Witness

Sweden’s most beloved pastry is the cinnamon bun and every year on 4 October, locals celebrate the sweet, spiced snacks.The country’s first official Cinnamon Bun Day (or Kanelbullens dag in Swedish) took place in 1999.The woman behind the idea, Kaeth Gardestedt, tells Maddy Savage how the Swedish public embraced the event and turned it into a huge annual tradition.A PodLit production for BBC World Service(Photo: Traditional Swedish cinnamon buns. Credit: Natasha Breen/Getty Images)

In the 1990s, Bluetooth was invented in a lab in Lund, Sweden. The technology is used today to wirelessly connect accessories such as mice, keyboards, speakers and headphones to desktops, laptops and mobile phones. It’s named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king who was said to have blue teeth.Sven Mattisson, one of the brains behind the technology, tells Gill Kearsley how the name Bluetooth came about following some drinks after a conference.(Photo: A mobile phone with the Bluetooth logo. Credit: Westend61 via Getty images)

Fifty years ago Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral.The state granted mothers and fathers 180 days that they could divide between them however they saw fit.The pioneering policy was designed to promote gender equality, but it wasn’t an instant success.Later governments decided to increase the number of leave days available and ring-fenced some specifically for each parent.Maddy Savage went to meet Per Edlund who was one of the first fathers in his town, Katrineholm, to embrace the new benefit.A Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: Per Edlund with his youngest daughter Märta Edlund. Credit: Maddy Savage)

In 1958, the late Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars. It's estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world.In 2022, Nils's stepson Gunnar Ornmark told Rachel Naylor about the inventor’s legacy.(Photo: Nils Bohlin modelling his invention. Credit: Volvo Cars Group)

It's 50 years since Swedish pop group Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.The victory provided a platform for the band to become one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time.Abba's current manager, Görel Hanser, has been with them every step of the way. In a rare interview, she speaks to Matt Pintus about the band's meteoric rise to stardom.She also talks about Abba's break-up, the rumour that they were offered $1 billion to get back together and whether Abba Voyage will move to a new country. (Photo: ABBA pictured in 1974. Credit: Getty Images)

April 1994 was the start of the Rwandan genocide, 100 days of slaughter, rape and atrocities.As part of the Tutsi ethnic group, Antoinette Mutabazi’s family were a target for the killings.So her father told her to run, leaving her family behind. She was just 11 years old.As a survivor of the genocide, she speaks publicly about reconciliation and forgiveness. She tells Rosie Blunt her story.(Photo: Antoinette as an adult. Credit: HMDT)

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.Its aim was to block expansion by the then Soviet Union - a group of states which included Russia.The UK’s foreign secretary at the time, Ernest Bevin, played a key role in persuading the US to join the alliance.This programme, produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, tells the story of Nato's founding using archive interviews.(Credit: Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic treaty. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1980, the seaside town of Brighton opened a very unusual attraction.It was the first British beach dedicated to nudists.The opening followed a passionate battle between two local politicians and caused controversy among some locals.In 2011, Madeleine Morris spoke to nudist enthusiasts and those who preferred to keep their clothes firmly on.(Photo: Deckchairs on Brighton beach. Credit: Then and Now Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Since its adoption as a first aid method, the Heimlich Manoeuvre has saved untold numbers of lives around the world. Developed by American physician Dr Henry Heimlich as a way to save choking victims from dying, his manoeuvre would become famous just weeks after it was written about in a medical journal. But as well as his namesake manoeuvre, Heimlich was responsible for several other medical innovations throughout his life.Ashley Byrne hears from Janet Heimlich, one of Dr Heimlich's children.A Made In Manchester/Workerbee co-production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: Dr Henry Heimlich demonstrates the Heimlich manoeuvre on host Johnny Carson in 1979. Credit: Gene Arias/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

In 1967 a dam was built in Mirpur, Pakistan, that would spur a huge global migration. Water diverted by the dam forced around 100,000 people to leave their homes.Thousands migrated to the UK and today between 60% and 70% of Britain’s Pakistani community descend from Mirpur, approximately one million people. Riyaz Begum was one of those who left Mirpur for London. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Riyaz Begum at the Mangla Dam. Credit: Sabba Khan)

In 1985, the British band Wham! became the first Western pop act to play in China.Around 12,000 fans packed into the Worker’s Gymnasium in Beijing to hear such hits as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Freedom.Wham!’s manager Simon Napier-Bell tells Vicky Farncombe how the strangeness of the event affected singer George Michael’s nerves.(Photo: Wham! perform in China. Credit: Getty Images)

It's 50 years since a chance find by Chinese farmers led to an astonishing archaeological discovery.Thousands of clay soldiers were uncovered in the province of Shaanxi after being buried for more than 2,000 years.They were guarding the tomb of the ancient ruler Qin Shi Huang, who ruled the Qin Dynasty.In 2013, archaeologists Yuan Zhongyi and Xiuzhen Li told Rebecca Kesby about the magnitude of the dig, and how unearthing the incredible statues shaped their careers.(Photo: Terracotta soldiers stand to attention. Credit Marica van der Meer/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women and girls across Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army.Referred to as "comfort women", they were taken from countries including Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia to be raped by Japanese soldiers.Today, the issue remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, with continuing campaigns to compensate the few surviving victims.Dan Hardoon speaks to Chinese survivor Peng Zhuying who, along with her elder sister, was captured and taken to a "comfort station" in central China.This programme contains disturbing content.(Photo: People visit a museum dedicated to the victims, on the site of a former comfort station in China. Credit: Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG/Getty Images)

In 1968, Jingyu Li and her parents were among hundreds of thousands of Chinese people sent to labour camps during Mao Zedong’s so-called cultural revolution.The aim was to re-educate those not thought to be committed to Chairman’s Mao drive to preserve and purify communism in China.Jingyu’s parents – both college professors - were put to work among the rice and cattle fields, and made to study the works of Chairman Mao. Fearful for their daughter’s safety, they disguised six-year-old Jingyu as a boy. Over the next six years, the family were sent to four different camps. Not everyone could cope, as Jingyu tells Jane Wilkinson.(Photo: Reading Mao's little red book in 1968. Credit: Pictures from History/Getty Images)

In 1958, a brand new writing system was introduced in China called Pinyin. It used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. The mastermind behind Pinyin was a professor called Zhou Youguang who'd previously worked in the United States as a banker. Pinyin helped to rapidly increase literacy levels in China. When it was introduced, 80% of the population couldn't read or write. It's now only a couple of percent.Despite being responsible for such an important tool in China's development, Zhou was subjected to re-education as part of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. He was forced to work on a farm in rural China. In 2017 Zhou Youguang died aged 111. Matt Pintus has been going through archive interviews to piece together Zhou's life. This programme contains archive material from NPR and the BBC.(Photo: Zhou Youguang. Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944.It was World War Two, and families in southern Italy had already lived through a German invasion, air bombardment, and surrender to the Allies. And then at 16:30 on 18 March, Vesuvius erupted. The sky filled with violent explosions of rock and ash, and burning lava flowed down the slopes, devastating villages.By the time it was over, 11 days later, 26 people had died and about 12,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Angelina Formisano, who was nine, was among those evacuated from the village of San Sebastiano. She’s been speaking to Jane Wilkinson about being in the path of an erupting volcano.(Photo: Vesuvius erupting in March 1944. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Winifred Atwell was a classically-trained pianist from Trinidad who became one of the best-selling artists of the 1950s in the UK. She played pub tunes on her battered, out-of-tune piano which travelled everywhere with her. Her fans included Sir Elton John and Queen Elizabeth II. She was the first instrumentalist to go to number one in the UK. This programme, produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, tells her story using archive interviews. (Photo: Winifred Atwell. Credit: BBC)

In 1992, Guarani was designated an official language in Paraguay’s new constitution, alongside Spanish.It is the only indigenous language of South America to have achieved such recognition and ended years of rejection and discrimination against Paraguay’s majority Guarani speakers.Mike Lanchin hears from the Paraguayan linguist and anthropologist David Olivera, and even tries to speak a bit of the language.A CTVC production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: A man reads a book in Guarani. Credit: Norberto Duarte/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1992 off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth.They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago. The salamander-type animal which was the size of a basset hound lived when County Kerry was semi-arid, long before dinosaurs, as Iwan Stössel explains to Josephine McDermott.(Picture: Artwork of a primitive tetrapod. Credit: Christian Jegou/ Science Photo Library)

A regular morning turned into a day of nightmares for Spanish commuters on 11 March 2004.In the space of minutes, 10 bombs detonated on trains around Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 1,800.With a general election three days away, the political fall-out was dramatic.In 2014, two politicians from opposite sides told Mike Lanchin about that terrible day – and what happened next.(Photo: The wreckage of a commuter train. Credit: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)