Auld Lang What?

As we approach the nation's 250th birthday, we are looking back at some of the most important moments in American history. One of those moments is when Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. But, as we discovered, there’s actually no proof that Ross sewed the first flag. In fa ...  Show more

When a Smithsonian archaeology intern opened a dusty box of bones in a Panamanian warehouse, she didn't expect to find a mystery, let alone a potential crime scene. But Nina Hirai’s discovery of a tapir skull riddled with what appeared to be bullet holes sparked an investigation ...  Show more

It's our final episode of 2021, and we are marking the end of one unpredictable year and the start of another. What do you think will happen in 2022? Matt Vella, FT Weekend Magazine editor, joins Lilah to discuss listeners’ cultural predictions. A lot of them had an air of nostal ...  Show more

The word ‘culture’ now drags the term ‘wars’ in its wake, but this is too narrow an approach to a concept with a much more capacious history. In the closing LRB Winter Lecture for 2024, Terry Eagleton examines various aspects of that history – culture and power, culture and ethic ...  Show more

Matt and Bow get raw and real about their physical and mental health (mama, as they say in hospitals, "scalpel!") before launching into an episode truly for the ages with the one, the only, Kate Berlant! Often imitated but NEVER duplicated, this genuine hero and co-host (alongsid ...  Show more

Did pop itself die alongside David Bowie and Prince last year? Or is it constantly reinventing itself? We debate the state of new music and look forward to the albums of 2017. Plus, choreographer Wayne McGregor on raving in 1990s – and why he’s turning Virginia Woolf into ballet. ...  Show more