This Week in History - May 19 - May 25

Fascinating, surprising, and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.

BBC Radio 4 explores the history books and archives to see what else has happened on this same week throughout history.
With short looks at the events that have shaped the world and made us who we are today.

This week. May 19th – May 25th
- 20th of May 1948. It used to be a German owned boat, used throughout the Second World War. But in May 1948 the HMT Empire Windrush first set sail from the Caribbean, bringing new settlers to the United Kingdom.
- 20th of May 1570. The Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius changes how we viewed the world with the publication of his atlas, the 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum'.
- 21st of May 1916. William Willett spent his years campaigning against the 'Waste of Daylight’ but was not around to see British Summer Time introduced in 1916.

Presented by Caroline Nicholls and Jane Steel
Produced by Stuart Ross and Kerry McCarthy

Published on Monday, 19th May 2025.

Available Podcasts from This Week in History

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We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the This Week in History webpage.