Flower revolutions

The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear about the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan in 2014, the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and how flowers have been used as symbols in political history.

Plus the Afghan refugee who fled as a 15 year old, the Yellow Fleet of ships which were stranded in the Suez Canal for eight years and the story of the British afro hair care institution Dyke and Dryden.

Contributors: Brian Hioe - activist, who occupied Parliament in Taipei. Nino Zuriashvili - one of the protestors at the Rose Revolution. Prof Kasia Boddy - author of Blooming Flowers: A Seasonal History of Plants and People. Waheed Arian - doctor and former Afghan refugee. Phil Saul - who looked after the engineers and officers on board the MS Melampus and MS Agapenor in the Suez Canal. Rudi Page - the former marketing manager for Dyke and Dryden's afro hair products.

(Photo: An activist taking part in the Sunflower Movement in Taipei on 21 March 2014. Credit: Mandy Cheng/AFP via Getty Images)