Vikings in North America

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We hear how a speech by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, in 1972, caused a break down in relations with the USA. Our guest is an expert in the historic relations between Swede ...  Show more

We begin with the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. It was claimed that he traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds.Our guest, gemmologist James Evans discusses the creation of synthetic diamonds.Next we head to Syria where a gr ...  Show more

Viking exploration changed the course of history in the northern hemisphere. As raiders and pirates, they dominated the seas of northern Europe for centuries. Their fearless and brutal reputations struck fear into hearts from Constantinople to Canada, while their folklore and myt ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Volga Vikings. Between the 8th and the 10th centuries AD, fierce Scandinavian warriors raided and then settled large swathes of Europe, particularly Britain, Ireland and parts of northern France. These were the Vikings, and their story is w ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the North African privateers who, until their demise in the nineteenth century, were a source of great pride and wealth in their home ports, where they sold the people and goods they’d seized from Christian European ships and coastal towns. Nominal ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the North African privateers who, until their demise in the nineteenth century, were a source of great pride and wealth in their home ports, where they sold the people and goods they’d seized from Christian European ships and coastal towns. Nominal ...  Show more