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In the course of 1968 the Soviet Union made it increasingly clear that it disapproved strongly of the Prague Spring reforms. Yet, despite mounting tensions with Moscow, the Soviet led invasion on the night from August 20-21 1968, came as a huge shock. Today we are going to hear some of the broadcasts from that fateful day. We start with Radio Moscow, with an official Soviet version of events.

It is 40 years ago this Friday that student Jan Palach set himself alight following the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. Palach’s suicide turned him into a symbol of national resistance, and to this day, Czechs and Slovaks remember what he did for his country. On the eve of this 40th anniversary, historians have just discovered a document which sheds new light upon his actions.

By the mid 1960s political control over many aspects of cultural and social life in Czechoslovakia had relaxed considerably. This was the height of the “New Wave” in Czechoslovak cinema, in theatre socialist realism had long gone out of fashion and in music the swinging sixties were well under way. But it was not just through the music it was playing that Czechoslovak Radio tried to keep pace with the changes. One programme that broke the traditional mould was launched in 1966 and was called “The 33 Questions of Marcel Proust”. These were questions

Even after the death of Stalin in the Soviet Union and Klement Gottwald in Czechoslovakia the 1950s remained a period of high political tension between East and West. The Cold War was at its height; with it came the arms race and the space race. Here is Czechoslovakia’s president Antonín Novotný, in a New Year radio address on January 1 1958:

Three major Czech institutions have joined together to launch a unique website called Paměť národa or Memory of the Nation. It will give the public and scholars access to an archive of personal memories of 20th century history, including the horrors of the Holocaust and communist persecution. The materials are gathered by individuals, non-profit organisations and other institutions across Europe and they are accessible to the general public.

In Mailbox today: RP reception in the Rocky Mountains, the history of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the first president of the Czech Republic, Czech football. Listeners quoted: Cameron Archbold, Reginaldo Anunciacão, Salahuddin Dolar, Rassem Ben Brahim.

An LT 35 tank – pride of the Czech arms industry in 1938 – comes home. A Czech chemistry textbook wins a gold medal at the Frankfurt Book Fair. An 18-months-old baby boy gets a place in the Czech Book of Records! Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

Parliament’s Media Committee on Wednesday debated and approved Czech Radio’s financial report for 2007. The country’s national broadcaster showed a profit of 140 million crowns.

70 years ago, in September 1938, Europe was in the grip of a complex international diplomatic drama, known as the Munich crisis. It culminated in the fateful signing of the Munich Agreement on September 30, when the leaders of Britain, France and Italy agreed to Hitler’s territorial claims on Czechoslovakia in return for a peace that was to last just a year. A fascinating and gripping account of this crisis has been published this week, and I’m delighted to be able to talk about it with its author, my colleague at Radio Prague, David Vaughan:

In this week’s edition of Magazine: a Czech student becomes a big hit on the internet with a video in which he throws himself against a wall; people are stealing plastic cut-outs of police officers intended to keep drivers in check; Olympic champion Barbora Špotáková gets a rock song in her honour; and the Czech Republic’s impressive network of marked hiking trails is under threat.