Stone Tools are technology 1.0. They’re where it all begins. For millions of years, Stone Tools were our primary piece of technology. At some point we became dependent on them for survival. They became a defining part of what it meant to be human.Dallas's guest today is John Shea, an anthropologist whose latest book is The Unstoppable Human Species: The Emergence of Homo sapiens in Prehistory.Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's a theory that the invention of paint had something to do with the dawn of humanity. We are on a never-ending quest to create brighter, better colours. From grinding rocks, to crushing bugs, concocting chemicals and now manipulating nanotubes - a mind-boggling array of beautiful pigments and dyes litter our history.Today's guest is Kassia St Clair, author of international bestseller The Secret Lives of Colours.Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Giant mouse ears at the ready, we're off to Disneyland! Hop on board and travel with us inside Walt Disney's mind (for better or for worse). We discover how he came up with the idea, what it all means, and how his dream of a Utopian city led indirectly to the Magic Kingdom.Dallas's guest today is Sabrina Mittermeier, author of 'A Cultural History of Disneyland Theme Parks: Middle Class Kingdoms'.Edited by Tom Delargy, Produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 15th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1974, cost $32 million to create. The largest investment in publishing history. And yet you can now buy the complete set for pennies.Who invented encyclopedias? Who wrote for them? And why did Samuel Taylor Coleridge get so upset about them?Dallas is joined by Simon Garfield, author of All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopaedia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in a world where everything is bugged. We all know we are being monitored. The surprising thing is that this is nothing new.From tapped telegraph wires to bugged Martini olives, Dallas is finding out about the history of Wiretapping with Brian Hochman, author of The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States.Before that though Dallas chats to comedian, writer and masterful impersonator Anil Desai. Can Dallas finally learn how to do a Sean Connery impression? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.