The IRA hunger strikes

Max Pearson presents a collection of science fiction themed Witness History stories from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Lisa Yaszek, Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech in the USA.Actor Peter Coyote looks back on the making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestr ...  Show more

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We learn why, in 2004, Uruguayans voted to enshrine water as a human right in their constitution - the first country in the world to do so. And environmental historian Ellen Arnold reveals how water has shap ...  Show more

In 1981 the British government was faced with prisoners dying on hunger strike in a jail in Northern Ireland. The Irish republican activists were demanding to be treated as political prisoners not criminals. Several of them died during the hunger strike, the first, Bobby Sands on ...  Show more

In the early 1980s, imprisoned IRA members went on a prolonged hunger strike, leading to the death of ten men. This is their story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Margaret talks with writer and podcast host Sarah Marshall about the prisons for "fallen women" around the UK, US & Ireland, and the many people who fought against them, like Sinéad O'Connor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Margaret talks with Katy Stoll about the motley collection of rebels who sparked Irish independence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.