The History Hour

We start with the story of a couple who were arrested under South Africa's Immorality Act, which banned sexual relationships between white people and non-white people. Dr Zureena Desai was arrested under the Immorality Act in South Africa.Another law banned Inter-racial marriage in South Africa. In 1985, this was lifted. Suzanne La Clerc and Protas Madlala, the first inter-racial couple to get married under new rules in South Africa share their memories.Our guest is Dr Susanne Klausen, The Brill professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University in the USA. She talks about love, marriage and sex in apartheid South Africa and the two laws that were both repealed on the same day in 1985. We hear from Urban Lambertson, survivor of the Estonia ferry disaster in 1994, one of the deadliest shipping disasters since the Titanic. Film-maker Allen Hughes tells of the time when rap sensation, Tupac Shakur was fired from the crime movie Menace II Society.Finally, the ‘moon man of India’ Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, a scientist working on India’s Mars Orbiter Mission tells of the country’s momentous mission to Mars. (Photo: Dr Zureena Desai. Credit: Abrie Jantjies)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.We start our programme looking at the discovery of New Zealand’s first dinosaur by Joan Wiffen.Our expert guest is Professor Eugenia Gold, a paleontologist at Suffolk University, in Boston, United States, and the author of children’s book She Found Fossils.Then, we hear how the CT scanner was invented.Following that, we go to India in 1994 and an outbreak of the pneumonic plague.Plus, the story of how a small group of mountaineers risked their lives to camouflage landmarks in Leningrad during World War Two.Finally, we hear from designer Ruth Kedar about how she came to create one of the most famous logos in history.Contributors:Chris Wiffen – son of late fossil-hunter Joan Wiffen.Professor Eugenia Gold – paleontologist at Suffolk University, Boston, United States.Robert Cormack – son of late CT scanner inventor, Allan Cormack.Doctor Vibha Marfatia – who escaped the pneumonic plague.Mikhail Bobrov – late mountaineer who helped save Leningrad’s landmarks.Ruth Kedar - designer of the Google logo.(Photo: Theropod dinosaur. Credit: Science Photo Library)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We’re looking at key moments in Ethiopian history, as it’s 50 years since Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a military coup. We start our programme looking at the moment a military junta called the Derg who ousted the monarchy in September 1974. Then, we hear how, before this, the Emperor lived in exile in Bath, in the west of England.Our expert guest is Hewan Semon Marye, who is junior professor at the University of Hamburg in Germany. Then, Abebech Gobena who founded an orphanage and was known as Africa’s Mother Teresa. Following that, the oldest skeleton of a human ancestor, discovered in 1994. Finally, the Axum Obelisk, returned to Ethiopia in 2005, after being looted by Italy’s fascist dictator. Contributors: Lij Mulugeta Asseratte Kassa – relative of Haile Selassie. Professor Shawn-Naphtali Sobers – University of the West of England, Bristol. Professor Hewan Semon Marye – Ethiopian Studies and Contemporary North-East African Studies at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Hannah Merkana – raised in Abebech Gobena’s orphanage.Professor Yohannes Haile Selassie – Paleoanthropologist.Michele Daniele – Architect.(Photo: Haile Selassie in his study. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Myra Anubi presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We hear about the Irish law that banned married women from working in state jobs until 1973 and Apollo 13's attempted trip to the Moon in 1970.Plus the Umbrella protest in Hong Kong, the ancient Egyptian mummy who flew to France for a makeover and the Argentine basketball player and wrestler nicknamed the Giant.Contributors: Bernie Flynn - one of the first married women to keep her job after the marriage bar was abolished in Ireland. Irene Mosca - economics lecturer at Maynooth University, in Ireland. Fred Haise - NASA astronaut who was on board Apollo 13. Nathan Law - leader of the Umbrella protest in Hong Kong. Anne-Marie Gouden - receptionist at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris. Julio Lamas - Jorge Gonzalez's basketball coach. Bill Alfonso - wrestling referee and Jorge Gonzalez's personal assistant.(Photo: A couple on their wedding day. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. Our guest is European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who completed the longest uninterrupted space flight of any European.First, we go to Australia in the 1990s when amateur radio enthusiast Maggie Iaquinto befriended Soviet cosmonauts on the Mir space station. She updated them on global news as the USSR crumbled back on Earth.Then, the inspiring story of Waris Dirie, who walked barefoot across the Somalian desert to escape child marriage and became an international supermodel.We hear a harrowing account of Guatemala's civil war that ended in 1996.Then, why the author of Mary Poppins, PL Travers, hated the Disney film. Finally, the Canadian town that welcomed aliens in 1967.Contributors: Samantha Cristoforetti - European Space Agency astronaut. Ben Iaquinto - son of Maggie Iaquinto who befriended Soviet cosmonauts. Waris Dirie - model from Somalia. Jeremias Tecu - survivor of Guatemala's civil war. Brian Sibley and Kitty Travers - friend and daughter of PL Travers. Paul Boisvert - worked on Canada's alien landing pad.(Photo: Mir Space Station in 1995. Credit: Space Frontiers/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A warning, this programme includes an account of antisemitic views and descriptions of violence.Egypt recruited thousands of Nazis after World War Two to bolster its security. We hear from Frank Gelli, who in 1964 met Hitler's former propagandist, Johann von Leers, in Cairo. Author, Vyvyan Kinross is our guest and talks about Nazis in Egypt. Also, the celebrity murder case that divided France and how in 2001, Argentina went through five leaders in two weeks. Shatbhi Basu, talks about how became known as India's first female bartender and finally the origins of La Tomatina, one of Spain’s most popular international festivals, as well as the largest tomato fight in the world.Contributors:Eduardo Duhalde – former Argentine President. Vyvyan Kinross – author. Michelle Fines- journalist. Shatbhi Basu - beverage consultant, mixologist and writer. Frank Gelli -met Nazi propagandists in Cairo. Goltran Zanon – involved in the first La Tomatina. Maria Jose Zanon - daughter of Goltran Zanon. Enric Cuenca Yxeres - Valencian history teacher.(Photo: Johannes von Leers. Credit: ullstein bild via Getty Images)

We hear about the founding father of Indonesian independence. Then, we look at how 'spray on skin' was used after the 2002 Bali bombings.Next, we hear about the last ever Olympic art competition.Plus, the most decorated Paralympian in history.And, the Brazilian singer who earned the title Queen of Samba. Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History and Sporting Witness interviews. Our guest is Professor of Indonesian history, Kirsten Shulze from the London School of Economics and Political Science.Contributors: Kartika Soekarno – Sukarno’s youngest daughter.Professor Kirsten Shulze - London School of Economics and Political Science.Professor Fiona Wood – Burns specialist. Daniel Weinzweig – John Weinzweig’s son. Trischa Zorn-Hudson – Paralympian. Adelzon Alves – Broadcaster and samba record producer. (Photo: Sukarno. Credit: Christian Hirous/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images).

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.It's 50 years since Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign, following the Watergate scandal.To mark this anniversary, we're featuring first hand accounts from major moments in US presidential history.We start with the first ever presidential television debate. In 1956, the Democratic and Republican candidates sent female representatives. They were Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith.Our expert guest, Dr Kathryn Brownell, from Purdue University in Indiana in the US, discovers other key television debate moments in presidential history. Then, we hear about the rise of the religious right in America, exploring the emergence of the Moral Majority in the late 1970s. Following that, we look at one of the closest and most contested elections in history, as Al Gore went head-to-head with George W Bush in the battle for the White House in 2000. Finally, we hear from the photographer inside the Situation Room as the US closed in on terrorist Osama Bin Laden in 2011.Contributors: Tom DeFrank - Journalist. Dr Kathryn Brownell - Associate professor of history at Purdue University. Kate Scott and Janann Sherman - Historians. Richard Viguerie - One of the founders of the Moral Majority. Callie Shell - The official photographer for Al Gore's presidential campaign. Pete Souza - Chief Official White House Photographer during Barack Obama's presidency.(Photo: Richard Nixon waves after becoming the first US president to resign. Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images)

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We take a look at the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral fundraising sensation that took over the internet in 2014. Our guest Professor Sander van der Linden breaks down the psychology behind virality and outlines the challenges facing those who conquered the algorithm. Plus, how one man smuggled punk rock over the Berlin Wall. Also, we meet the man who found a retirement home for Bulgaria's dancing bears.We hear the remarkable story of Australia's Freedom Riders who campaigned against indigenous discrimination.Finally, we relive the mountain top escape of the Yazidi's who were fleeing Islamic State Militants.Contributors: Nancy Frates – Pete Frates mother. Sander van der Linden - Professor of Social Psychology at Cambridge University. Mark Reeder - smuggled punk rock over the Berlin Wall. Dr Amir Khalil – founded the sanctuary for dancing bears. Darce Cassidy and Gary Williams – involved in the Freedom Rides. Mirza Dinnayi - helped evacuate the Yazidi's.(Photo: Ice Bucket Challenge. Credit:Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We go underground for a tour of the Moscow Metro, the subterranean transport network built by thousands of Russian workers in the 1930s.Our guest Mark Ovenden, author of Underground Cities, reveals how the Moscow system influenced many other countries around the world. Plus, more about a revolutionary new method for transporting medicines that was launched in Ghana in 1974. The cold chain system helped refrigerate vaccines aimed at tackling potentially deadly diseases.Also, as Paris lifts the curtain on the 2024 Olympics, we go back to the last time the French city hosted the Games - one hundred years ago.We hear the remarkable story of Somali 400m sprinter Zamzam Farah, and how she became a crowd favourite in the London 2012 Olympics after finishing last in her heat by 27 seconds.Finally, we meet Shuss - a French cartoon skier and the first Olympic mascot, designed for the 1968 Winter Games.Contributors: Tatiana Fedorova – a worker on the Moscow Metro. Mark Ovenden - author of Underground Cities. Patience Azuma – vaccinated as a child in Ghana. Dr Kofi Ahmed – chief medical officer. Harold Abrahams – Olympic medallist. Kitty Godfree – Olympic medallist. Zamzam Farah – Somali sprinter. André Thiennot - manufacturer of Shuss merchandise.(Photo: Underground train station ceiling in Moscow. Credit: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images)