The Why Factor

Latest Episodes:

The Refugee Journey Mar 28, 2015

Show notes

At the mercy of people smugglers, they are transported by night, walking overland and travelling by sea, hiding during the day. These are journeys that are long, costly, and sometimes deadly.

Mike Williams follows the journeys of 'Howram', a Kurdish man who fled Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and ‘Hatem’, a Syrian, who walked through 14 countries before reaching the UK. Both journeys were long and perilous and the men left countries and families they loved. They speak of the smugglers who transported them from the Middle East and into Europe and the brutalising experiences they went through.

We hear from the acclaimed Palestine Syrian musician and composer, Abo Gabi, who fled the besieged Syrian city of Yamouk, first for Beirut in Lebanon, then for Paris. The smugglers, he believes, are the new warlords. He asks what home means when your city has been destroyed and your family and friends have been tortured and killed?

Produced by Angela Robson

(Image: Hatem, who fled Syria and walked through 14 countries transported by different groups of smugglers. Photo: BBC copyright)

Death Penalty Mar 21, 2015

Show notes

More than four billion people live in countries which retain the death penalty. Mike Williams asks why more than 50 countries around the world still execute certain criminals. What is the death penalty for and how is it carried out? He talks to a former American prison officer who presided over 33 executions in the US state of Ohio and asks whether he has any regrets. He also speaks to a Nigerian former death row prisoner who escaped the gallows with just seconds to spare. And he hears from a lawyer in Indonesia where two convicted Australian drug traffickers are awaiting execution.

Produced by Caroline Bayley

(Photo: The Texas death chamber in Huntsville, Texas. Credit to: Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)

Forgetting Mar 14, 2015

Show notes

We look inside the brain to find out why we lose our memories, and why there are some things we can not forget. We talk to a neuroscientist seeking to unlock the secrets to how we remember things. And, the woman who can’t forget an episode that occurred over 70 years ago.

(Photo: Woman sits behind the driving wheel, forgetting something. Credit: Shutterstock)

Crime Fiction Mar 07, 2015

Show notes

Why do people all over the world enjoy stories about criminals and the people who bring them to justice? And what do the detective stories of a particular time or place reveal about that culture? From the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes to new South African crime fiction, Helen Grady investigates.

(Photo: The shadow of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Credit: Peter Ruck/BIPs/Getty Images)

Skyscrapers Feb 28, 2015

Show notes

In every city in the world there is a viewing platform where you can gaze down upon the place from on-high. But why do we like to build tall and be high – what is it about standing tall and defying gravity that matters so much? Are Skyscrapers simply about vanity or are there practical and even spiritual reasons why we want to build so high? Mike Williams ventures up the Shard, the tallest building in London, with its architect Renzo Piano. He talks to Blair Kamin, Architecture Critic at the Chicago Tribune – the city that brought us the skyscraper, as well as experts Daniel Safarik, from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat and Dr. Phillip Oldfield, from the University of Nottingham.

Produced by Wesley Stephenson

(Photo: The Sears Tower rises above the skyline in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chasing Riches Feb 21, 2015

Show notes

Why do the rich want to get richer? Why when you’ve got a million or even a billion do you want more? Mike Williams asks a multi-billionaire and a multi-millionaire what drives them to keep making more money. He also speaks to a banker, who looks after the wealthy and a football agent, who represents high paid players and tries to discover whether the rich are different from everyone else.

(Photo: Image of a superyacht believed to belong to a Vodka Tycoon. Credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Rejecting Riches Feb 14, 2015

Show notes

Why do some people refuse to be rich? The lottery winner who gave it all away, the vegetable stall holder who never allowed herself to accumulate wealth, and the businessman who sold his big house and flashy car to set up a Christian project in Uganda tell their stories.

(Photo: Hands holding money. Credit: Momentstock)

The music in this programme has been changed from the original broadcast.

Why are watches enduring status symbols? Feb 07, 2015

Show notes

We’re rarely far away from a device telling us the time, yet sales of luxury watches have never been higher. Mike Williams explores why the seemingly obsolete technology in mechanical watches is still highly desirable, and what wearing one says about its owner.

(Photo: Pocket Watch. Credit: Wolfman57 Shutterstock)

Sad Music Jan 31, 2015

Show notes

A recent study has shown that sad music has become increasingly popular, but why do people choose to listen to it, and what goes on in the brain and the body when they do so?

Helena Merriman speaks to Japanese pianist and music researcher Dr Ai Kawakami who has some surprising answers about some of the positive feelings people experience when they listen to sad music. American writer Amanda Stern tells Helena why she regularly listens (and cries) to sad music and British composer Debbie Wiseman, known for her moving TV and film scores, explains what makes a piece of music sound sad.

You’ll also hear pieces of sad music suggested by BBC listeners from all over the world.

(Photo: A woman with headphones on, listening to sad music. BBC copyright)

Why Do We Fly Flags? Jan 24, 2015

Show notes

Mike Williams asks why do we fly flags? They have many uses, from identifying symbols to signalling tools. But why a piece of cloth? Because it moves in the breeze, and movement catches the eye. The first flags were used by warlords in China, as China wove silk.

Mike goes to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to find out about the many uses of flags in merchant fleets and the navy, and hears from the designer of the new South African flag that it was all done in such a rush that his sketch had to be faxed and coloured in at the other end, to get the approval of Nelson Mandela who happened to be in a meeting in another city. Mike also talks to a German artist who replaced the two Stars and Stripes on the Brooklyn Bridge with white versions, and to the Russian who planted a titanium Russian flag on the floor of the Arctic ocean, to claim it for his country.

Produced by Arlene Gregorius.

(Photo: Faithfuls with flags of different countries gather at a beach. Credit: Tasso Marcelo/AFP/Getty Images)