Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The invention of Jenga
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The invention of Jenga
It's just over 30 years since the brick game was introduced to the world at a department store in London.
Made of 54 wooden blocks stacked into a tower in rows of three by three, each player takes a turn to remove a block from the tower and place it at the top. When the tower falls, the game is over.
Surya Elango speaks to its British designer Leslie Scott about how a family game that started in her parent's home in 1970s Ghana, became an international hit.
By 1986, the game was successfully introduced into the North America market at a time when video games were taking off.
It’s now in the US National Toy Hall of Fame having sold millions worldwide. Leslie went on to create 40 other games.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Leslie Scott with a jenga set in 1983. Credit: Sue Macpherson ARPS.)
View all episodes
By BBC World Service
4.5
903903 ratings
It's just over 30 years since the brick game was introduced to the world at a department store in London.
Made of 54 wooden blocks stacked into a tower in rows of three by three, each player takes a turn to remove a block from the tower and place it at the top. When the tower falls, the game is over.
Surya Elango speaks to its British designer Leslie Scott about how a family game that started in her parent's home in 1970s Ghana, became an international hit.
By 1986, the game was successfully introduced into the North America market at a time when video games were taking off.
It’s now in the US National Toy Hall of Fame having sold millions worldwide. Leslie went on to create 40 other games.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
(Photo: Leslie Scott with a jenga set in 1983. Credit: Sue Macpherson ARPS.)
More shows like Witness History
View all
Global News Podcast
7,875 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
376 Listeners
Business Daily
527 Listeners
More or Less
854 Listeners
Newshour
1,073 Listeners
World Business Report
296 Listeners
In Our Time
5,571 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,807 Listeners
HistoryExtra podcast
3,208 Listeners
The History Hour
590 Listeners
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
2,095 Listeners
Great Lives
498 Listeners
The Interview
361 Listeners
Lives Less Ordinary
587 Listeners
The Inquiry
745 Listeners
The Life Scientific
228 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
842 Listeners
Unexpected Elements
362 Listeners
CrowdScience
475 Listeners
Evil Genius with Russell Kane
354 Listeners
Have You Heard George's Podcast?
235 Listeners
Elis James and John Robins
329 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
3,221 Listeners
Sport's Strangest Crimes
78 Listeners
Uncanny
667 Listeners
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
568 Listeners
Believe in Magic
629 Listeners
History's Heroes
507 Listeners
The Global Story
392 Listeners
Miss Me?
242 Listeners
The History Podcast
49 Listeners
Rory Stewart: The Long History of...
77 Listeners
The History Bureau
82 Listeners