming in it!) but we recently won a bronze at the British Podcast Awards for Best Family Podcast so we thought it would be fun to share the entry we made for that awards, which has highlights from the first few months of the show! A celebration for regular listeners and a taster of all the things you can listen to from the first few months if you’re a new listener. Enjoy! I'll be back next we...
May 31, 2019•16 min
Hello, Hello, Hello! We have news! Everything Under The Sun won a bronze award at the British Podcast Awards, we were so pleased to win an award after only twenty three episodes, so thank to all of you for listening, telling your friends, sending in questions and generally being amazing! You're all wonderful, thank you. I’m also writing a book full of your Everything Under The Sun questions so do send in your questions to the podcast to be on the show and in the book! The first 5 children to sen...
May 24, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Butterflies! We all love seeing them flying around in spring and summer, so to celebrate their arrival this year this week's episode is all about them. We answer three questions, from Martha & Heidi, Natty and Fynn! They would like to know: Why do caterpillars turn into butterflies? What happens inside cocoons? and do butterflies have bones? Find out on this week's show! To help answer the first question or expert this week is Dr. Nick Crumpton, a zoologist who knows lots about all sorts of ...
May 17, 2019•10 min•Season 1Ep. 26
We have our first history question this week! Answered by top historian, Dan Snow. It comes from Ethan who would like to know how many men were in a Roman army? Dan Snow tells us the answer, which is more complicated than you’d think! Dan tells us about some different battles and how many men took part. Discover how local men were recruited and how many more men there were than in the Roman army today. Our next question is about cats! And it comes from Alice, she would like to know why cats purr...
May 10, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Frida asks our first question which is, do aliens exist? Find out what Doug from the Science Museum thinks, where scientists think alien life might live, such as on exoplanets – planets outside of our solar system! Plus a reminder of how lucky we are to be here on a planet that gives us all we need, fresh air, water and oxygen to breathe! So let’s enjoy it and look after it. It’s bluebell season so why not find an ancient bluebell wood near you to drag your parents to! Eleanor is up next and she...
May 03, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to the 23rd episode of Everything Under The Sun, which this week is about OCEANS! We have three questions from Molly, Cooper and Lara , which are: How Much Water is in All the Oceans? How violently did Titanic shake when it hit the Iceberg? And What is the Deadliest Shark and why? Find out how much of the Earth’s water is in the oceans and why we ought to really rename our planet, Ocean! Then hear Phil Cauley, a crew member from Titanic Belfast talk about what happen...
Apr 26, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 23
ROOOOOAAAAAARR! It’s a dinosaur special this week, with help from dinosaur experts at the Natural History Museum in London and Tring. This week we answer questions from Darcy, Jake and Marcus who would like to know about dinosaurs. Then we have a special EASTER question from Aoife , because it’s now Easter weekend! First up Darcy’s question is “what was the first dinosaur and were there any in England?” Find out all about the first known dinosaurs that lived on Earth 243 MILLION years ago! As we...
Apr 19, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Birds! Birds! Birds! Welcome to episode twenty one of Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering all the most pressing questions children around the world have about life on earth. This week the show is all about birds, nests and eggs! So what questions about BIRDS do we have this week? Our first question is about bird EGGS and comes from Henry, he would like to know, “ How do Birds Lay eggs?” Find out about a bit in bird’s bottoms called a Cloaca and how they lay eggs as well as what ...
Apr 12, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Spheres! Round things! The Moon! Bubbles! Planets! This week’s perfectly circular, spherical, round show is all about things of similar shapes. As usual we’re answering brilliant questions from children. This week we have Dotty, Ahmed and Evelyn, they would like to know: Why do we only see one side of the moon? Why do planets have cores? Why do parrotfish sleep in bubbles made of snot? To find about the moon I turned to Doug at the Science Museum in London. Find out why we only see one side of t...
Apr 05, 2019•13 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Animal mums! Paints! Colourful creatures! This colourful episode of Everything Under The Sun has three lovely questions! Since it’s almost Mother’s Day our first question is about Mums, it comes from Lara who wants to “Which animals make the best Mummy?” Well there are LOTS of great Mummy’s in the animal kingdom. Find out about orang-utan Mums, gorillas, polar bears, koalas and all the other great animal mums! Next up, in case you’re busy drawing cards and pictures for someone special on Motheri...
Mar 29, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Squeak, squeak, whistle, whistle! Welcome to a noisy 18th episode of Everything Under the Sun. This week we answer three questions from Alyssa, Walter and Matilda. They are: How do Dolphins Squeak? How does a Football Referee’s Whistle Work? And Why do Giraffes have Such Long Necks? Find out all about how dolphins use their foreheads to squeak with Travis, who studies dolphins at the Natural History Museum, in London and so knows all about dolphins! Discover how dolphins can do impressions of ea...
Mar 22, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Hello and welcome to the 17th episode of Everything Under the Sun, a weekly podcast answering all the most pressing questions children around the world have about life on earth. Today we have three questions about sleeping and dreaming! Our first question is from Millen - he wants to know about dreams! His question is “Why on some days do we remember dreams but not on other days?” To answer the question I asked the help of Philippa Perry, she’s a psychotherapist who spends lots of time listening...
Mar 15, 2019•11 min•Season 1Ep. 17
It’s World Book Day ! To celebrate, this week we've got three answers to a great question, from Bonnie, which is... ‘Where do Ideas Come From?’ Our first answer is from children’s book writer Abi Elphinstone. Abi is a 2019 World Book Day author and you can get her new book, Everdark on World Book Day with your WBD tokens! She talks about how adventures, daydreaming and looking at the sky out of her writing shed inspired her big ideas and tells us about how she came up with the stories and charac...
Mar 07, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 16
This week we have three questions from Rob, Alex and Violet. They would like to know: what the biggest tree in the world? How much water is in an apple? How many bunnies are there in the world? Find out about the biggest tree in the world, called General Sherman, which I wrote about in my book, Natural Wonders of the World. I read an extract from the book about the ancient, giant trees in this week’s show. The trees grew on earth at the same time as dinosaurs roamed the earth. Find out how many ...
Mar 01, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Welcome to this week’s episode of Everything Under The Sun! This week we have four questions, the first is from Evey who lives in Australia, she would like to know why some animals are warm-blooded and some are cold-blooded? To answer her we have Katie Thomas, a biologist from The Natural History Museum in London! She is studying how frogs see the word, so tells us all about frogs and other cold-blooded animals that get warmer when the sun is out, or cooler when it’s not sunny and sea creatures ...
Feb 22, 2019•12 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Talking and writing! We all do it every day, and its one of the most important things we do! Today on Everything Under The Sun we explore who came up with the idea of writing with a brilliant guest from the British Museum, Irving Finkel who looks after the oldest writing in the world – so old it is written on clay! Plus why we talk different languages. Our first question, from Benjamin is “Why do people speak different languages?” We explore why we speak different languages as well as how many p...
Feb 15, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Ahoy Me Hearties! Shiver Me Timbers! Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum! This week's Pirates episode comes from The Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood and Globe Primary School in London. The V & A Museum of Childhood have a free show on at the moment called A Pirates Life For Me! So I've made a special show with them all about pirates, with questions from the local school children who helped create the show and answers from Will Newton who is a curator at the museum and made the pirates exh...
Feb 08, 2019•15 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Yum, yum, yum! This tasty episode of Everything Under The Sun has three delicious questions. Why do we taste differently when we have a cold? This is our first question, from Sanem, and it is brilliantly answered by top chef Heston Blumenthal who knows everything there is to know about how our sense of smell affects our sense of taste. He tells us about an experiment to do with a piece of apple to find out how having a cold affects the way we taste our food. Secondly Charlie would like to know w...
Feb 01, 2019•14 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In this week's show we answer three questions from Alessandra, Sophia and Isaac, with help from special guest expert Marina Fogle. Alessandra would like to know the answer to a question we all ask at some point in our lives, which is, "Where do Babies Come from?" Parental Warning! In case you don't want your children to listen to this answer. As this can be quite a tricky one to know how to answer well for children I asked Marina Fogle, host of the top parenting podcast The Parent Hood and creat...
Jan 25, 2019•16 min•Season 1Ep. 10
