History

James Cox was not an extraordinary man, by most accounts. He arrived in New Zealand in 1880, at the age of 30. He worked in a variety of tough, largely unskilled jobs. And he died, in 1929, aged 79… Audio

Legal historian Grant Morris walks us through what a commission is and what role they've had in New Zealand's constitutional past. Audio

Te Papa's Curator of Photography, Athol McCreedie, is the author of New Zealand Photography Collected, and is here to share his knowledge on the man behind the famous "Monsoon Girl" photo. Audio, Gallery

Not that long ago, the New Zealand economy was built on sheep, sheep and more sheep. We were asking for economic trouble and in the late 1960s, we got it. Produced by Justin Gregory. Audio

In this special episode of Black Sheep, William Ray looks at the history of white supremacy in NZ. Audio

This week our biography subject is one of the most distinctive and influential writers in this country's history, Frank Sargeson. Alex Calder from Auckland university joins us to talk about his life… Audio

In 1996 a gunman shot 16 children and one teacher before killing himself in Dunblane, Scotland. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history. Public debate about the massacre centred on… Audio

In the last century we have seen a massive revolution in telecommunications. Technological advances have brought the world closer together, but we have lost something too. Liz Garton looks at the… Audio

Rongoā Practitioner David Kukutai Jones researched the use of native plants to heal wounds suffered on the battlefield both in the NZ Land Wars and inter tribal warfare. David says the plants… Audio

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is spending more than 106 thousand dollars on several projects that include a new bilingual edition of a 19th century biography of Te Rauparaha, and Nick… Audio

RNZ colleague Kim recommended a podcast she's enjoying called Paname. All about Paris, it uncovers the city's hidden histories, exploring all manner of strange and interesting stuff about the French… Audio

Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has recently been in the news due to her involvement in the failure of Mainzeal. Shipley is one of many recent PMs who still have busy post-political careers.  Audio

James K Baxter was one of our best known poets. Baxter wrote over 3000 poems but there's been some controversy recently after the release of some of his letters. Paul Millar discusses James K Baxter's… Audio, Gallery

The world's largest Polynesian Festival gets underway today at the Manukau Sports Bowl. The Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Polynesian Performing Arts Festival began at Hillary College, Otara in… Audio, Gallery

A controversial plan to revamp the historic Russell wharf with a cafe and toilets is set to get final sign-off within a fortnight. The government's offered a million-dollar grant for the job from the… Audio

Long, long ago, in a time before bagless vacuum cleaners and Marie Kondo, sweeping with a brush was the best way we had to tidy up the places we work, rest, and play. To this day, some people still… Audio

Tom Jackson got into postcards more than 25 years ago, and since then he's built up a massive collection of around 60,000 of them. He's also written a book and started up a popular Twitter account… Audio

The homegrown comedy 'Melody Rules' that came out on TV3 in the 1990s has been panned as one of the worst sitcoms ever made. The critics called it cringeworthy, atrocious, awful, and a disaster in… Audio

Frédéric Martel (PhD) is a French writer and researcher. He is also a journalist at National Public Radio and the author of ten books, which have been translated and published in more than 25… Audio

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and University Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New… Audio