The acclaimed science writer uses chicken as the lens for examining everything that has gone wrong in the modern agricultural system: overuse of antibiotics, threats to the environment, violations of animal welfare, destruction of farm economies and rural civic structure, disruption of international trade and delivery of over-processed, obesity-promoting, nutritionally hollow food. McKenna takes us from vast poultry farms to laboratories, kitchens and street-food markets around the world, revealing how economic, political and cultural forces converged to make our favourite meat a hidden danger. Boycott is chair of the London Food Board.
Following the recent three-part ITV series starring Anna Maxwell Martin in Midwinter of the Spirit, find out about the latest Merrily Watkins mystery. When autumn storms blast Hereford, centuries-old human bones are found among the roots of a tree blown down on the city's Castle Green. But why have they been stolen? Chaired by Andy Fryers.
Join spectacular storyteller Atinuke for a bouncy read-along with Baby and his mama. Hear all about the traditional folk tales and the stories from the bustling city in Nigeria where she grew up and which inspired her writing.
Joseph Banks accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage round the world from 1768-1771. A gifted and wealthy young naturalist, Banks collected exotic flora from Madeira, Brazil, Tierra del Fuego, the Society Islands, New Zealand, Australia and Java, bringing back over 1,300 species that had never been seen or studied by Europeans. On his return, Banks commissioned more than 700 superlative engravings between 1772-1784. Known collectively as Banks’ Florilegium, they are some of the most precise and exquisite examples of botanical illustration ever created. Studholme introduces a selection of the images and explains the process of producing them.
"With regard to traitors, they will kick the bucket on their own, I assure you . . . Whatever thirty pieces of silver those people may have gotten, they will stick in their throat” - Vladimir Putin, 2010. The explosive story of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and the new spy war between the West and Russia, based on hours of exclusive interviews Skripal gave before his near-death with number one bestselling author Mark Urban, diplomatic and defence editor for BBC Newsnight.
