In short
The History Hour: Norway’s Sushi Contribution and Laurel and Hardy’s Christmas
Episode Overview Episode Title: Norway’s sushi contribution and Laurel and Hardy’s Christmas Host: Max Pearson Description: This episode features various historical accounts, including Norway's introduction of salmon sushi to Japan, a landmark U.S. television opera, disability rights activism in India, a creative police sting operation, and a charming Christmas story about Laurel and Hardy.
---
Key Topics and Discussions
- Norway's Introduction of Salmon Sushi
- Background: In the late 1980s, Norway sought new markets for its growing salmon farming industry.
- Key Figure: Bjørn Erik Olsen, a Norwegian businessman, played a crucial role in introducing salmon to the sushi market in Japan.
- Challenges Faced:
- Salmon was historically not consumed raw in Japan due to concerns about parasites.
- Initial perceptions of Norwegian salmon were negative—described as "smelling like a river" and having an undesirable color.
- Strategy:
- Renamed Norwegian salmon to differentiate it from local varieties.
- Partnered with influential Japanese chefs, notably Yukata Ishinabe, to popularize salmon in sushi culture.
- Outcome: By the mid-1990s, salmon became a staple in sushi restaurants worldwide, largely due to marketing efforts and changing attitudes.
- The History of Sushi
- Origins: Traced back to prehistoric times with fermented fish and rice.
- Evolution: Transitioned to contemporary sushi practices, such as nigirizushi, particularly after the advent of refrigeration.
- Global Spread: Gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1960s, primarily catering to Japanese businessmen, before entering the mainstream.
- The First Made-for-TV Opera
- Event: *Amal and the Night Visitors*, composed by Gian Carlo Menotti, was broadcast live on NBC on Christmas Eve, 1951.
- Significance: This was the first opera specifically created for television, marking a transformative moment in media history.
- Plot Summary: The story revolves around a disabled shepherd boy who encounters the three kings.
- Impact: This production reached more viewers in one night than any previous opera, becoming a yearly Christmas tradition until 1966.
- U.S. Marshalls’ Creative Sting Operation
- Operation Flagship (1985): U.S. Marshals used fake NFL tickets to lure wanted fugitives to a convention center, leading to the arrest of over 100 individuals.
- Execution: The operation included disguises and staged events to maintain the ruse until the arrests were made.
- Results: The sting was successful, showcasing innovative law enforcement tactics and the element of surprise.
- Disability Rights in India
- Key Figure: Javed Abidi, a prominent disability rights activist, advocated for the needs of disabled individuals in India.
- Legislation: The Persons with Disabilities Act was passed in 1995, aimed at ensuring equal rights and access for persons with disabilities.
- Activism: Abidi led protests to push for this legislation amidst political challenges, emphasizing the importance of visibility and activism in achieving social change.
- Laurel and Hardy's Christmas at an English Pub
- Event: The comedy duo spent Christmas in 1953 at The Bull Inn in Bottisford, Leicestershire.
- Community Impact: Their presence was a significant event for local residents, who enjoyed interacting with the famous actors.
- Memories Shared: Locals recounted their experiences of Laurel and Hardy serving behind the bar, engaging with patrons, and celebrating the holiday cheer.
---
Key Contributors
- Bjørn Erik Olsen: Norwegian businessman instrumental in promoting salmon sushi in Japan.
- Nancy Singleton Hachisu: Cookbook author discussing the history of sushi.
- Giancarlo Menotti: Italian composer of the first made-for-TV opera.
- Stacia Hylton: Former U.S. Marshal discussing Operation Flagship.
- Javed Abidi: Disability rights campaigner advocating for legislative change in India.
- Local Residents: Shared personal anecdotes about Laurel and Hardy during their visit.
---
Conclusion This episode of *The History Hour* weaves together fascinating narratives that highlight cultural exchanges, innovative use of media, crucial social movements, and charming historical anecdotes. From Norway's sushi revolution to Laurel and Hardy's heartwarming holiday, these stories encapsulate the diverse tapestry of human experience and influence.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I am Nina Khrushcheva, the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union in 1962. And I'm Max Kennedy, the nephew of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. We explore what was a terrifying moment in history. The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. How close the world came to nuclear war. And what they had to do to pull it back from the brink. The bomb, Kennedy and Khrushchev. All episodes available now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
1:01critical analysis and some jokes that will surely embarrass our children one day. Tune in to Pod Save the World every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts, or catch it on YouTube. We did something that no one else had ever done. There was such an excitement and energy about this moment. It opened the door for everything that rapidly followed. Witness history. History as told by the people who were there. I was walking in space, the first man ever to do so. I felt almost insignificant, like a tiny ant compared to the immensity of the universe. Witness History from the BBC World Service. Listen now.
1:39Search for Witness History wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
1:48Hello and welcome to the History Hour with me, Max Pearson, the amazing characters and stories that have appeared this week on Witness History on the BBC World Service. And coming up, the disability campaigners who changed the law in India. People said, what can we do? And I said, well, look, even if it's a symbolic gesture, we have to come out on the streets. We have to, if nothing else, at least register our protest. Also, we've got Laurel and Hardy at an English pub in the 1950s, plus how hundreds of Washington DC's Most Wanted were caught by the cop's offer of free NFL tickets. They're greedy.
2:22You know, a criminal looks for opportunity and what they can gain for an opportunity. You know, we had family members show up instead of the criminals, so it's not always the criminal shows up. I hate to say they're stupid enough to fall for it. And the story of the first ever made-for-TV opera. Who's calling? Who's calling? The shepherds are calling! Well, this year I got into real trouble. I was supposed to finish an opera for NBC, and I just didn't have an idea in my head. That's all coming up. But before that, we're going to take a look at a key moment in the history of Japanese sushi, a dish characterised by the addition of a protein, mainly raw fish, to sticky rice.
3:01These days, sushi is found all over the world, and one of the main types of fish on offer is usually salmon. But it wasn't always so. In the late 1980s, Norway needed a new market for its growing farmed salmon production. Fish-loving Japan and its lucrative sushi market seemed to fit the bill. But salmon was one fish the Japanese did not traditionally eat raw. Lars Bavanger has spoken to a man from the Arctic north of Norway, Bjorn Erik Olsen, who played a central role in getting salmon on sushi.
3:37The 1954 film The Seventh Samurai opened Bjorn Erik Olsen's eyes to Japan and its culture when he was very young. In my hometown, we didn't have television before 1967. 1967. I was 12 and the first movie I saw was The Seven Samurai. And I was completely taken by that film. And I decided at that moment that I want to be like them in a way. Bjorn Eirik's interest in all things Japanese led him to move to Osaka, Japan's third city, to learn the language. Then he studied the production and use of seaweed at the Kyushu University in Fukuoka. By 1986, this had made him the perfect candidate when the Norwegian government needed a market analyst for its Project Japan, an attempt to turn fish-loving Japan into a big new market for Norwegian fish.
4:39The main reason for starting this Project Japan, as it was called, was the capelin, shrimp, redfish and herring. But by the late 1980s, Norway's salmon farming industry was growing rapidly and it became clear in Björn Eirik's mind that this fish had huge potential. I could see that the most interesting segment of the Japanese market was the sushi and sashimi market, dominated by very valuable seafood such as tuna, bluefin tuna and sea bream and various kind of shellfish. Fish used raw in sushi and sashimi would fetch up to 10 times more than when sold for cooking. There was only one problem. The Japanese didn't eat salmon raw.
5:27The main reason actually was that in the northern part of Japan, the wild fish can catch parasites. When we first introduced sushi salmon or sashimi salmon to people working in the industry like wholesalers or supermarket people or importers. They said, oh, it smells like a river. The color is wrong. It's not red enough. So the whole task was to change the perception, the habits and the attitude of 120 million Japanese to eating salmon raw. To set their product apart from wild Pacific salmon that people in Japan would never eat raw, Björn Eirik and his team came up with a new name for the Norwegian salmon.
6:16My clear conclusion was that we cannot call the Norwegian salmon Shake, which is a Japanese name for salmon, because then it will be mixed with the culture of how to eat a Japanese salmon. We had to give it a new name and we just used the name salmon. So Norway salmon was the Japanese station of Norwegian salmon. And that name was, of course, totally foreign for them. Nobody knew what the salmon was. So we had to build a completely new name. Now the Norwegians began running marketing campaigns in supermarkets for Norway salmon and also linked up with some of the biggest names among Japanese chefs in the early 1990s, including Yukata Ishinabe, famous from the TV cookery programme Iron Chef, created and broadcast by Fuji Television Network.
7:10Mr Ishinabe, the Iron Chef, who was very popular on Japanese TV, we had contact with him and he brought the salmon into his programme and show the difference of the Atlantic salmon to the Pacific salmon. So you got some serious fish influences? He was really an influencer, long, long before the social media. This helped, but a real breakthrough remained elusive. Then things took another turn. By the early 1990s, Norwegian farmed salmon production was growing much faster than what buyers in Europe and the US could handle. 35 ,000 tonnes of salmon were stuck in freezers in Norway, and that was a problem.
7:57And of course all the markets knew this, so the prices really collapsed. And half of the fish farmers in Norway went bankrupt. The risk was that the whole salmon industry will go bankrupt and it will be the end of the farming history. With the situation so difficult, there was a massive push to sell up to 12 ,000 tonnes of the salmon to one of Japan's largest seafood companies for use in traditional cooking, not sushi. But I stopped it. I got the ambassador with me, and we talked with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on telephone, I remember very well, and we said, if you allow this, that could destroy everything that would be done in building up a new reputation of Norwood salmon for sushi and sashimi.
8:40And we also will lose face because we had said to the Japanese industry that we will cooperate, we will not compete with you on your areas. But instead we had to come up with something and we then made an agreement with a company called Nichirei that was specialised in frozen products and they agreed to buy 6 ,000 or 5 ,000 tonnes and market and sell it and pack it as salmon for sushi and sashimi. The Norwegians now had the backing of a major Japanese company that could help market their salmon as they had intended. Yet it was another event that would eventually have a bigger impact on how the Japanese consumed raw salmon.
9:20After a decade of rapid growth, Japan's economic bubble burst at the start of the 1990s. Here's how the BBC's Money Programme reported this in October of 1990. So far, most of the blood has been spilled here in Tokyo's stock market. A year ago, it was proudly boasting it was the world's largest. Since then, it's fallen by 40%. Higher interest rates triggered a crash, which took almost everyone in Japan completely by surprise. Sushi was rather expensive in the restaurants in Japan. And when the economic crash came, the use of this conveyor belt sushi became popular because they could sell the sushi cheaper.
10:04and that meant that families could start going out and eat sushi. And on the conveyor belt, when the fish goes around, the children just can grasp things and they didn't have this kind of negative attitude towards salmon and salmon. So when they saw this orange or golden fish passing by, they took it and they liked it. They liked it very much. And then, of course, the mother tasted it and thought, oh, this is good. So it kind of exploded. it. Björn Eirik left Tokyo in 1994 when his role in marketing Norwegian salmon as sushi came to an end and he returned to Norway. He was quietly optimistic that salmon sushi had been established on the Japanese menu but he wasn't a hundred percent sure.
10:50When I came back in the summer 1995, half a year after I retired from the embassy, I went to one of the sushi shops in Ginza. and the window outside, they have these plastic copies of all the food they serve. And then I saw for the first time this sushi nigiri with the orange Norwegian salmon topping. And then I realized that now it's really a breakthrough when even these fabrics that make the lookalike sushi or plastic are now making the salmon nigiri. Today, salmon is one of the top fish choices in sushi restaurants, not only in Japan. but around the world. When you do put some effort into a vision, to see it come true will make you happy.
11:37But also because I love Japanese culture and to see that the Japanese culture has merged with the part of Norwegian culture makes me very happy. Lars Bavanger was speaking to Bjorn Erik Olsen, the man who came up with the idea of putting raw salmon on sushi rice. So that was the introduction that Norway made to the world of sushi. But how else has that particular style of Japanese cuisine changed throughout history. Nancy Singleton Hachisoo is a cookbook author who's lived in Japan since 1988. So what are the origins of sushi? Because it is a very distinctive style of food. Well, it's been around since prehistoric times.
12:16And the original version of sushi was slices of fish that were fermented in layers between cooked rice and salt, because you always need salt and fermentation, and then probably some seaweed and packed into barrels. And only the fish was eaten. They wiped off the rice part. Then it segued into using vegetables, thinly, and julienned carrots and daikon, various root vegetables. and that started a trend of eating the rice clinging to this fermented fish. And today that style of sushi is called narezushi. So the origins come from a need to preserve food, is that right? Exactly. So nigirizushi came about and became popularized after refrigeration.
13:12During Edo period there were stalls and they're going to be using very small fish that they can serve that day because there was no refrigeration. There was some ice at that point, I think. Sorry, what were the years of the Edo period? How far back are we talking? So Edo period is early 1300s to late 1800s. And then after refrigeration became more available, that's the era of what we call Edo Maizushi, where the sushi that we know today in Japan, It's a little bit different outside in the world, but where there's a pillow of vinegared rice with a slice of fish on top of it. And that comes from they're cutting down larger fish and like sea bream or tuna.
14:01So how did it spread around the world, sushi? Because it is, as I say, a very distinctive style of food. And it is now, well, I wouldn't say exactly ubiquitous, but you can find sushi pretty much everywhere. Yeah. So originally, I mean, there was some few Japanese restaurants in the world in the late 1800s, but let's just set that aside. But sushi pretty much is acknowledged to have come to the United States in the 1960s. And it was because of a couple of things. One was the, you know, Japan Inc. They're, you know, the businessmen are coming to San Francisco, New York, L.A., and they want to eat sushi.
14:40And so sushi was the rich man's drinking spot, actually, up through the 90s. And sometimes you could almost say this till now. But so it was originally for the businessmen. And when I first started eating sushi, I was eating sushi in the early 80s after college at a place in San Francisco that catered to Japanese businessmen. And in those days, early 80s, I was like the only white person pretty much there and my friend. And then by 1988, when I left the U.S., the sushi bar I was going to, the same chef, he had moved to his own place. It was like almost no Japanese. There were still Japanese, but it was a thing.
15:22And then sushi came to the European countries and UK a little bit later. The sushi came in the same way that it came to the United States. It came because businessmen going to UK or Europe, Japanese businessmen wanted to eat sushi. And so originally, the sushi was catered to Japanese clientele. And then, you know, the non-Japanese got on the bandwagon and said, this is so delicious. This is so great. The whole experience, it's such a field of experience. Speaking from Japan, that was the author Nancy Singleton Hachisoo. From food history to a moment in cultural history. On the 24th of December 1951 in the United States, television history was made with the live broadcast of Amal and the Night Visitors, the first opera ever composed specifically for television.
16:18Written by the acclaimed Italian composer Giancarlo Minotti, the opera almost didn't happen. Struggling with writer's block and a looming deadline, Minotti feared he wouldn't finish on time. But he got it done, and Amal and the Night Visitors became a much-loved holiday tradition for American audiences. Jill Kersley tells the story. Who's calling? Who's calling? The shepherds are calling! Well, this year I got into real trouble. I was supposed to finish an opera for NBC, and I just didn't have an idea in my head. Composer Giancarlo Menotti remembering the worry of being asked to produce something that would become a world first, but not knowing how to do it.
17:01I'm telling his story through archive from the 1950s to the 2000s. He has been described as an Italian-American composer, but as he told the BBC in 1985, that's not right. I was born in Italy. I still am an Italian citizen. But I did go to America to study music on the advice of Toscanini. And I do write most of my texts for my librettos in English. But as you can hear from my accent, I'm more Italian than American. Now the confusion is cleared up, we need to go back to where his love of opera began. I myself had a hard time when I was a child. I was in school because I hated football, I liked music, I liked opera and all that was taboo.
17:50I was teased because of that. No one in my family was a musician, but they all sort of tortured music somehow. My mother played the piano, but she didn't have much of a technique, so she played everything a bit too slowly. They had an aunt who also played the piano, and they would play four-hands Beethoven symphonies. And they played them quite well, except that they played them all twice too slow. They were...
18:24So when I first went to a concert in Milan, I heard... I just went to my mouth and said, that's wrong, that's wrong, that's wrong. They were going too fast.
18:41Despite this, Minotti turned out to be very musical and by the end of 1950 he'd written eight operas, both the words and the music. But he wasn't great at getting anything finished on time. One of the reasons why I'm always late in giving my scores to people who commissioned me is because I postponed the terrible moment when you have to freeze your imagination on paper. That is a fatal moment. This procrastinating caused problems. Having been commissioned to write the first ever opera for TV by NBC, the deadline of Christmas Eve 1951 was fast approaching and he didn't have any ideas for a plot or any of the music.
19:27His childhood experiences were to become his inspiration. He told of Christmases growing up in Italy where presents weren't brought by Santa Claus. Our gifts were brought to us by the three kings. I remember that my favorite king was King Melchior because he had a nice long white beard. My brother's favorite was King Caspar, whom we insisted that that was a little crazy and quite deaf. I don't know why he was so sure that he was deaf. I suspect it is because he never brought him all the gifts he asked for. He said, I came to America and I soon forgot all about them. This is Minotti talking on NBC in 1951.
20:14And those three kings were crucial to his next work. So I was walking one afternoon rather gloomly through the Metropolitan Museum and I chanced to stop in front of this painting by Euronymous Bosch. It was the Adoration of the Megi, a three-panel painting measuring just under a metre and a half wide. At first glance, it's a classic nativity scene, the three kings visiting baby Jesus. But if you look closer, it's more menacing. A half-naked figure lurks in the shadows and wild animals roam in the background. And as I was looking at it, suddenly I heard again the weird song of those three kings.
20:56and I suddenly realised that they had come back to me and they had brought me a gift. The gift was the idea for the opera that had eluded him. He started to write a work based on the Nativity story. It was finished only days before the broadcast. At 9.30pm on 24 December 1951 in Studio 8H at NBC's headquarters in the Rockefeller Center in New York, the first opera ever written specially for television, Amal and the Night Visitors, went live on air and was broadcast in black and white.
21:42The one-hour production is set in Bethlehem, where Amal, a disabled shepherd boy who walks with a crutch, lives with his widowed mother in a small home. One night they are visited by three kings who are following a star in search of a newborn king. The kings rest at Amal's home and Amal is fascinated by their grandeur and gifts. His mother, desperate and poor, is tempted to steal some of the gold meant for the baby. She's caught but instead of punishing her, the kings show compassion and explain the purpose of their journey. Moved by their kindness, Amal offers his only possession, his crutch as a gift for the child.
22:24Miraculously, he is healed and can walk again. He then leaves with the kings to visit the newborn king. The performance that night was directed by Kirk Browning. Years later, he looked back on the experience in an interview with the TV Academy. We were aware of the fact that it was more music theatre than opera. I think that in both our casting and in our staging and in our photography, we were trying to do a drama with music more than an opera on camera. Amal reached more viewers in a single night than any opera work in the 400-year history beforehand. It made headlines in the New York Times the next day.
23:12They called it a historic event in the rapidly evolving art of television. Kurt Browning was astonished. I remember at the time we were living in the country and I was commuting, everybody on the train was talking about, did you see that show? For weeks everybody was talking about having seen this opera that appeared on television. There was a sense of wonder about television in those days which simply doesn't exist today. It started a whole new trend in the way people thought of television. Amal and the night visitors became an annual tradition. Amal appeared live on television each year until 1966.
24:02And as for Minotti, he had a hugely successful career writing opera for stage, for film and another one for TV, though this is something he actually wasn't that keen on. Film and television is a popular form of theatre and therefore we should explore it. Actually, I love both media. I hate anything mechanical. And the moment I see a machine in front of me, I freeze with terror.
24:35Giancarlo Manotti died in 2007. His legacy was the first opera written for TV. It's been a great privilege to bring you the world premiere of the NBC Opera Theatre production of Giancarlo Manotti's beautiful Christmas opera. We hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for inviting us into your home on Christmas Eve.
25:04A long-running American Christmas tradition and a seminal moment in the history of television. Jill Kersley brought us the story of Amal and the night visitors. Still to come on the History Hour, a hero of disability rights in India and Laurel and Hardy at an English country pub for Christmas. It was a big thing for the village, you know, to have them come. I was on my way to catch me boss and I joined the huge crowd that was there because in those days film stars were something that we'd never seen, sort of thing. First though, we're going back to 1985 for an extraordinary example of creative thinking on the part of American law enforcement.
25:40That December, 40 years ago, US marshals ran a sting operation designed to catch some of Washington DC's most wanted fugitives. They managed to lure the targets to a convention centre by putting out the message that they'd won coveted tickets to a top-flight American football game in the NFL. Upon their arrival, however, they were greeted by cheerleaders and mascots who were all law enforcement officers in disguise. It was called Operation Flagship. More than 100 people were taken into custody. Uma Doriswamy has been hearing the story from one of those undercover cops. I'm Stacia Hilton. In 1985, I was a Washington Redskins cheerleader.
26:19Hang on. How's a cheerleader going to bring in fugitives? Anyway, in 1985, the Washington Redskins, now known as the Washington Commanders, were incredibly popular. They were a championship-winning team, and there was a waiting list of 25 years for a season ticket, which meant if you won a ticket to a game, you were unbelievably lucky. Or were you? A hundred suspected criminals in Washington got the shock of their lives yesterday. For once, they were the victims of an elaborate hoax carried out by the police. The men thought they were the luckiest guys in town when they were invited to pick up free tickets to a big football match between the Washington Redskins and the Cincinnati Bengals.
27:02The men, including suspected murderers and robbers, turned up, but instead of getting the tickets, they were booked by the law. And one of those people booking them was Stacia, the cheerleader. In 1985, I was a deputy US marshal working on Operation Flagship for the United States Martial Service. Glad you've owned up, Stacia. and she was used to working undercover. We were running what was called, you know, fugitive investigative strike teams. We called them FIST. So they were FIST operations for us. And we had about eight FIST operations, I think by 1985 or something by 86. And we all throw our warrants into the pile.
27:36And in those, you know, we all got very creative. We actually ran several stings, you know, Operation Flagships, you know, certainly the most notable. I mean, I think I did on FIST 8, I was a stewardess on Punio Airlines. We offered free tickets and limousine rides arrested fugitives down in Miami. And so we had big Julia Awards, I think, in New York City. We had Point George concert tickets in one of the cities. So we were running a lot of different stings. Operation Flagship started with invitations from a fake company being sent out by law enforcement to the fugitives. The fake company was called Flagship International Sports Television, an acronym for FIST.
Read the full transcript
28:21The invites were for brunch at the Washington Convention Centre on the morning of that big game. They were promised two tickets, as one of the undercover cops told NFL Films. We had a little fun with it. The president of Flagship International Sports Television was I am Detna, D-E-T-N-A-W, which is one that's spelled backwards.
28:46Flagship International Sports Channel. Hold on. We had our business manager. His name was Marcus Cran, C-R-A-N, which is narc spelled backwards. Good afternoon, Mr. Cran. I received a letter from you for a brunch on December 15th. Did it say that you had won two complimentary tickets to the Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals game? Yes, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. Surely the criminals weren't that stupid to fool for it? Well, you know, I like to say this, they're greedy. You know, a criminal looks for opportunity and what they can gain from opportunity. You know, we had family members show up instead of the criminals, so it's not always the criminal shows up.
29:27I hate to say they're stupid enough to fall for it. I think they've gotten smarter over time, you know, not to fall for it. Yeah. The next step was to make the convention center look the part and the people in it, even if they weren't keen.
29:45not going to be a cheerleader it was you know because i was too much of a tomboy in my own head when they told me that you know i was putting i was trying to figure out where to put my pistol and i was going behind my tuxedo jacket and and the commander said to me no no you can't you can't put your pistol on and i'm like what do you mean i can't put my pistol on he's like no you've got to get in there and hug these guys they're going to be hugging you they're going to feel that you got to you know you're carrying in the back and that's why i said that myself well if i have to be a cheerleader i can't at least pack my heat you know so we had a laugh because i was so depressed I'm like, are you kidding me?
30:16Now I've got to come out of my black comeback beer, get into this crazy outfit, and I get no gun? Stacia and the team did everything they could not to raise suspicion. A lot of little pieces really made a difference, you know, as you're kind of hugging these guys, and they're saying to me, oh my God, I've never won anything, this is the luckiest day of my life. And I'm kind of like, oh yeah, I know, who doesn't know that? I said, it is your lucky day, you have no idea how lucky you're going to be. And, you know, you definitely have to be able to keep your head about you and still be able to joke.
30:44I mean, some of these guys are like, hey, I'd love to marry you. Will you marry me? And I said, yeah, we'll marry you after the game. Take me to the game and I'll marry you, you know? And so you had a lot of that going on. And, you know, a lot of, you know, criminals aren't actually the most, you know, gentlemanly kind of guys. You had a lot of talk in that moment. And you just kind of had to go along with it and grit your teeth and bear it, so to speak, and just try to have fun with it. They had really already gotten into the moment by getting the letter, by being on the phone with the person that's congratulating them.
31:14And then we had these other incentives I'll use kind of wiggled in. Hey, if you come, you'll get a chance to sign up for Super Bowl tickets. You'll get a chance to do this. So we had layers of incentives to kind of make it more attractive for them. So they were focused on the prize and not so much focused on what's happening around them. As well as the concern that the fugitives would recognize each other, there was an added danger. Us in D.C., we had to worry about them recognizing us. You know, I'll be honest, I was somewhat of what I would call a unicorn while I was working in southeast D.C.
31:44I wasn't your typical look of a federal marshal back in those days. And so, you know, you're somewhat memorable when you're out in the streets. And so you have to kind of think through those eyes also when you're in law enforcement. So there was certainly a lot of concern, and a lot of us went through some efforts to make sure we had a different appearance before the sting operation. The smiling lady gently staring this man along the corridor is a policewoman. So are the cheerleaders. So, let's go over the plan again. They've got the fugitives to the venue and made it seem like it was a real deal.
32:22Now they've convinced them that they're moments from getting their hands on the precious tickets. The final act was for the Chief of Enforcement Operations, Louis McKinney, who was posing as the Master of Ceremonies to give the code word signal for the armed officers. Simple, right? There was a key word to use, surprise, And that was enough to tell the special operations and D.C. task takedown teams to come in through the side doors. And there was a moment where I was standing after I walked the last person in that wave in that I thought, is Louie remember the word surprise? Like it just seemed to be taking a long time.
32:58And you're antsy because we want them down and on the ground. When Louie says the word surprise.
33:13These teams are piling in through maybe four to six doors, and there's a lot of commotion in that moment. But the audience, I'll never get over how stunned they were in any wave. They were always stunned. I'm sorry, what's happening? And we took advantage of that because there's that moment that they just still had no idea what was happening. And the take-damn teams were able to react. But I think in the very first wave would be the only time where I was like, uh-oh, is everyone going to come in? Is everyone going to get down or are they going to catch on? So it's just getting them in cuffs before they catched on it.
33:44A hundred fugitives were arrested, including, it said, two murderers. They'd thought Christmas had come early and were sadly disappointed. Despite being handcuffed and led into a prison van, some of the fugitives were still optimistic. Absolutely hysterical, right? These guys don't give up. You've got to remember that to some of these guys, they're diehard redskins. So when you go to Cheez-It, they really come. I said, well, when you can't get redskins tickets. and you know I've got a son who's like a diehard sports fan I'm pretty sure he would show up because he's not going to miss an opportunity for a ticket and I just laughed so hard again it's part of the prisoner sense of humor but the guy's like is there any way I can still get the game and am I going to get Super Bowl tickets still am I in the raffle one of them asked former U.S.
34:28Marshal Stacia Hilton still laughing about the Operation Flagship Sting 40 years on She was talking to Uma Doriswamy. We're jumping forward 10 years now to December 1995 for a moment in history which changed the lives of many millions of people in India. That was when Parliament passed the country's first disability rights legislation. The landmark law aimed to give full participation and equal rights to people who are affected by physical or mental disabilities. In 2015, Fahana Haider heard from the disability rights activist Javed Abidi who led the campaign to change the law.
35:12The Hindi version of the song We Shall Overcome was a theme, but it was direct action that would lead to a change in India's legislation. We organised this march. I remember talking to my father and even he sort of said, look, you're wasting your time. You're a small minority. Nobody will listen to you. it's a waste of time. Javed Abidi was 30 and a disabled rights campaigner in 1995. He was affected at birth with spina bifida and later confined to a wheelchair. He grew up in Aligarh in northern India where his father was a university lecturer. One of the advantages of growing up in a small town is everybody is very helpful.
35:51I was lucky enough to be able to go to a normal school. I don't remember any extra facilities being made for me except of course that the principal ensured that my class remained on the ground floor. And then from the school to the university, again, everybody knew everybody. Even if there were two steps here, four steps there, somebody would invariably help out, somebody would lift my wheelchair for me. But what made you realise that disabled access in India was poor? After I graduated, I managed to get a scholarship and I went to the US at a university in Ohio in Dayton called Wright State University.
36:23And the entire university was completely accessible. I mean, there was not a nook or a corner where I couldn't go as a wheelchair user from the classrooms to the library, to the gymnasium, to the swimming pool. And that's when a young mind begins to question, you know, why is it not like this in my country? So that was huge. Then in 1989, Jabir Dabidi finished his course and returned to India, to Delhi. That's when it really hit me. There was not a place which was accessible. I mean, there was not a place where I could go on my own, whether it was offices or whether it was a theatre or a shopping area.
36:55And then, of course, as a young person, I was looking for a job as a trained journalist. I remember going from newspaper to newspaper and everybody would pat me on the shoulder. They would tell me how brave I was, how intelligent I was, etc. And then there was always a but being on a wheelchair. How can you be a journalist? And, you know, you have to go places at short notice and this and that and blah and blah. That's really the first time that my disability hit me on my face. And I was like, wow, one felt horrible. One went through deep turmoil. I mean, there were nights when I could not sleep.
37:24But Javed did not give up on his ambition to become a journalist and he eventually began freelancing for India's leading publications. But it was a chance meeting that led Javed down a very different career path. That was what I call a twist of fate. I was a practicing journalist for almost two years. Then there was this chance meeting with Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the widow of our late Prime Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi. She was just coming out of the tragedy and... So the tragedy of his assassination? Yeah. She and the family friends were planning to set up what's called the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and they had identified five areas of work, disability being one of them.
38:01And it was a completely chance meeting and I made an impression on her and then she called me for another meeting and at the end of it she said would I be interested in setting up the disability unit of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and heading it. And I couldn't believe that such a huge opportunity was coming my way. Although disability organisations existed in India before, their focus had been on charity and fundraising. Javed Abidi and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation wanted to focus on disability rights. One of the first things that we did was to set up what is called the Disabled Rights Group. It was India's first cross-disability rights group to say that what we need is a comprehensive law to protect our rights.
38:38Luckily, the government of the day listened to what we had to say. The law was drafted. And in a very short period of time, from 1993 to 1995, the law took shape, finally going to the parliament. The law aimed to grant millions of disabled people equal access to education and employment and legal redress against discrimination. But the passing of the bill into law was complicated by party political matters. This is 1995, which was the election year. And there were a lot of rumours that after the winter session, the government would order for the elections and so therefore the nation would go into election mode.
39:11In other words, this was the last opportunity for us. The winter session started, excitement built up, And then there was a controversy, some kind of a huge conflict between the government of the day and the opposition. And obviously, it was all political and the opposition made a big issue out of it. They marched out of the parliament. All legislative business came to a stop. Now, in the middle of this, you can imagine our turmoil that a law for which we had worked so hard was now going to fall through the cracks just because of this difference of opinion or conflict. This is where we had a meeting.
39:41This is where I passionately argued with my colleagues to say, look, we can't just be sitting and watching. And I remember I became very emotional and I said, look, if we construct a house, brick by brick, putting all our energy, passion, resources, everything into it, and then there is a fire, are you going to just sit and watch?
40:02People said, what can we do? And I said, well, look, even if it's a symbolic gesture, we have to come out on the streets, we have to, if nothing else, at least register our protest so that it goes down in history. But we can't possibly just be sitting at home and doing nothing.
40:21And so, on the morning of the 19th of December, around 200 disabled people walked and wheeled their way down Parliament Street, holding placards, asking for jobs and demanding the speedy implementation of the law for disabled people. The media turned out in large numbers, huge. And we were clever because what we were saying to the opposition was that, look, disability is a non-political issue. So you please fight with each other as much as you wish to, but please allow our law to get passed. They took us to the leader of the opposition after the rally. Mr. Atal Bihari Bajpayee, of course, he went on to become the Prime Minister of India later on.
40:56And he was very kind. He listened to us. He asked us some probing questions to say, why can't the law wait? Why can't it wait after the elections? And we came back still very depressed. The next day, nothing happened. And then it's only towards the evening that I remember a journalist friend calling me to say, look, you know, we are hearing some murmurs and apparently there is something going on between the opposition and the government. And indeed, the next day, Friday, which was actually the last day of the winter session, as dramatic as that. The parliamentarians cooperated, the opposition came to the lower house first, they passed the law and that's the only business that was transacted.
41:32Immediately after that they all stormed out and that very same day later in the day in the afternoon the law went to the upper house and again the opposition cooperated and the law was passed and in a most unimaginable dramatic fashion the bill became the law of the land. The Persons with Disabilities Act was passed on the 22nd of December 1995. It was India's first pro-disability law. It has changed India like never before as far as the disabled population of our country is concerned. No school or college or university can now deny disabled students admission. As far as employment is concerned, there is a quota as far as government jobs are concerned.
42:09Many of the new buildings that are being built are now accessible and disabled friendly. But having said that, it's not completely hunky-dory. I mean, I would say it's like a glass half full, half empty. There is so much more to be done. I mean, on the scale of one to ten, I would say that we are at not even two yet. So it's that much of a long road ahead of us. But we are getting there inch by inch. Javed Abidi, the Indian disability rights campaigner, was speaking to Farhana Haider in 2015. Having left his mark on the legal framework in India, Javed died in 2018 at the age of 52. Now for this week's sporting witness, we're going to explore the amazing events of September 1961, when Scotland's international women's hockey team came face to face with West Germany in Berlin, just weeks after the construction of the Berlin Wall.
42:58Megan Jones has been speaking to a member of that team. Early on the morning of August 20th 1961, East German soldiers sealed off the line dividing the eastern sector of Berlin from the American, French and British zones in the west. Building materials were brought out of nearby warehouses and the notorious Berlin Wall began to take shape for the great mystification of those on both sides who were soon to be out of sight of each other. The wall divided the city of Berlin into two, the communist east and the capitalist west. Overnight families were separated, streets were sealed off and barbed wire cut through the heart of the city And yet, just weeks after this happened, West Berlin was about to welcome an unlikely group of visitors, the Scottish women's hockey team.
43:46We'll leave the Berlin Wall for a moment and for the next part we need to travel more than 2 ,000 kilometres to Edinburgh in Scotland to meet 21-year-old Valerie Sinclair. The situation we didn't know much about, I'm afraid. I don't think we were aware of the dangers until we actually were faced with them. In 1961, she'd just qualified as an occupational therapist and loved hockey. I loved the teamwork, the skills you could learn, the speeds and just the enjoyment. We didn't really train. Occasionally, perhaps once in a year, there was called a hockey camp and you might go there for a weekend and just play.
44:29A box of tunics was bought along half an hour before the match began and you chose one that you hoped would be reasonably good to fit. Mostly, I'm quite slack, mostly we're too big. So I would try and get in first to get the smallest one if possible. During the week, Valerie was focused on her job. At the weekend, though, it was all about hockey. What she didn't know was she was about to be picked to represent Scotland in a game unlike any she'd played before. Most of our things were done by postcard. We didn't use the telephone very much, but you might not hear till Monday or Tuesday and you were playing on the Saturday.
45:13On this week's postcard, she was told about a game which would take place in West Berlin against West Germany. It is an honour to play and you'll want to do your best. I don't think there's aggression in any of these games we played, not perhaps like, because it's very amateur. The thing was the English team had been invited, but their Hyahegens had said it was too dangerous to go and they refused. So our Hyahegens had been asked. They mulled it over. They obviously said, OK. Hayhegans is Scottish slang for people at the top, the ones who make the big decisions. It was their call that sent Valerie and her teammates to Turnhouse Airport in Edinburgh, the starting point for their journey into divided Berlin.
46:03Now I have here a map. This map shows how you and I, if we were coming from the west, would reach this island in Europe. We can come by air using one of the three prescribed routes, or we can come by road and rail. Yeah, well, most of us hadn't even flown before, so we were kind of excited about that even. We landed in Hanover. We couldn't understand really why, but then, of course, afterwards we knew that was the corridor into Berlin. And then we came to Checkpoint Charlie, which we must have been one of the earliest ones going through. And that was devastating. behind the wall there was a sort of blank area, just a sort of rubble around and the checkpoint itself was just a sort of shack kind of thing with barriers and guns all round.
47:00The bus was about three and a half hours or so in those days and it was stopped umpteen times and soldiers came on. We had to be silent and sit apart, and they checked underneath the seats and all round and everything. The manager who was going with us fell sick the night before, and so somebody else had to fill her place, and that had been recorded. She was taken off the bus and taken away and interrogated, and we never knew what happened there. But eventually she got back onto the bus and we continued. I think that was when we were just beginning to realise perhaps the danger. More than three hours later, they arrived at their hotel in West Berlin, ready for the game.
47:53And on the 30th September 1961, they put on their purple tunics. There was a ruling that you can't have it shorter than four inches off the ground. so you had to make sure you didn't have it too short. So you knelt down and you put your hand sideways, which is pretty well four inches. Tunic's the right length. They made their way to the Olympic hockey stadium. Certainly one of the biggest things I remember is as we went on, marched out into the field, that the whole audience, and this is very poignant, the whole audience, which is normally school kids, but it wasn't, it was the whole of, you know, there were Berliners they were adults and everyone rose to the feet and cheered us for them it was a contact with the outside world and that was very poignant, I have to say and then singing our national anthems
49:02I think we began to realise just how out of touch they had been with the world and we felt very proud to be there The Scottish team didn't expect to win For them, hockey was their hobby while the West German side had been seriously preparing West Germany was always good and we hadn't trained much etc whereas the German girls always have trained. It's reported they'd been training in a mountain range known as the Black Forest for two weeks beforehand. The game began and 35 minutes were played each way but West Germany's skill and organisation proved too strong. We hadn't expected to win and we didn't win but that I think was beside the point.
49:52Scotland lost 5-0 but afterwards they were still celebrating. We were greeted, the reception and things, were greeted by the mayor of Berlin and we were greeted royally, really. And that was moving and we were given a little momentum, which we were allowed to keep, which was the Berlin bear, a little brass bear standing up, the one that's on the flag. I think we had veal actually but for us it was delicious because they thought more of perhaps mules than us Scottish people, I don't know but no, it was an impressive meal and several courses, I do remember that I think from the West German side they obviously had set this up as an event for them to feel that there was connection with the outside world and it was a route that they could go through by having a game.
50:56I don't think people really had realised just how much of an event it was. I mean, nobody until recently has ever talked about it, to be honest. I was sitting in a clubhouse just the other day and it said one club, one culture, one community. And I think they were trying to also sort of take that on board perhaps, that sport is sport and the community of people that play are always going to be community, doesn't matter what country they're from. Valerie Crombie, née Sinclair, was talking to Megan Jones about that Cold War hockey confrontation in 1961. Finally this week, a singular moment in the careers of two men who are still ranked as among the greatest stars in the history of comedy.
51:50In December 1953, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spent a few weeks at a village pub in England while they performed a show at a theatre nearby. Stan's sister, Olga Healy, was the landlady at the pub. Customers and staff said the duo spent time serving behind the bar, signing autographs and chatting with regulars. Rachel Naylor has been digging through the BBC archives to tell the story.
52:19It's December 1953 and we're at the Bull Inn in the village of Bottisford in Leicestershire, England. But among the locals are two Hollywood stars, the comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They have a Christmas show running for four weeks at the nearby Nottingham Empire and they've become frequent visitors to the pub. It was a big thing for the village, you know, to have them come. I was on my way to catch me boss, and I joined the huge crowd that was there, because they were, you know, in those days, film stars were something that we'd never seen, sort of thing. There was all the schools, you know, because obviously news travelled, like, that they were due to be there.
52:53Wherever they went, there was laughter. There was laughter all around them. Both entertainers started their careers in Music Hall, Oliver, or Ollie, in America, and Stan in England. In 1927, they began their famous partnership, appearing in more than 100 films together that are still popular today. They're known for their bowler hats and their slapstick comedy. As you can hear in this scene, when Stan is visiting Ollie, who's in hospital with a broken leg. I brought you some hard-boiled eggs and some nuts. Now you know I can't eat hard-boiled eggs and nuts. If you wanted to bring me something, why didn't you bring me a box of candy?
53:35They cost too much. Well, what has that got to do with it? You didn't pay me for the last box I brought you. Have one? No, I'd rather not. Hard-boiled eggs and nuts. Mmm! That was from 1932's County Hospital, directed by James Parrott and produced by Hal Roach. This was their fourth visit to the UK for a nationwide tour of music halls that began in October 1953 and went on till May 1954. Stan and Ollie, then in their 60s, arrived in Nottingham in the East Midlands on a cold, wet Sunday night and booked in at the county hotel adjoining the theatre. But given Stan's sister, Olga Healy, was the landlady at the Bull Inn, they spent most of their free time there.
54:21Edna Dable, Olga's friend, was there, as she told the BBC's Dennis McCarthy in 1987. Olga was so excited when they were coming. She was a very excitable sort of person and everybody was looking forward to them coming so much. and I think really they were very much like they were on the screen. That's what I remember about them. Good fun and looked the same, you know, more or less the same anyway. Very startled look always Laurel had, didn't he? You know, the raised eyebrows and very jolly and fun and joined in really with the local people in the pub. Did they go around shaking hands with the customers?
54:55Oh, yes, Olga introduced because at that time, different now, at that time there were a lot of local custom. The pub was smaller and there were a lot of local people like we were. Alder was, you know, so pleased to introduce them to the locals. Everybody went when they knew Laurel and Hardy were coming. It was quite a big thing. Customer Terence Gibson was also there. They looked just like they did on the films. Stan was always fooling about behind the bar with his sister and Alder was as well. My mother had a photograph took with my brother and Stan. You know, he used to hold his hair up and twiddle his hair.
55:30I got some photographs of the time of them when they was here. They had about 20 minutes behind the bar just falling about for the locals, like, you know. Wendy Cross lived next to the pub. She was nine at the time. I remember Olga saying I could go round about, oh, that'd be about 12 o 'clock time. After they'd arrived, I saw Lauren Hardy arrive in this huge, big black, like a London taxi, really, I suppose, which was unusual for the village. and the wives in the long fur coats and the blonde hair. And I remember going round and Ollie put his arm round me. I sat on his knee and had a drink of orange juice and stayed for probably about half an hour.
56:12I was just in awe, really. Laurel and Hardy, they were film stars to me and Ollie was sort of a very large, sort of jolly person. Gert Jallins was the barmaid at the Bull. They walked round the pub friendly with everyone, doing their little bit. And he just called me Jolly. To him, I wasn't just the working lady. I was Jolly that Mrs Healy always called me. And they were very friendly. They did go into the big yard at the back of the vault where they met a lot of people. Were they celebrities here? Oh, yes. Because of Mrs Healy. I mean, she had their pictures and Stan's daughter's picture in the pub.
56:50So people knew them. Did you go and see their show? Yes. I went with them. And we did go round the back with them after. I seem to remember there was something to do with pigeons with them. Were they with their wives then? Yes, they were with their wives. Did you have much to do with them? They were very friendly people. I was a little bit scared of them, you know. Film stars, they've done up, you know. But they were really nice. Lucille, the blonde one was Ollie's wife, and Stan's was Ida. And when they did leave to go back to the States, she gave me her fur coat. Have you still got it? No, my sister had it at Lincoln.
57:28I don't like fur. So that was Stan's wife gave you a fur coat. Why'd she do that? Because she was going to take a better one back, I think. Did they do any sort of entertainment at the ball? They went into the pub, pulled pints and served behind the bar. I've got a picture of them in there behind the bar. So what did people think when they were served beer behind the bar by Laurel and Hardy? Well, I think they all thought it was great. With them being so friendly, people were at home with them. Stan did his little bit of head scratching and they were joking. Typical as you see them in the film.
58:07Their Christmas show opened on the 21st of December and they did two shows most days, three shows every day Christmas week and three shows every Saturday. It consisted mainly of speciality acts. There were indeed pigeons, as Gert had remembered. Bob Beeman's, in fact. as well as Tony the Wonder Horse, Betty Kay's Pekingese dogs, jugglers, dancing girls and a young ventriloquist called Harry Worth. It was the first time I'd seen them, apart from on the stage, in their typical gear that we understand the bow and the tie and the bowler hats and Laurel's finicky thing about being the gentleman is coughs, shirt coughs, not cufflings, there were little bits of string that were tied there, you know.
58:47You couldn't see them from the stage but they were all part of the character. and then one morning they were off to this sister of his who lived nearby and they were all dressed up. They all looked fresh and lovely, do you know what I mean? With the collar and ties and very neat. They were looking forward to it too.
59:08On Christmas Day, Stan and Ollie ate Christmas dinner at the ball with their wives, cooked by Stan's sister, Olga, and Bar made good. We was preparing a long time. We wanted it to be extra special, a typical English. Christmas dinner. There was a little snug back room at the pub then before it was altered. And they played darts in there with my kiddies who were small then, while I was helping Mrs Healy. Preparing for the Christmas dinner? That's right, yes. What did they have? Can you remember? Yes, they had turkey and stuff in traditional. I don't think they'd had it for a long, long time. Not home-cooked Christmas dinner.
59:42And we served it in Mrs Healy's little lounge. I can remember that being set out. Was there a party after the Christmas dinner? Well, no, not really, because by the time dinner had been served and they'd sat and chatted and had drinks, time to open the pub. I'm taking this opportunity of thanking you and the countless friends in the British Isles for the wonderfully wholehearted reception you have given me on my first visit to your beautiful country. Hey, what about mentioning me in the speech? Don't worry, I'll get to you in just a few minutes. Here, here's a hard-boiled egg. Eat that and just relax.
1:00:18Thank you, Ollie. Now, let's see where I was. What'd you do with the eggshell? Don't tell me you've eaten the egg with the shell on it. Well, I didn't know. You didn't tell me anything about it.
1:00:33Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into. Stan and Ollie, Laurel and Hardy, and the few days they spent in an English pub in 1953, as brought to us by Rachel Naylor and the BBC Archives. And that's another fine end to the show we've got ourselves into. That's it for this edition of the History Hour. We'll be back next week with more, so do join us again then. In the meantime, this is Max Pearson from all of us here. Thanks for listening. Goodbye. From the pioneers We weren't going to ask mission, we were just going to do it And the celebrations You feel you have, you win I feel it, I was first I was first We were so proud of ourselves And Cameron was proud of us too I still cannot believe it It was such an amazing feeling It was incredible To the humiliations I did cry most of the half Oh man, I'm failing, I'm failing this morning and I love.
1:01:29Sporting Witness takes you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. It's not just about the sport. It's about all the other things that people with disabilities learn from each other. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable moments from all over the world. There's a magic during those moments that carries your soul. We were truly blessed to be a part of history. Sporting Witness. Subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
1:02:01I am Nina Khrushcheva, the great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union in 1962. And I'm Max Kennedy, the nephew of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. We explore what was a terrifying moment in history. The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. How close the world came to nuclear war. And what they had to do to pull it back from the brink. The bomb, Kennedy and Khrushchev. All episodes available now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
1:02:57with critical analysis and some jokes that will surely embarrass our children one day. Tune in to Podstate the World every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts, or catch it on YouTube.
From the publisher
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.
We learn about how a Norwegian businessman brought salmon sushi to Japan in the 1980s.
Our guest is cookbook author Nancy Singleton Hachisu, who tells us more about the history of sushi in Japan and around the world.
We hear about the first opera written for TV in 1950s America and how U.S Marshalls used fake NFL tickets to capture some of Washington DC’s most wanted.
Plus, how disability rights campaigners in India led to a change in the law in 1995 and when Scotland played hockey in Germany during the cold war.
Finally, the story of when Laurel and Hardy spent Christmas at an English country pub.
Contributors:
Bjørn-Eirik – Norwegian businessman who brought salmon sushi to Japan
Nancy Singleton Hachisu – cookbook author
Archive of Gian Carlo Menotti – Italian composer
Stacia Hylton – former U.S Marshall
Javed Abidi – Indian disability rights campaigner
Archive of customers at The Bull Inn – the pub that Laurel and Hardy visited in 1953
Valerie Sinclair – member of Scotland's hockey team who played West Germany in 1961
(Photo: Japanese demonstration to Norwegian royal family. Credit: Bjørn-Eirik Olson)