On September 12th 1940 a group of French schoolboys discovered the Lascaux caves with their palaeolithic cave paintings in the Vézère Valley in south-western France. It was one of the biggest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century. Lisa Louis has spoken to Simon Coencas, one of the boys who found the cave.

In September 2001, 68 people died after a massive outbreak of alcohol poisoning in Parnu, Estonia. Rachael Gillman has been speaking to Dr. Raido Paasma, who was working as a doctor in the town when the first cases were discovered.

Photo: Victims of the Parnu alcohol poisoning outbreak (AP Images)

In September 1988, a speech by Jacques Delors, the President of the European Commission, helped convince British trade unionists to support the European Community.

For years, many on the left had been sceptical of the EC, regarding it as a 'rich man's club'. The Labour party and the unions had even called for withdrawal from the European Community, but as Europe geared up for the opening of the single market in 1992, Jacques Delors began to talk about something new. It was called the social dimension, and one TUC official, David Lea, wanted to know more, so he invited him to Britain's Trade Union Congress. Claire Bowes spoke to Lord Lea along with John Edmonds, formerly of the GMB union.

Photo: Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, addressing the Trade Union Congress in Bournemouth in 1988 (Credit: Press Association)

On 8 September 1966 the cult American science fiction series first went on air. It was not an immediate hit with audiences. Herb Solow, the original producer of the series, spoke to Ashley Byrne about how the first Star Trek was made.

(Photo: Left to right, William Shatner as Captain James T Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy and Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On September 9th 1976 the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong died. American Sidney Rittenberg first met him in the 1940s and he spent decades living in Communist China. He spoke to Rebecca Kesby about of one of the world's great revolutionaries.

Photo: a poster of Chairman Mao in Beijing in the 1960s. Credit: AFP.

In September 1943, Partisan fighters in Italy began organising in large numbers to help the Allies defeat Nazi Germany and rid their country of the remnants of Benito Mussolini's fascist state. As World War Two drew to a close, there was vicious fighting in many villages between the Partisans and Italians still loyal to the dictator. Alice Gioia speaks to a brother and sister who both took part in the Partisan struggle.

PHOTO: Italian Partisans celebrating victory, May 1945 (personal collection)

On September 3rd 1967 all Swedish drivers had to change the habits of decades, and swap to driving on the right-hand side of the road. It brought them into line with most of the rest of Europe (except of course for Britain and Ireland) but caused a day of chaos. Ashley Byrne has been speaking to Bjorn Sylven who remembers that day.

Photo: The moment when the traffic changed from left-hand drive to right-hand, in Kings Street, Stockholm, at exactly 5am, on September 3rd 1967. Credit: AP

In September 1847 American soldiers marched triumphantly into Mexico City. It was the end of a bloody conflict between the two nations, but the start of the first American occupation of a foreign capital. Mike Lanchin presents written testimonies from the time.

(Photo: General Scott's entrance into Mexico City. Hand coloured lithograph. Credit: Adolphe Jean-Baptiste Bayot)

In the summer of 1978 a British woman, Janet Parker, became the last known victim of the deadly virus smallpox. Professor Alasdair Geddes describes diagnosing smallpox in Janet Parker in 1978 and the events that followed.

This programme is a rebroadcast. Claire Bowes spoke to Professor Alasdair Geddes in 2014.

Image: Smallpox virus, Credit: Science Photo Library

In 1920, the Communist Red Army bombed the old city of Bukhara and took over the Central Asian kingdom. This was the end of an important centre of Islamic culture. Dina Newman speaks to the son of one of the Bukharan reformers who had made a pact with the Communists.

Photo: The Last Emir of Bukhara, 1911 (credit: Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii; Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Prokudin-Gorskii Collection)