This Week in History - May 26 - June 1st

Download May 26 - June 1st

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 26th – June 1st
- 29th May 1953. At 1130 in the morning, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay stood at the peak of mount Everest, becoming the very first people to do so.
- 28th May 1588. After two years of development, the Spanish Armada leaves the port of Lisbon, on an ill-fated attempt to invade England.
- 1st June 1935. By the 1930 there were around a million cars on the road, and thousands being killed by road accidents. Something had to be done. In 1935 Compulsory Driving Tests began.

Presented by Viji Alles and Ron Brown
Produced by Luke Doran

Published on Monday, 26th May 2025.

Available Podcasts from This Week in History

Subscribe to This Week in History

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.