The History Hour

We hear from Magnus Carlsen, who in 2014, became the first player ever to win all three world chess titles in one year, achieving the highest official rating of any player in history.Woman grandmaster, three times British champion and chess historian, Yao Lan is our guest. She talks about the origin of chess.In the 1970s and 80s, scientists in Russia, managed to dig a hole more than 12,000 metres deep. It was called the Kola Superdeep Borehole. One of the geophysicists involved tells us about the deepest man-made hole in the world. Plus, one of the most controversial political scandals in modern US history, the Iran-Contra affair. And from 2010, the first HIV positive passenger to travel legally to the US after a 22-year ban.Finally, the story behind the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing tv show.Contributors:Magnus Carlsen - chess grandmaster and five-time World Chess ChampionYao Lan - chess woman grandmaster, three times British champion and chess historian.Professor David Smythe – geophysicist.Clemens Ruland – first HIV positive passenger to travel legally to the US after a 22-year ban.Karen Smith - co-creator and executive producer Strictly Come Dancing.(Photo: Magnus Carlsen in 2014. Credit: Francois Nel/Getty Images)

During the early years of Syria’s brutal civil war, the neighbourhood of Yarmouk, close to the Syrian capital Damascus, bore the brunt of the government’s viciousness. Known as ‘the Pianist of Yarmouk,’ Aeham tells Mike Lanchin about their struggle to survive the siege, and how music helped him overcome some of those dark days. Dr Gillian Howell, senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne explains how music has been used as a form of protest and honouring lives lost during conflict.After Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, some Christians faced persecution. Between 2002 and 2005, Naghmeh Panahi and her husband, Saeed Abedini, set up a network of secret 'house churches' across the country. It is 70 years since William Golding’s acclaimed novel was published. Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a desert island, and how they survive without adults. Golding's daughter, Judy Carver, spoke to Vincent Dowd, about her father’s work in 2014.In 1999, the small territory of Macau was handed back to China after centuries of Portuguese rule. Lawyer and comedian Miguel Senna Fernandes was a member of the Macau Legislative Council and involved in the historic handover. In 1993, a new combat sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship – UFC. It pitted all forms of mixed martial arts against each other with little to no rules and all contained in an octagon-shaped cage. One of the men responsible for cooking up this new concept was TV producer Campbell McLaren. He tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty how he used controversy to market the violent spectacle. This episode contains descriptions of violence, which some listeners may find distressing. Presenter: Max Pearson (Photo: Aeham Ahmad, the Pianist of Yarmouk and other Palestinian musician refugees in Damascus, in Syria, in 2014. Credit: Rame Alsayed/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

We hear about the half-clay, half-grass exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Argentinean creative entrepreneur and tennis fan Pablo del Campo tells Uma Doraiswamy how he made the iconic court possible in May 2000. Fiona Skille, professor of Sports History at Glasgow Caledonian University, explains the history of sport exhibition matches.In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king. In December 1974 4.5million million people went to the polls to cast their vote. The result was two to one in favour of a republic. Jane Wilkinson looks through the BBC archives to find out more.Next, a mountain massacre in base camp of the Nanga Parbat mountain in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan killed 19 people. . Polish climber Aleksandra Dzik, aged 30, was on the mountain that night, at camp two, and speaks to Megan Jones.Plus, India’s coal-mine rescue. On 16 November 1989, mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill saved 65 miners from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India. The miners, who had been trapped for three days after a flood, were winched out one by one using a tiny, steel capsule. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jaswant's son, Sarpreet Singh Gill.In 2013, a six-year-old from Argentina became one of the youngest people in the world to legally have their gender changed on official documents through self-declaration. Gabriela Mansilla reveals, the fight for recognition was not easy for her daughter Luana.(Photo: 'The Battle of the Surfaces' at The Palma Arena on May 2, 2007 in Mallorca. Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

We hear about Polish war hero Irena Sendler who saved thousands of Jewish children during the World War Two.Expert Kathryn Atwood explains why women’s stories of bravery from that time are not as prominent as men’s.Plus, the invention of ‘Baby’ – one of the first programmable computers. It was developed in England at the University of Manchester. Gill Kearsley has been looking through the archives to find out more about the 'BabyIn the second half of the programme, we tell stories from Iran. Journalist Sally Quinn looks back at the excess of the Shah of Iran’s three-day party, held in 1971.Two very different women – the former Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, and social scientist Rouhi Shafi – describe how it feels to be exiled from their country.Finally, Barry Rosen shares the dramatic story of when he was held hostage in the US embassy in the Tehran for 444 days.Presenter: Max Pearson (Photo: Children rescued from the Warsaw Ghetto by Irena Sendler. Credit: Getty Images)