Witness History

On 8 August 1963, a gang of thieves held up a British Royal Mail train on its journey from Glasgow to London. They stole more than £2 million. It was the biggest ever raid on a British train.Most of the robbers ended up behind bars, but most of the money has never been recovered.The robbery still occupies a unique place in the history of British crime. In 2012 Chloe Hadjimatheou spoke to Reginald Abbiss who was a young BBC journalist who covered the story.(Photo: The train involved in the robbery. Credit: Getty Images)

In the 1950s, self-made businesswoman Brownie Wise transformed the fortunes of Tupperware by inspiring thousands of housewives to sell it at parties.Her methods for motivating staff included selling the dress off her back and holding annual parties at the company's headquarters.But as she became a star - appearing on magazine covers and chat shows - Brownie's relationship with her boss, Earl Tupper, soured.Author Bob Kealing speaks to Vicky Farncombe about Brownie's rise and fall from grace.(Photo: Brownie Wise tosses a bowl filled with water at a Tupperware party. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2012 a dinosaur skeleton became the subject of both a restraining order and a court case.Mongolian palaeontologist, Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin helped stop the dinosaur falling into the hands of a private buyer after spotting a photo of the skeleton on TV in the United States.The case became known as United States v One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton.She told Gill Kearsley her extraordinary story.(Photo: The 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar on display in Ulan Bator. Credit: Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP via Getty Images)

In the 1980s, a Turkish worker in Germany, Osman Kahlin, provoked controversy when he turned a patch of disputed land against the Berlin Wall into a makeshift farm. The land was owned by East Germany, but lay on the Western side of the wall due to a quirk in the wall's hurried construction. Kahlin fought a running battle with both East and West German police to keep hold of the land, and kitted it out with a fully functioning treehouse that became a local symbol of resistance to authority. Alex Eccleston speaks to Osman's son, Mehmet. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Osman's treehouse. Credit: Schlemmer/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

In the early 1980s deaf children in Nicaragua invented a completely new sign language of their own.It was a remarkable achievement, which allowed experts a unique insight into how human communication develops.In 2020, Mike Lanchin spoke to an American linguist Judy Shepard-Kegl, who documented this process.(Photo: Sign language class in Nicaragua. Credit: INTI OCON/AFP via Getty Images)

In 1982, nests of dinosaur eggs were identified for the first time in India. They were found in Jabalpur, on a historic fossil site and former British military cantonment. The eggs were from Titanosaurs, living at the end of the Cretaceous Period.Palaeontologist Professor Ashok Sahni made the discovery, he’s been speaking to Laura Jones.(Photo: Ashok Sahni at home with fossilised dinosaur eggs. Credit: BBC)

In the 1960s and '70s, José Mujica was a leading member of a notorious left-wing militant group in Uruguay called the Tupamaros. He survived multiple bullet wounds, torture, and executed a daring prison escape. After years held in solitary confinement, Mujica was released from prison in 1985 and entered politics. He became Uruguay’s president in 2009. He speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: José Mujica at home in Montevideo. Credit: Ricardo Ceppi/Getty Images)

It’s been 50 years since a popular Nigerian fast food chain which later became known as Mr Bigg's was first launched. The restaurants began as coffee shops in department stores in the 1960s and were later rebranded in 1986. Mr Bigg's currently has more than 170 locations in 40 cities around Nigeria, and there were also restaurants in other African nations at one time. Justice Baidoo spoke to Emmanuel Osugo, one of the pioneers of the chain. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Photo: A Mr Bigg's restaurant. Credit: Adebola Familusi)

In December 1960, there was an attempt to dethrone the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and replace him with his son. While the emperor was out of the country, the crown prince was taken to the headquarters of the military unit, the Imperial Bodyguard. The conspirators, led by the troops' commander and his brother, also took top government officials hostage. In 2015, Alex Last spoke to Dr Asfa-Wossen Asserate, the grandnephew of Haile Selassie, about the failed coup.(Photo: Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Credit: Terry Fincher via Getty Images)

In 1983 Pope John Paul II visited Nicaragua as part of an eight-day tour of Central America. His trip came at a time of heightened tensions between the ruling Sandinista revolutionaries and the country’s Roman Catholic hierarchy. The Pope, a staunch anti-communist, condemned members of the Nicaraguan clergy serving in the left-wing government and was heckled by Sandinista supporters during a large open-air mass in the capital, Managua. Mike Lanchin has been hearing the memories of Nicaraguan Carlos Pensque, who turned out to protest as the Pope passed by, and of former US Catholic News Service reporter, Nancy Frazier O’Brien, who covered the papal visit. A CTVC production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Pope John Paul II. Credit: Bettmann via Getty Images)

'Welcome to the dungeon' was the message that flashed up on computer screens in 1986.This was widely reported as the first virus for PCs and became known as 'Brain'.'Brain' spread around the world and became infamous when it was featured in newspapers and magazines. Amjad Farooq Alvi tells Gill Kearsley how he and his brother, Basit, came to develop this accidental virus from their shop in Lahore, Pakistan.(Photo: The 'Brain' computer virus. Credit: Amjad and Basit Alvi)

The Greek city of Thessaloniki, or Salonica, was once known as the Jerusalem of the Balkans.It was previously home to a large and thriving Sephardi Jewish population whose ancestors had been expelled from Spain in 1492. However, the Nazi occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1944 almost completely wiped out that culture and community.More than 90% of the approximately 50,000 Jews living in Salonica in 1943 were deported to Auschwitz and killed. Yeti Mitrani was a young teenager at the time.She speaks to Maria Margaronis about her family's escape and her childhood.(Photo: Yeti as a child. Credit: Doris Mitrani)

In 1966, at the height of the Cold War, American singer Dean Reed became the first western rock and roll star to tour the Soviet Union. His visit was such a success that over the next two decades Dean became known as ‘Red Elvis’. His concerts behind the Iron Curtain were sell-outs and he was mobbed by fans. But when he wanted to return home to the United States, the reaction he faced was very different, as Dean’s daughter Ramona told Jane Wilkinson. (Photo: Dean Reed in East Berlin, 1976. Credit: Getty Images)

The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. It took Ruth Handler, who created it, years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.The plastic creation sold 350,000 in the first year and went on to take the world by storm selling millions. It’s now been turned into a live action film starring Margot Robbie which hits the cinemas on Thursday 20 July. Ruth and husband Elliot Handler spoke to the BBC’s Alan Dein in a 1990s documentary which Claire Bowes used to make this programme first broadcast in 2014.(Photo: A Barbie doll from 2009. Credit: Victor Chavez/WireImage via Getty Images)

In the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire. The one in China was held at the Forbidden City in Beijing bringing an end to eight years of occupation. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese generals handed over their swords. The United States, China, Russia and the United Kingdom were all represented. John Stanfield, now 103, is the last surviving British person who was there. He recalls to Josephine McDermott how he signed the surrender declaration documents on behalf of the British.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

In January 1991, more than half a million people protested in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. They wanted to stop Soviet troops taking over important landmarks, so they built barricades and camped out on the streets. Vents Krauklis was among the demonstrators. He’s been speaking to Laura Jones.(Photo: People filling the streets of Riga during the Barricades. Credit: 1991 Barricades Museum, Riga/Ilgvars Gradovskis)

The story of how tamoxifen went from a failed contraceptive pill, to being used to prevent and treat breast cancer around the world. It was the first ever targeted cancer drug. Laura Jones speaks to Professor V. Craig Jordan, who helped bring it to the world’s attention in the 1970s.

In 1999, Japanese software developer Shigetaka Kurita created the first emoji. The umbrella was one of 176 original images, featuring weather, transport signs, numbers and emotions.He was inspired after noticing the popularity of a pager, aimed at teenagers, that used a heart symbol. The idea took off.Now, more than 10 billion emoji are sent by people across the world every day, and World Emoji Day is celebrated each year on 17 July. It's the date marked on the emoji calendar.Shigetaka told Jane Wilkinson of his pride in the creation.(Photo: Umbrella emoji, 1999. Credit: Copyrighted by NTT DOCOMO)

In 1947, after the birth of her third child, Valerie Hunter Gordon, from Surrey decided she was sick of the drudgery of cloth nappies. She came up with a solution – a reusable outer garment, initially made out of parachute material, with a disposable, biodegradable pad inside. She named it the Paddi and once her friends saw it, they all wanted one, so she went into business. Rachel Naylor speaks to Nigel Hunter Gordon, Valerie’s son, who modelled them as a baby in the first adverts.

In 1974, a Hungarian architect, Ernő Rubik invented his very popular puzzle. Nearly 50 years later, more than 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide. In 2015, Ernő told Dina Newman how he came up with the idea and how it became a global phenomenon.(Photo: Rubik's Cube. Credit: BBC)

In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian journalist, invented the ballpoint pen, because he was sick of smudging the ink from his fountain pen.Inspired by the rollers of the printing press at his newspaper, he came up with the idea for a small ball at the end of the pen, which would stop ink from leaking. Thanks to a chance meeting with the Argentine president Agustín Justo, László was invited to Argentina to manufacture his pen. They soon took off and now around 15 million of them are sold every day around the world. Rachel Naylor speaks to László’s daughter, Mariana Bíró.(Photo: Ballpoint pens. Credit: Bernard Annebicque/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

The tale of an extraordinary night at a legendary British gay pub.Princess Diana, disguised as a man, along with star broadcaster Kenny Everett and Queen singer Freddie Mercury enjoyed a drink in London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern one night at the height of their fame in 1988. The veracity of the event has been questioned but Cleo Rocos, who co-starred with Kenny in his hit TV show, described the celebrity night out in her in her book The Power of Positive Drinking.Cleo tells her story to Alex Collins.(Photo: Kenny Everett and Cleo Rocos. Credit: Tom Wargacki/WireImage via Getty Images)

In 1972 the first tourists arrived in the Maldives.They stayed in humble lodgings in three houses, looked after by young Maldivians including Ahmed Naseem, Mohamed Umar Maniku and their friends.Perfect for sunbathing, swimming and fishing. Tourists loved it. Italian travel agent George Corbin promised to bring more travellers if they had a place to stay. On 3 October 1972, the first hotel resort called Kurumba opened, changing the islands forever. Now, more than 1.5 million visitors enjoy the Maldives every year.Ahmed Naseem, one of the pioneers of the industry, shares his memories with Nikola Bartosova.(Photo: Kurumba in the 1970s. Credit: Kurumba)

On 5 July 1948, the UK’s National Health Service began as part of a series of reforms with the aim of supporting and protecting Britain's citizens from the “cradle to the grave”.The architect of the NHS was the health minister in the post-war Labour party government, Aneurin Bevan. The care was to be free for all and paid for by taxation. The birth of the NHS was not without controversy, the British Medical Association worried that doctors would be turned into civil servants.On the same day that the NHS was born, John Marks qualified as a doctor.Dr Marks spoke to Louise Hidalgo about the early days of the NHS in this programme first broadcast in 2009.(Photo: Prime Minister Aneurin Bevan meets staff at Park Hospital, Manchester on the opening day of the NHS Credit: Trafford Healthcare NHS/PA Wire)

In 1977 what was to become the world’s longest-serving democratically elected communist government came to power in eastern India.Poverty and absolute rule by the central government led to West Bengal embracing a different political ideology to the rest of the country. Their rule lasted until 2011 when they were voted out. Communist Party of India (Marxist) official Mohammad Salim shares his memories of when his party came to power with Rumella Dasgupta.(Photo: Mohammed Salim. Credit: Biswarup Ganguly/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

In 1986 a car factory worker from the United States was accused of being ‘Ivan the Terrible’, a notorious concentration camp guard at Treblinka during the Holocaust.John Demjanjuk was extradited from the United States to Israel. His trial became one of the most high profile cases in Israel’s history. He was convicted, then later acquitted and then re-convicted in a German court for having worked in a different camp, Sobibor. Lawyers for the defence, Yoram Sheftel, and prosecution, Eli Gabay, in the Israeli trial tell Dan Hardoon about the process of trying Demjanjuk, and the impact it made on their country’s society. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service. (Photo: John Demjanjuk in the Supreme Court of Israel. Credit: David Turnley/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

On 12 September 2010 Lady Gaga, won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. She accepted the award in a dress made entirely out of beef. 13 years later Franc Fernandez, the man behind the meat dress, speaks to Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his memories of designing the fleshy frock. He says, pulling apart the flesh and stitching it back together, had "serial killer vibes"!(Photo: Lady Gaga in the meat dress. Credit: Getty Images)

The Hungarian city of Budapest's communist statue 'graveyard' opened on 29 June 1993. Statues representing communism were not destroyed, instead they were relocated to a specially designed park on the outskirts of the city.Laura Jones has been speaking to Judit Holp, who runs Memento Park.This programme has been updated since the original broadcast. In the original version, we said Budapest is in Eastern Europe. We should have said that it is in Central Europe.(Photo: Republic of Councils Monument in Memento Park Credit: Getty Images)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

In 1979, The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) purchased photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in its history. Ming Smith was famous for capturing her subjects with slow shutter speeds and using oil paints to layer colour onto her black and white photos.She worked as a model in New York in the 1970s, while pursuing her passion for photography and was friends with Grace Jones.Ming took a powerful image of Grace performing at the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1978 after meeting her at an audition. Ming was also a backing dancer in Tina Turner’s music video for What’s Love Got to Do with It, where she captured Tina glancing away from the camera, in front of Brooklyn Bridge wearing a leather skirt, denim jacket and patent stilettos with huge spiky hair. Ming speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about graduating with a degree in microbiology, modelling and struggling to make a living, and then becoming a famous photographer with a retrospective at MoMA in 2023. (Photo: Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Credit: Ming Smith)

In 1968, British photographer Sir Don McCullin travelled to Vietnam for his second ever war assignment. His graphic photographs of the fighting made his reputation and influenced public opinion in the West.Sir Don produced some of his most powerful work during the visit including 'Shell-Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue'.The photograph shows an American soldier, gripping his rifle whilst the carnage of one of the war’s most intense battle surrounds him.Speaking to Louise Hidalgo in 2012, Sir Don describes how he took several frames of this man and how the soldier didn’t blink once. (Photo: Sir Don McCullin in front of his photographs including 'Shell-Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue'. Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

The Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, is one of Africa’s most celebrated artists. His most famous photographs show black and white scenes of young people partying in the capital Bamako in the joyful, confident era after Mali’s independence from France in 1960. In the 1990s, a chance encounter with a French curator brought Sidibé’s work international acclaim. The wider world had been used to seeing a narrow range of images from Africa, so when Sidibé’s work went on show in Western galleries, audiences were stunned by the exuberant world they revealed. In 2022, Manthia Diawara, the Malian filmmaker and professor at New York University, who knew Malick when he was a roving nightlife photographer spoke, to Viv Jones.(Photo: Danser le Twist, 1963 by Malick Sidibé. Credit: Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris)

It's 65 years since aspiring photographer Art Kane persuaded 58 of the biggest names in jazz, including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to line up for a photo outside a townhouse in Harlem.The resulting photo officially called Harlem 58 became known as 'A Great Day in Harlem' and appeared in Esquire magazine's Golden Age of Jazz edition. But making it wasn't easy. Jonathan Kane, Art Kane's son, tells Vicky Farncombe the obstacles his late father had to overcome to create the iconic image.(Photo: Harlem 58. Credit: Art Kane)

Vogue's war correspondent Lee Miller found herself in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment when the news broke that he was dead.Earlier that day, she and fellow photographer David Scherman had witnessed the harrowing scenes at the liberated Dachau concentration camp. Lee Miller's son and biographer, Antony Penrose, explains to Josephine McDermott the significance of the photograph taken in the final days of World War II in Europe.(Photo: Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub. Credit: David E. Scherman © Courtesy Lee Miller Archives)

On 11 June 1955, more than 80 people were killed and 100 injured at the Le Mans 24-hour race.A car driven by Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd of around 300,000 causing the deaths. John Fitch was an American racing driver on the Mercedes team at the centre of the tragedy.After the crash, racing was banned in several countries. John Fitch spoke to Claire Bowes in 2010.(Photo: Crash at Le Mans. Credit: Fox Photos/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 1975, British forensic artist Richard Neave used a pile of modelling clay, two prosthetic eyes and a woman’s wig to reconstruct the face of an Egyptian mummy. It was to be the start of a 40-year career recreating the faces of the dead using the pioneering ‘Manchester technique’ that he invented. And as his reputation spread worldwide, the police came calling. They needed Richard’s skills to help catch a killer, as he told Jane Wilkinson.(Photo: Richard Neave in 2012. Credit: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

In the early 1960s, the Canadian government launched an experimental programme to take academically promising Inuit children from their homes to be educated in Canada’s cities. The aim was to produce administrators who could spearhead development in the north of the country, but the project came at a great cost for the children and their families. Adamie Kalingo, born and raised in Nunavik, Northern Quebec, speaks to Maria Margaronis about being taken away at the age of 12 in 1964, his years living with a white family in Ottawa, and his eventual return.(Photo: Adamie Kalingo in 1963. Credit: Maureen Bus)

As a child, Bachendri Pal never dreamt of conquering mountains but a chance meeting with a climber changed all that.She applied for a mountaineering course and was chosen to be part of India’s first mixed-gender team to climb Mount Everest. On the journey, she faced icy winds, freezing temperatures and an avalanche that destroyed the camp.But finally, on 23 May 1984, Bachendri became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Everest. It was an achievement that changed her life, as she told Jane Wilkinson.(Photo: Bachendri Pal, pictured on right, on Everest 1984. Credit: Sonam Paljor)

Michael Groom is one of the survivors of a tragic climbing expedition to Mount Everest in Nepal. In 2010, Jonny Hogg spoke to Michael Groom about the moments that went badly wrong when a storm struck the world's highest mountain on 10 May 1996.(Photo: Michael Groom on Everest in 1993. Credit: Guy Cotter)

In 1999 the body of the legendary British mountaineer, George Mallory, was found on Mount Everest. Mallory disappeared on the mountain in 1924 after making a final push for the summit with his fellow climber Andrew Irvine. They were never seen again. Farhana Haider has been speaking to Jochen Hemmleb one of the original members of the team that discovered George Mallory's remains.Photo: George Mallory. Credit: Getty

Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had tried to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, six times before his successful climb with Edmund Hillary in 1953. His son, Jamling Norgay, spoke to Louise Clarke about the spiritual importance of the mountain for his father, and how Tenzing Norgay saved Hillary’s life when he fell down a crevasse on the mountain. (Photo: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Credit: BBC)

On 29 May 1953 Edmund Hillary, climbing with sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first people to reach the summit of Everest.The two men instantly became famous all over the world. Edmund Hillary’s son, Peter Hillary, tells Louise Clarke about his father's heroic climb. (Photo: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Credit: BBC)