The Wonder Podcast for Curious Kids

S2, Ep8 Christmas: a time of hope ✨🌟💫

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 McMicking with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Henrietta McMicking and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas. Our theme music is by James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep7 The Vikings: did they really go berserk?

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 been traders? 

In this podcast we look at the clues left behind by history and ask, just how berserk did the Vikings go?

This podcast is read by Oliver Akers-Douglas with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Camilla Akers-Douglas and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep6 Thanksgiving: from Plymouth to Pumpkin Pie

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 by Pandora Colin with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Henrietta McMicking, and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep5 Chocolate: a truly delicious story

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, and drinking it, we have also used it as currency, to disguise a bomb and as a prop in early horror films.

This podcast is read by Thomasina Miers with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Camilla Akers-Douglas and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep4 The Magic of Numbers

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 Kličková, and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep3 Christine Granville: an extraordinary female spy

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, the female double agent in his first-ever James Bond novel, Casino Royale.

This podcast is read by Lucasta Cummings with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Henrietta McMicking and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas. Our theme music is by the amazing James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep2 How did humans learn to fly?

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 lot. Today the world’s largest airliner – the mighty Airbus A380 – can hold more than 600 people and fly over 8,000 miles without refuelling. And, aeronautical engineers are working on improving the design and efficiency of the planes of the future even further. 

This podcast is read by Luke Irwin with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Tomáš Klička and Nicola Kličková, and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by the amazing James Burrell

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S2, Ep1 Who stole the Mona Lisa? And why?

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 Henrietta McMicking with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Henrietta McMicking, and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas. Our theme music is by the amazing James Burrell

 

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

 

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Our thanks to Ruthie Knapp, author of the children’s picture book ‘Who Stole Mona Lisa?’, for first alerting us to this story 

S1, Ep8 How does the human body fight diseases?

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 serious but relevant subject more fun, we break with our narrative style to tell the story in dialogue form. This episode is read by both Henrietta McMicking and Arthur Akers-Douglas. We are eternally grateful to our amazing sound editor Max Watson. The script was written by Nicola Booth and produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by James Burrell. 

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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S1, Ep7 The magical films of Studio Ghibli

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 Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki set up Studio Ghibli in 1985. Since then he has written and directed 12 anime films. With titles like Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, he take us to fantasy landscapes where anything can happen, and magic is just around the corner. 

This episode is read by the actor Philip McGinley, best known for playing Anguy the Archer in season 3 of Game of Thrones. We are eternally grateful to our amazing sound editor Max Watson. The script was written by Camilla Akers-Douglas and produced by Henrietta McMicking and Camilla Akers-Douglas. Our theme music is by James Burrell. 

To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk 

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