Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Emmy Noether, the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.

Emmy fought multiple prejudices all her life – she was a woman, she was Jewish and she came from a left-wing family. And this was Germany before the Nazis, already one of the most conservative places on earth. And yet, her pioneering work in abstract algebra and her proofs of Einstein's theory of relativity still stand today and are the basis of so much of our modern world.

Join Oswin and Carla as we explore Emmy's world and try to understand a bit about the barriers she dealt with every day. And if you're lucky, you might pick up some of the maths too from Sums Of Anarchy's brilliant Dominique Miranda – with a side order of Einstein!

Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Dominique's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame. 

Polly Vacher's nomination for the Trapped History Hall of Fame is a true hero of our time.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we find out about Richarda Morrow-Tait, the first woman to fly around the world.

Richarda was a bored and lonely young woman in post-war Britain. But she had a dream and she knew that she was the only person who could make it happen.

Join Oswin and Carla and the legendary circumnavigator Polly Vacher MBE as we try to understand what drives someone to climb into a cockpit and set off on a year-long journey. Just like Richarda, Polly did it too – as the first woman to fly solo around the world via the polar regions – and she shares her secrets of success.

Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Polly's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. But as we hit mid-season, we thought we'd do something slightly different: look at a whole bunch of unsung heroes. The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in fact.

Join us as we leave the studio and venture out into wintery London to find out about this fascinating place. It's Victorian, but not as you know it – there's no pomp, there's no circumstance. Instead, this is a memorial to ordinary people who did extraordinary things.

The artist and sculptor Ian Wolter leads us through the complex world of memorialisation and remembrance as we learn about the man behind the Memorial, the people on it and what it teaches us about memory today.

Tune in also to hear the powerful story of Ian's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Johnny Smythe – four heroes in one, across three continents.

Sierra Leonean Johnny was an RAF bomber navigator, a Prisoner of War, his country's top lawyer and the mastermind behind the Windrush.

In this special episode, Oswin and Carla are joined by Trevor Edwards, who flew for the RAF for a decade and who clues us in about the fear, the nerves, the pain, the racism and the ignorance he and Johnny would have faced every time they climbed into a plane.

Tune in also to hear the astonishing story of Trevor's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Adelaide Hall, the greatest singer we’d never heard of.

Ella Fitzgerald called her the first lady of jazz. She was the first to dance the Charleston, one of the richest Black women in America, the highest paid female entertainer in Britain during the war – so whatever happened to Adelaide Hall?

Join Oswin and Carla as we hear Adelaide sing and find out from the great Stephen Bourne all about Adelaide's life, the Cotton Club, the Harlem Renaissance, the Blitz, music halls and why we should know more about her.

Tune in also to hear the quite wonderful story of Stephen's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Peter Stevens, a complex courageous man who speaks to our age more than anyone we've come across before.

Peter is a chancer, a thief, a scrounger and a fraudster. But he's also a genuine war hero. And one of the most complicated, hidden and secretive people you'll ever meet.

Join Oswin and Carla and the military historian Joshua Levine as we try to understand the tangled world of Peter Stevens – and to make sense of how war can free people to be whatever they want to be.

Tune in also to hear the fascinating story of Joshua's nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.

Trapped History reveals the hidden stories of unsung heroes. In this episode, we explore the world of Nellie Bly, one of the greatest people we've never heard of!

Nellie was born in the 19th century but she is a 21st century woman. An investigative journalist before the job existed, a travel writer before people knew what to write about, an anthropologist before people wanted to understand different cultures – and an entrepreneur at the dawn of a new age. You really want to hear about Nellie . . . you really need to.

Join Oswin and Carla as we delve into Nellie's life and hear from Rosemary Brown, a historian who followed Nellie on her greatest adventure: to beat Jules Verne at his own game and travel around the world in under 80 days.

Tune in also to hear the amazing story of Rosemary's inaugural nominee for the Trapped History Hall of Fame.