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Categories: Factual: History

  1. The Many Lives of James Lovelock by Jonathan Watts

    The life of the extraordinary, controversial polymath scientist and inventor, 1919-2022.

    BBC Radio 4

  2. The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein by Franny Moyle (Omnibus)

    The extraordinary life of the outstanding artist of the 16th Century.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  3. Heart & Stone

    Exploring our connections to folk stories, songs and landmarks across the UK.

    BBC Sounds

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  4. Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7

    Hugh Sheehan explores how a landmark legal case changed the lives of seven men forever.

    BBC Sounds

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  5. Instrumental: Black British Trailblazers

    Recognising black artists' contributions to Britain's best loved music genres.

    BBC Sounds

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  6. Currently

    Reactive features from Radio 4, exploring what's really happening behind the headlines.

    BBC Radio 4

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  7. Strì gu Sìth aig an Taigh

    Cuimhneachain an dàrna cogaidh

    BBC Radio nan Gàidheal

  8. Nazis, U-boats and the Battle for the Atlantic

    Deep-sea divers hunt for the wrecks of Hitler’s dreaded U-boat fleet.

    BBC One Northern Ireland

  9. Liberation 80

    Marking the 80 years of liberation after German occupation during World War Two.

    BBC Local Radio

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  10. Saint Patrick: Born in Britain, Made in Ireland

    In Roman Britain 1,500 years ago, Patrick’s extraordinary mission changed Irish history.

    BBC One Northern Ireland

  11. This Week in History

    Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.

    BBC Radio 4

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  12. Black Spartacus by Sudhir Hazareesingh (Omnibus)

    Biography of the leader of the slave revolt sparking Haiti’s independence.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  13.

    Belsen: What They Found

    A documentary directed by Sam Mendes, reliving the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

    BBC Two

  14.

    Simon Schama: The Road to Auschwitz

    Simon Schama confronts the Holocaust as a Europe-wide crime of complicity.

    BBC Two

  15. Language City by Ross Perlin

    Linguist Ross Perlin meets speakers of little-known languages across New York.

    BBC Radio 4

  16. Sexton's Tales

    Extraordinary stories of Victorian people buried in London's Highgate Cemetery.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  17. The North Road by Rob Cowen

    An archaeological dig alongside a busy highway inspires a journey through place and time.

    BBC Radio 4

  18. VE Day 80: We Were There

    Rachel Burden speaks to veterans about the VE Day celebrations 80 years ago.

    BBC Two

  19. A Spring Day Like I'd Never Seen Before

    Ilse Rewald recalls secretly living secretly as a Jew in Nazi Germany.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  20. VE Day 80

    Programmes to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

    BBC One

  21. Mnathan-brathaidh an Dàrna Cogaidh/Female Spies of WWII

    Spotlighting the remarkable real lives of six courageous women during WWII.

    BBC ALBA

  22. Richard Dimbleby at Belsen

    Richard Dimbleby returns to Belsen, 20 years after his radio account of its liberation.

    BBC Two

  23. Millions Like Us: Women's Lives in War and Peace 1939-1949 (Omnibus)

    Women's wartime experiences revealed in Virginia Nicholson's account.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  24.

    Unforgotten: The Bradford City Fire

    The story of one of the worst disasters in footballing history and the loss of 56 lives.

    BBC Two

  25. Antwerp: the Glory Years by Michael Pye (Omnibus)

    A vivid and lively account of the city in its 16th century heyday.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  26. Holding the Line by Barbara Kingsolver

    Barbara Kingsolver's first book; an eyewitness account of a woman-led strike in Arizona.

    BBC Radio 4

  27. Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster

    After an implosion on a Titanic dive, investigators search for the truth.

    BBC Two

  28. Mistresses by Linda Porter (Omnibus)

    Sex and scandal at the court of Charles II: the women who shared the king's bed.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  29. Shifty

    There is a twilight zone between memory and history. A time when nothing is yet fixed.

    BBC

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  30. Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick

    China's one-child policy explored through the story of twin girls, separated in 2001.

    BBC Radio 4

  31. Please Live by Lana Estemirova

    A moving memoir by the daughter of assassinated human rights activist Natalya Estemirova.

    BBC Radio 4

  32. Patagonia

    Keith MacDonald on the story of the Scots who travelled to Patagonia over a century ago.

    BBC ALBA

  33. Boom Town: How Merthyr Made the World

    The incredible story of how Merthyr Tydfil became the heart of the Industrial Revolution.

    BBC One Wales

  34. Human

    Ella Al-Shamahi reveals humanity's story across 300,000 years of human evolution.

    BBC Two

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  35. A’ Cluich 'son a bhith Beò: Von Cramm v Hitler/Playing to Survive: Von Cramm v Hitler

    How tennis champion Gottfried von Cramm defied the Nazi regime.

    BBC ALBA

  36. Albert Speer

    A series of programmes about Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister.

    BBC Four

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  37. Live Aid at 40: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World

    A look at the legacy of Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 in reshaping charity and politics.

    BBC Two

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  38. Beautiful Strangeness by Rebecca Stott

    Five original essays on how the mysterious is woven into the ordinary and the everyday.

    BBC Radio 4

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  39. Metro

    An exploration of the Paris Metro and the city's love affair with the underground.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  40. Wolf Moon: A Woman's Journey into the Night by Arifa Akbar

    An elegant exploration of how the night shapes the mind, culture and society.

    BBC Radio 4

  41.

    The Improbable Mr Attlee

    Prof David Reynolds examines the achievements of Clement Attlee.

    BBC Four

  42. On Consolation by Michael Ignatieff (Omnibus)

    William Hope reads five profound and inspirational essays on the language of consolation.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  43. Speed of Light by Laura Cumming

    Laura Cumming explores a 19th-century technological revolution in photography.

    BBC Radio 4

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  44. Y Brotest

    Brwydr ymgyrchwyr heddwch yn erbyn adeiladu byncar niwcliar yng Nghaerfyrddin yn 1985.

    BBC Radio Cymru

  45. Plaid Cymru at 100

    The story of 100 years of Plaid Cymru, exploring its successes and failures.

    BBC One Wales

  46. The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures by Paul Fischer (Omnibus)

    How the motion picture was invented by the mysterious man behind it.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

  47. What Happened at...?

    A journey back to understand our modern world.

    BBC One

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  48. VJ Day 80

    A poignant occasion marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the World War II in Japan.

    BBC One

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  49. The Mystery of the Desert Kites

    An international team of archaeologists explores megastructures in the Arabian desert.

    BBC Four

  50. Witness History: The Guinness Book of Records

    The idea for the Guinness Book of World Records arose after an argument.

    BBC Radio 4 Extra

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