Sampoong department store disaster
On 29 June 1995, the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul, South Korea, collapsed due to structural failures.The disaster killed 502 people and injured more than 900. It provoked national outrage as the building's construction was riddled with corruption and malpractice.Sun Minh Lee was working at the shop that day. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Sampoong Department Store after the collapse. Credit: Choo Youn-Kong/AFP/Getty Images)
28 Juni 20239min
First reports of Ebola
In 1976 in a small Belgian missionary hospital in a village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire, people were dying from an unknown disease which caused a high temperature and vomiting. It was the first documented outbreak of Ebola the virus.About 300 people died. Dr Jean Jacques Mueyembe and Dr David Heymann worked to bring the outbreak under control. Claire Bowes spoke to them in this programme first broadcast in 2009.(Photo: Residents who were being examined during the Ebola outbreak in Zaire in 1976. Credit: Public domain/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
27 Juni 202310min
JFK’s Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech
United States President John F Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963.It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. Tom Wills speaks to Gisela Morel-Tiemann, who attended the speech as a student. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.(Photo: John F Kennedy making his speech in Berlin. Credit: Lehnartz/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
26 Juni 202310min
My dad played golf on the moon
Alan Shepard played golf on the moon in 1971.He became the first and only person to enjoy the sport on the lunar surface.The astronaut golfer’s daughter Laura Shepard Churchley was inspired by her father’s big journeys and later travelled to space herself, although she didn’t pack golf clubs.Tricia Penrose hears Laura’s recollections of life with her father and his unique sporting space trip. A Moon Road production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Alan Shepard on the moon. Credit: NASA)
23 Juni 20239min
The Empire Windrush arrives
The Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in England on 22 June 1948 with 802 people on board from the Caribbean.The former passenger liner's arrival on that misty June day is now regarded as the symbolic starting point of a wave of Caribbean migration between 1948 and 1971 known as the "Windrush generation".Sam King was one of the passengers. He describes to Alan Johnston the conditions on board and the concerns people had about finding jobs in England. In this programme first broadcast in 2011, Sam also talks about what life was like in their adopted country once they arrived.(Photo: Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948. Credit: Daily Herald Archive/SSPL/Getty Images)
22 Juni 20238min
Anti-gay police raid at Tasty nightclub
In the early hours of 7 August 1994, police raided Tasty, a gay nightclub in downtown Melbourne, Australia. On the hunt for drugs they strip-searched more than 450 people in a raid that lasted hours. Many people felt what happened was homophobic and that the police had abused their powers. Some of those searched took legal action. Damages were awarded and years later Victoria Police gave a formal apology. Gary Singer who was in Tasty when the raid happened and was the organiser of the class-action lawsuit tells Alex Collins about how his night out on the town went from joy to despair once the police entered the club.(Photo: People being searched by police in Tasty)
21 Juni 20239min
The Somali pilot ordered to bomb his own country
At the end of May 1988, rebels from the Somali National Movement launched a series of lightning attacks on cities in northern Somalia - the area that today is the self-declared republic of Somaliland. The rebels were fighting against the military dictatorship of President Siad Barre. By the start of June, they had taken control of most of Hargeisa, the biggest city in the north. Government forces fell back to Hargeisa airport and other areas on the outskirts and were ordered to begin the indiscriminate bombardment of the city. At the time Ahmed Mohamed Hassan was a fighter pilot in the Somali air force. He now faced a choice: join other pilots in bombing the city or refuse and face the prospect of being shot. He’s been talking to Rob Walker. (Photo: Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in 2023. Credit: Ahmed Mohamed Hassan)
20 Juni 202312min
Uprising in East Germany
East German workers went on strike in protest at Soviet rule on 16 June 1953.Demonstrations spread throughout the country but were soon crushed by communist troops. Martial law followed. In 2011, Nina Robinson spoke to Helmut Strecker who was a 21-year-old student and the son of communist party supporters. Helmut was on the streets of East Berlin trying to persuade marchers to go home.(Photo: East Germany demonstrators march through Brandenburg Gate. Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images)
19 Juni 20238min
