Witness History Podcast
History told by the people who were there. For nine minutes every weekday, Witness History takes you back to moments which have shaped our world.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.
For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
Episodes to download
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The Battle of the Potato Beetle
Wed 14 Aug 2013
In 1950, East Germany claimed American planes were dropping beetles over their fields.
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Scientists Flee Nazi Germany
Tue 13 Aug 2013
How the rise of Hitler forced great physicists such as Max Born out of 1930s Germany
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Conflict in Congo
Mon 12 Aug 2013
The Congolese student who saw war come to his small hometown of Uvira
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Bombing of Nagasaki
Fri 9 Aug 2013
Survivors remember the atomic explosion over the Japanese city in 1945
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Burma's 1988 Protests
Thu 8 Aug 2013
In August 1988 protests demanding an end to military rule in Burma were met with violence
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Wed 7 Aug 2013
In 1997, a patch of plastic waste was discovered in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
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Beverly Johnson - Vogue's First Black Covergirl
Tue 6 Aug 2013
It wasn't until 1974 that American Vogue put a black model on its cover for the first time
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Malaysian Hostage Crisis
Mon 5 Aug 2013
In August 1975, Japanese Red Army militants took 53 people hostage in Kuala Lumpur
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Gorkhaland
Fri 2 Aug 2013
The sisters whose lives were devastated during the campaign for Gorkhaland in India
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Ramayan - India's TV Epic
Thu 1 Aug 2013
It is 25 years since the final episode of one of India's biggest ever TV programmes
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The Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa
Wed 31 Jul 2013
The controversial American union leader, Jimmy Hoffa, was last seen alive on July 30 1975
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The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
Tue 30 Jul 2013
In July 1945 hundreds of US sailors were left adrift for days in shark infested waters
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IRA Decommissioning
Mon 29 Jul 2013
In July 2005 the IRA in Northern Ireland promised to put its weapons out of use.
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The End of the Korean War
Fri 26 Jul 2013
On July 27 1953 the Korean War came to an end and thousands of prisoners were released
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Abducted by Joseph Kony
Thu 25 Jul 2013
The woman forced to bear the children of the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army
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Alcoholics Anonymous
Wed 24 Jul 2013
In the summer of 1935 Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio
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Black July
Tue 23 Jul 2013
In 1983 violence erupted between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka
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The Lillehammer Hit
Mon 22 Jul 2013
In July 1973 a Moroccan waiter was shot dead by an Israeli hit-squad in Norway
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Escape from the KGB
Fri 19 Jul 2013
How Soviet double agent Oleg Gordievsky escaped from under the noses of the KGB in 1985
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The Birth of Second Life
Thu 18 Jul 2013
It is ten years since the launch of Philip Rosedale's online virtual world Second Life
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Freeze
Wed 17 Jul 2013
In 1988 a group of students put on an exhibition called Freeze. It changed British art.
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The Hong Kong Handover
Tue 16 Jul 2013
Former Governor General, Chris Patten, remembers the day the territory returned to China.
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Women's Baseball in WWII
Mon 15 Jul 2013
In 1943, the first and only professional women's baseball league was launched in the US
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Disco Demolition Night
Fri 12 Jul 2013
How a disgruntled Chicago DJ hosted an anti-disco event which turned into a riot in 1979
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Skylab Falls to Earth
Thu 11 Jul 2013
The day when fragments of the US space station Skylab hit an Australian town in 1979
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The Death of Thich Quang Duc
Wed 10 Jul 2013
In June 1963, a Buddhist monk set himself on fire in central Saigon
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Iran Student Protest
Tue 9 Jul 2013
The Iranian student who became an unwitting symbol of the anti-government protests in 1999
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The Death of Jean Moulin
Mon 8 Jul 2013
The day the leader of the French Resistance was killed by German forces on July 08, 1943
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Yasser Arafat Arrives in Gaza
Fri 5 Jul 2013
When the Palestinian leader was allowed to return from exile to the Gaza strip in 1994
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Ludwig Wittgenstein
Thu 4 Jul 2013
How the publication of Philosophical Investigations in 1953 revolutionised philosophy
