A pint might be Britain’s most beloved measurement. But what’s the name for the distance a reindeer can walk before it needs to pee?
The way we measure things changes the way we see the world. Measurements have shaped our history and are bound up in ideas of statehood, power and control.
“Measurement is as important to human civilization as language or mathematics.”
That’s the view of today’s guest James Vincent, journalist and author of Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement.
The episode was produced by Emily Whalley
The senior producer is Charlotte Long
Edited by Freddy Chick
Despite being one of the first civilisations in human history, Sumer is not as well-known as other Bronze Age societies such as Babylonia and, of course, Ancient Egypt.
Recent research indicates that the first ever writing system emerged in the Sumerian heartland of southern Mesopotamia around 3...
What food - and how much of it - did people eat in the Tudor period? Where did they get it? When did they eat it? What arrangements for cookery and dining were in place in their homes? What did they drink?
In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Mark...
Trees have been universally important to humanity throughout history - not only as the source of fruits and nuts, but also wood for tools, weapons and buildings, and fuel for transport. So integral were trees to early Medieval society that their names were used for places throughout England - suc...
