11th December 1963
Radio Netherlands’ look back over the main events of the year: Edward Heath (1916-2015) and Joseph Luns (1911-2002) on the breakdown of Britain’s EEC entry attempt an interview with Rita …
17th April 1994
(© Kevin Christopher Burke) Host Pete Myers and and his sidekick Jonathan Groubert explore the joys of womanhood. Producer: Pete Myers Broadcast: April 17, 1994…
23rd May 1996
Dheera Sujan meets the internationally renowned economist Deirdre McCloseky, at the time holding the Tinbergen Chair at Rotterdam’s Erasmus University. Professor McCloskey started life as …
21st June 1996
“Two countries divided by a common language”, so said the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw about the difference between British and American English. American Robert Chesal and Brit …
3rd August 1996
There are very good reasons for calling “the most excellent and great sovereign prince Pyotr Alekseyevich, leader of all the Russias” Czar Peter the Great. It is impossible to exaggerate …
10th August 1997
Fairy tales are often far from lighthearted stories for children. They have evolved from dark beginnings, working on our primeval fear of monsters within and monsters without. Often they had moral …
21st August 1997
David Swatling talks to documentary film makers at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam. They all have something in common: they have taken a family story and made it into much …
16th November 1997
The word Viking conjures up an image of a ruthless, horn-helmeted warrior. But Viking culture is misunderstood. Ever since 793, the men from the north have influenced culture and politics from …
20th February 1998
Eight years ago, the Berlin Wall fell, and one by one the Communist regimes in the former East Bloc collapsed. Freedom was initially welcomed, but it has come at a great cost: massive unemployment, …
22nd August 1998
To mark The Hague’s 750th anniversary in 1998, David Swatling focuses on an important era in the city’s history with the help of two exhibitions. One, Princely Display, presents a vivid …
29th August 1998
David Swatling meets members of the avant garde American Wooster Group who were at the Holland Festival in 1998 with their production of the Hairy Ape, by Eugene O’Neill. The programme includes …
18th October 1998
Mindy Ran indulges her love of cats: cats as gods in ancient times, cats and religion/superstition, cats and literature from Hamlet, T.S. Elliot, Alice In Wonderland and Dr. Seuss. Producer: Mindy …
26th April 1999
A two-part series on the sun. In part one, a personal view of the August 1999 total eclipse of the sun by Laura Durnford. In part two, a portrait of the sun, our nearest star.…
12th November 1999
Michele Ernsting discovers that there are dozens of country and western shops which have opened up in the Netherlands in the past few years. The Netherlands is an urbanised and regulated country, yet …
11th June 2000
In this two-part series, David Swatling compares the tulip mania of the 17th century with the latest new economy hype. Producer: David Swatling Broadcast: June 11, 2000…
21st August 2000
Afrikaners have gone down in history as the Boers who fought the British around 1900, as well as the perpetrators of apartheid. But what is becoming of the Afrikaners and their language in …
28th August 2000
David Swatling examines how the Dutch masters of the Golden Age portrayed children in their paintings and the symbolism of presenting children in a certain way. His guests includes Simon …
29th August 2000
David Swatling presents a portrait of the 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen. She founded her own monastery, had prophetic visions, counseled kings and emperors and wrote books on theology, …
1st October 2000
Maggie Ayre meets three Dutch people – two men and a woman – who went oversees (to the United States, Tasmania and South Africa) in search of happiness, love and a new life. After many …
21st January 2001
One of the meanings of “utopia” is nowhere, a place that doesn’t exist. What better place to find one than cyberspace, in other words, the internet as utopia. But will it be a …
18th March 2001
From a very early stage, man began to put human form to the gods he worshipped. The first part of this two-part series focuses on three periods in history when the human body was used to represent …
21st March 2001
Bertine Krol speaks with Niek van Sas, professor of modern history, about the Dutch monarchy and how it came about. He also discusses the powers and influence – real and presumed – are of …
25th April 2001
This programme is part of the series Chris Chambers meetsIn this unedited interview the programme “Talking it Over”, Chris Chamber talks with sociologist Dr. Anton Zijderveld about his …
21st August 2001
Martha Hawley reports on the plight of women from developing countries in Asia (Philippines and Sri Lanka), Africa and Latin America who come to work in Europe as domestics to improve the quality of …
19th October 2001
One of the greatest inventions of the human race has to be the alphabet, written symbols which have given us the ability to pass on knowledge, beauty, information and philosophical concepts through …
9th November 2001
This programme is part of the series Research FileIn the last part of a series on science and society, Mindy Ran looks at the relationship between science and fiction. So good were some fantasy …
1st January 2002
The Kamasutra has been used and misused over the centuries. Its name has become synonymous with exotic sex. But in fact, it is a treatise on pleasure. It’s latest translator from Sanskrit, …
10th March 2002
Ann Marie Michel examines the plight of the children whose fathers collaborated with the German Nazis during the Second World War. We hear from a historian who has written from first-hand experience …
23rd July 2002
David Swatling explores the extraordinary life and work of Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon (1917-1943). She created 1300 gouaches, or water colours, depicting her life in only 18 months while living …
14th October 2002
We use his name in vain every day. He is the image of our nightmares. He is the ultimate temptor. He is the father of our desire. But who really is the devil? Is he the personification of evil, or is …
14th October 2002
People are keen to believe in angels or something akin to them that protect us. Dheera Sujan has been finding out why. Why were angels “invented”? What do they look like? Can we …
10th November 2002
Terschelling is located on the Wadden Sea, an area rich in wildlife, and it has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The island is a maze of sand dunes and nature reserves, which makes it …
3rd January 2003
Jonathan Groubert followed his Bosnian in-laws up a mountain to his wife’s hometown for a brandy-soaked and exhausting – but ultimately poignant – Serbian Orthodox Christmas ritual. …
18th July 2003
Govert Schilling: Astronomical journalist, Utrecht, Netherlands Professor Andreas Quirrenbach, Leiden University Observatory, Netherlands Professor Joseph Braat, Technical University, Delft, …
5th September 2003
The scientist Albert Einstein is best known for solving some of the greatest mysteries of time and space, yet there was another question which plagued him throughout his life. In 1932, he was given a …
3rd July 2004
From the moment we wake up until we go to sleep, we are bombarded by advertisements carefully designed to seduce our senses. This 24-hour marketing culture permeates all areas of our lives. But is …
31st August 2004
This is a story of two women, friends since their school days. They are now in their mid 40’s and their lives have moved in opposite directions. Carolijn Visser is a travel writer. She’s spent more …
21st December 2004
Lindy hop is back! Amsterdam has rediscovered the American feel-good dance. Hundreds of enthusiastic hoppers recently enjoyed a weekend full of workshops, master classes and parties with special …
1st January 2005
Norway needs you! If you’re Dutch, that is…The country is actively recruiting new settlers to combat a declining population. The Dutch come top of the wish list: hard-working, innovative, …
25th January 2005
Producer Dheera Sujan remembers Josephine Fernandez, the horsy-faced, bow-legged 20-something Goan ayah (nanny) who looked after her and her sister when they were very small children growing up in …
16th August 2005
David Swatling meets Paco Peña, the master of flamenco and composer of the “Misa Flamenca”. The interview covers the origin of flamenco and the idea behind his flamenco mass. The …
20th September 2005
Petje Schroeder has spent the last decade helping Jews from all over the world tie together the threads of their Polish history and rediscover family past and present. She also gives Jonathan an …
24th October 2005
It’s the middle of the night. You wake up with a start. There’s a presence in the room watching you. You sense that it is evil. But you are paralysed and powerless. It’s your worst nightmare. Or is …
15th November 2005
Since 9/11, many people have come to view the world through a filter of anxiety. Daily media reports of terror attacks or threats keep us all on heightened alert. But what is the source of that fear? …
6th January 2006
Documentary on the love and fascination people feel about bridges. Producer: Thijs Westerbeek van Eerten Broadcast: January 6, 2006…
14th February 2006
Canadian writer and broadcaster Irshad Manji has written “The Trouble with Islam today”. She is a critic of the literalist view of Islam and believes that Muslim moderates should speak …
11th April 2006
In the space of seven years, Jan Visser walked 40,000 kilometers, the equivalent of the Earth’s equator, keeping score with his trusty pedometre. In “The Walker”, Laura Durnford …
9th May 2006
Two women on opposite sides of the world keep audio diaries over the course of a single week. In Amsterdam it’s mid-winter, in Sydney mid-summer. Both women are displaced: Dheera Sujan in …
10th November 2006
Throughout the developing world, pregnancy is fraught with danger. There is little or no pre-natal care, hospitals and clinics are often far away and mothers are often expected to pay to give birth. …
1st December 2006
Concert pianist and astrologer Gary Goldschneider (1939-2019) talks to Dheera Sujan about the origins of Christmas music, illustrating examples with music he plays on his Bechstein as well as unusual …
3rd January 2009
This edition of The State We’re, a weekly programme on “human rights, human wrongs and how we treat each other”, features human rights defenders from across the globe, including …
30th November 2021
Everyone is shocked at the sudden passing of Eric Beauchemin on November 6th 2021. He was just 57 and was entering a new chapter in his journalistic career. I visited him at the end of October to …