The world’s first tidal power station is on the estuary of the River Rance in France.

It was opened in 1966 by President Charles de Gaulle and has been capturing the natural power of the oceans’ tides and turning it into electricity ever since.

Alex Collins hears how the project to build it was a cause for national pride and how the facility is now a tourist attraction, as he speaks to Brittany historian Marc Bonnel.

(Photo: La Rance tidal power station. Credit: Getty Images)

A boom in demand for sea cucumbers in Asia in the 1990s set off a confrontation between fishermen and conservationists in the waters off the Galápagos Islands, where the protein-rich ocean creature was found in abundance.

The high price being paid for the sea cucumbers led to a gold rush on the South American archipelago, a chain of 21 islands home to many unique species.

In 2020, Mike Lanchin spoke to a Galapagos fisherman Marcos Escaraby and conservationist Alan Tye, who found themselves on opposite sides of the dispute.

(Picture: Sea cucumber. Credit: Getty Images)

In September 1956, a telephone cable called TAT-1 was laid under the Atlantic Ocean, making high-quality transatlantic phone calls possible for the first time.

Eight months later in May 1957, 1,000 people squeezed into St Pancras Town Hall in London to listen to a transatlantic concert.

The person performing, Paul Robeson, was a globally renowned singer, but he’d been banned from travelling outside the USA. So, he made use of the new transatlantic telephone line to perform to his fans in the UK.

Ben Henderson speaks to John Liffen, who curated an exhibition on TAT-1 and the concert at the Science Museum in London.

(Photo: Engineers build repeaters used in TAT-1. Credit: Russell Knight/BIPs via Getty Images)

In 1953, a winter storm combined with high tides breached sea defences in the Netherlands, more than 1,800 people drowned.

Ria Geluk, remembers the once-in-a-lifetime flood.

In this programme first broadcast in 2011, Ria tells Trish Flanaghan what happened when water overwhelmed the farm she lived on.

(Photo: A man walking a flooded street. Credit: Sepia Times/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. )

In 1971, marine biologist Edward Carpenter made a shocking discovery finding small bits of plastics floating thousands of miles of the east coast of America in the Atlantic Ocean.

More than 50 years later he tells the story of how he had to fight hard to get the scientific world to take notice of his discovery.

He also tells Alex Collins about when plastics in oceans went viral.

(Photo: Plastic floating in water. Credit: Getty Images)

In February 2012, Diana Burkot and other members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot protested inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour against the church and its support for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Some members were arrested and put on a trial which made the news inside Russia and around the world.

Diana kept her participation in the protest secret and avoided going to prison. She shares her memories with Alex Collins.

(Photo: Diana Burkot on stage. Credit: Getty Images)

After the 1973 military coup in Chile, Miguel Enriquez led resistance against the dictatorship. The secret police were ordered to track him down and assassinate him.

His wife Carmen Castillo remembers the day in October 1974 when she was six months pregnant and the military finally caught up with one of Chile’s most wanted men. Carmen tells her story to Jane Chambers.

(Picture: Admiral Toribio Merino, General Augusto Pinochet and Air Force General Leigh in 1973. Credit: Getty Images)

On 6 January 1992, the US Government ordered a suspension of all procedures involving silicone breast implants. More than 2,000 women had complained of poor health and pain after receiving implants.

Among the issues were ruptures of the implants, connective tissue diseases, and even fears of a possible link with cancer. The story raised concerns around the world.

Iain Mackness talks to plastic surgeon Alan Matarasso about the time the US banned silicone filled breast implants.

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Silicone breast implant. Credit: Getty Images)

Tété-Michel Kpomassie grew up in West Africa but he was obsessed with the Arctic. When he was 16 years old he ran away from his village in Togo determined to reach Greenland.

It took him eight years but in 1965, he finally arrived. He then went north to fulfil his dream of living among the indigenous people.

Years later, he wrote an award-winning account of his odyssey, An African in Greenland, which has been translated into eight languages. In this programme, first broadcast in 2019, he tells Alex Last about his journey.

(Photo: Tété-Michel Kpomassie in Greenland in 1988. Credit: BBC)

In 1996, Scotland took to the field for a football World Cup qualifying tie in the Estonian capital city of Tallinn. The only problem was that there was no opposition on the other side.

Paul Lambert was one of the Scottish players who had to take part in the so-called match.

He has been sharing his memories of that time with Matt Pintus.

(Photo: Scotland kick off the match. Credit: Getty Images)