100 objects

On Monday 18 January, an interesting series will be starting on BBC Radio 4 - the history of the world in 100 objects. The objects have been selected from the British Museum's collection - read about the project here. It's a joint venture four years in the making between the BM and the BBC and "features 100 15-minute radio broadcasts, a separate 13 episodes in which children visit the museum at night and try to unlock its mysteries, a BBC World Service package of tailored omnibus editions for broadcasting around the world and an interactive digital programme involving 350 museums in Britain which will be available free over the internet."

“Victors write history; the defeated make things,” says Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum.

Here are some of the objects in the series:
a handaxe found by Louis Leakey at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in the 1930sstatues of black pharaohssilver pieces of eightRussian imperial porcelain plate (not this one, though) -See more objects here.

One object hasn't yet been selected: "MacGregor is waiting until the last possible moment to pick out the best symbol of our own time. Suggestions, please, on a postcard to: British Museum, London WC1B 3DG."