Have you ever wondered why football is called the beautiful game, why male footballers are paid so much, and female footballers much less so? As the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Championships are hosted in Switzerland we look at the rise and fall and rise again of the women's game. Why was the First World War a golden age? What was the impact of the ban from the FA in 1921? And can England's Lionesses retain their 2022 trophy? Today 2.3 million girls play football around the world - are you one of the...
Jul 17, 2025•13 min•Ep. 75
Why are naughty children so appealing as characters? Do you have to be a nice person to write children's books? Was Walt Disney a villain? We ask Sam Leith, the author of 'The Haunted Wood, A History of Childhood Reading' these questions, and many more Produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking Sound editing by Lou Sawdy Theme music by James Burrell Music Instagram @wonderpodcasts X @wonder_podcasts Facebook @wonderpodcasts TikTok @the.wonder.podcast Email camilla@wonderaudio.co.u...
Jul 05, 2025•23 min•Ep. 74
It is one of the most famous, and mysterious, stone circles in the world but who built it, and why? Was it an ancient calendar? A place of worship, or pilgrimage? Or a burial ground? Or, as some people have even suggested, a landing pad for alien spaceships? What remains of this 5,000-year-old monument – which sits within a sacred landscape on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England – offers us some extraordinary clues. Narrated by Camilla Akers-Douglas Script by Camilla Akers-Douglas Produced by ...
Jun 20, 2025•9 min•Ep. 73
Have you ever heard of Ada Lovelace? Or Augusta Ada Byron? Or the Countess of Lovelace, as she became? One hundred years before the computer was even invented, Ada wrote the first-ever computer program. She was also a brilliant mathematician and an aristocratic Victorian. We tell the remarkable true story of a digital pioneer, who was also the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Every time we play a computer game, or listen to a podcast, we are a part of her legacy. Narrated by Henrietta McMicking ...
Jun 13, 2025•11 min•Ep. 72
Have you ever thought about the importance of wee? Urine, to give it its proper name, has flowed through human history. The Romans used it to whiten their togas as well as their teeth. Children in the Middle Ages worked as piss collectors because it was such a valued product in the leather and wool industries. In times of war wee has come into its own. Stale pee was used in the manufacture of gun powder. In the absence of clean water, it was used to disinfect wounds. And soldiers in the First Wo...
Jun 06, 2025•8 min•Ep. 71
Have you ever wondered why we love playing games – board games, card games, computer games, even playground games like It and Kick the Can? Games let us experiment and take risks in a safe, fun way. Many games involve luck – like the throw of the dice, the draw of the cards – but they also involve maths. And, sometimes, using maths can help you win… Narrated by Camilla Akers-Douglas Script by Camilla Akers-Douglas Produced by Henrietta McMicking Sound editing by Lou Sawdy Theme music by James Bu...
May 30, 2025•10 min•Ep. 70
What would it be like to discover a whole city hiding in the cloud forest? This podcast – for parents and their children – tells the thrilling story of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu, the Andean citadel built by the Incas in 1400. For hundreds of years, it was covered in undergrowth and known only to local people in a small corner of Peru. Then the American adventurer, Hiram Bingham, found it in 1911. The extraordinary mountaintop city has now been designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the...
May 23, 2025•8 min•Ep. 69
Are pirates daring adventurers of the high seas or simply ruthless thieves who plunder ships, attack innocent passengers and send shivers down the spines of ordinary sailors? This podcast – for parents and their children – reminds us that pirates can be dastardly and daring in equal measure, brave yet fuse-burningly terrifying, and not nearly so jolly as one might like to think. Narrated by Oliver Akers-Douglas Script by Camilla Akers-Douglas Produced by Henrietta McMicking Sound editing by Lou ...
May 19, 2025•8 min•Ep. 68
Did you know that people with dyslexia can make very good spies? And people with autism are likely to have been the driving force of human creativity for the last 100,000 years? Dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD and autism are often misunderstood as negative conditions, when really they indicate strengths as well as struggles. This episode is narrated by the comedian Rory Bremner who has ADHD. He encourages children – parents and teachers too – to think differently about neurodiversity, reminding us t...
Jun 11, 2024•12 min•Ep. 67
Have you ever wondered why humans chose to ride horses? It was a moment in history which changed the future of both species forever. This relationship has endured for over five thousand years, and the horse has been described as one of the greatest technologies that man has ever harnessed. Horses are prized for their speed, strength and adaptability, and revolutionised transport, war, farming and more. But it hasn't always been a happy partnership. Listen and enjoy Narrated by Alexandra Tolstoy ...
Jul 13, 2023•8 min•Ep. 66
Have you ever wondered who had the bright idea of inventing the light bulb? Well, it’s credited to a rather unusual man, Thomas Edison. An man who had a gift – not so much for inventing as for taking an existing idea, and finding ways to make it better, or cheaper, or both. During his lifetime Thomas Edison invented a truly extraordinary range of things – ideas that define our modern world – but he is best known for inventing the electric light bulb. And guess what? He didn’t even invent it. Peo...
Jul 04, 2023•10 min•Ep. 65
There’s a group of almost 4,000 volunteers known as the White Helmets. They have become famous for their bravery in the Syrian civil war. They are famous too for the white hardhats they wear. Most of the volunteers are men but there are also around 200 women. Their proper name is the Syria Civil Defence. They have been trained to protect and help people during war and disasters. They are unarmed and neutral which means they have promised to help anyone no matter their religion, background, or wh...
Jun 27, 2023•10 min•Ep. 64
Have you ever considered what an extraordinary invention plastic is? The word plastic means mouldable and therein lies its ingenuity, it can be moulded into every conceivable size shape and colour. It can be thick or thin, large or small, strong or delicate. Plastic is complicated: it has life saving medical uses but is life threatening to the natural world. Almost every piece of plastic ever made still exists today. Listen and explore how in just 150 years this synthetic material has got into e...
May 16, 2023•10 min•Ep. 63
Have you ever wondered about the power of the moon? Craned your neck and stared, deep, into her mysteries? Like a wolf howling through the night, what questions would you ask of her, what secrets would you try to uncover? The moon has the power to conjure werewolves. It controls the tides of our seas and oceans, and it has inspired mankind to reach for a new frontier. Its power to capture our imagination and to keep us asking questions is legendary... Narrated by Ben Ellis Sound editing by Max W...
May 09, 2023•9 min•Ep. 62
Have you ever wondered what is actually inside a packet of crisps? Potatoes, obviously, you would think. Air, perhaps just as obviously – but it’s not the air you are expecting. There's history in there too, and rivalry. Who made the very first potato crisp? And, what exactly is a crisp? Or potato chip, as they say in America. To be a crisp, does it need to be literally a thin slice of potato? Or can it be a maize – or puff corn – snack, like a Wotsit? And have you ever noticed how eating a cris...
May 02, 2023•9 min•Ep. 61
Have you ever wondered what exactly are the Crown Jewels, or why kings and queens wear crowns? We tell the extraordinary history of the British Crown Jewels, and how over the centuries they have been lost and stolen, melted down, and remade. Among the crowns, sceptres and orbs, there is even a single stone – the Koh-i-Noor diamond – which is believed to be so cursed that kings are afraid to wear it. You may well ask yourself, how are these things relevant to me? Well, as symbols of power they ar...
Apr 25, 2023•11 min•Ep. 60
How do we see? And how do we see colour? Does the world look the same through another person's eyes? In this podcast discover how the human eye works and how it sees colour. You may be surprised to learn that not everyone sees colour in the same way: a few are colour blind; others are tetrachromats which means they have an extra type of cone cell in their eye, and can see as many as 100 million different colours. While dogs' eyes are quite similar to our own, insects have completely different ey...
Jun 01, 2021•10 min•Ep. 59
Why do we worry? And what can we do about it? This episode explains to children that day-to-day worries are a normal part of life. In fact, sometimes worry is a positive, rather than negative, thing. When faced with predators, a sense of fear protected our ancient ancestors and, even today, it can push us out of our comfort zone. And when it all gets a bit too much, there are things we can do to relieve some of our worries, as we explain. This podcast is written, and read to you, by Henrietta Mc...
May 25, 2021•9 min•Ep. 58
Have you ever wondered why poo is funny? It’s stinky. It’s perfectly revolting, but if you say the word poo a few times, children – and some adults – start to smile, even laugh. And it can, of course, be surprisingly useful – as a food source, a fertiliser and for marking animal territory. But adult humans don’t tend to like talking about poo so we thought we'd do just that instead. This podcast is written, and read to you, by Camilla Akers-Douglas, with sound editing by Max Watson. It was produ...
May 18, 2021•9 min•Ep. 57
Have you ever sent a secret message to a friend? Or tried to use a clever code to protect a secret? Have you ever tried to crack a code? There are many ingenious ways to conceal, and reveal, a secret message. Keeping secrets, and code breaking, can be a matter of life and death, as Mary, Queen of Scots found out to her cost. Alan Turing's work as a code breaker during WW11 may have shortened the war by two years and saved 14 million lives. Today super-fast computers give us new ways to encrypt m...
May 11, 2021•9 min•Ep. 56
All around the world during the darkest months of winter people light candles and look forward to a time of new hope. Why do Christians celebrate Christmas at this time of year? Why do Jewish people, Hindus, Jains, Sihks and some Buddhists celebrate with festivals of light at this darkest time? And how does Christmas vary from country to country? No matter how hard Oliver Cromwell, the Grinch and Covid-19 try, it really is impossible to cancel Christmas. This podcast is read by Henrietta McMicki...
Dec 21, 2020•9 min•Ep. 55
Wherever they sailed, they plundered, pillaged and stole, so the story goes. But were the Vikings really the fierce invaders of the history books who ransacked our monasteries and captured human slaves? Or where they simply peaceful traders with an interest in travel? The clue is in the names: the word Viking did not originally mean a single group of people. It meant a pirate or raider. And with names like Thorfinn Skullsplitter, Eric Bloody Axe and Hairy Breeches, could they really have just be...
Dec 08, 2020•8 min•Ep. 54
It is exactly 400 years since a ship called the Mayflower arrived on the east coast of America, bringing 102 English settlers to the New World. Today some 35 million people all over the USA claim to have had an ancestor on the Mayflower. As they built their colony on the Massachusetts coast, the so-called Pilgrims encountered the Wampanoag people who were unsure about the threat the new arrivals posed. The settlement became known as Plymouth, or Patuxet to the local tribes. This podcast is read ...
Dec 01, 2020•10 min•Ep. 53
Have you ever wondered why chocolate tastes so good, why it is so completely and utterly scrumdiddlyumptious? In fact the raw cocoa bean tastes horrible, and it takes a lot to turn this tropical rainforest nut into chocolate. Humans have loved it for longer than you might think, and the Aztecs drank it before going into battle. But only about 120 years ago, after a young Swiss company called Nestlé started adding milk and sugar to chocolate, did we really fall in love with it. Besides eating it,...
Nov 24, 2020•9 min•Ep. 52
Have you wondered if zero is actually a number? Or if infinity is a number or a concept? What is an imaginary number? And how do numbers explain the shape of the ancient pyramids? Why is the number 60 so interesting? Just how large is the number Googol, the number that gives a certain search engine its name? And how does maths make our world more beautiful? Listen, and discover. This podcast is read by Luke Irwin with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Tomáš Klička and Nicola...
Nov 17, 2020•9 min•Ep. 51
Her real name was Krystyna Skarbek. She was Polish but spied for the British during WW11. She was brilliant and daring in a male-dominated field. And a law unto her self. She took risks few others would have done. And saved lives with her rare ingenuity. Codenames and pseudonyms, she had many: Madame Marchand, Jacqueline Armande or just plain Pauline. And, of course, Christine Granville. She was a real-life female James Bond. And, it is said that she was Ian Fleming’s inspiration for Vespar Lynd...
Nov 10, 2020•9 min•Ep. 50
Once the heavens were the domain of just gods and angels – which is one of the reasons why Icarcus fell back to earth. Humans only really mastered flight when they developed their understanding of two crucial concepts: lift and thrust . In the early 1900s, with the invention of the petrol engine, the Wright brothers took to the sky in a biplane, albeit for only 59 seconds at first. By 1949, when the first commercial jet-engine airliner crossed the Atlantic Ocean, 44 passengers were considered a ...
Nov 03, 2020•9 min•Ep. 49
Welcome to Season 2 of The Wonder Podcast. This episode tells the true story of a thief who stole the Mona Lisa. Every year 10 million visitors come to the Louvre museum in Paris to see this portrait of a 16th-century Italian noblewoman by Leonardo da Vinci. But it was not until she was stolen on 21 August, 1911 that the Mona Lisa achieved global fame. So who took her, and why wasn't she found for over two years? Did you know that Pablo Picasso was even a suspect? This podcast is read by Henriet...
Oct 27, 2020•9 min•Ep. 48
The new coronavirus has had a huge impact on our daily lives, and has made some people very sick but others who caught it haven’t been ill at all. You might be wondering how we fight off illnesses like coronavirus. This week’s episode is about the immune system and how it works to protect humans from diseases caused by viruses and bacteria. Using the garden as an analogy, we explain the difference between red and white blood cells, and the innate and adaptive immune system. In order to make this...
Jul 07, 2020•8 min•Ep. 46
What do we love about a good film? Is it that they transport us to a different world? To places where our imagination can take flight? The films of Studio Ghibli are full of strange creatures and extraordinary flying machines; places where sprites live and incredible transformations are possible; and lots of cats – even a cat that looks like a bus. They celebrate the beauty of nature, daring invention, and explore the idea of unlikely gods and spirits that lie just beyond our understanding. The ...
Jun 30, 2020•8 min•Ep. 42
