History's Secret Heroes

The day’s top stories from BBC News. Delivered twice a day on weekdays, daily at weekends.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

America through the looking glass - enter a world where nothing is as it seems. As America heads into a presidential election, Gabriel Gatehouse dives back into the labyrinthine rabbit warren of American conspiracy culture. Whilst liberals across the world worry about a possible return of Donald Trump, millions of Americans are convinced that their democracy has already been highjacked - by a sinister Deep State cabal. How did this happen? And who is behind it? That's the story that Gabriel Gatehouse is investigating in this series of The Coming Storm. The search for the origins of this story takes Gabriel inside a paranoid political group that tried to build its own Deep State during the Cold War, now back in fashion in the conservative backwaters of western mountain states. Gabriel meets the January 6 rioters running for office who see their detention as political imprisonment in gulags, and the militia men convinced the CIA and FBI are working against the American people. In the background lurk the tech utopian ideologues, using their vast wealth and power to fund conspiracy flavoured content as they work to create sovereign states free of all government control. And online, amateur finance bros foment distrust of government, central banks and giant financial institutions to millions of followers. What were once fringe ideas have burst into the mainstream. Conspiracy theories have become central planks of Trump's Republican Party, while Democrats run on dark warnings about the end of democracy. With both sides convinced the other is an existential threat, what are the prospects for the survival of the American political system?

The comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Greg Jenner brings together the best names in comedy and history to learn and laugh about the past.

NEW season: Al Fayed, Predator at Harrods. Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed – then owner of one of the most famous shops in the world – is accused of rape and attempted rape by women who worked for him. Now they refuse to be silenced any longer. This is a story of power and control at the very top of British society. At the time of many of the alleged attacks, Mohamed Al Fayed was the owner of London’s luxury department store Harrods, and also the iconic Ritz Paris hotel and English football club Fulham FC. The BBC has heard testimony of over 20 women. Harrods has condemned Al Fayed’s actions “in the strongest terms” and has told the BBC that “as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise.” Harrods says the organisation is different today to the one owned by Al Fayed, and it “seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.” The story begins in the 1980s in Knightsbridge, an affluent, exclusive district of London. It continues through the 90s, following the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, Mohamed Al Fayed’s son, and into the late 2000s. The billionaire was portrayed in the popular television series The Crown, a drama about the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Mohamed Al Fayed died in 2023. This season is about sexual abuse, and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing. World of Secrets is the home of major BBC global investigations and gripping storytelling. Holding the powerful to account and exposing scandals around the world. These are the previous seasons of World of Secrets: Season 1: The Abercrombie Guys. An investigation into claims of sexual exploitation made against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. He and his British partner were accused by several men, recruited for sex events they hosted around the world. Season 2: The Disciples. The cult of Nigerian prophet TB Joshua. A story of miracles, faith and manipulation, told by people from around the world, who gave up everything for one of the most powerful religious figures of the century. Lured by TB Joshua’s claimed healing powers, and the promise that one day they could be like him, they live as disciples in a guarded Lagos compound, cut off from family and friends. Season 3: The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s, in the South African city of East London – by one person. He killed so many, he lost count. In piecing together this story, the new season of World of Secrets exposes the disturbed past and racial injustices of South Africa itself. #WorldofSecrets

Interviews, news and analysis of the day's global events.