In History

For years, UK politician Jeremy Thorpe's affair was a secret – but when his former lover Norman Scott blurted out the truth, an astounding story emerged.

A Norwegian rocket launched on 25 January 1995 in order to study the Northern Lights, was mistaken by Russia for an incoming nuclear missile on a direct course to Moscow.

Her murder mysteries have captivated audiences for more than a century, but, 50 years after her death, she remains an enigma. A BBC profile from 1955 reveals some of her secrets.

The CIA officer, who has died, aged 84, sold secrets to the Soviet Union, leading to the deaths of at least 10 Western agents. In 1994, the BBC spoke to one of the spies he betrayed.

When an oil embargo rocked the US, the president's radical solution was to make citizens start their working days an hour earlier – even in the darkness of midwinter

With his mocking English accent, the mysterious radio host broadcast to the UK from a German station, spreading rumours and exaggeration in the early days of World War Two.

In a daring raid 75 years ago, four university students stole back an early symbol of the Scottish kings. It had been taken by an English monarch more than six centuries before.