Hello and welcome to the History Hour Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson, the past brought to life by those who were there.

This week, Art as Therapy, a 1970s experiment in Scotland's toughest jail, plus art in the hands of a child, even though

the artist was Picasso.

We were allowed to go around in his studio and play with things and touch things that were considered to be

probably museum worthy works of art now.

And the woman who risked life and limb to break the Cold War ice

and swim the bearing straight between the USA and the USSR in 1987.

All I could feel was this cool draw, like a huge vampire just pulling the heat of my body.

And I looked down at my fingers and they were totally gray and I'm like oh my

God these are like the hands of a cadaver. But we begin with a handshake which was supposed to have

ushered in a new era of peace in the Middle East.

As part of the BBC's Crossing Divides series, we're going back 25 years to the moment when

secret talks held in Oslo appeared to have borne fruit.

Ever since 1947 and the UN mandated creation of the Jewish state of Israel, there has been tension

in the region.

Tension and in periods outright war. Issues surrounding the future status of Jerusalem,

the Israeli settlements on the occupied West Bank and the right of return for Palestinian refugees

have remained unresolved for decades.

But for a brief moment in 1993, it appeared that the Norwegian Brokered process might bring

about a meaningful peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Louise Hidalgo has spoken to Mona Yule, who played a part in those secret negotiations.

Her report begins with the words of a weary US government spokesman at the time.

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