Podcasts

19 April 2024

Nina Simone
In Legacy, Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan delve into the wild stories of some of history’s most extraordinary men and women, and ask whether they have the reputation they deserve. Season five explores the life of Nina Simone, from her childhood in the Jim Crow South, to her meteoric rise to stardom and role in the civil rights movement. Four episodes, 40m.

Six Months of War
Sam Harris, in his Making Sense podcast, rehearses his long-held view that the threat from Islamic extremism – jihadism – is much graver than most of us will admit. He sees it as worse than Nazism: just as evil in its genocidal intent but fuelled by a religious belief that killing leads directly to a place in paradise. Here Harris discusses the Islamic threat with the British commentator Douglas Murray, who condemns the British political class for, in his view, turning a blind eye to the threat we face from jihadism, not only in the Middle East but also in Britain. 54m.

Zaporizhzhia: Ukraine's nuclear front 
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine has been under Russian control for two years, and while a nuclear crisis has so far been averted, the fighting has repeatedly come close to catastrophe. On Tortoise’s Slow Newscast, Jeevan Vasagar, Matt Russell and Nina Kuryata explore what happens when a nuclear power station becomes a pawn in a war. 35m.

The Everest Obsession
This podcast series from the BBC exposes the stark reality of conquering the world’s highest mountain. Rebecca Stephens, who in 1993 became the first British woman to reach the summit, tells the story of her own personal journey, explores how climbing Everest has changed, and meets sherpas who have devoted their lives to the mountain – often with deadly consequences. Five episodes, 14m.

Elsewhere in The Knowledge Premium:

🧑‍🚀 Tom Hanks on The Rest is History
🎙️ Max Hastings on women and war
🇮🇳 The book that made Salman Rushdie’s name