Discovering the haemoglobin structure and the Nellie massacre

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.These include memories of the horsemeat scandal of 2013 from the man who uncovered what was happening. We'll hear analysis of other historical food scandals from expert Professor Saskia van Ruth.Plus the last passenger off the plane, which landed on the Hudson river in 2009, shares his story.Also on the programme: secret schools for Kosovar Albanians, nuclear testing in Algeria and teenagers with narcolepsy in Sweden. Contributors: Professor Alan Reilly - former Chief Executive of the Irish Food Safety Authority Professor Saskia van Ruth - expert on food authenticity and integrity of supply networks, based at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland Christopher Tyvi - lives with narcolepsy Abdelkrim Touhami - lives near former nuclear testing site in Algeria Linda Gusia - former student of Kosovo house schools Professor Drita Halimi - former Kosovo house school teacher Dave Sanderson - last passenger off US Airways flight 1549(Photo: Raw burgers. Credit: Getty Images)

21 Jan 202351min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.You'll hear the story of how a marine biologist made a shocking discovery finding small bits of plastics floating thousands of miles of the east coast of America. Then, marine biologist Christine Figgener talks about the history of oceans.Also, the world's first transatlantic concert, a dispute over sea cucumbers in the Galapagos Islands, the world's first tidal power station and the first woman to win a Olympic windsurfing gold medal.(Photo: Garbage on beach. Credit: Getty Images)Contributors: Edward Carpenter - Marine biologist John Liffen - Curator emeritus at the Science Museum in London Marcos Escaraby - Fisherman in the Galapagos Islands Alan Tye - Conservationist Marc Bonnel - Brittany historian Babara Kendall - Windsurfing champion

14 Jan 202351min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.You'll hear the story of how a protest led by the punk band Pussy Riot in one of Moscow's main cathedrals led to a trial which made the news inside Russia and around the world.Then, historian Robert Service talks about other examples of rebellion, from the time of the Russian empire through to modern day. Also, the man Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet wanted dead, the most bizarre football match of all time and the African man who travelled across the world to live in the Arctic.(Photo: Pussy Riot. Credit: Getty Images)Contributors: Diana Burkot - member of Pussy Riot Robert Service - Professor of Russian History at the University of Oxford Carmen Castillo - wife of Miguel Enriquez who led resistance against Augusto Pichochet Paul Lambert - former Scotland footballer Alan Matarasso - American plastic surgeon Tété-Michel Kpomassie - Arctic explorer

7 Jan 202350min

Stories about the history of food, including the creation of ciabatta bread by a rally driver in Italy in 1982 and the Maltese bakers' strike in 1977.Also, the invention of instant noodles in Japan, the start of the Slow Food Movement in Rome and the creation of Chicken Manchurian in India.(Photo: Different shaped artisan bread loaves. Credit: Getty Images)Contributors: Marco Vianello - baker and friend of the creator of ciabatta, Arnaldo Cavallari Noel Buttigieg - food historian Dr Sue Bailey - food historian, writer and lecturer Carlo Petrini - founder of the Slow Food Movement Momofuku Ando - colleague of the inventor of instant noodles, Yukitaka Tsutsui Edward Wang - son of Nelson Wang, the chef behind Chicken Manchurian

31 Des 202249min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.Sir Trevor McDonald reflects on the BBC's first black producer, Una Marson, and her legacy in the development of the BBC Caribbean Service.Also, how the BBC managed to broadcast through the Iron Curtain, Colombia's false positives scandal and the incredible rescue of 33 miners trapped in Chile.(Photo: Sir Trevor McDonald. Credit: BBC)Contributors: Sir Trevor McDonald, Una Marson, Debbie Ransome and Neil Nunes - BBC presenters Bridget Kendall - the BBC’s former Moscow correspondent Peter Udell - the BBC's former controller of European Services Jacqueline Castillo - whose brother was a victim of the 'false positives' scandal Dr Aslan Doukaev - university teacher when the first Chechen war started Mario Sepulveda - Chilean mine disaster survivor

24 Des 202251min

The forced removal of families who weren't white from District Six, in Cape Town, by the South African apartheid regime and the man who jumped from space back to earth.Also, stories about a Soviet fashionista, the Nazi occupation of Jersey and the Mongolia Revolution. (Photo: District Six, circa 1969, in Cape Town. Credit: Getty Images)Contributors: Zahra Nordien - who was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977 Chrischené Julius - the manager of Collections, Research and Documentation at the District Six Museum Jenny Lecoat - the great-niece of Louisa Gould, who hid a Russian man from Nazis in Jersey Ganbold Davaadorj - a pro-democracy protestor in Mongolia Slava Zaitsev - Russian fashion designer Felix Baumgartner - daredevil

17 Des 202251min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.We go to Quebec in 1995 when voters went to the polls to decide whether the province should declare independence from Canada.Tim Marshall, the author of The Power of Geography and presenter of the World Service podcast, The Compass, explores other referendums which have taken place in recent history.Plus the creation of children's TV series Teletubbies in 1994. It became a global hit.(Photo: Voters gather in the streets of Barcelona. Credit: Marco Panzetti/NurPhoto Getty Images)Contributors: Jean-François Lisée and Stephane Dion - on the Quebec referendum Paul Kelly - Australian political correspondent Praveen Jain - Indian photojournalist Patricia da Silva - Jean Charles de Menezes' cousin Anne Wood- creator of Teletubbies

10 Des 202251min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.We hear from a man who was aged six when he was among the Japanese families expelled from his island home, as it was taken over by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Our guest is Professor Haruko Satoh from Osaka University who analyses recent Japan-Russian relations and the impact of the invasion of Ukraine.Twenty years after the Mombasa hotel bombing, a survivor recounts her experience. Also, the virologist who smuggled live HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag so she could start testing people.Plus the flour protests at the 1970 Miss World contest and the history of a keep fit phenomenon.Contributors: Yuzo Matsumoto - taken from his home on Etorofu in 1947 Professor Haruko Satoh - Osaka University Sally Alexander - protester at Miss World 1970 Kelly Hartog - survivor of the Mombasa hotel bombing Professor Radka Argirova - virologist from Bulgaria Annie Thorisdottir - CrossFit world champion

3 Des 202250min