Japan surrenders in Beijing

A controversial installation by Russian conceptual artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov offended Russians in 1992, but is now seen as a masterpiece. Emilia Kabakov told Dina Newman that The Toilet is "a metaphor for life." Photo: The Toilet, a model; credit: Kabakov archive

4 Jul 20189min

On 3 July 1988, a US Navy warship, the USS Vincennes, shot down an Iranian civilian airliner over the Persian Gulf. All 290 on board the aircraft were killed, among them 66 children. The plane was flying a scheduled service from Bandar Abbas in Iran to Dubai but was mistakenly identified as "hostile" by the US ship. Alex Last has been hearing a rare first-hand account from Rudy Pahoyo, a former US Navy Combat Cameraman who happened to be filming on the USS Vincennes that day. Photo: The USS Vincennes fires a surface to air missile towards Iran Air flight 655 on 3 July 1988 (Rudy Pahoyo)

3 Jul 20189min

In July 2005, the identity of one of the most famous informants in American political history was revealed. Deep Throat leaked details of President Nixon's Watergate cover-up to the Washington Post leading eventually to the president's resignation. He was former assistant director at the FBI, Mark Felt. Louise Hidalgo has been talking to the lawyer who helped persuade the elderly Mark Felt to go public after 30 years of silence and speculation.Picture: Bob Woodward (left) and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, at their desk, 29th April 1973. They nicknamed their anonymous source Deep Throat. (Credit: Getty Images)

2 Jul 20189min

Former President George Bush Senior gave up his lifetime membership of the country's most powerful gun-lobby, the NRA, in 1995. Claire Bowes has been speaking to his speechwriter, Jim McGrath, to find out why the 41st President turned his back on the National Rifle Association, a body so closely associated with political power.Photo: Portrait Of President George Herbert Walker Bush in 1991 (credit: Bachrach/Getty Images)

29 Jun 20189min

In 1981 a Whiskey-class Soviet submarine became stranded on a rock just off the coast of southern Sweden. For years Sweden had suspected the Soviets of patrolling illegally in their territorial waters. Now they had their proof. It took 11 days of tense negotiation before the submarine was allowed to leave. Tim Mansel speaks to Klas Helmerson, who helped interpret on behalf of the Swedish navy.Photo: The Soviet submarine U-137 that ran aground in Karlskrona archipelago, Sweden in October 1981 (Credit: TT agency via Press Association)

28 Jun 20188min

Early 2003 saw a medical emergency sweep across the world. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was a deadly virus which had first struck in southern China but soon there were cases as far away as Canada. William Ho and Tom Buckley were at the forefront of the battle against the epidemic.Photo: Image of the SARS virus. Credit: Science Photo Library.

27 Jun 20188min

In June 1996, the campaigning Irish journalist Veronica Guerin was murdered by a hit squad as she waited in her car at a set of traffic lights. Guerin had become famous in Ireland for exposing the activities of the country's drug barons. Her life was later turned into a Hollywood film. Simon Watts talks to Guerin's friend and fellow journalist, Lise Hand.(Photo: Veronica Guerin. Credit: Getty Images).

26 Jun 20188min

In June 1943 a young Jewish RAF pilot from the East End of London was forced to make an emergency landing on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The Italian forces stationed there promptly surrendered to him. He told his story to the BBC ,and soon he was a hero back home. A musical about his story even became a hit in London. Daniel Gordon has been listening to the BBC's archive, and talking to Arnold Schwartzman who made a film about Flight Sgt Sydney Cohen.Photo: A Swordfish bi-plane, the type of plane that Sydney Cohen was flying when he landed on Lampedusa. Credit: Alamy.

25 Jun 20188min