The wonder woman of the comic world and Namibia's 'ghost town'

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 4 April 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s.

Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.

Next, Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship in 2013, tells us about achieving her goal after contracting polio as a child.

Then, the invention of the life-size training dummy Resusci Anne in the 1960s, which was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The ghost town in Namibia that's slowly being buried by the desert after it was abandoned in the 1950s when the diamonds ran out.

Finally, the accidental invention of superglue in 1951, which only became a big hit following an appearance on a US tv show.

Contributors: Jenette Kahn - former President of DC Comics. Dr Mel Gibson - associate professor at Northumbria University. Minda Dentler - wheelchair athlete. Tore Lærdal - Executive Chairman of Lærdal Medical. Dieter Huyssen - grandson of an emigree to Kolmanskop in Namibia. Adam Paul - grandson of Dr Harry Coover, inventor of superglue.

(Photo: Cover illustration for Action Comics with Superman, June 1938. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.7	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.4	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to
0:22.4	helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all
0:28.1	put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,
0:34.9	check out BBC Sounds.
0:40.3	Music in your life. Check out BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service, with me, Max Pearson,
0:47.3	the past brought to life by those who were there. Coming up, the first female wheelchair athlete
0:53.3	to complete the Ironman World Championship.
0:56.1	I used to volunteer for this road race, and I remember watching the wheelchair racers whizz by,
1:01.9	and I never thought that I could be one of those racers, too.
1:06.6	Plus, the life-sized dummy that's been saving lives since the 1960s, a diamond mining town
1:12.8	abandoned to the desert of Namibia in the 1950s, and the accidental invention of superglue
1:18.8	in 1951.
1:20.1	Well, my grandfather saw it, noticed it, and the light went off as his head and said, hey,
1:26.1	look, maybe we've got something different here.
1:27.9	We've got a glue.
1:29.1	That's all coming up later in the podcast.
1:31.2	But first, we're in the world of fantasy and superheroes.
1:35.7	For very nearly 100 years, comic books and their characters have fascinated young and old alike
1:40.9	and have grown from childhood diversions to multi-billion-dollar businesses.
	...

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