logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2024
31m 4s

10 First Women World Leaders

Lindsay Holiday
About this episode
Who were the first 10 non-royal women elected or appointed to be Head of State (President) or Head of Government (Prime Minister)? 1. Khertek Anchimaa-Toka, Chair of the Presidium of Little Khural of the Tuvan People’s Republic 1940 2. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon 1960 3. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India 1966 4. Golda Meir, Prime Min ... Show More
Up next
Mar 17
Guinness Family - Ireland's Dark Beer Dynasty
When the Guinness family saw the turmoil and scandals of other great historic dynasties, they literally said, hold our beer, and proceeded to top them all. The new series, The House of Guinness dramatizes just one generation of the famous Irish family; the 4 children of Benjamin ... Show More
36m 1s
Mar 10
Madame Jeanne du Barry - The Last Great Royal Mistress of France
Jeanne Bécu, Jeanne du Barry, Madame du Barry, clawed her way up from the illegitimate daughter of a single mother, to one of the most celebrated courtesans in Paris, to the final royal mistress of King Louis XV. Her captivating life has been dramatized in numerous operas, films ... Show More
32m 34s
Mar 3
Which Nations have had the most Queens Regnant?
Through most of history, male monarchs have been the norm. Their wives held the title of Queen or Empress, but were merely consorts, with little real power. Many monarchies, like France, The Ottoman Empire and Bhutan have strictly barred women from inheriting the throne and have ... Show More
32m 11s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2024
27: The first lady with 3,000 pairs of shoes - history of Imelda Marcos & Marie Antoinette
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” Well, that is the embodiment of Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines, and Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France before the French Revolution. You probably know these women’s stories, so you may not see it at first, ... Show More
35m 45s
Dec 2024
Gloria Steinem: The start of Ms. Magazine
In 1972, feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem co-founded the first magazine in the US which was owned, run and written by women.Called Ms. Magazine, it covered issues including equal rights, abortion and domestic violence. The glossy covers helped bring feminism into the mainstream ... Show More
10m 15s
Aug 2024
American presidents
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.It's 50 years since Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign, following the Watergate scandal.To mark this anniversary, we're featuring first hand accounts from major moments in US pr ... Show More
51 m
Jul 2025
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Aug 2019
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was Britain's first woman Prime Minister. For more than a decade, she spearheaded conservative politics from a seat of power in the British Parliament. To some she was a hero, and to others, she was a monster. Parcasters - This week on Crimes of Passion we take ... Show More
53m 14s
Nov 2024
How Greece got rid of their king
In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king.Constantine had come to the throne in 1964, but he’d inherited a divided country. Political divisions, between the left and right, ran deep. In 196 ... Show More
9m 13s
Nov 2025
Birth of the G7
In November 1975, a summit took place at Rambouillet, France, where the heads of six of the world’s most industrialised nations and their finance ministers came together.The leaders of the US, France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Italy hoped to solve the ongoing economic crisis. T ... Show More
10m 35s
Dec 2024
The ‘Three Marias’
In May 1974, people gathered in Lisbon, Portugal, to see whether three women would be sent to jail for writing a book. Maria Teresa Horta, Maria Velho da Costa and Maria Isabel Barreno’s ‘Novas Cartas Portuguesas’ was banned after it was published and they were put on trial. The ... Show More
9m 58s
Dec 2024
Indian Ocean tsunami - Tamil Nadu
On 26 December 2004, an earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia sparking a tsunami which swept away entire communities around the Indian Ocean. In India, Choodamani and Karibeeran Paramesvaran’s children Rakshanya, 12, Karuyna, nine, and Kirubasan, five, were killed. A beref ... Show More
9m 12s
Sep 2025
The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose
September 14, 1901. Midnight in the Adirondacks. A pounding knock at the door jolts Theodore and Edith Roosevelt awake. William McKinley is dead. Hours later, Theodore will be sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history. But Edith barely flinches—her diary that day notes h ... Show More
41m 7s