BBC Radio Podcasts from The History Hour
Ebola outbreak and the Friendship Train returns
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
The history of art heists
Recovering The Scream, the story of St Teresa of Avila and the Kampala terror attacks
Swedish History
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
Seventy-five years of Nato and the Heimlich Manoeuvre
The 75th anniversary of Nato, Britain's Mirpuri migration, and the Heimlich Manoeuvre
Chinese history
50 years of the Terracotta Army and the father of Pinyin
Finding early vertebrate’s footprints and the Deaflympic badminton champion
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes.
Uruguay's smoking ban and the Carnation Revolution
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
Whisky wars and the Lord of Sipan
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
Skiing and two-headed dogs
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
Letters to Juliet and Saint Valentine’s traditions
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes.
Inspirational black women
Inspirational black women throughout history
Internet cafes and Doomsday seeds
The opening of the first commercial internet cafe and storing seeds in an Artic vault
Traitors and treachery
Historical figures branded traitors
Lady Tarzan and Ibadan Zoo
Why Nigeria went went wild for Ibadan Zoo and the Indian campaigner nicknamed Lady Tarzan
The first lesbian couple to get married and World Laughter Day
A collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service
Hindenburg disaster and wingsuits
Herb Morrison's iconic broadcast about the airship crash and the invention of wingsuits
Pad Thai, kiwis and the chef Ken Hom
The disputed history of Thailand’s national dish and how Ken Hom promoted Chinese cookery
Tsunamis and Caster Semenya
The tsunami that devastated Samoa and when Caster Semenya faced questions over her gender
Mandela's funeral and Tsar's reburial
Nelson Mandela's daughter talks about her father's funeral and Russia buries its past
Doom and Danish brains
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
Saving animals from extinction and Cabbage Patch Kids
The Peruvian bird saved from the brink of extinction and the Cabbage Patch Kids craze
Zambia celebrates independence and the invention of bubble tea
An African nation is born in 1964 and a new invention changes the tea drinking world
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Iceland and EpiPen invention
Icelandic volcano eruption stops European air travel in 2010 and inventing the EpiPen
Pakistani popstars, and the hippo and the tortoise
An hour of historical reporting told by the people who were there.
Che Guevara's daughter and marrying Freddie Mercury
Aleida Guevara on being a doctor in Angola's civil war and Jane Seymour on Fashion Aid
Gezi Park protests and MAD hijack
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes.
Osmondmania! and the launch of Lagos Fashion Week
Donny Osmond shares his memories of teen hysteria, and the birth of Lagos Fashion Week
The creation of Ghana's flag and the oldest person at primary school
How Ghana's flag was designed, and the 84-year-old Kenyan man who fought to be educated
Marking 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis
Why oil prices spiralled in 1973, plus Amoco Cadiz, one of the world’s largest oil spills
The Lampedusa disaster and cat cafes
The sinking of a migrant boat 10 years ago, and the world's first cat cafe in Taiwan.
Nazi eugenics and the year of the vuvuzela
Adolf Hitler’s order to sterilise people, and the ‘world’s most annoying instrument’
Israeli and Palestinian history
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes.
The Chilean coup and Zanzibar’s most famous singer
The 1973 military coup in Chile and Zanzibar’s ‘golden grandmother of music’
Historic Korean summit and goat island
The first inter-Korean summit in 50 years and the Mexican island overrun by goats
Ireland's 'ghost estates' and the first Rose of Tralee
The Celtic Tiger, the first Rose of Tralee and activist swimmers in Dublin.
Judy Garland's legacy and the Benin Bronzes
The legacy of Judy Garland and the return of two looted Benin Bronzes stolen in 1897
Presidential diamonds and Tupperware parties
A duck that toppled a president, a British train robbery and the Tupperware party boom.
Dinosaur discoveries and a Berlin Wall treehouse
Prehistoric eggs, a dinosaur in court and the treehouse built beside the Berlin Wall.
West African food and computer viruses
The rise of Mr Bigg's in Nigeria and the man who made the first personal computer virus
Wartime surrenders and the birth of Barbie
A compilation of this week's Witness History episodes
Five great inventions that changed the world
The world's first robot dog, the first emoji and the invention of the Rubik's Cube
Tourism arrives in the Maldives and a royal night out
How tourism began in the Maldives, the start of the NHS in the UK and a royal night out
South Korea store collapse and Lady Gaga's meat dress
Seoul's department store collapse and the man who made Lady Gaga's meat dress
Somalia's civil war and golf on the moon
The Somali pilot who defied orders to bomb civilians, and playing golf on the moon
Amazing photographs and the people who took them
Focusing on Lee Miller in Hitler's bath, a shell-shocked US marine and an unseen Africa
Inuit children taken from families and Le Mans crash
Why children like Adamie Kalingo were taken from their indigenous communities in Canada
Scaling Everest, the highest mountain in the world
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were the first people to reach the summit of Everest
Bosnian concentration camp photo and hero clown
A shocking photo from the Yugoslav war and how a clown helped after an earthquake in Peru
Singapore executes Filipina maid and German child evacuees of World War Two
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
World War Two African victory and 'Kai Tak heart attack'
The Allies' campaign in North Africa and the last flight out of a Hong Kong airport
The 'Stone of Destiny' and a self-proclaimed Emperor
The removal of a symbolic royal stone and the former child King turned Prime Minister
Artist Althea McNish and history of the Met Gala
Trinidadian Althea McNish designs for Queen Elizabeth II and the Met Gala's popularity
The history of dogs
Inventing the labradoodle, the first dog in space and the world's first therapy dog
Unearthing World War II mass graves and the Boston bombing
The unearthing of a mass grave in Ukraine, and the Boston bombing in 2013
Escaping Eritrea and inventing Zumba
One woman's journey to escape Eritrea and how Zumba was invented by accident
The godfather of manicures and India's Silicon Valley
Vietnam's manicure godfather and how Bengaluru became India’s Silicon Valley
Film and cinema around the world
The longest running Indian film and freeing Free Willy
The Invasion of Iraq
Stories marking 20 years since the American led invasion of Iraq in March 2003
International Women's Day
A compilation of stories celebrating women who made history
Pink triangles and political assassinations
Gay men in Nazi concentration camps and the murder of Serbia's Prime Minister
Riots in Mauritius and the Queen 'jumping out of a helicopter'
Ethnic tensions in Mauritius and the Queen's 2012 Olympic wow moment
'Hot Autumn' and Tutankhamun
Workers' strikes in Italy and 100 years since the opening of Tutankhamun's burial chamber
Popes
Stories about the history of the papacy, including Benedict XVI's resignation
Pirate radio and the Velvet Divorce
The first black music station in Europe and why Czechoslovakia split into two states
The death penalty and broadcasting bans
A prison guard and a hangman discuss capital punishment among other stories
Horsemeat scandal and the Miracle on the Hudson
Horsemeat found in burgers and the aeroplane which safely landed on water in New York
Plastics in oceans and sea cucumbers
Plastics in oceans were first discovered over fifty years ago
Pussy Riot and other Russian rebels
Russian rebels and the most bizarre football match of all time
Food
Stories about the history of food, including the creation of ciabatta bread in Italy
90 years of the BBC World Service
The BBC Caribbean Service and broadcasting through the Iron Curtain
District Six and daredevils
The forced removal of families who weren't white from District Six, in South Africa
Referendums and Teletubbies
Max Person presents a collection of this weeks Witness history episodes
Contested islands and Miss World protests
How four islands complicate the post World War Two relationship between Japan and Russia
Anwar Ibrahim and road safety inventions
Malaysia's Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, on being put on trial among other stories
Arabian Peninsula
Stories from the Arabian Peninsula to mark the start of the World Cup in Qatar
Racist raids, protests and a political assassination
Racism led to raids in the 1970s, protests in the 1980s, and a political assassination
The best Championship Manager player ever
The best Championship Manager player ever and sex-selective abortion in India
Women taking a stand
A focus on global events where women have taken a stand for equality from Sudan to Iran
Cuban boxing and the brink of nuclear war
Cuban boxing, the brink of nuclear war and baseball as diplomacy
Global strikes and industrial action
When workers around the world took industrial action in pursuit of better conditions
Caribbean carnivals and a racially inclusive nightclub
Racially inclusive clubbing arrives in Manchester and the release of Gilad Shalit
Dassler brothers' rift
The Dassler brothers' rift, castrating Pablo Escobar's hippos and Jomo Kenyatta's rule
Queen Elizabeth II and broadcasting
A look at some of Queen Elizabeth II's most significant broadcasts
Queen Elizabeth II
Stories from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II including memories of her coronation
Brazil
Stories from Brazil, including the murder of Tim Lopes and the creation of Brasilia
Gorbachev's legacy
Perestroika in the Soviet Union and the release of the dissident poet Ratushinskaya
Inflation and the cost of living
Inflation and the cost of living, the Darayya massacre, and the first Gay Games
Seventy-five years since India's Partition
A compilation of stories marking 75 years since India's Partition
The nightclub that changed Ibiza
Ibiza's clubbing scene, Indonesian forest fires and the resignation of Richard Nixon
Fifty years since Asians were kicked out of Uganda
A compilation of stories marking 50 years since Idi Amin expelled Asians from Uganda
The Revolution on Granite
A student protest in Ukraine, the Surkov leaks and the invention of the nicotine patch
Stories from iconic TV shows from around the world
The history of television from around the world and its enduring impact
Stories from the abortion fight frontline
Experiences from both sides of the abortion debate plus the story of the Pill
America’s first gay election candidate
Jose Sarria's political journey, Smear Tests, Discovery of Higgs Boson
Hong Kong: 25 years since the handover from British to Chinese rule
The last governor of Hong Kong, a pro democracy campaigner and life in Kowloon Walled City
Egypt's first democratic Presidential election
Egypt's first democratic election, the murder of Vincent Chin, the UK's first Pride march
Cambodian genocide trials
Cambodian Genocide trials, 'Napalm Girl' from the Vietnam War, and the Holy Cross dispute
How Sri Lanka's president survived a suicide bombing
Suicide bombing attack on Sri Lanka's president, Anne Frank's diary and Gabon's forests
The Syrian civil war
Chemical weapons attack in Syria, lynching outlawed in America and the Queen's coronation
Artists who made history
Memories of Picasso, Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe; plus, banned Russian art
The Marcos regime in the Philippines
The rule of Ferdinand Marcos Senior; Shanghai during World War Two; McDonald's in Russia
The war in Transnistria
Moldova battles Russian-backed separatists; Egypt bread riots; Eyjafjallajökull erupts
Fighting for Uyghur rights in China
Taking on the Chinese Communist Party in the 1980s; plus the Roe v Wade abortion ruling
Algeria's War of Independence
60 years after Algerian independence, accounts of a traumatic “birth of a nation”
The Falkands War
Two contrasting accounts of the conflict from an islander and an Argentine conscript.
Protesting against Putin
A decade ago demonstrators tried to stop the Russian leader tightening his grip on power
Ukrainian history special
The Babi Yar massacre, Ukraine's great famine and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster
Women who made history
US feminist Gloria Steinem, Iranian Nobel-winner Shirin Ebadi, the poet Anna Akhmatova.
Russia under Putin
How Vladimir Putin rose to power and changed Russia - eyewitnesses recount key moments
LGBT history special
Memories of the hunt for an HIV cure; Bollywood's lesbian drama; Serbia's trans icon.
The Ukraine crisis: an eyewitness history
Inside the meeting that ended the USSR and the battle for Ukraine's future
Kazakhstan's new capital
Kazakhstan’s new capital, the first Emirati female teacher, and a rare celestial event
Fifty years since Northern Ireland's Bloody Sunday
UK soldiers fired on unarmed Catholic protesters, killing 13 in January 1972.
The rise of Boko Haram
How a small Nigerian Islamist group launched a brutal insurgency
Hitler's Indian ally: Subhas Chandra Bose
The Indian independence campaigner who sided with Hitler's axis powers in World War Two.
Mozambique's Eduardo Mondlane: From professor to freedom fighter
The liberation leader was assassinated in 1969 in the struggle to end Portuguese rule
A history of games
The inside story of Pong, Grand Theft Auto, Tetris, Lego and Monopoly
The right to drive in Saudi Arabia
The Saudi women who used social media to campaign against being banned from the roads.
The birth of Bangladesh
How a war of independence in 1971 reshaped South Asia and killed hundreds of thousands.
Four decades of HIV/Aids
A history of HIV/Aids over the past 40 years.
The assassination of the Mirabal sisters
Women activists in the Caribbean, the last case of Smallpox in Europe and assisted dying.
Sudan's October Revolution
How in 1964 Sudanese civilian protesters first brought down a military regime
The South African football star murdered for being a lesbian
The killing of Eudy Simelane, spying in East Germany and racism in 1960s British schools
When Eritrea silenced its critics
A crackdown on opposition voices in Eritrea plus Hungary, Nuremberg and Fu Manchu
The child environmental activist of the 1990s
Stories of the scientists and activists trying to solve the global environmental crisis.
The Greenham Common women's peace camp
The anti-nuclear weapons protest began in 1981 and lasted nineteen years
The Pakistani law that jailed rape survivors
In the 1980s, a horrific rape case galvanised the women's rights movement in Pakistan
Black history: Britain and race
London's first black policeman, the mixed-race World War II babies and a football legend.
Photographing Brazil's Yanomami
Claudia Andujar spent almost five decades taking unique photos of the remote Amazon tribe
Kenya: Westgate mall attack
Inside the Westgate attack in Kenya, the murder of Litvinenko, plus Onassis and Kennedy
The earthquake that devastated Haiti
In 2010 the Haitian capital was hit by a catastrophic earthquake
9/11 and the war on terror
A special edition on the terrorist attacks on America and how they changed the world.
Surviving the fall of Saigon
A Vietnamese veteran remembers the fall of south Vietnam , and Kim Il Sung up close
My father survived the sinking of the Titanic
How six Chinese sailors were rescued from the Titanic, but then faced racism in America
US withdrawal: The Fall of Saigon
The desperate scramble to evacuate the US embassy at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975
The Berlin Wall
In 1961, communist East Germany began building the wall that symbolised Cold War Europe
Chipko: India’s tree-hugging women
The 1970s environmental movement, a child who fled Biafra, an American news pioneer
Darfur's ethnic war
Darfur - a child's story, Brazil's first law on domestic violence and Vincent van Gogh.
When the Taliban ruled Kabul
Life under the Taliban in the 1990s, China's Cultural Revolution, inventing a jet engine
North Korea's 1990s famine
How hundreds of thousands died of starvation and malnutrition in North Korea
Supernatural sightings
UFOs in Zimbabwe, the birth of communist China and a wind power pioneer.
The Confederate flag and America’s battle over race
One African-American woman’s act of defiance after a mass shooting in a black church.
When Israel destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor
The 1981 attack on the Osirak nuclear reactor, plus the fall of Madrid & Gaza elections
The war on drugs
US President Nixon declared illegal drugs 'public enemy number one' in June 1971
Amilcar Cabral: an African liberation legend
Overcoming Portuguese rule in Africa, the Tulsa race massacre and India's biggest strike.
When Egypt said Enough
The forerunner of the Arab Spring; fighting repression in South Korea; saving wetlands
Why a British MP was filmed taking mescaline
A history of psychedelic experiments, contraception in Ireland, an Iraqi escape story
The IRA hunger strikes
Hunger strikes in Northern Ireland, wine fraud, and feminist science fiction
The killing of Osama Bin Laden
The life and death of the al-Qaeda leader, the man behind the 9/11 attacks
How the NRA became a US political lobbying giant
A history of the gun lobby in the US, the Eichmann trial in 1961, the first space shuttle
The first woman in the US Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor appointed to America's top court, plus the Bay of Pigs invasion
The women who reclaimed the night
Women's night-time protest, a Mexican female serial killer and the jet stream.
Black Jesus
The pastor who argued God was black; Mrs Thatcher wows Moscow; orchid-hunters kidnapped
The History Hour
South Africa fights for cheaper drugs, slavery in Mauritania and a sex therapy legend.
The History Hour
A Jamaican drug lord, New York’s drag scene and cold war chess in the Soviet Union.
The women of Egypt's Arab Spring
Egypt's Arab Spring, abortions in 1960s America, the champion of the Parthenon Marbles
The Iron Curtain
Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, South Africa's Sharpeville massacre and a deep dive.
The fall of Kwame Nkrumah
The overthrow of Ghana's famous leader, a heroic African WW2 airman, the ban on landmines
Black History: The Black Panthers
How radical was the US black rights group? Plus, Mary Wilson of the Supremes
US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter
Hundreds of civilians killed in a Gulf War airstrike; the newspaper to help the homeless
The Burma protests of 1988
The fight for democracy in Burma, US troops on drugs in Vietnam, the Moscow state circus
The Arab Spring of 2011
Eyewitness accounts of the sweeping social unrest against repressive regimes
Hitler's beer hall putsch
Hitler's first attempt at seizing power, anti-Sikh riots in India, and the Turner Diaries
Attack at the US Capitol
Puerto Rican militants attack Congress, India's first woman lawyer, landing on Titan
Buddhist on Death Row
How US prisoners turned to Buddhism to face execution, and the truth of a space "strike"
75 years of Unesco
Why Unesco was set up 75 years ago, in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Film special
Featuring It’s A Wonderful Life, Studio Ghibli and Charlie Chaplin
The birth of Bangladesh
How Bangladesh’s struggle for independence began with a landmark election in Pakistan.
The first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize
The anti-apartheid campaigner Albert Luthuli plus a Neanderthal discovery and beavers.
The fall of Addis Ababa
How rebels toppled Colonel Mengistu of Ethiopia; France's headscarf ban; WW2's V1 bombs
Disability History special
The fight for disability rights in the UK, India, plus Helen Keller and the Invacar
The world's first woman premier
Sri Lanka's woman PM plus the first Arab leader to visit Israel and the women's sex book.
The Guerrilla Girls
Fighting sexism and racism in the 1980s art world, plus Pluto is downgraded
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
The murder of the Israeli leader; Germany's "Occupation Babies"; nude theatre in London
US presidential history special
Inside JFK's election victory, plus Shirley Chisholm, Watergate, and the religious right
Why Portugal decriminalised all drugs
Why Portugal took a radical approach to drugs in 2001, plus theatre's Joan Littlewood
CNN and the 24-hour news revolution
The launch of CNN, the end of Lebanon's civil war and making a film in Saddam's Iraq.
British black history special
The voyage of the Empire Windrush, the battle of Lewisham and the creation of Desmond's
The Mafia and Italian politics
The trial which linked a senior Italian politician to the Mafia plus the birth of Google.
Blackwater killed my son
How US private security guards killed 14 Iraqi civilians; plus Florida's election chaos
Stories of resistance and protest from around the world
Different protest stories from China, Belarus, Kenya, USA and Argentina
Prohibition in India
How the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh banned alcohol in 1995 plus the birth of Reddit
Inventing James Bond
Ian Fleming and the genesis of James Bond and the birth of the Sony Walkman
Margaret Ekpo - Nigeria's feminist pioneer
The woman who fought for Nigerian independence plus the former policeman turned protestor
The siege at Ruby Ridge
The standoff that galvanised the US far-right; plus, growing up with Saddam Hussein.
Beirut's hotel war
Lebanon's civil war comes to Beirut's luxury hotel district, plus the first ventilators
The Second World War in Japan
It’s 75 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan, leading to the end of WW2.
Adrift for 76 Days
Surviving the Atlantic in a liferaft, Spain's 1960s tourism boom, the death of Himmler
The Million Man March
Black Americans march on Washington, and the first Afghan women's refuge.
South Korea's 1980s prison camps
The horrors of a so-called Social Purification project and the birth of Club Med
Quarantined in a TB sanatorium
Quarantined in a TB sanatorium; looted Nazi art works and the Rolling Stones in the dock
Dealing with economic crisis
How countries from around the world dealt with economic turmoil in the 20th century.
Sex trafficking and peacekeepers
A UN sex trafficking scandal in Bosnia, the Five Stages of Grief, and Beethoven in China.
Black American History Special
Key moments in African American history - civil rights, basketball and the 3 strikes law.
The Zanzibar revolution
How a bloody revolution changed East Africa, the start of the WHO and remembering Christo
The Gwangju massacre
South Korea's Gwangju uprising; changing the way we eat; plus protecting Congo's forests
Britain's World War Two crime wave
How criminals thrived in London during the Blitz, 3D printers and the 1980 Miami riots.
Fighting for the pill in Japan
Why it took until 1999 for Japanese women to be allowed to take the contraceptive pill.
VE Day Special
Eyewitness accounts of the fall of Nazi Germany and the end of World War Two in Europe.
The 1957 flu pandemic
A million die in 1957 flu, conflict in the Galapagos islands and trees in Hiroshima.
The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade
The grandson of the last US slave, Pakistan's welfare hero and the Deepwater disaster.
Apollo 13: The drama that gripped the world
50 years since the near disaster on the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon.
How technology revolutionised our lives
Memories of milestones from webcams to social networks, from the iPhone to home-shopping.
Women in the law
Trailblazing British lawyer Rose Heilbron, plus Muslims in China and a Swedish warship
The AIDS memorial quilt - a patchwork of loss
How an LGBTQ+ activist decided to commemorate lost friends with a quilt.
The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
Putting an observatory in space; China's cure for malaria; the "Red Scare" in Hollywood.
The 1918 'Spanish' flu pandemic
Eyewitnesses accounts of battling deadly viruses from the 1918 flu, to Ebola and SARS.
The history of the Volkswagen Beetle
How the British army helped rebuild the German car industry after WW2.
Freeing American prisoners from Iran
How a former prisoner fought to free her friends, an Antarctic mystery, and rebel nuns
Saving Antarctica
Environmentalists save the ice continent; how meditation changes the brain; Nigerian art.
The publication of Harry Potter
The origins of the boy wizard, plus Mao's Little Red Book and Erica Jong's Fear of Flying
London's first black policeman
London's first black policeman, a new sign language, and the release of Nelson Mandela
The early days of the European Union
The EU in the 1950s, the British royal scandal and the self-made female millionaire.
The mystery of the disappearing frogs
How scientists discovered that a deadly fungus was killing off amphibians.
Storming the Stasi HQ
East Germany's secret police; killing Osama Bin Laden; saving aristocrats' houses
The Computers for Schools revolution
Bringing laptops into education; the battle for Fallujah; environmentalist Chico Mendes.
The book that warned of an end to civilisation
Environmental warnings from 1972, El Salvador, East German punks and the Chippendales.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Soviet-Afghan war, the invention of chemotherapy, and Cirque du Soleil.
The Romanian revolution
In December 1989 a wave of protests finally deposed communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.
The Cuban writer who defied Castro
The life and death of Reinaldo Arenas, plus Henry Moore and tracking down Pablo Escobar
The man who gave his voice to Stephen Hawking
The scientist who pioneered synthesised speech. Plus the first US AIDS case. .
I saw the soldiers who killed El Salvador's priests
An atrocity in El Salvador, the first Taser, and building the Delhi metro
Rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean
Rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean; the demolition of the Ayodha mosque; Wilfred Owen
Britain's secret propaganda war
'Fake news' in WW2, why Indian police blinded detainees and the Berlin Wall rock concert
'Jane' - the underground abortion service
The secret 1960s US abortion network and the battle to protect the Barrier Reef.
The fall of the Berlin Wall
A look at events across Europe in 1989 that led to the wall coming down in Germany.
An environmental history special
A pioneer of climate change science, UK's nuclear accident, the man who fed the world
Black British history
Some landmark moments in British Black history to mark Black History Month in the UK.
The birth of the People's Republic of China
70 years of communist China, we hear from Mao's friends, followers and critics.
Fighting the Islamic State group online
The Mosul historian who battled IS online, plus growing up black under Hitler
The Cambridge spy network
The distinguished British art historian exposed as a former Soviet spy.
Conflict timber in Liberia's civil war
How the timber industry fuelled a brutal civil war in West Africa.
The outbreak of World War Two
Eyewitness account of the Nazi invasion of Poland and the first all-female peacekeepers.
The Kindertransport children
Children fleeing the Nazis, a breakthrough in criminal forensics, plus Nina Simone
The return of the wolf
Restoring the wolf in the US, the liberation of Paris and El Salvador's lost children
The division of Kashmir
How Kashmir was separated, the warnings about 9/11, Carlos the Jackal and Dr Seuss.
The mass exodus of Algeria's 'Pieds Noirs'
Why French returnees from the colony of Algeria were ostracised after independence.
The anti-nuclear protesters who won
The protest which stopped the construction of a nuclear reprocessing plant in Germany.
When Tunisia led on women's rights
Liberation for Tunisia's women in the 1950s; gay and lesbian fake marriages in China
Exploring space
To mark the Apollo 11 Moon landing, personal accounts of landmarks in space exploration.
Kenya's ivory inferno
Highlighting the threat from poaching, solving the common cold, plus China and the tampon
Surviving Cambodia's 'Killing Fields'
Life under the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, kidnapped by the Contras and the first Walkman.
The Stonewall riot
The riot that inspired the gay rights movement; genocide against the Kurds; and Catch-22
The assassination of Medgar Evers
An American civil rights hero, a Chinese online star and the psychoanalyst CG Jung
The first anti-psychotic drug
A mental health breakthrough, the end of the Kosovan war, and a trailblazing gay wedding.
D-Day
Eyewitness accounts of the Normandy landings, Vikings in England and the Little Prince
Tiananmen Square
Remembering Tiananmen Square, the internet's first social network, and Sesame Street
Fighting Uganda's anti-gay laws
LBGT activism in Uganda, the start of Greenpeace, Bangladesh acid attacks, and dinosaurs.
The final days of Sri Lanka's civil war
The last battles of a brutal conflict plus how the Nazis stole children.
The war on drugs
US efforts to deal with illegal drugs in 1971, plus the rise of Jack Ma in China.
The Malayan Emergency
Battling a communist insurgency in the 50s, sinking the Belgrano and the "Arctic African"
The al Yamamah arms deals
The controversial Anglo-Saudi deal, South Africa's historic election, the first "Vegan"
The Columbine school shooting
Mass murder in the US, the first play on Broadway by a black woman, and space tourism.
The rise of Hindu nationalism
A religious rally called the Rath Yatra in 1990 championed militant Hinduism in India.
Abolishing the army
How Costa Rica scrapped its armed forces, plus Maya Angelou and Sweden's famous warship.
Drama in the British parliament
A political crisis in Britain, ballooning around the world and mindfulness.
Autism and the MMR vaccine
How a British doctor misled the world by linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
China's breakthrough malaria cure
How an ancient Chinese remedy provided a 1970s breakthrough in the fight against malaria
I was abused by a President
How scandal engulfed Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, the Elgin marbles, Barbie's origins
Venezuela's oil bonanza
When Venezuela was rich; surviving a mid-air airline disaster; the swine flu crisis
The curse of Agent Orange
Vietnam's toxic legacy, smoking warnings ignored and Nazi remains discovered in Brazil.
Iceland jails its bankers
Why Iceland jailed 40 bankers after the 2008 financial crisis plus the birth of the EU.
The last days of Hitler
Life as Hitler's secretary; the killing of Che Guevara, and the Soweto Uprising
The Iranian Revolution
Eye-witness accounts from the revolution that changed Iran and the World in 1979
Vatican II: Reforming the Catholic Church
Sweeping changes at the Vatican, plus the ground-breaking women's publisher Virago.
Strikers in Saris
How South Asian women led a UK industrial dispute, plus Dr Crippen and Judy Garland.
When Stalin Rounded Up Soviet Doctors
Stalin's last terror campaign, Fidel Castro takes over Havana, and the world's seed vault
Vikings in North America
Exciting discovery in Canada plus a rebel attack in Central America and Brazilian booty.
UFO Sightings: The Rendlesham Forest Incident
The most striking and well documented UFO "sightings" there have ever been.
Stopping The 'Shoe Bomber'
A passenger helps overcome Richard Reid, plus US apology for Japanese American internment
Apollo 8
The astronauts who changed our view of the Earth, the rape of Nanking, WWII spy drama.
Adopted By The Man Who Killed My Family
Child survivor of a Guatemalan army massacre, Bokassa's coronation, Armenia's earthquake
The Man Who Inspired Britain's First Aids Charity
The first British man to die of AIDS, 1950s whale hunting, and the real Indiana Jones
The 'Braceros' - America's Mexican Guest Workers
The US welcomes Mexican migrants, the USSR welcomes foreign students plus Arafat's death
Japanese Murders in Brazil
Fanatics killed Japanese immigrants who accepted that Japan had surrendered in WW2.
The End of World War One
Eyewitness accounts of the devastating war that changed the world.
When Russia's Richest Man Was Jailed
Mikhail Khodorkovsky on his arrest in Russia, Nigerian oil and Desmond Tutu.
The Nazi Black Book
The Nazi arrest list for Britain, wartime Austria, and anti-traveller riots in Sweden
When Belgium Banned Coca Cola
A strange illness strikes Belgian teenagers, Brazil's Amazon war, and the 1973 oil crisis
The Street Battle That Rocked Brazil
The fighting in Sao Paulo in 1968 that drove Brazil deeper into military dictatorship.
The Arnhem Parachute Drop
Operation Market Garden, Brazil's nuclear accident, the Battle of Algiers and Cuban spies
How I Survived a Fire on a Plane
A lucky escape from a jet plane fire in the 1970s and the killing of Steve Biko.
Living under Gaddafi
How Gaddafi changed Libya, the battle for Brick Lane in 70s London, the first MRI scanner
Surviving the "Death Railway"
A former prisoner of the Japanese in WW2; Hitler's girl guides and the Lake Nyos disaster
Albert Speer - Hitler's Architect
Interviewing a senior Nazi; the Soviet fight against alcohol; German hostage drama.
Vera Brittain: Anti-Bombing Campaigner
WW2 anti-bombing protestor, 20 years since Omagh and the birth of the instant noodle.
WW1: Britain's Conscientious Objectors
First World War conscientious objectors, Iran bends the nuclear rules, and dancing bears
The Whitewashing of Zimbabwe's Ancient History
How the true history of the Great Zimbabwe ruins was uncovered after independence.
The Killing of the Russian Tsar
The murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, four daughters and young son in 1918.
Smiling Buddha: India's First Nuclear Test
India on the nuclear world stage, the Spiegel Affair and the refugee "Phantom Shipwreck."
When The US Shot Down An Iranian Airliner
The tragic story of Flight 655, a Russian art controversy, plus Madeleine Albright
The Ex-President and the Gun Lobby
The power of the NRA; murdered Irish journalist, Veronica Guerin; Swedish submarine drama
Korea Divided: A Bitter History
Key witnesses to the turbulent history of North and South Korea.
The 1968 Belgrade Student Revolt
The 1968 student protest in Communist Yugoslavia and the running craze 'from couch to 5k'
Free Health Care for All
The birth of Britain's NHS; the Thalidomide trial; and discovering a baby woolly mammoth
The Fall of Suharto in Indonesia
How riots toppled a dictator; honouring Holocaust survivors in film; BBC lesbian protest.
May 1968 Paris Riots
A riot policeman's view of the violence that swept through France in May 1968
The Last King of Bulgaria
From child king to prime minister, the story of Bulgaria's King Simeon II.
When Margaret Thatcher Came to Power
Britain's first female PM, prisoners on the high seas, and the story of Takeshi's Castle
The Oslo Peace Talks
Secret attempt at Mid-East peace, remembering Pablo Picasso, the death of the Red Baron.
Earth Day
The birth of the modern environmental movement.
The Zimbabwe Massacres
Robert Mugabe sent troops to put down opposition supporters in western Zimbabwe in 1983.
The Good Friday Agreement
Peace in Northern Ireland; a cross-community Bosnian choir and a pioneering woman banker.
The Battle of the Airwaves in Latin America
Why the BBC started broadcasting to South America, plus the My Lai massacre.
Deaf Rights Protest
A protest for deaf rights; a new alphabet for Azerbaijan, Marie Stopes and Wonder Woman
China's Barefoot Doctors
The revolutionary Chinese healthcare scheme and the ground-breaking US TV show M*A*S*H.
The Boy in the Bubble
How a young boy lived with a rare genetic disorder plus "Ghana Must Go" and Infinite Jest
Women's Rights In Iran
Iran's first minister for Women's Affairs, headscarf revolutionaries and battling for Hue
The Munich Air Disaster
The plane crash that killed eight of Manchester United's "Busby Babes" in 1958.
The Tet Offensive
A turning point in the Vietnam War; the birth of gospel music; Ireland's Bloody Sunday.
The Capture of the USS Pueblo
When North Korea and the US came close to war; plus Salvador Dali, the origins of Lego
Truth And Reconciliation in South Africa
The post-Apartheid reckoning in South Africa; adoption in Guatemala; Women in World War I
When France Said 'Non' to Britain Joining Europe
When France said 'Non' to Britain, the first iPhone, and the record for staying awake
Boris Yeltsin's Surprise Resignation
Mrs Yeltsin, on the day Boris shocked the world plus the Mafia's grip on America exposed.
Kwanzaa - The African-American Holiday
How Black activists invented a new holiday, flying around the world and Leningrad in WW2.
To Kill A Mockingbird
One of the most successful American films ever; BR Ambedkar; and the invention of WiFi.
The Unsung Hero of Heart Surgery
The African-American lab technician who pioneered surgery that saved millions of babies.
British Withdrawal from South Yemen
Aden's independence from Britain, discovering whalesong & building Mount Rushmore statues
The Poisoning of Litvinenko
The murder of a former Russian spy, El Salvador's Civil War, and an oil spill in Spain.
The Siege of Mecca
The 1979 battle for the holiest site in Islam; Vietnam's deadly coup; prosecuting Manson
The 'Disappeared' of Lebanon
Women searching for their missing loved-ones in Lebanon, plus diamonds and naked dancing.
The Russian Revolution: The Bolsheviks Take Control
Voices from the Russian Revolution; the first dog in space; and the songbird of Lebanon
Martin Luther's 95 Theses
The monk who began a religious revolution, the Naked Ape and internet sex and censorship.
The Fake IDs That Saved Jewish Lives
Escaping the Nazis in WW2 Hungary, Romania's abortion ban, and a literary love affair.
The 43 Group: Battling British Fascists
Veterans fight fascism in 1940s Britain; The death of Samora Machel, Moscow theatre siege
The Death of Che Guevara
The final hours of the revolutionary hero, Italy's looted art and Madonna's early years.
The Hate Crime That Changed American Law
Why the brutal killing of a young gay man in Wyoming prompted change.
Walking the Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China; the death of a Pope; and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko
When Animals Make History
From a guide dog on 9/11 to Australia's rabbit plague - five stories from animal history.
The Collapse of Northern Rock
The run on a British bank, a schoolboy arrested in East Germany, and Nigerian treasures.
The Fairy Photos
Searching for a spirit world after WW1, plus Jamaica's worst train crash, and Biosphere 2
The Death of Princess Diana
Princess Diana's brother remembers the passionate speech he gave at her funeral.
Medicine in World War One
Dealing with the medical horrors of WW1, Germany puts Nazis on trial and Botox.
Nike and the Sweatshop Problem
The ethics of fashion; the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974; and the "Bard of Bengal".
Reagan's Bombing Joke
Reagan's bombing joke, the murder of Naji al Ali, and violence in pre-partition India
When Homosexuality Was a Crime
The horrific use of aversion therapy for gay men; plus Chiang Kai Shek's former aide.
Psychological Warfare
Spooking fighters during the Vietnam War plus the Mont Blanc Tunnel and a Nintendo legend
The Oka Crisis
A watershed moment for Canada's indigenous people, the birth of UKIP and Rave.
The Roswell Incident
In July 1947 a US rancher found debris which some believe came from an alien spacecraft.
The History of Modern Tourism
The Icelandic firm that broke the mould in air travel, the Hippie trail and Euro Disney.
Italy's Secret "State-within-a-State"
Murder and conspiracy among Italy's elite, atrocity in 1930s Ethiopia, and Body Worlds
The Woman Who Stopped Equal Rights in America
In June 1982 Phyllis Schlafly defeated a law to guarantee gender equality in the US.
The Six Day War 1967
Soldiers from both sides on the battle for Jerusalem; plus Robert Kennedy's assassination
Operation Lifeline: Canada's Refugee Revolution
Citizens sponsor refugees, a rock concert for Chernobyl and the first US female rabbi.
Brown v The Board of Education
Racial segregation ends in US schools; Iran's 2009 election protest; and Weight Watchers
The Trial of Maurice Papon
The French minister tried for Nazi collusion, the USSR's 007 and US wine beats French.
The Invention of Liposuction
The start of the cosmetic surgery industry; the Tajik Civil War; and Magnum photo agency
Searching For Argentina's Disappeared
Defying Argentina's military rulers, when Syria left Lebanon and Bosnia's rape camps.
Charlie Chaplin Returns to America from Exile
Charlie Chaplin, images of the furthest galaxies and the world's first black festival.
The Takeover of Russia's NTV
A setback for media freedom in Russia; Ethiopia's Red Terror; and WW2's Katyn massacre.
How Princess Diana changed the perception of AIDS
A handshake that changed attitudes to AIDS, America enters WW1, and Egypt's Facebook girl
The Flavr Savr Tomato - The World's First Genetically Engineered Food
The GM food debate, an anthrax outbreak in the Soviet Union, and the Teletubbies turn 20.
The First Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution, AIDS and 'Patient Zero' plus escaping the Nazis as a child.
Kuwaiti Women Secure the Vote
Kuwaiti women win the vote; smog in Mexico, and America's first Islamic terror incident
Mother Teresa - The Nun Who Became A Saint
Life with Mother Teresa, the birth of Nollywood and Eleanor Roosevelt in the White House.
The German American Bund
Nazis in 1930s America; Slobodan Milosevic on trial; attacks on Denmark's Little Mermaid.
Love and Marriage
From speed-dating to gay romance, from divorce to chastity, recent changes in love.
Sanctuary Cities in the USA
US safe havens for undocumented immigrants, a killer killer whale, DNA, and a Kenyan hit.
The End of Apartheid
Former South African police minister talks apartheid, Black Hawk Down and a polar record
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy
Indigenous rights in Australia, the invention of the microwave, and Desert Island Discs.
Roots - The TV Series
Slavery on US TV, peace in El Salvador, Hrant Dink's murder; and Dungeons and Dragons.
Princess Diana's Minefield Walk
A royal visit boosts landmine campaigners, Turkey's headscarf pioneer and spying in WW1
American Communists
American Communists, gun-toting children in Albania and death and forgiveness in Ecuador.
The Break-Up of the Soviet Union
Key players in the fall of the USSR recall the momentous events of December 1991
Death of an Anarchist
The controversial death of Giuseppe Pinelli, Samuel Beckett and flying to the moon
Yoyes, ETA's female icon
The death of a Basque fighter, resisting the Nazis in Lithuania, and a Hindu milk miracle
100 Women History Hour
A special edition of the programme remembering women that history has overlooked.
Bob Marley Survives Assassination Attempt
The shooting of Bob Marley, the resistance of the Mirabal Sisters, Colombia's Lost City
The 1948 French Miners' Strike
How coal miners in post-war France went from being seen as heroes, to pariahs.
The Dili Massacre
Horror in East Timor, book-burning in Britain and the birth of the James Bond theme tune.
The Pitcairn Sex Abuse Trial
Alleged sex abuse on a remote island, a controversial Kurdish song, men versus computers
Dickey Chapelle - War Reporter
The pioneering American woman journalist; life in Mao's China; and Harry Houdini.
Shell Shock
The psychiatric cost of WW1; Hungary's 1956 uprising, Marvel Comics and London's Big Bang
The Mayak Nuclear Disaster
A nuclear disaster, America's worst prison riot, World War Two internment and apartheid
The University of Texas Shooting
The first campus killings in the US; an arts festival in Lebanon; meeting JD Salinger
First CIA coup in Latin America
America's fight against communism; giant China earthquake; riots in Liverpool; Picasso.
Tanzania's Ujamaa
Socialism in Tanzania, assassination in the Caribbean, the Concordski crash and Date Rape
The Thalidomide Trial
German drugs company goes on trial; Hands Across America; the execution of Anne Boleyn.
Remembering Chernobyl
Remembering Chernobyl, Charles Darwin and the McCarthy era, plus 60s icon, the Mini
The Original Revolutionary Feminist
Feminism in the 20th century, poisoning in the Balkans, and a miscarriage of justice
The Battle of Verdun
The battle that traumatised France, forbidden Tibet in the 1940s and fashion's New Look
Prozac
The birth of the Prozac generation, saving ancient Afghan artworks, plus a Disney classic
The Challenger Disaster
The launch of space shuttle Challenger goes horribly wrong, Sharia in Nigeria, and Batman.
Michael Jackson's Thriller
The release of the world's best-selling album, the death of a WW2 hero, and Beagle 2
The Battle of Tora Bora
The hunt for Bin Laden, a KKK trial, the siege of Kut, and the Velvet Underground.
The Amman Bombings
Suicide bombings in Amman; a massacre in East Timor; and the fall of the Taliban
The Death of Rock Hudson
A Hollywood star dies of Aids, plus Buena Vista Social Club, Danish cartoons and Karaoke.
Korea Divided
Korea split after World War Two, the penal colony Devil's Island and Harry Potter