Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

I'm Ned Carter Miles, and you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.

Today's episode is about one of the most significant and harrowing events in both medical and human history, the AIDS epidemic that rocked the world in the 1980s.

Many people compare the experience of living through the AIDS epidemic to war.

The age is spreading at an explosive rate.

There's a new HIV infection every single minute.

There's a new AIDS death every half hour.

I have four friends that have died.

I have two friends that are dying.

It already is tearing society apart and putting group against groups.

Even the federal government has been accused of discrimination by lack of funding for research.

White House officials felt that the president had to speak out.

No more delays!

But the story begins nearly two decades before AIDS was first identified in North America, and what happened totally changed our

understanding of the disease's origins.

Back in 1968, a 15-year-old African-American boy named Robert Rayford, referred to as Robert

R because of his age, was admitted to hospital in St Louis, Missouri.

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