A History of the World in 100 Objects is a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, consisting of a 100-part radio series written and presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor. In 15-minute presentations broadcast on weekdays on Radio 4, MacGregor used objects of ancient art, industry, technology and arms, all of which are in the British Museum's collections, as an introduction to parts of human history. The series, four years in planning, began on 18 January 2010 and was broadcast over 20 weeks. A book to accompany the series, A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, was published by Allen Lane on 28 October 2010. The entire series is also available for download along with an audio version of the book for purchase. The British Museum won the 2011 Art Fund Prize for its role in hosting the project.
In 2016, a touring exhibition of several items depicted on the radio programme, also titled A History of the World in 100 Objects, travelled to various destinations, including Abu Dhabi (Manarat Al Saadiyat), Taiwan (National Palace Museum in Taipei), Japan (Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo, Kyushu National Museum in Daizafu, and Kobe City Museum in Kobe), Australia (Western Australian Museum in Perth and National Museum of Australia in Canberra), and China (National Museum of China in Beijing, Shanghai Museum in Shanghai and Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Hong Kong).
The ownership claims of the British Museum over some of these objects is highly contested, in particular those belonging to the Benin Bronzes and the Elgin Marbles, which are the subject of continued international controversy.
Content
The programme series, described as "a landmark project", is billed as 'A history of humanity' told through a hundred objects from all over the world in the British Museum's collection.
Accompanying the series is a website, described by The Guardian as "even more ambitious [than the radio series itself] that encourages users to submit items of their own for a place in world history", along with much interactive content, detailed information on all the objects featured in the radio programmes and links to 350 other museum collections across the UK. The radio programmes are available on the website permanently for listening or downloading.
The museum has adapted exhibitions for the series by including additional easily identifiable plaques for the 100 objects with text based on the programme and adding a section to the gallery maps showing the location and numbers of the 100 objects.
On 18 January 2010, an hour-long special of The Culture Show on BBC2 was dedicated to the launch of the project.
The first part of the series was broadcast on weekdays over six weeks between 18 January and 26 February 2010. After a short break, the series returned with the seventh week being broadcast in the week beginning 17 May 2010. It then took another break in the middle of July and returned on 13 September 2010, running until the 100th object was featured on Friday 22 October 2010.
It has been repeated a number of times, mostly recently over the summer of 2021.
Reception Maev Kennedy of The Guardian described the programme as "a broadcasting phenomenon", while Tim Davie, head of music and audio at BBC radio, commented that "the results have been nothing short of stunning", exceeding the BBC's wildest hopes for the programme. At the time of the writing of Kennedy's article, just before the start of the last week of the series, the radio broadcasts regularly had up to four million listeners, while the podcast downloads had totalled 10,441,884. Of these, just over half, 5.7 million, were from the UK. In addition, members of the public had uploaded 3,240 objects with the largest single contribution coming from Glasgow historian Robert Pool who submitted 120 objects all relating to the City of Glasgow, and other museums a further 1,610, and 531 museums and heritage sites across the UK had been mounting linked events – an unprecedented partnership, MacGregor said. Museums all over the world are now copying the formula, as thousands of visitors every day set out to explore the British Museum galleries equipped with the leaflet mapping the objects.
Writing in The Independent, Philip Hensher described the series as "perfect radio", saying "Has there ever been a more exciting, more unfailingly interesting radio series than the Radio 4/British Museum venture, A History of the World in 100 Objects? It is such a beautifully simple idea, to trace human civilisations through the objects that happen to have survived. Each programme, just 15 minutes long, focuses on just one thing, quite patiently, without dawdling. At the end, you feel that you have learnt something, and learnt it with pleasure and interest. For years to come, the BBC will be able to point to this wonderful series as an example of the things that it does best. It fulfils, to a degree that one thought hardly possible any more, the BBC's Reithian agenda of improvement and the propagation of learning and culture."
Dominic Sandbrook in The Telegraph said that the "joyously highbrow" series "deserves to take its place alongside television classics such as Kenneth Clark's Civilisation and Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man."
In 2019, 100 Histories of 100 Worlds in 1 Object was launched as a response to the original 100 Objects project. Addressing critiques by the same project of the Radio 4 series that pointed to the programme's perceived failure [...] ‘[ to engage with the provenance and repatriation of objects]', especially those which were collected under colonial conditions of duress, the response project sought instead to democratize curatorial narratives with input from source and diaspora communities who hold long-standing relationships with objects now-held in museums. The project aims to focus on voices from the "Global South" that the original series left out. Co-initiated and facilitated by Dr Mirjam Brusius and Dr Alice Stevenson, the project works collaboratively and has an editorial board with members from India, Namibia, Thailand, Ghana, Nigeria, Torres Strait Islands, Aotearoa, Jamaica, USA, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Objects
Making us human (2,000,000–9,000 BC) "Neil MacGregor reveals the earliest objects that define us as humans." First broadcast week beginning 18 January 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 1 Mummy of Hornedjitef Egypt 300–200 BC BBC BM Amartya Sen, John Taylor 2 Stone (basalt) chopping tool Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania 1.8–2 million years old BBC BM Sir David Attenborough, Wangari Maathai 3 Hand axe Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania 1.2–1.4 million years old BBC BM Sir James Dyson, Phil Harding, Nick Ashton 4 Swimming Reindeer from Montastruc rock shelter France 13,000 years old BBC BM The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Steve Mithen 5 Clovis spear point Arizona, USA 13,000 years old BBC BM Michael Palin, Gary Haynes
After the Ice Age: food and sex (9,000–3,000 BC) "Why did farming start at the end of the Ice Age? Clues remain in objects left behind." First broadcast week beginning 25 January 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 6 Bird-shaped pestle Papua New Guinea 4,000–8,000 years old BBC BM Madhur Jaffrey, Bob Geldof, Martin Jones 7 Ain Sakhri lovers Israel About 11,000 years old BBC BM Marc Quinn, Ian Hodder 8 Clay model of cattle Egypt About 3500 BC BBC BM Fekri Hassan, Martin Jones 9 Maya maize god statue Honduras AD 715 BBC BM Santiago Calva, John Staller 10 Jōmon pot Japan About 5000 BC BBC BM Simon Kamer, Takashi Doi
The first cities and states (4,000–2,000 BC) "What happens as people move from villages to cities? Five objects tell the story." First broadcast week beginning 1 February 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 11 King Den's sandal label Egypt About 2,985 BC BBC BM Toby Wilkinson, Steve Bell 12 Standard of Ur Iraq 2600–2400 BC BBC BM Lamia Al-Gailani, Anthony Giddens13 An Indus seal Pakistan 2600–1900 BC BBC BM Richard Rogers, Nayanjot Lahiri 14 Jadeite axe From the Alps, found in England 4000–2000 BC BBC BM Mark Edmonds, Pierre Petrequin 15 Early writing tablet Iraq 3100–3000 BC BBC BM Gus O'Donnell, John Searle
The beginning of science and literature (1500–700 BC) "4,000 years ago, societies began to express themselves through myth, maths and monuments." First broadcast week beginning 8 February 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 16 Flood tablet Iraq 700–600 BC BBC BM David Damrosch, Jonathan Sacks 17 Rhind Mathematical Papyrus Egypt About 1550 BC BBC BM Eleanor Robson, Clive Rix 18 Minoan Bull-leaper Crete 1700–1450 BC BBC BM Sergio Delgado, Lucy Blue 19 Mold gold cape Wales 1900–1600 BC BBC BM Mary Cahill, Marie Louise Sørensen 20 Statue of Ramesses II Egypt About 1,250 BC BBC BM Antony Gormley, Karen Exell
Old world, new powers (1100–300 BC) "Across the world new regimes create objects to assert their supremacy." First broadcast week beginning 15 February 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 21 Lachish Reliefs Iraq 700–692 BC BBC BM Paddy Ashdown, Antony Beevor 22 Sphinx of Taharqa Sudan About 680 BC BBC BM Zeinab Badawi, Derek Welsby 23 Early Zhou dynasty gui ritual vessel China 1100–1000 BC BBC BM Dame Jessica Rawson, Wang Tao 24 Paracas Textile Peru 300–200 BC BBC BM Zandra Rhodes, Mary Frame 25 Gold coin of Croesus Turkey BBC BM James Buchan, Paul Craddock
The world in the age of Confucius (500–300 BC) "Can meanings hidden in friezes and flagons tell us as much as the writings of great men?" First broadcast week beginning 22 February 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 26 Oxus Chariot model Tajikistan 500–300 BC BBC BM Michael Axworthy, Tom Holland 27 Parthenon sculpture: Centaur and Lapith Greece About 440 BC BBC BM Mary Beard, Olga Palagia 28 Basse Yutz Flagons France BBC BM Jonathan Meades, Barry Cunliffe 29 Olmec stone mask Mexico 900–400 BC BBC BM Carlos Fuentes, Karl Taube 30 Chinese bronze bell China 500–400 BC BBC BM Dame Evelyn Glennie, Isabel Hilton
Empire builders (300 BC – AD 1) "Neil MacGregor continues his global history told through objects. This week he is with the great rulers of the world around 2,000 years ago." First broadcast week beginning 17 May 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 31 Coin of Lysimachus with head of Alexander Turkey 305–281 BC BBC BM Andrew Marr, Robin Lane Fox32 Pillar of Ashoka India About 238 BC BBC BM Amartya Sen, Michael Rutland 33 The Rosetta Stone Egypt 196 BC BBC BM Dorothy Thompson, Ahdaf Soueif 34 Chinese Han lacquer cup China AD 4 BBC BM Roel Sterckx, Isabel Hilton 35 Meroë Head or Head of Augustus Sudan 27–25 BC BBC BM Boris Johnson, Susan Walker
Ancient pleasures, modern spice (AD 1–600) "Neil MacGregor explores the ways in which people sought pleasure 2,000 years ago." First broadcast week beginning 24 May 2010. Image Number Object Origin Date BBC website BM website Additional contributors 36 The Warren Cup Israel AD 5–15 BBC BM Bettany Hughes, James Davidson 37 North American otter pipe USA 200 BC – AD 100 BBC BM Tony Benn, Gabrielle Tayac 38 Ceremonial ballgame belt Mexico AD 100–500 BBC BM Nick Hornby, Michael Whittington 39 Admonitions Scroll China AD 500–800 BBC BM Shane McCausland, Charles Powell 40 Hoxne pepper pot England AD 350–400 BBC BM Christine McFadden, Roberta Tomber
The rise of world faiths (AD 200–600) "Neil MacGregor explores how and when many great religious images came into existence." First broadcast week beginning 31 May 2010.