The priest behind a new airport and Agatha Christie

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest Sugandhi Jayaraman, lecturer in air transport management at the University of Westminster, discusses the changes in airports over time. We hear about the Irish priest whose dream of air travel in a remote part of West Ireland became a reality. And we travel back to 1943 to one of the most audacious hoaxes of World War Two. Plus the Challenger Shuttle disaster where a member of the public had been chosen to join the experienced astronaut crew. We also commemorate Agatha Christie and we go back to 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Tehran from Paris after being exiled. Contributors: Pearce Concannon - firefighter at Knock airport Sugandhi Jayaraman - lecturer Roger Morgan - amateur historian Barbera Morgan - trained alongside the Challenger team Mathew Prichard- Agatha Christie's grandson Mohsen Sazegara - worked for the Ayatollah (Picture: Cabin crew with Monsignor James Horan at Knock Airport. Credit: Independent News And Media/Getty Images)

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The priest behind a new airport and Agatha Christie is an episode from The History Hour by BBC.

This episode is 59:49 long.

This episode was published on Jan 24, 2026.

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