Professional yachtsman Conrad Humphreys and Dan Snow tell the story of Alexander Selkirk, an 18th century sailor whose story, some argue, served as a historical basis for Daniel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe.

In 1940 the Polish resistance decided it needed to send an agent to Auschwitz concentration camp. They were desperate to find out what was going on in a place that even by that stage of the war had an evil reputation. Historian Jack Fairweather tells the story of Witold Pilecki the Pole who volun...

At 07.37 on 6th June 1944, the ramps of the landing craft carrying the men of A and D companies 6th battalion Green Howards went down, and the men stormed up the beaches.

It was D-Day.

Now Dr James Rogers is going to put D-Day under the microscope, following in the footsteps of the men of the ...

Join Dan Snow as he explores one of the world's most fortified islands, discovering Roman ramparts, Victorian gun emplacements and giant underground bunkers built by the German occupiers during the Second World War.

Alderney may be a tiny scrap of land in the English Channel - part of the Channe...

80 years ago Wing Commander Joseph Watts was killed when his RAF Hampden Bomber crashed, as it returned from a bombing raid in Occupied Europe. He left behind a daughter, and also an unborn son. John Watts, born 8 months later, would never meet his father. But recently he discovered that at the R...

Historian Rishi Sharma is a man on a unique mission, a mission to interview every living World War II combat veteran of the allied forces that he can. In the seven years since he left high school Rishi has travelled through every state and across the globe, often sleeping in his car, to film over...

The Heinkel He 111 was the most numerous bomber which the Luftwaffe deployed during the Battle of Britain. It was capable of storing and delivering large bombs (250kg) and had state-of-the-art gyroscopic sights to improve its accuracy. The He 111 was protected armour plating and self-sealing fuel...

On 16 September 1620, 400 years ago, a merchant ship called the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, on a voyage to America. Its passengers sought a new life, for some this meant religious freedom and for some a fresh start in a new land. They would go on to be known as Pilgrims, and influe...

Thomas Penn talks Dan through the rise, zenith and fall of the House of York during the latter half of the 15th century. They discuss some of the key figures of the polarising Wars of the Roses - including the charismatic Edward IV, the cunning Earl of Warwick, the incompetent Henry VI and the (s...

In 865 AD, England was invaded by the Great Heathen Army. The Great Viking Army, as it was also known, was made up of a coalition of Scandinavian warriors mainly from Denmark and, legend has it, four of the five sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Irone...

Versailles, the magnificent royal palace near Paris, home to a grandiose monarchy that was swept away in the Revolution. But there was another side to Versailles - this was also a Palace of Science.

In this special film, Dr. Maddy Pelling visits the Science Museum in London to explore a remarkab...