Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Elizabeth Abbott, writer, historian and author of the book, "Sugar: A Bittersweet History".

First, we confront the dark history of sugar.

We hear how a researcher in the 1990s uncovered the unethical aspects of Sweden’s Vipeholm experiments in the 1940 which led to new recommendations for children to eat sweets just once a week.

And, how Mexico, a country which had one of the highest rates of fizzy drink consumption in the world, approved a tax on sugary soft drinks in 2013.

Then an event which shaped the second half of the last century - On 14 May 1955, the leader of the Soviet Union and Heads of State from seven European countries met to sign the Warsaw Pact.

Plus, the story of how two rival electricity pioneers, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison brought electricity to the world.

Finally, we hear from Finnish singer Marion Rung on winning the 1980 Intervision Song Contest, the USSR’s answer to Eurovision.

Contributors:

Dr Elin Bommenel - academic Dr Simon Barquera - director of health and nutrition research at The Institute for Public Health of Mexico Dr Elizabeth Abbott - writer and historian Otto Grotewohl - German politician Mark Seifer - biographer of Nikola Tesla William Terbo - relative of Nikola Tesla Marion Rung - Finnish winner of Intervision song contest 1980

(Photo: sugar cubes and fizzy drinks, Credit: Anthony Devlin/Press Association)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Rubina Raja, professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University in Denmark.

First, we go back to May 2015, when the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria was about to fall to Jihadist fighters and how of a group of men risked their lives to preserve the world-famous archaeology.

Plus, the entrepreneur and engineer Yoshitada Minami and his wife Fumiko Minami who came up with a way to liberate women from two to three hours of housework a day through the invention of the rice cooker in 1955.

Then the story of the sinking of the Lusitania, the British ocean liner sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland during the First World War.

Also, celebrating 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe we dive into the BBC archives to listen to correspondents capturing the scenes of joy across London on VE day in 1945.

Finally, how in 2000, keen cricketer Paul Hawkins wanted to turn his passion into innovation when he created the technology we now known as ‘HawkEye’.

Contributors:

Khalil Hariri - archaeology expert who worked at Palmyra’s museum Rubina Raja - professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University in Denmark Aiji Minami - son of Yoshitada and Fumiko Minami Margaret Hague Thomas – passenger on the Lusitania Leslie Morton – merchant seaman on the Lusitania Paul Hawkins – founder of ‘Hawkeye’

(Photo: Palmyra. Credit: PHAS / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service about the Vietnam War and the invention of the hugely popular mobile phone game, Snake.

Don Anderson, a former BBC TV reporter during the final days of Vietnam, discusses the atmosphere in Saigon as the North Vietnamese forces closed in.

We also hear about the network of tunnels in the south of the country which Viet Cong guerrillas built during the fighting.

Finally, the former president of the European Commission and two-time prime minister of Italy, Romano Prodi on steering through the ten-state expansion of the European Union in 2004.

Contributors:

Le Van Lang - a Viet Cong veteran.

Dr Xuan Dung Tran - a doctor in the South Vietnamese Marines.

Don Anderson - former BBC TV reporter.

Phạm Chi Lan - economist at Vietnam’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Romano Prodi - former president of the European Commission and two-time prime minister of Italy.

Taneli Armanto - mobile phone game Snake, inventor.

(Photo: Viet Cong soldier inside the Cu Chi tunnels. Credit: Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is World War Two military historian and archivist Elisabeth Shipton.

We start by concentrating on two events from the last year of the Second World War.

Exercise Tiger took place in April 1944 in preparation for the D-Day landings of Allied forces in Normandy. But during that rehearsal a German fleet attacked and about 749 US servicemen died.

We hear remarkable archive testimony from Adolf Hitler's secretary who witnessed his last days in a bunker in Berlin before he took his own life.

Plus, 20 years since the video sharing platform, YouTube, was first launched.

We hear about the apartheid-era production of the play Othello in South Africa, which broke racial boundaries.

And finally, how in 1985, Coca-Cola messed up a reworking of the drink's classic formula.

Contributors:

Paul Gerolstein - survivor of Exercise Tiger (from archive audio gathered by Laurie Bolton, from the UK Exercise Tiger Memorial, and the journalist, David Fitzgerald).

Traudl Junge - Adolf Hitler's secretary.

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen - on the start of YouTube.

Dame Janet Suzman - on the staging of Othello in 1987.

Mark Pendergrast - author.

(Photo: US troops ahead of D-Day. Credit: Keystone/ Getty Images)