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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Natural Histories

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Nature that has had a profound impact on human culture and society across history.

Nature that has got under our skin and profoundly impacted human culture and society across our history.

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Natural Histories: Penguin

Factual: Science & Nature

Penguin

18/09/2018

BBC Radio 4 - Natural Histories, Penguin

Penguins and us: from engaging funny figures to sentinels of change.

From engaging funny figures to sentinels of change Penguins have entertained us and taught us life lessons.

Its arguable that a certain dinner-suited bird has captured our hearts and minds more than any other creature over the centuries.  As Brett Westwood discovers, Penguins remind us of ourselves - Like us they stand upright, they travel in groups, they communicate all the time and they walk (or waddle) on land.  They have both entertained us and taught us life lessons. Our earliest encounters with Penguins very often resulted in the slaughter of these flightless birds for food and oil and they may well have gone the same way as the Great Auk had public campaigns to put an end to their slaughter not been successful. Since then, they have been adopted as a brand name for books and biscuits inspired music, animations, films, TV shows, children’s stories and there is even a Penguin Post Office, surrounded by Penguins,  on a tiny island in Antarctica where you can post a card with a Penguin stamp.  

First broadcast in a longer form : 18th September 2018
Original Producer (2018) : Sarah Bunt
Archive Producer (2023) : Andrew Dawes

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