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Extraordinary true stories about the world’s infinite wonders. For children and their parents. Listen whenever, and wherever, you are
Episodes
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
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
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
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
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Seventy two years ago over 800 passengers arrived in the UK from the Caribbean aboard the Empire Windrush. This episode tells the story of their journey: from their initial optimism to the difficulties they faced adapting to life in Britain.
The Empire Windrush lent its name to the 'Windrush generation', the people that came from the West Indies to live in the UK over a period of 25 years. Not only did they helped rebuild Britain after the Second World War but they enriched its culture too. These people were the parents, and grandparents, of British comedian Lenny Henry, writer Zadie Smith, footballers Ian Wright and Marcus Rashford, Lea-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix – and many more.
The Windrush episode is read by the actor Suzette Llewellyn who plays Sheree in the British soap opera Eastenders. Her own parents came to London from Jamaica.
We are eternally grateful to our amazing sound editor 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
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Wednesday Jun 17, 2020
Hello Wonder!
Carnivorous plants are awfully strange, and strangely awful. They may sound like the stuff of nightmares, or science-fiction, but they are most definitely real and ready to commit murder to survive. They attract, then trap, their victims and devour the bodies. These deadly assassins grow in every remote region of the world, except Antartica. And lurk underwater too.
In episode three of The Wonder Podcast we discover how these plants have evolved their murderous tendencies, and why they grow into weird and wonderful shapes – jaw-shapes, urn-shapes or even toilet-shapes, complete with loo seat and lid.
This podcast is read by Luke Irwin 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 the amazing James Burrell. Thanks also to Oli Morgan, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios.
To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Tuesday Jun 16, 2020
Hello Wonder!
Have you ever wondered, what is the point of sport?
Of kicking a ball? Hitting a ball? Serving a ball?
Of running a race? Of cycling? Or swimming?
Or which jockey, on which horse, finishes first?
Why bother counting the number of runs made by a bat striking a red leather ball?
Why does both playing and watching sport obsess us so? Is it just a game? Or is sport a quest of perfection from which we learn lessons that stay with us forever?
This Wonder podcast is read by the ITV racing presenter Alice Plunkett 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 the amazing James Burrell. Thanks also to Oli Morgan, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios.
To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Tuesday Jun 09, 2020
Hello Wonder!
The fourth episode of The Wonder Podcast tells the story of a schoolgirl from Pakistan who stood up for girls’ rights to an education. To silence her, the Taliban, a group of religious extremists, shot her.
Malala Yousafzai did not just survive: she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Her journey began in the Swat Valley, a remote corner of Pakistan, and even she does not know where it will end.
After Malala was airlifted to the UK for life-saving surgery, she made a remarkable recovery and a life for herself and her family in Birmingham. Today she is studying at Oxford University, and has met presidents, prime ministers and, of course, the Queen. Malala continues to call for girls everywhere to be allowed to learn, and to lead.
This podcast is read by Anisa Kadri 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 the amazing James Burrell. Thanks also to Oli Morgan, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios.
To learn more about Malala's work, or contribute to the Malala Fund, visit https://malala.org/
To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Hello Wonder!
Welcome to the first episode of The Wonder Podcast. It tells the story of Buzz Aldrin – fighter pilot, astronaut and member of the first manned space mission to another world – and how he lent his name to a famous Space Ranger superhero. You guessed it, Buzz Lightyear.
Most of us can only dream of adventures to far-off places but on 20 July, 1969 two men stepped onto the moon. Back on earth some 600 million people watched, spellbound, as together Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong planted the American flag on the lunar surface. The world was mesmerised then. Even now this story is still captivating.
The Buzz podcast is read by the actor Oliver Milburn, with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Camilla Akers-Douglas, with editing and fact checking by Henrietta McMicking. Our theme music is by the amazing James Burrell. Thanks also to Oli Morgan, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios.
We'd love to hear from you. Pictures and jokes are welcome too.
To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Tuesday May 19, 2020
Hello Wonder!
The second episode of The Wonder Podcast tells the story of Queen Mary I who has been called a 16th-century Greta Thunberg – she was passionate, clever and very determined.
She was also the first proper queen of England. Her father Henry VIII once called her ‘the greatest pearl in the kingdom’ yet today she is remembered as ‘Bloody Mary’ since she had hundreds of her Protestant enemies burned at the stake.
All the Tudor kings and queens were ruthless killers. Her father executed some 50,000 people – about two percent of his subjects. And Mary’s sister Elizabeth I’s favourite torture method was to have her enemies hung, drawn and quartered. Does Mary really deserve her bloody nickname?
The Mary I podcast is read by the actor Pandora Colin, with sound editing by Max Watson. The script was written by Henrietta McMicking, with editing by Camilla Akers-Douglas. Our theme music is by the amazing James Burrell. Thanks also to Oli Morgan, mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios. The painting of Mary 1, by Master John (1544) hangs in London’s National Portrait Gallery.
We would love to hear from you. Pictures and jokes are welcome too.
To contact us, email camilla@wonderaudio.co.uk or henrietta@wonderaudio.co.uk
Social media
Twitter @wonder_podcast
Facebook @wonderpodcasts
Instagram @wonderpodcasts