Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.
In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise gay marriage. Four couples were chosen to take part in a collective wedding at midnight which was broadcast on TV. Hélène Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus talk about the wedding they thought they'd never have.
Our guest Lauren Moss, the LGBT & Identity Correspondent at BBC News tells us about the history of gay marriage. Also, the man who risked his life to make the audio recordings which blew open one of the biggest corruption scandals in Spain's recent history.
Then we hear the story of the 1970s defection from the Soviet Union of a world-famous ballerina. Plus, the mystery surrounding the fate of the last king of France's son and the man who really does believe that laughter is the best medicine.
Contributors: Hélène Faasen & Anne-Marie Thus - the first lesbian couple to get married legally. Lauren Moss - LGBT & Identity Correspondent at BBC News. José Luis Peñas - the man that made secret recordings that revealed the Gurtel scandal. Prof Jean Jacques Cassiman - Belgian geneticist. Deborah Cadbury - historian. Dr Madan Kataria – founder of World laughter day.
(Photo: The couple arrive to be married at the Amsterdam City Hall. Credit: Marcel Antonisse/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
The mystery of the disappearing frogs
Storming the Stasi HQ
The Computers for Schools revolution
The book that warned of an end to civilisation
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
The Romanian revolution
The Cuban writer who defied Castro
The man who gave his voice to Stephen Hawking
I saw the soldiers who killed El Salvador's priests
Rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean
Britain's secret propaganda war
'Jane' - the underground abortion service
The fall of the Berlin Wall
An environmental history special
Black British history
The birth of the People's Republic of China
Fighting the Islamic State group online
The Cambridge spy network
Conflict timber in Liberia's civil war
The outbreak of World War Two
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