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Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s. Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.Next, Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship in 2013, tells us about achieving her goal after contracting polio as a child.Then, the invention of the life-size training dummy Resusci Anne in the 1960s, which was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.The ghost town in Namibia that's slowly being buried by the desert after it was abandoned in the 1950s when the diamonds ran out.Finally, the accidental invention of superglue in 1951, which only became a big hit following an appearance on a US tv show.Contributors: Jenette Kahn - former President of DC Comics. Dr Mel Gibson - associate professor at Northumbria University. Minda Dentler - wheelchair athlete. Tore Lærdal - Executive Chairman of Lærdal Medical. Dieter Huyssen - grandson of an emigree to Kolmanskop in Namibia. Adam Paul - grandson of Dr Harry Coover, inventor of superglue.(Photo: Cover illustration for Action Comics with Superman, June 1938. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 25 January 1933 the last legal communist march was held in Berlin. Just a few days later Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Soon the Communist Party was banned and the Nazi grip on power was complete. Eric Hobsbawm was a schoolboy communist at the time. He spoke to Andrew Whitehead in 2012. (Photo: Communist rally 1932. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1661 in England, following the restoration of the monarchy, the body of Oliver Cromwell was dug up for ritual execution. Cromwell had overthrown King Charles I and ruled as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 2014, Vincent Dowd spoke to civil war historian Charles Spencer. (Photo: The death mask of Oliver Cromwell. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Activist Margaret Sanger is responsible for one of the most significant medical and social changes of the 20th century – giving women the means to control the size of their families. The former nurse, who'd witnessed the aftermath of backstreet abortions and her own mother's premature death after 18 pregnancies, founded the birth control movement in the United States and helped to spread it internationally. She was also instrumental in developing the pill, now one of the world's most popular contraceptives. Her campaign was enormously controversial – she faced fierce opposition from the Catholic Church and was arrested several times for breaking strict anti-contraception laws. And her legacy is contested today – her association with the then powerful eugenics movement has thrown doubt on her motives and drawn allegations of racism by some. Even Planned Parenthood, the organisation she helped create, has distanced itself from her. Bridget Kendall discusses her inspiration and battle against the powerful status quo with Ellen Chesler, a biographer of Margaret Sanger from New York; Elaine Tyler May, professor of American studies and history at the University of Minnesota and author of ‘America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril and Liberation'; Sanjam Ahluwalia, professor of history and women's and gender studies at Northern Arizona University and author of ‘Reproductive Restraints: Birth Control in India, 1877-1947'; and Dr Caroline Rusterholz, a historian of populations, medicine and sexuality at the University of Cambridge. Producer: Simon Tulett (Picture: Margaret Sanger circa 1915. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

As part of our British black history coverage we look back at the racism faced by London's first black policeman from his own colleagues. We also hear about the death in police custody of black ex-soldier Christopher Alder. Plus, the intriguing story of a Somali sailor based in the UK in the early 20th century; the heartbreak faced by the children of black American soldiers and white British mothers during World War Two; and the story of Clyde Best, Britain's pioneering black footballer. Presenter Max Pearson also hears from Dr Martin Glynn of Birmingham City University's Black Studies course. Photo: London's first black policeman PC Norwell Roberts beginning his training with colleagues at Hendon Police College, London, 5 April 1967. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Norwell Roberts joined the Metropolitan police in 1967. He was put forward as a symbol of progressive policing amid ongoing tensions between the police and ethnic minorities in the capital. But behind the scenes, Norwell endured years of racist abuse from colleagues within the force. Norwell Roberts spoke to Alex Last about growing up in Britain and his determination to be a pioneer in the police. (Photo: London's first black policeman PC Norwell Roberts beginning his training with colleagues at Hendon Police College, London, 5 April 1967. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The last king of France and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were killed during the French Revolution. Their son and heir was said to have died in prison in 1795 but did he in fact escape? The 10-year-old spent his last two years of life in solitary confinement with no human contact. During his final few months he neither talked nor walked, rumours spread that this was an imposter and that the real dauphin had been smuggled out in a laundry basket and replaced with a mute boy. Years later dozens of men from all over the world claimed they were Louis-Charles, the rightful heir to the French throne. It could never be proven one way or the other, but in 2000 a team of scientists took DNA samples from the heart of the boy, which had been recovered and kept in a royal crypt. Claire Bowes has been speaking to professor Jean Jacques Cassiman and historian Deborah Cadbury about the mystery. (Photo: Illustration of Louis XVII - formally Louis-Charles, Dauphin of France in prison.Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Over five hundred years ago, dismissed diplomat Niccolò Machiavelli produced his most famous work, The Prince. Written on the fringes of the Italian city of Florence, the book has long been read as a priceless guide to power and what holding it truly involves. But who was the man behind the work? Why did he claim that a leader must be prepared to act immorally? And why did the name of this one-time political insider become a byword for cunning and sinister strategy? Rajan Datar explores the life and impact of Machiavelli's The Prince with writer and scholar Erica Benner, historian professor Quentin Skinner, and journalist and novelist David Ignatius. [Image: Circa 1499, Niccolò Machiavelli. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with Catherine Ostler on the 18th-century Duchess who scandalised a nation. Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Pablo Picasso is commonly regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, changing our way of seeing with his radical innovation and revolutionary approach. As pioneer of Cubism, godfather to the Surrealists, and creator of the enduring anti-war painting Guernica, he produced thousands of paintings in his lifetime, not to mention his sculptures, ceramics, stage designs, poetry and plays. Rajan Datar discusses his life and work with curators Ann Temkin and Katharina Beisiegel, and art historian Charlie Miller. (Photo: Pablo Picasso in 1955. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Bertha von Suttner's path to becoming a leading 19th-century pacifist and the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was far from straightforward. The product of the aristocratic and militaristic world of 19th century Bohemia, as a young woman von Suttner eloped to the Caucasus and turned her hand to writing for a living. On her return to Europe she published an acclaimed anti-war novel, Lay Down Your Arms, a work that marked the start of her quest for disarmament. Her long friendship with Alfred Nobel finally bore fruit in the Swedish industrialist's last will which included the Peace Prize. Bridget Kendall is joined by Dr. Barbara Burns, Reader in German at Glasgow University, and the editor of a new English edition of Lay Down Your Arms; Dr. Peter van den Dungen, former Lecturer in Peace Studies at the University of Bradford and until recently General Coordinator of the International Network of Museums for Peace; and musician Stefan Frankenberger, the author of an audio book called The Unknown Soldier, In memory of Bertha von Suttner. [Photo: Bertha von Suttner (nee Kinsky),c.1870 Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images]

Over 50 million people died from influenza during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic. Scientists trying to understand why that particular strain of flu was so virulent, dug into Alaska's permafrost to find traces of it to study. Kate Lamble has been speaking to Dr Jeffery Taubenberger who sequenced the genome of the so-called "Spanish" flu virus. Photo: an influenza ward in 1918. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

College sport is a a billion dollar industry in America. Basketball and football attract huge television audiences and crowds in excess of 100,000 at games. It attracts the biggest names and very highest paid coaches in American sport. The players however do not earn a penny. They are 'student athletes' and although some of them will get their education paid for, is it time those players get a share of the massive revenue they generate? (Photo: Aerial view of the half-time show at the Rose Bowl Game 1984. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In July l945 Britain's great wartime leader, Winston Churchill, was defeated in a general election. The Labour party's landslide came just weeks after the surrender of Nazi Germany and remains one of the greatest shocks in British political history. How did Winston Churchill, a hugely popular national hero, fail to win? Louise Hidalgo has been listening back through the archives.Picture: Winston Churchill makes a speech during the 1945 election campaign (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Royal Shakespeare Company opened in Britain in 1961 and changed theatre forever. 400 years after his death, the playwright's work began to be performed in a radical new way. Claire Bowes has been listening to archive of the founder of the theatre company, Sir Peter Hall, and speaking to Britain's longest serving theatre critic, Michael Billington about the move which made Shakespeare more relevant than ever before.Photo: Portrait of English dramatist William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), circa 1600. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In February 1967, it was revealed that two notebooks by the great 15th-century Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci, that had been lost for centuries, had been discovered in the national library in Spain. Louise Hidalgo talks to two people with a personal interest in the discovery, Da Vinci scholar Pietro Marani, and robotic engineer, Mark Rosheim, who used Leonardo's drawings to recreate the artist and inventor's lost Robot Knight. (Photo: A self-portrait by Leonardo da Vinci dated circa 1500. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Eye-witness accounts from the Russian Revolution of October 1917; the first dog in space; Sabah, one of the biggest 20th-century stars of the Middle East; the last journalist to interview Osama Bin Laden; and horror and heartbreak: memories of the First World War. Picture: Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin addressing crowds in the capital Petrograd during the Russian Revolution of 1917. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

3/4 One of the most fascinating, and least understood, features of American democracy is that individual states possessed a scope of power much greater than what was given to the central government in Washington. On so many issues, the states went their own way. Whether to teach religion in schools; legalise or outlaw slavery; allow divorce or the sale of alcohol or the sale of firecrackers; permit birth control, pornography, or gambling - on all these matters, and many others, it was up to the individual states to decide. This episode examines the enormous powers possessed by these little leviathans and the diverse ways in which they used them. We visit Dayton, Tennessee, the site of the famous 1924 Scopes Trial, which put before a judge the question of whether the state of Tennessee had the right to ban the teaching of Charles Darwin and evolution from the schools (it did). We talk to experts on the history of marriage in America to understand why some states banned interracial unions while others didn't seem to care. And we talk to Californians who see in the recent rebirth of states' rights the best hope of sustaining a liberal politics in America on matters such as climate control, social welfare and racial equality. (Photo: American teacher John Thomas Scopes (1900 - 1970) (2nd from left) standing in the courtroom during his trial for teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution in his high school science class, Dayton, Tennessee, 1925. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries overthrew the provisional government set up in Russia after the fall of the Tsar earlier that year, and created the world's first communist state - a state that would become the Soviet Union. Louise Hidalgo has been listening back to eye-witness accounts of that tumultuous time.(Photo: Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin addressing crowds in the capital Petrograd during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 7 November 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries overthrew the provisional government set up in Russia after the fall of the Tsar earlier that year, and created the world's first communist state - a state that would become the Soviet Union. Louise Hidalgo has been listening back to eye-witness accounts of that tumultuous time. (Photo: Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin addressing crowds in the capital Petrograd during the Russian Revolution of 1917. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Stephen King once said that wannabe authors should avoid using adverbs which end with ‘ly’ but does he follow his own advice? Data journalist Ben Blatt decided to find out. He also analysed texts written by some of the best known authors to discover the words they use obsessively. This year has seen a sharp rise in the number of confrontations in America between far right white supremacists and a group known as antifa – the anti fascists. We look at these two groups in traditionally liberal towns like Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon and ask who is winning and what they are fighting for. Do you ever feel like a fraud? Do you think that you don’t deserve your success and one day you’ll be found out? If so, you may suffer from Imposter Syndrome. It can afflict both men and women and people who belong to minority groups of whom there are stereotypes about competence also commonly experience imposter feelings. Afua Hirsch reports. (Photo: American novelist Ernest Hemingway in 1954 on safari in Africa. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Pablo Picasso is commonly regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, changing our way of seeing with his radical innovation and revolutionary approach. As pioneer of Cubism, godfather to the Surrealists, and creator of the enduring anti-war painting Guernica, he produced thousands of paintings in his lifetime, not to mention his sculptures, ceramics, stage designs, poetry and plays. Rajan Datar discusses his life and work with curators Ann Temkin and Katharina Beisiegel, and art historian Charlie Miller. (Photo: Pablo Picasso in 1955. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"We have outlawed Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". It was just an unscripted joke by US President Ronald Reagan but it terrified ordinary Russians. Reagan's advisor Morton Blackwell tells Dina Newman about the president's love of anti-Soviet jokes and his determination to destroy Communism.Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

"We have outlawed Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes". It was just an unscripted joke by US President Ronald Reagan but it terrified ordinary Russians. Reagan's advisor Morton Blackwell tells Dina Newman about the president's love of anti-Soviet jokes and his determination to destroy Communism. Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ronald Reagan's joke about bombing Russia in the 1980s, the murder of a Palestinian cartoonist in London, communal violence in India a year before partition, the man who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage patch, and Florence Nightingale, in her own words and those of people who knew her. Photo: American president Ronald Reagan in the 1980s at his desk in the White House, Washington DC. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person to be awarded twice in two different fields. Her discoveries in the field of radioactivity – adding polonium and radium to the table of elements – changed the course of scientific history and led to huge advances in the treatment of cancer. Quentin Cooper traces Marie Curie's extraordinary life story with Patricia Fara, president of the British Society for the History of Science; Maciej Dunajski, mathematician and theoretical physicist at Cambridge University; and Susan Quinn, author of Marie Curie: A Life. (Photo: Marie Curie. Credit: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images)

College sport is a a billion dollar industry in America. Basketball and football attract huge television audiences and crowds in excess of 100,000 at games. It attracts the biggest names and very highest paid coaches in American sport. The players however do not earn a penny. They are 'student athletes' and although some of them will get their education paid for, is it time those players get a share of the massive revenue they generate? (Photo: Aerial view of the half-time show at the Rose Bowl Game 1984. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Anton Mesmer was a doctor who claimed he could cure people with an unknown force of animal magnetism. He was the subject to a committee that found there was no evidence for his powers. Phil Ball tallks to Simon Shaffer, Professor of History of Science at Cambridge University, about the rise of showmanship in science at the time of Mesmer in the later 18th Century, and to Professor Richard Wiseman of Hertfordshire University about contemporary parapsychology. Image: 1784: Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer (1734 -1815) Austrian doctor known for inducing a trance-like state, called mesmerism, Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In 1904, the great American escape artist, Harry Houdini, made his reputation with a sensational performance at a theatre in London's West End. It became known as the Mirror Handcuff Challenge. Simon Watts introduces contemporary accounts of the show, and talks to magician and Houdini expert, Paul Zenon.(Photo: Houdini later in his career. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1904, the great American escape artist, Harry Houdini, made his reputation with a sensational performance at a theatre in London's West End. It became known as the Mirror Handcuff Challenge. Simon Watts introduces contemporary accounts of the show, and talks to magician and Houdini expert, Paul Zenon. (Photo: Houdini later in his career. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

During WWII some Germans and Austrians classed as 'enemy aliens' by the British were sent halfway across the world to be interned in prison camps in the Australian outback. Bern Brent was a 17 year old refugee from Berlin, who'd fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport - but he was taken away from his life in London and put on a troop ship heading for Melbourne. Hear his story.Photo: 'Enemy aliens' being rounded up in Britain. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

During WWII some Germans and Austrians classed as 'enemy aliens' by the British were sent halfway across the world to be interned in prison camps in the Australian outback. Bern Brent was a 17 year old refugee from Berlin, who'd fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport - but he was taken away from his life in London and put on a troop ship heading for Melbourne. Hear his story. Photo: 'Enemy aliens' being rounded up in Britain. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

On 8 September 1966 the cult American science fiction series first went on air. It was not an immediate hit with audiences. Herb Solow, the original producer of the series, spoke to Ashley Byrne about how the first Star Trek was made.(Photo: Left to right, William Shatner as Captain James T Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 8 September 1966 the cult American science fiction series first went on air. It was not an immediate hit with audiences. Herb Solow, the original producer of the series, spoke to Ashley Byrne about how the first Star Trek was made. (Photo: Left to right, William Shatner as Captain James T Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the summer of 1665, London was gripped by one of the worst epidemics in its history. The outbreak later became known as the Great Plague. Witness hears eye-witness testimony from the time, including an account by famous diarist Samuel Pepys.(Photo: The angel of death presides over London during the Great Plague of 1664-1666, holding an hourglass in one hand and a spear in the other. Published in The Intelligencer, 26 June 1665. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the summer of 1665, London was gripped by one of the worst epidemics in its history. The outbreak later became known as the Great Plague. Witness hears eye-witness testimony from the time, including an account by famous diarist Samuel Pepys. (Photo: The angel of death presides over London during the Great Plague of 1664-1666, holding an hourglass in one hand and a spear in the other. Published in The Intelligencer, 26 June 1665. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1941 the young Orson Welles revealed his first film. He had written, directed and starred in, the story of a great American press baron who dies bitter and alone. Hear archive interviews with Orson Welles about the movie, and the inspiration behind it. (Photo: Orson Welles as Citizen Kane. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

To celebrate the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë’s birth, World Book Club travels back to Victorian England to discuss her captivating and enduring tale, Jane Eyre with writer Tracy Chevalier and biographer Claire Harman in a packed BBC Radio Theatre. The novel traces the fortunes of a young orphaned girl searching for a sense of belonging and identity in a hostile world, plagued by both gender and social inequality. Weaving together the sweeping romance between Jane and Mr Rochester, a social commentary on nineteenth century England and set against the eerie Gothic backdrop of imposing mansions and wild moorland, Brontë has produced one of the world’s most loved and timeless tales. (Photo: Charlotte Bronte. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1908, hundreds of thousands of Londoners crowded the streets to watch the dramatic events of the Olympic marathon. Dorando Pietri, an Italian sweet-maker from Capri, was first into White City Stadium but he collapsed and had to be helped to the line. He was consequently disqualified and Johnny Hayes of the USA was declared the winner. However, with their love of a gallant loser, the disqualification made Pietri a celebrity for British people and he was greeted with cheers wherever he went. Simon Watts tells his story through newspaper reports from the time. Picture: Dorando Pietri crosses the line, Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A British fleet of 11 ships established a penal colony in Australia in 1788. It was the first step towards claiming Australia as a British territory. For the indigenous population, the arrival of British settlers brought violence and disease which would decimate the population. (Photo: Royal Navy ships took 750 British convicts to New South Wales, where they established the first European settlement in Australia. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 7 November 1917 Lenin and his Bolshevik party overthrew the Provisional Government led by Alexander Kerensky. Dina Newman presents Kerensky's comments from the BBC archive. (Photo: Demonstrators gather in front of the Winter Palace in Petrograd, formerly St Petersburg, during the 1917 Russian Revolution. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jackie Robinson was a legendary figure in American baseball - the first black player in the professional game and the man who led the Brooklyn Dodgers to their only World Series triumph in 1955. Tim Mansel talks to Robinson's son, David, and to veteran US sports writer, Roger Kahn. The programme was first broadcast in 2011. (Photo: Jackie Robinson in the 1950s. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

Between the 16th and 19th Centuries, hundreds of thousands of Europeans were captured by pirates known as the Barbary corsairs. Many spent the rest of their lives in slavery in North Africa. We hear the account of one English boy, Thomas Pellow, who was a slave of the Moroccan Sultan, Moulay Ismail, for 23 years. (Photo: Corsairs attack a ship off the Barbary Coast of North Africa, circa 1700. A lithograph by Collette. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The black American sprinter made history at the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted in Nazi Germany where he won four gold medals. By winning gold for the 100m - in a time of 10.3 seconds, and for the long jump, the 200m and the 4x100m relay he made a mockery of the Nazi ideology of Aryan supremacy. Using the BBC Archive, we look back at his remarkable career. With contributions from his wife Ruth Owens, team mate Marty Glickman and Yogi Mayer, a German decathlete who had been excluded from the competition for being Jewish, but had managed to get tickets to see Jesse Owens. Presented by Alex Last. This programme first broadcast in August 2015. Picture: The sprinter and athlete, Jesse Owens. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In August 1945 Japan surrendered to the Americans and World War Two finally came to an end. Within days, prisoners held by the Japanese in China began to be released. Among them, a young American girl, Mary Previte. She tells her story to Witness. (Photo: The Japanese delegation arrives on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, to sign the Instrument of Surrender. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 6 August 1945 an American bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Tens of thousands of people were killed immediately. Witness presents a vivid first-person account from the BBC archives, of a young Japanese schoolgirl who survived the attack. (Photo: The destruction left by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1956, the Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, became an FA Cup hero by breaking his neck at Wembley but playing on to the end of the final. Trautmann was a former Nazi paratrooper who adopted England as his home country after being taken prisoner during World War Two. Simon Watts introduces BBC archive recordings of Trautmann and speaks to Catrine Clay, author of Trautmann's Journey. (Photo: The injured Bert Trautmann at the end of the 1956 FA Cup Final. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 19 May 1935, the death was announced of the English soldier, adventurer and writer, TE Lawrence, who was known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence, who was immortalised in a film of the same name, played a leading role in the Arab revolt against Ottoman rule that helped shape the modern Middle East. Witness listens back through the archives and talks to TE Lawrence's biographer Jeremy Wilson about this enigmatic and complex man. (Photo: Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888 - 1935) known as Lawrence Of Arabia, in around 1919. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1915, the passenger liner RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,200 lives. The liner had been travelling from New York to Liverpool. It was one of the most controversial incidents in WW1 and helped turn American opinion against Germany. (Photo: Illustration from The Graphic - A Crime That Has Staggered Humanity: The Torpedoing Of The Lusitania, 15 March 1915, drawn by Charles Dixon. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Dr Susie Mitchell hears the story of the 19th Century Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell. Maxwell's lifelong curiosity about the world and his gift for solving complicated puzzles led him to a string of discoveries. He was the first person to demonstrate a way of taking colour photographs, and he used mathematics to work out what the rings of Saturn were made of before any telescope or spacecraft was able to observe them close up. His most important achievement however was the discovery of electromagnetism, as neatly described by four now famous lines of equations. His prediction of electromagnetic waves led on to a huge range of today’s technology, from mobile phones and wi-fi equipment to radio, X-rays and microwave ovens. Albert Einstein considered him a genius, and another scientist Heinrich Hertz described him as ‘Maestro Maxwell’. The 2015 International Year of Light celebrates, amongst other events, the anniversary of his ground-breaking publication about electromagnetism. So the only question is - how come the name James Clerk Maxwell isn't better known? (Photo: James Clerk-Maxwell. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 28th April 1969, the general who had dominated French politics for almost 30 years, Charles de Gaulle, resigned as president. With the help of de Gaulle's biographer, Jonathan Fenby, Witness looks back at the life and legacy of the man who twice saved France. (Photo: General Charles de Gaulle in 1940 at the BBC delivering his historic speech asking the French people to fight Germany. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1967, the Yorkshire cyclist, Beryl Burton, set a world record in the 12 hour time trial that stands to this day. It was arguably the greatest in a long list of achievements which also included seven world championships and numerous British records. Many now consider Beryl Burton the best woman cyclist of all time. Kirsty McQuire, of Sparklab Productions, talks to Beryl's husband, Charlie, and cycling commentator, Phil Liggett. (Photo: Beryl Burton in action on the track. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Burmese independence leader was born on February 13th 1915. He negotiated with the British over the end of colonial rule but was assassinated just months before his country made it to independence. Hear a rare interview with one of his contemporaries - Ba Aye. (Photo: Aung San in 1947. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On February 13th 1945 the Allies began a series of air raids against the German city of Dresden. The bombing started a firestorm in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, and the cultural and architectural centre of Dresden was completely destroyed. (Photo: Dresden in the aftermath of the bombardment. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On February 13th 1945 the Allies began a series of air raids against the German city of Dresden. The bombing started a firestorm in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed, and the cultural and architectural centre of Dresden was completely destroyed. (Photo: Dresden in the aftermath of the bombardment. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the early months of 1940, Finland was in a desperate fight for survival against the might of the Soviet Union. Hear from Finnish veteran, Antti Henttonen, who was 17 when he joined up. He survived the war but lost his family home. (Photo: Finnish troops on skis on the Russo-Finnish border in 1939. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the early months of 1940, Finland was in a desperate fight for survival against the might of the Soviet Union. Hear from Finnish veteran, Antti Henttonen, who was 17 when he joined up. He survived the war but lost his family home. (Photo: Finnish troops on skis on the Russo-Finnish border in 1939. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Eyewitnesses describe the first ever bombing raids on England in January 1915 during World War One. The raids were carried out by huge German airships called Zeppelins. (Photo: The L2, a German naval Zeppelin during World War I, around 1914. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Fought during the winter months of 1944, it was the last major German attack on the Western Allies in World War II. Witness speaks to Keith Davis, an American survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. Photo: American tanks in Belgium in January 1945. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Fought during the winter months of 1944, it was the last major German attack on the Western Allies in World War II. Witness speaks to Keith Davis, an American survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. Photo: American tanks in Belgium in January 1945. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

The premiere of one of the most successful films ever made, was held in Atlanta on 15 December, 1939. A sprawling romantic epic it was set during the American Civil War. Years later some of the cast and crew spoke to veteran Hollywood reporter Barbra Paskin. (Photo: Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, the stars of Gone With the Wind. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lord Lucan disappeared in 1974 after his nanny was murdered, and his wife brutally beaten. The son of the nanny, Neil Berriman tells the story of one of Britain's most well-known unsolved crimes. (Photo : Lord Lucan on his wedding day. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In November 1899, Viennese neurologist Sigmund Freud published a book called The Interpretation of Dreams. It was the beginning of a new science he called psychoanalysis, which would revolutionise our understanding of human psychology. Witness hears from Sigmund Freud himself in the only known recording of his voice - from a BBC interview in 1938. (Photo: Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud c.1920. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In July 1904, the great Latin American poet Pablo Neruda was born in a remote town in the south of Chile. Witness presents an interview which Neruda gave to the BBC in 1965. Listen to the memories of fellow Chilean author, Ariel Dorfman. Picture: Pablo Neruda receives the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Among the mourners at the funeral of the great Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky, in 1936 was a mysterious baroness. Moura Budberg had been Gorky's lover and, before that, the lover of a British secret agent who'd been thrown into a Soviet jail. Her extraordinary life led some to call her the Russian Mata Hari. But was she really a spy? (Photo: Baroness Moura Budberg. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

After World War Two, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - formerly King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson - settled in Paris. Hear archive accounts of their life in effective royal exile, after the Duke gave up his crown to marry divorcee Simpson. Plus royal historian Hugo Vickers. (Photo: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in June 1967. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In early 1967, the American guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, took London by storm. His flamboyant style and new ways of playing the electric guitar enthralled everyone from the Beatles to Eric Clapton. Hendrix's English girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, recalls her relationship with a man who would become a musical legend. This programme was first broadcast in 2013. (Photo: Jimi Hendrix. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1974, bombs exploded at two busy pubs in the English city of Birmingham, killing 21 people. The IRA were blamed. Witness speaks to Les Robinson, who survived the attack. (Photo: Debris and damage from the bomb in the basement pub. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In November 1933, one of the first in a series of dust-storms hit the central United States. In the following years, hundreds of thousands of farmers would migrate to California. Witness tells their story using archive recordings from the Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin collection at the Library of Congress. (Photo: Dust storm engulfing houses. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

It is 60 years since an American academic Alfred Kinsey published an in-depth study of women's sex lives. He and his researchers had interviewed thousands of women about their experiences. The results shocked America. Hear from his daughter, who took part in the research. Photo: Dr Alfred Kinsey (centre) with his team of researchers from Indiana University. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

Re-education is still used as a form of punishment in Communist China. Hear from Robert Ford, a British man who spent five years being re-educated in the 1950s after being captured by Chinese soldiers in Tibet. (Photo: Chinese soldiers enter Tibet in 1950. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the summer of 1935 the world's most famous programme for treating alcoholism, Alcoholics Anonymous, was founded in Akron, Ohio. (Photo: Two men pouring alcohol down a drain during prohibition in America circa 1920. Credit : Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1953, a posthumous work by the Austrian thinker, Ludwig Wittgenstein, revolutionised philosophy. Written in a unique, sometimes poetic style, Philosophical Investigations contained new thinking about the nature of language. Simon Watts brings together BBC archive recordings of Wittgenstein's friends and colleagues, and hears from the philosopher's biographer, Ray Monk. (Image: Ludwig Wittgenstein. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In January 1698, the young Peter the Great began a three-month visit to London. During his stay, the young Tsar got drunk and pursued actresses, but also found time to study British technology closely. Peter left London determined to turn Russia into a more western nation equipped with a Navy to rival England's. The story of the tsar's visit is told through contemporary accounts and from Professor Anthony Cross, author of Peter the Great Through British Eyes. Image: Peter the Great. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

This month in a very special edition, we’re celebrating that most English of novelists Jane Austen. It’s two hundred years this month since the publication of Pride and Prejudice and we’ve invited bestselling British novelist and Jane Austen aficionado PD James, along with Anglo-Pakistani writer Moni Mohsin, also a great Austen fan and from Australia Susannah Fullerton, President of the Australian Jane Austen Society, all here to share with us their passion for this much loved classic English novel. We’ll also be hearing from other writers from around the world – AS Byatt, Colm Toibin, Nii Parkes, Kamila Shamsie, to name a few, why the razor-sharp wit of Elizabeth Bennet and the cool hauteur of the gorgeous Mr Darcy are still drawing in more readers than ever across the globe in the twenty-first century. Susannah Fullerton is the author of Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Image: Jane Austen, Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

During World War II, Allied bombing raids brought death and destruction to German cities. A controversial memorial to the British aircrew who flew on bombing missions is being unveiled in London. Douglas Hudson is one of the airmen who took part - many of his fellow fighters were shot down. (Image: British Airforce AVRO Lancaster Bomber of the 50 Squadron in flight during World War II. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

During World War II, Allied bombing raids brought death and destruction to German cities. A controversial memorial to the British aircrew who flew on bombing missions is being unveiled in London. Douglas Hudson is one of the airmen who took part - many of his fellow fighters were shot down. (Image: British Airforce AVRO Lancaster Bomber of the 50 Squadron in flight during World War II. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1971, the New York Times published one of the most important leaks in US history - 7000 pages of top-secret Defence Department documents known as the Pentagon Papers. The Papers were leaked by a Pentagon analyst called Daniel Ellsberg in an attempt to end the Vietnam War. He tells his story to Witness. (Photo: Daniel Ellsberg in the 1970s Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

Otis Williams is the sole constant in the life of one of the most successful groups in Motown history. He formed The Temptations in 1961, and the record sales tell a story of extraordinary success.If rock and roll was about sex and drugs, Motown was all that and more. So how has he sidestepped the cocaine addiction, the drink and the depression that killed other members of his group? Did he ever feel he got his just rewards for so much success? And when will he finally decide he has had enough?(Image: Otis Williams. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

It is almost 50 years since the young British designer led a fashion revolution. She remembers how the look that came to embody swinging London was created. (Photo: Mary Quant. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

For several days over Christmas in 1914 the fighting stopped on the battlefields of the First World War. British and German soldiers left their trenches to sing carols, exchange gifts and even play football. With archive recordings from the BBC and testimony from the Imperial War Museum. Image: British and German troops make a Christmas and New Year truce at the Western Front, Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images