A Voyage to Antarctica
by UKAHT
Journalist and broadcaster Alok Jha talks to leading explorers, scientists, conservationists and artists about Antarctica’s fascinating past, present and future, to discover why the icy continent matters to us all. Created by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica. UKAHT is a charity, championing the public understanding of, and engagement with Antarctica through the history of human endeavour in the region. UKAHT looks after British historic sites and artefacts in Antarctica and invests in global public programmes and education; enabling more people to discover, understand, value and protect this precious wilderness.
Episodes
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Zaria Forman
Alok Jha talks to Zaria Forman, an artist who captures the beauty and fragility of Antarctica’s frozen landscapes in breathtaking pastel drawings. Zaria travels to remote regions of the world to collect images and inspiration for her work, which is exhibited worldwide. She has flown with NASA on...
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Meteorite-Hunting in Antarctica
Alok Jha talks to meteorite-hunter Katherine Joy to discover why the icy continent is one of the best places on Earth to find them. Professor Katherine Joy is a Professor of Lunar and Planetary Sciences at the University of Manchester. She received her PhD in 2007 at UCL, before taking up…
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Robert Macfarlane
Alok Jha talks to Robert Macfarlane about the history of Western exploration and Antarctica's place as the last great wilderness on Earth. Robert Macfarlane’s Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling books include: Is a River Alive?, Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and...
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Antarctic Rights
What if Antarctica had rights and its own voice at the international table? Alok Jha explores that question with Cormac Cullinan, environmental lawyer, author, and advocate for the rights of nature. Cormac is a director of the Wild Law Institute and the specialist environmental law firm Cullinan…
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Ann Bancroft: A Polar Legend
Alok Jha talks to pioneering explorer Ann Bancroft: the first woman to have skied to both North and South poles. Ann joined the 1986 Steger International Polar Expedition as the only female of the eight-member team and became the first known woman to cross the ice to the North Pole. After leading...
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Lorraine Kelly
Alok Jha talks to Lorraine Kelly about her lifelong passion for Antarctica, inspired by her hero Ernest Shackleton AKA ‘The Boss’. Lorraine Kelly is a Scottish television presenter, journalist and Sunday Times bestselling author, best known for her ITV show, Lorraine. In 2024, she was awarded a...
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White Mars
Astronaut Dr Meganne Christian takes Alok Jha on a trip across the universe, to explore the many connections between Antarctica and space travel. Meganne is a member of the European Space Agency astronaut reserve and a Senior Exploration Manager at the UK Space Agency, advising on human and…
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The Worst Journey in the World
The winter before Captain Scott’s ill-fated attempt on the South Pole, his youngest team member Apsley Cherry-Garrard (known as “Cherry”) set off across the ice in the middle of the polar night. Henrietta Hammant talks to Alok Jha about this astonishing journey and Cherry’s subsequent memoir…
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On Thin Ice
With Antarctica sea ice levels reaching record lows over the last four consecutive years, Alok Jha talks to leading glaciologist Professor Martin Siegert about glaciology: the study of ice in all its forms - from the Antarctic ice sheets and glaciers to the icy bodies of our solar system – why…
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Antarctica's Apex Predators
Dr Leigh Hickmott takes Alok Jha up close and personal with Antarctica’s most fearsome resident: the killer whale, which Leigh calls ‘the apex and most adept predator on the planet’. Leigh is a research scientist, zoologist and wildlife presenter, who has co-authored and contributed to numerous...
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George Washington Gibbs Jr.
Alok Jha talks to Leilani Raashida Henry about her father: the pioneering Antarctic explorer and civil rights leader, George Washington Gibbs Jr. Born in Florida during the Jim Crow segregation era, Gibbs enlisted in the US Navy in 1935, and went South aboard the USS Bear. On 14 January 1940…
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The Land of Ice and Fire
Alok Jha talks to world-renowned volcanologist and filmmaker Clive Oppenheimer. More people have been to space than have set eyes on the depths of Mount Erebus in Antarctica – the continent’s highest active volcano. But Clive has been back to Erebus 13 times: to better understand what is…
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Snow Widows
Alok Jha revisits one of Antarctica’s most enduring tales of exploration with author and journalist Katherine MacInnes. Her book 'Snow Widows' tells the story of the race for the South Pole, from the perspective of the women whose lives would be forever changed by it: the wives and mothers that…
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The Space Gardener
Alok Jha talks to NASA astro-botanist Jess Bunchek about growing vegetables in Antarctica – and outer space. Jess started as a botanist and agronomist and, after completing her masters, worked as an astro-botanist at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where she researched space crop…
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Emperor Penguins
Alok Jha talks to Dr Peter Fretwell, award-winning cartographer and leading scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, about Antarctica’s most iconic residents – Emperor penguins – and the threats they’re facing from climate change. Peter pioneered the use of satellite imagery to find and monitor...
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Into the Dark Antarctic Night
Alok Jha talks to journalist and author Julian Sancton about the harrowing and epic survival story of The Belgica: an early polar expedition gone terribly wrong – with a ship frozen in ice and its crew trapped inside for months of endless polar night. Julian is an editor at The Hollywood…
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Dinosaurs in Antarctica
Dr Susannah Maidment, Principal Researcher in fossil reptiles at London’s Natural History Museum, takes us 100 million years back in time to when Antarctica was a rainforest and home to some of the biggest creatures to ever walk the earth – the dinosaurs! Susannah has a PhD in vertebrate...
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Polar Preet
Alok Jha talks to Guinness World Record-breaking polar explorer Preet Chandi MBE – known as Polar Preet – about her extraordinary, inspiring and boundary-breaking achievements in Antarctica. In 2022, Preet became the ninth woman in history to ski solo to the South Pole and the first woman of…
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Extreme by Design
Alok Jha talks to award-winning polar architect Hugh Broughton, to find out what it takes to design buildings where people can live – and even thrive – in the world’s most extreme conditions. In 2005 Hugh’s practice won an international competition to design the UK’s most southerly Antarctic...
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All Models are Wrong
Alok Jha talks to climate scientist Dr Tamsin Edwards about how her pioneering work in modelling the impact of ice sheet and glacier melt on rising sea levels is predicting the future of the planet. Tamsin is an award-winning science communicator, including through her blog for the Public Library...
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The Ice Maiden
Alok Jha talks to record-breaking explorer and UK Antarctic Heritage Trust's Head of Operations Sophie Montagne, one of the British Army’s Ice Maidens team, which in 2018, became the first all-female team to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone. Sophie trained in Arctic Norway with the Royal...
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Creatures of the Frozen Seas
Alok Jha talks to Marine Biologist Dr Huw Griffiths about the weird & wonderful life that is being discovered underwater in Antarctica; teaching us incredible things about our planet’s deep past, and even revealing some secrets of the universe. Huw has worked for the British Antarctic Survey for...
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Birdgirl in Antarctica
Alok Jha talks to Mya-Rose Craig, aka Birdgirl, the British-Bangladeshi birder, race activist and environmentalist, about travelling to Antarctica and the impact the frozen continent has had on her climate activism. Mya-Rose’s memoir, Birdgirl, published by Penguin in June 2022, shares her…
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Dan Snow: Searching for Endurance
Alok Jha talks to award-winning history broadcaster and best-selling author Dan Snow about being part of the Endurance22 mission and what it was like to witness the extraordinary moment Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship was found at the bottom of the Weddell Sea. Dan has made dozens of TV shows…
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Season 3 Trailer
In Season three of A Voyage to Antarctica, presenter Alok Jha (The Economist) and guests including historian Dan Snow and birder, activist and environmentalist Mya-Rose Craig (aka Birdgirl), will delve into the extraordinary human stories of the wildest place on the planet. Unearthing…
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From Seals to Stormzy
In the final episode of series 2, Alok Jha talks to Polar Conservationist and explorer Prem Gill to find out what Antarctic seals and Grime music have in common. Prem is a PhD candidate leading the "Seals from Space" project with the Scott Polar Research Institute, British Antarctic Survey &…
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Songs From the Deep
Alok Jha talks to the award-winning writer Philip Hoare about his life-long love for and obsession with whales and their history in Antarctica. Philip’s numerous books include Leviathan or, The Whale, which won the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize, and has been published all over the world. It was...
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Ancient Ice
Alok Jha talks to Dr Kelly Hogan, a Marine Geophysicist at the British Antarctic Survey to find out what studying the remains of ancient ice sheets in Antarctica can tell us about climate change and the future of the planet. Kelly works on research vessels around Antarctica, looking for clues…
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The White Continent? - Part One
In part 1 of this special two part episode, Alok Jha talks to polar explorer Dwayne Fields: the first black Briton to walk 400 miles to the magnetic North Pole, in 2010. Born in Jamaica, Dwayne came to the UK at age of six. In his youth, he was a victim of knife and gun crime and as a result of…
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The White Continent? - Part Two
In part 2 of The White Continent? Alok Jha delves further into Antarctica’s colonial history with historian Dr Ben Maddison, to discover some untold stories of the continent. Ben’s book Class and Colonialism in Antarctic Exploration looks at the the discovery of Antarctica ‘from below’, focusing…
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To Antarctica and Beyond
Alok Jha goes to Antarctica and far beyond with space plasma physicist Dr Suzie Imber. Suzie is Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester. She’s currently involved in the BepiColombo mission to Mercury, which launched in 2018, and will go into orbit around Mercury in...
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Epic Endurance
Alok Jha talks to legendary explorer Felicity Aston about what endurance means to her. In 2012, Felicity became the first woman to ski solo across the Antarctic landmass, a journey of over 1000 miles that took her 59 days and earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Felicity has...
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Season 2 Trailer
In the second season of this podcast from the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust, we’ll be delving further into the extraordinary human stories of the wildest, windiest place on our planet. We’ll hear from explorers, scientists and writers who’ve built their lives around this incredible continent. Our...
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The Future of Antarctica
In the final episode of the series, Alok Jha talks to Professor Klaus Dodds about Antarctica’s unique geopolitical position, The Antarctic Treaty, Antarctica’s potentially precarious future and what we can all do to protect it. Klaus Dodds is Professor of Geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University...
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Antarctica in Mind
In this penultimate episode, Alok Jha talks with contemporary artists Peter Liversidge, Lucy Orta and Marc Rees to find out how Antarctica has inspired them in their work, and why the icy continent has been a particularly inspiring place for so many artists, even before the first sighting 200…
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No Shops and No Hairdressers
We hear plenty about the glories of men like Scott and Shackleton who lived in and explored Antarctica, but what about the women? This week, Alok Jha talks with travel writer Sara Wheeler and UKAHT CEO Camilla Nichol to find out the untold stories of the first women to engage with Antarctica —…
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How Penguins Can Predict the Future
Alok Jha talks to conservation filmmaker Ruth Peacey about the history of penguins in the Antarctic, and what studying penguins can tell us about the future of the planet. Ruth Peacey worked with the BBC for over ten years on series including Natural World, Springwatch, Life in the Air and Planet...
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Professor Dame Jane Francis: Clues to the Climate Crisis
Antarctica is at the front line of the global climate crisis; in this episode Alok Jha talks to Professor Dame Jane Francis about the history of the continent, and the extraordinary climate research happening there. Professor Dame Jane Francis is a geologist by training, and a palaeobotanist at…
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Sir Ranulph Fiennes: To the Ice
Alok Jha talks to Sir Ranulph Fiennes about the explorers of the past, his experiences of Antarctica and what it actually takes to go there. Sir Ranulph Fiennes is an explorer, author, fundraiser and public speaker. He was described by The Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s greatest living...
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A Voyage to Antarctica - Trailer
Alok Jha introduces the first series of UKAHT's new podcast A Voyage to Antarctica. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica, UK Antarctic Heritage Trust present A Voyage to Antarctica. Through conversations with experts including Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Professor Dame...
About this show
Journalist and broadcaster Alok Jha talks to leading explorers, scientists, conservationists and artists about Antarctica’s fascinating past, present and future, to discover why the icy continent matters to us all.
Created by the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica. UKAHT is a charity, championing the public understanding of, and engagement with Antarctica through the history of human endeavour in the region. UKAHT looks after British historic sites and artefacts in Antarctica and invests in global public programmes and education; enabling more people to discover, understand, value and protect this precious wilderness.
Hosted by
UKAHT