Days That Shook the World

6 May 1937 And 27 January 1986. Two traumatic air disasters highlighting the human cost of aviation: the transatlantic crossing of the luxurious airship Hindenburg ends in disaster while tragic events accompany the launch of the Challenger space shuttle.

25 December 1914 The first Christmas of World War 1 bore witness to an incredible phenomenon. A spontaneous truce broke out in the murderous trenches, led by the gun-fodder troops of each side and reluctantly followed by, for once, important officers and generals.

7 December 1941 The devastating pre-emptive strike on the American fleet in Hawaii that caught the USA sleeping was a strategic triumph for the Japanese. With eye-witness accounts and reconstructions, we relive the events that propelled America into the second World War.

9 May and 28 August 1963. The intriguing stories behind two of Britain's most audacious robberies centres on the parts played by the central characters mastermind criminals, victims, a getaway driver and the King himself.

22 August 1962 and 20 July 1944. Two assassination attempts that, if successful, might have changed the course of history: the Algerian Secret Army's attempt to shoot President de Gaulle of France and Colonel von Stauffenberg's planting of a bomb under Hitler's desk.

12 April 1633 and 12 April 1961. Two days on which science challenged the conventional view of our place in the universe: April 12, 1633 when Galileo stands trial for heresy for claiming the sun and not the Earth is the centre of the known universe, and exactly 328 years to the day later (1961) when Soviet cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin steps from the Earth into space.

September 1824 and 20 November 1953 Two archaeological 'discoveries' which profoundly altered our understanding of the natural world: the first unearthing of the bones of an ancient giant reptile, and the astonishing discovery of the 'missing link' between ape and man - soon to be revealed as an elaborate hoax.

14 April 1865 and 19 April 1995 Eye-witness accounts, key figures and court transcripts are used to retell tow terrorist acts which shook America. The killing of the President and the bombing of a federal office over a century apart were both committed by Americans seemingly at war with their own country.

1 May 1960 and 18 February 1962 These two stories from the height of the Cold War illustrate the mistrust and suspicion of an era. A spy plane shot down from the skies over Russia and the eventual dramatic exchange of the pilot for a Russian spy across a bridge in Berlin.

19 May 1536 and 10 December 1936 The Story of two English kings whose private affairs become national events - how the Queen of England gambled everything only to end her life on the scaffold and how the King put his love for a divorcee before his duty to the nation.

19 June 1953 and 25 May 1951 The differing fates of the most famous Soviet spies are explored as, in the USA, the Rosenbergs face the electric chair for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets and, after a dramatic flight, the British spies Burgess and Maclean find safety in the hands of the KGB.

26 October 1881 and 14 February 1929 From the wild west and the mob-run city come two stories that have entered American mythology: the gunfight in the obscure mining town of Tomestone and Al Copone's frenzied attack on George 'Busgsy' Malone in Chicago.

30 October 1938 and 24 April 1983 Over a million radio listeners panic thinking the nation was being attacked by Martians in Orsen Welles 'War of the Worlds' and one of the world's most venerable newspapers falls for fake diaries of Adolf Hitler. Clever fakers or just a gullible public?

11 November 1918 This dramatic story of the final days of World War 1 finds soldiers still fighting and Germany turning to anarchy. Meanwhile, in a wood in France, hostile negotiations take place in a race to end the war.

6 December 1773 and 14 August 1947 The catalyst and repercussions of freedom from colonial rule are explored in the American 'patriots' raid on a British ship and the web of devastation and destruction the soured India's independence celebrations.

7 June 1967 By the third day of a six day war, Israeli forces have destroyed egypt's armies in the Sinai, captured the West Bank and seized the Old City of Jurusalem. But the euphoria of victory soon turns to anguish.

4 June 1942 At a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the massed forces of the US and Japanese fleets meet for a decisive showdown. In the space pf just four minutes, the entire course of World War II is about to be transformed.