The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Barbara Keys, a specialist in US history at Durham University.We start with a celebration of the American Freedom Train, as the US prepares to mark 250 years of independence. Then, the South African railway enthusiast who created one of the most luxurious train services in the world.We hear about the invention of text messaging and how it changed the way we communicate. Plus, 75 years of Radio Free Europe broadcasting news to audiences behind the Iron Curtain.The thousand-year-long musical composition that's due to end in 2999. And our Sporting Witness looks at how a British teenager won a six-month contract to play for Italian champions Inter Milan. Contributors: Lou Nelson - former security guard on the American Freedom Train 1975-76.Rohan Vos - founder and CEO of Rovos Rail.Friedhelm "Fred" Hillebrand - inventor of SMS and text messaging.Arch Puddington - former deputy director Radio Free Europe.Jem Finer - musician and composer of Longplayer.Ben Greenhalgh - Margate player-manager and winner of reality show "Football's Next Star".(Photo: American Freedom Train, 1976. Credit: NARA/DVIDS)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We learn about how Play-Doh evolved from a cleaning product to a childhood favourite and the creation of one of the best-selling board games of all time, Catan. Our guest is the editor of Toy World Magazine, Caroline Tonks, who takes us through the history of toy crazes. We also hear about the invention of the hoverboard, and how the Tamagotchi allowed people to have their own virtual pet. Plus, how the family favourite game, Jenga, was born in 1970s Ghana. And our Sporting Witness looks at how a piece of software revolutionised the game of football through data analysis. Contributors: Peg Roberts – daughter of Kay Zufall Benjamin Teuber – son of Catan inventor Klaus Teuber Caroline Tonks – editor of Toy World Magazine Shane Chen – the inventor of the hoverboard Akihiro Yokoi – the inventor of the Tamgotchi Leslie Scott – the creator of the game Jenga Ramm Mylavaganam – inventor of ProZone(Photo: The Tamagotchi was introduced in 1996 and is one of the best-selling toys in history. Credit: Reuters)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We learn about how a Norwegian businessman brought salmon sushi to Japan in the 1980s. Our guest is cookbook author Nancy Singleton Hachisu, who tells us more about the history of sushi in Japan and around the world. We hear about the first opera written for TV in 1950s America and how U.S Marshalls used fake NFL tickets to capture some of Washington DC’s most wanted. Plus, how disability rights campaigners in India led to a change in the law in 1995 and when Scotland played hockey in Germany during the cold war. Finally, the story of when Laurel and Hardy spent Christmas at an English country pub. Contributors: Bjørn-Eirik – Norwegian businessman who brought salmon sushi to Japan Nancy Singleton Hachisu – cookbook authorArchive of Gian Carlo Menotti – Italian composer Stacia Hylton – former U.S Marshall Javed Abidi – Indian disability rights campaigner Archive of customers at The Bull Inn – the pub that Laurel and Hardy visited in 1953Valerie Sinclair – member of Scotland's hockey team who played West Germany in 1961 (Photo: Japanese demonstration to Norwegian royal family. Credit: Bjørn-Eirik Olson)

We start with the street artist Banksy, and his 2015 dystopian 'bemusement park'.Then, we talk to roller coaster enthusiast Megan MacCausland, from the European Coaster Club. Plus, we go back through the BBC archives to tell the story of the coelacanth, a fish believed to have been extinct for 65 million years. Next, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up after the abolishment of apartheid in the 1990s. This programme contains contains harrowing testimony and graphic descriptions of human rights violations throughout.Also, the six-day IRA siege on London's Balcombe Street in 1975, where a couple were taken hostage.Finally, it's been 10 years since 193 countries and the European Union adopted the Paris climate agreement, in December 2015. Our Sporting Witness programme this week looks at how an international skiing scene developed in the mountains of Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, in 2011. Contributors: Kurtis Young - steward at Dismaland. Megan MacCausland - European Coaster Club. Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer - South African museum curator (from archive). Sisi Khampepe - served on the Amnesty Committee. Steven Moysey - saw the Balcombe Street siege unfold. Christiana Figueres - head of climate negotiations at 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Alishah Farhang - Afghanistan skier. (Photo: Dismaland in Weston Super-Mare. Credit: Kristian Buus/Getty Images)

The world is on the brink of nuclear war. How can the Soviet Union and the USA prevent it? Hosts Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of the superpower leaders President John F Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, tell the personal and political history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Together Nina and Max explore what drove JFK and Khrushchev during the darkest days of October 1962. And when the crisis moves beyond their control, as a U-2 spy plane is shot down over Cuba, how do they avoid global catastrophe?  To hear more, search for The Bomb, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.