Episode 50: Let's Dance!

Two misers for the price of one! Charles Dickens created the world-famous character Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1840s, but he may have been inspired by a real-life miser named John Elwes. Another famous miser is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Krakow, Poland. However, it turns out tha ...  Show more

Two fascinating stories from World War II. One is about Rose Valland, a French woman who worked as a spy in Nazi-occupied Paris. Her bravery saved thousands of works of art, many of which were returned to the families who originally owned them. Secondly, the story of German U-boa ...  Show more

Dame Alicia Markova was born Lilian Alice Marks in December 1910, in a two-bedroom flat in Finsbury Park, London. She began ballet classes because she was flat footed and knock kneed. Her natural talent, when she was ten, was spotted by Diaghilev, the Russian artistic impresario ...  Show more

Siphe November is one of the most talented ballet dancers of his generation. At just 23, he’s the National Ballet of Canada’s youngest principal dancer and only the second black principal danc ...

Misty Copeland is the most famous ballet dancer in the world. Which means that throughout her career, she's had to consistently break down barriers. For background: Misty made history when she became the first Black female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. And no ...  Show more

Lorena Feijoo is a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet. Lorena was born into the world of ballet in her native Havana. Her mother was a dancer with Cuba's National Ballet and she remembers being looked after by the costume managers whilst her mum was performing. Her si ...  Show more