Episode summary: The legendary violinist talks about his difficult childhood, stricken by polio in the war-torn early days of Israeli statehood — and laughs about his early success, whisked away to the United States at 13 to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. Plus, what makes a truly great instrumenta...

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Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact on the British Isles of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the most poweful man in the court of Elizabeth I. He was both praised and attacked for his flexibility, adapting to the reigns of Protestant and Catholic monarchs and, under Elizabe...

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Episode summary: We investigate the mystery of why parents across the world became convinced that a half-bird/half-woman monster was going to harm their kids over the internet.And we answer the question of how robocallers are able to fake your telephone number when they call you.

Episode summary: Failure Flashback! Failure has always been a key concept for your host so this week we pull two stories out of the Benjamen Walker podcast archive. First a musical number about the loser behind Blue Suede Shoes and second a morality tale about the artist Paul Gauguin’s spectacular P...

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Episode summary: Kyle and Chris talk about Kyle’s new podcast introducing people (and Andrew) to basebll, Baseline. Then they get into the recent Luminary announcement and what they think it means for podcasting.

Episode summary: Are women really less likely than men to be hired for jobs in tech just because of their sex? A study claims that sexism in the recruitment process is holding women back from entering the tech sector. But the study is not all it seems. There are much better statistics that can help...

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Episode summary: The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia. Music Blink from Hiroshi Yoshimura Which comes in and out of Bjolukor Tonlisterakoli Reykjanesbaejar’s version of Sigur Ros’ Hoppipolla. Love Token by Elena Kats-Chernin, performed by Tamara Anna Cislowska And Joanna Brouk playing M...

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Episode summary: Thieves are stealing billions of dollars worth of gasoline in Mexico. The President is taking drastic action to cut them off, and it comes at a serious cost. Content warning: Audio of deadly pipeline explosion.

Episode summary: The tradition of the Tomb of the Unknowns goes back only about a century, but it has become one of the most solemn and reverential monuments. When President Reagan added the remains of an unknown serviceman who died in combat in Vietnam to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery in 1984, it was the only set of remains that couldn’t be identified from the war. Now, thankfully, there will never likely be a soldier who dies in battle whose body can’t be identified. And as a result of DNA technology, even the unknowns currently interred in the tomb can be positively identified. The Known Unknown

A really touching episode, not least because we're coming to the end of a harrowing few weeks watching Ken Burns' Vietnam War. The idea that in future wars, at least for soldiers from some countries, no corpse will remain unidentified is somehow rather wonderful.

Episode summary: CBD Gummies, CBD croissants, CBD coffee, CBD pesto, CBD beer… CBD is everywhere. Presenter Charlotte Smith tells the story of how this oil from cannabis that doesn’t get you high is becoming the biggest buzzword in food and drink from its beginnings in the US with the legalisation of medical cannabis through to the proliferation of products on the market today that claim to help with everything from pain to public speaking. Can it live up to the hype? Charlotte heads to the UK’s first cannabis-infused restaurant, Brighton’s Canna Kitchen, to try it for herself. Producer: Tom Bonnett