Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

My Century

The story of the 20th Century, by those who were there at the era's most important moments

World Service,283 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Witnesses to the 20th Century
Those who first saw the structure of DNA to the people who trained for Apollo XVI
08 Jan 1998,28 mins
Introduction to My Century
The radical events of the 20th Century altered the balance between countries and societies
07 Dec 1998,28 mins
Invention of the Soft Contact Lens
Czech chemist Otto Wichterle invented the soft contact lens, but preferred to wear glasses
15 Jan 1999,4 mins
Invention of the Jet Engine
Engineer Frank Whittle's invention began the era of widespread international air travel
15 Jan 1999,4 mins
Invention of the Silicon Chip
The invention of the silicon chip and predictions for its future
15 Jan 1999,4 mins
Witnessing War
Listen to witness accounts from World War I to the shelling of Sarajevo
17 Jan 1999,28 mins
Invention of the Vacuum Cleaner
From pillowcase to an idea inspired by the dust filtering system used at a saw mill
18 Jan 1999,4 mins
Invention of Television
How electronic TV production works using transmitters, receivers and cathode ray tubes
18 Jan 1999,4 mins
The Siege of Leningrad
"There just wasn't enough food. The hunger drove people insane" recalls Elena Taranukhina
18 Jan 1999,4 mins
World War I Stretcher Bearer
"They were all cannon fodder" Australian veteran Edward Smout recalls Passchendaele
19 Jan 1999,4 mins
Witnessing Inventions
From the soft contact lens to TV, from the jet engine to the silicon chip
19 Jan 1999,28 mins
Biafra, Nigerian Civil War
Chief Emeka Ojukwu led the Biafran war of secession in Nigeria from 1967 - 1970
20 Jan 1999,4 mins
Nicaraguan Revolution
"We didn't have free elections" Fighting for the Sandinistas to challenge the dictatorship
20 Jan 1999,4 mins
Shelling of Sarajevo
Edo Dedovic was a teenager when he was injured during shelling at Sarajevo in Bosnia
22 Jan 1999,4 mins
Being Kurdish
Kurdish musician Tara Jaff on belonging to a community with no nation of their own
25 Jan 1999,4 mins
Birth of a Nation - China
Xu Xiaobing and Hou Bo heard Chairman Mao proclaim the People's Republic of China
25 Jan 1999,4 mins
Birth of a Nation - Israel
The UN voted for the partition of Palestine allowing the creation of a Jewish state
25 Jan 1999,4 mins
Birth of A Nation - India
Journalist Khushwant Singh heard Jawaharlal Nehru announce Indian independence in 1947
25 Jan 1999,4 mins
Birth of a Nation - Ghana
John Offeh recalls how his country's new found liberty affected ordinary people
25 Jan 1999,4 mins
Beliefs in the 20th Century
People share their memories and experiences of their faith in the 20th Century
26 Jan 1999,28 mins
Birth of a Nation
From Chairman Mao declaring the People's Republic of China to Ghana's independence
28 Jan 1999,28 mins
New Home, Old Faith
Mohammed Accram Khan-Cheema on how he almost lost touch with Islam when he emigrated
01 Feb 1999,4 mins
Losing a Loved One
Helia Lopez Zarsoza's sister's fiancé's disappearance and how her faith helps her
01 Feb 1999,4 mins
After Amritsar
Aftar Singh on being caught up in Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amristar
01 Feb 1999,4 mins
Surviving the Holocaust
Lucille Eichengreen saw her entire family killed, what affect has it had on her faith?
01 Feb 1999,4 mins
No Healthcare for Prisoners
"What they really need is treatment", says prisoner Gilberto Fernandez
03 Feb 1999,4 mins
Reporting the Nuremberg Trials
Stefan Heyn on the defendents responsible for the horrific events of the Holocaust
03 Feb 1999,4 mins
An Enemy of the State in Maoist China
Nien Cheng was imprisoned in solitary confinement for six and a half years
03 Feb 1999,4 mins
Wartime Love and Persecution
Gad Beck on life in Nazi Germany as a gay man and how he lost his true love
03 Feb 1999,4 mins
Surviving a Soviet Labour Camp
At 28, the Russian poet Irina Ratushinskaya was imprisoned for her writing
03 Feb 1999,3 mins