Pirates not just peg-legs, parrots, pistols [audio 23min]

From Black Beard to bandits who trail the coasts of Somalia, Nick Rankin takes a journey through history, looking at pirates of the past, present and future. Rankin is Chief Producer, Arts, at the BBC World Service. He also looks at the issue of modern-day piracy, from illegal downloads of music and software to counterfeit DVDs. In Part One - "Swashbucklers of the past" - Rankin takes a treacherous journey through history, analysing the popular modern image of pirates as we know it. The golden age of piracy was between 1680 and 1730, when many sailors were out of work and took over the seas as pirates. Some were even licensed by their own governments to plunder foreign ships. In the late 17th century pirates made their way into popular literature, where they were transformed into mythical figures. Although pirates may seem like mystical characters, many popular myths like parrots on shoulders and peg-legs are not as fanciful as they might appear.