50 Things That Made the Modern Economy - Fast food franchise

There are more than 36,000 McDonald's restaurants around the world - but if the McDonald brothers had had their way, that might never have happened. Tim Harford tells the story of how milkshake-mixer salesman Ray Kroc turned their burger business into a global giant, and explains the principles that made his franchising model such a success.

Byzantium And The Crusades - Introduction: Byzantium And The Crusades Episode 2

This episode follows Byzantium's appeal to Pope Urban II for help against the Turks, and the resulting military campaign, that in later years became known as the First Crusade - one of the most extraordinary military expeditions in world history.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Byzantium And The Crusades - Introduction: Byzantium And The Crusades Episode 1

The Crusades shook the world. But why did they happen? This podcast tells the story of the Crusades and how the Byzantine Empire not only contributed to their origins but shaped their development. It's the story of what was, in effect, a world war as Turkish nomads from the Asian steppe-lands faced Frankish and Norman knights from western Europe. It was a time that changed the world. And its echoes are still with us today.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Undiscovered - Spontaneous Generation

These days, biologists believe all living things come from other living things. But for a long time, people believed that life would, from time to time, spontaneously pop into existence more often—and not just that one time at the base of the evolutionary tree. Even the likes of Aristotle believed in the “spontaneous generation” of life until Louis Pasteur debunked the theory—or so the story goes.