The History Hour
Feb 21, 2026
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Guri Hjeltnes, an author and World War Two historian.
We start with Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway during World War Two by hearing about a secret resistance operation known as “The Shetland Bus”.
Then, we learn about a playboy spy who, during the 1940s, became one of wartime’s most successful double agents and the reported inspiration behind James Bond.
We hear how a black and white photograph taken in 1982, of a mother and her young daughter raising their arms in protest, became a symbol of Argentina’s resistance.
Plus, the public health crisis in America in 1980 that led to the setting up of the Tampon Task Force.
In sport, we speak to the BMX rider known as "The Canadian Beast" who took part in the first Extreme Games in 1995.
Finally, we hear from an Austrian mountaineer who spent seven years in Tibet and, in 1948, became friends with the country’s spriritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Contributors:
Leif Larsen – Norwegian sailor and a skipper on “The Shetland Bus”.
Dusko Popov – British double agent during World War Two.
Adriana Lestido - Argentinian newspaper photographer.
Nancy King Reame – Professor Emerita Columbia University and researcher with the Tampon Task Force.
Jay Miron - Canadian BMX rider.
Heinrich Harrer – Austrian mountaineer who became a tutor to the Dalai Lama.
(Photo: Leif Larsen (middle) and other member of The Shetland Bus. Credit: Scalloway Museum)
