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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China's 'Kingdom of women'
Fri 16 Apr 2021
An ancient matrilineal society which doesn't believe in marriage and where the women rule
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The vultures saved from extinction
Thu 15 Apr 2021
South Asian vultures started dying in huge numbers in the 1990s but no one knew why.
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Fighting for Castro at the Bay of Pigs
Wed 14 Apr 2021
Hear from a Cuban who fought against the US-backed exiles that invaded Cuba in April 1961
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How a worm helped explain human development
Tue 13 Apr 2021
The nematode worm c. elegans has enabled all sorts of discoveries about human biology
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The US Supreme Court's first woman justice
Mon 12 Apr 2021
In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman judge at America's top court
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Discovering the Jet Stream
Fri 9 Apr 2021
Air raids and balloon bombs - the strange story behind the discovery of the Jet Stream
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From Leningrad to St Petersburg
Thu 8 Apr 2021
How the people of Russia's second city dropped the great communist leader's name
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David Attenborough's First Expedition
Wed 7 Apr 2021
The story of David Attenborough's first expedition.
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Mexico's female serial killer
Tue 6 Apr 2021
Juana Barraza was found guilty of murdering at least eleven elderly women in Mexico city
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The women who reclaimed the night
Mon 5 Apr 2021
How women in England took to the streets to protest against a serial killer
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Black Jesus
Fri 2 Apr 2021
In 1967 an African American church minister began preaching that Jesus was black.
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Kidnapped on an orchid hunt
Thu 1 Apr 2021
How two Englishmen were seized by Colombian rebels while crossing the lawless Darien Gap
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Mrs Thatcher’s ground-breaking Soviet TV interview
Wed 31 Mar 2021
How Mrs Thatcher shook up the Soviet media with a landmark interview in Moscow.
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When the prisoners ran the prison
Tue 30 Mar 2021
Prisoners at Walpole maximum security prison were in charge for three months in 1973
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Anorexia nervosa
Mon 29 Mar 2021
The death of the singer, Karen Carpenter, showed how devastating the illness could be.
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South Africa takes on big pharma
Thu 25 Mar 2021
The fight between Big Pharma and South Africa over the right to import cheap drugs.
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The woman who got America talking about sex
Wed 24 Mar 2021
Dr Ruth Westheimer first became popular on a radio show in New York in the early 1980s
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Banksy’s first street art mural
Tue 23 Mar 2021
It’s difficult to pinpoint the first major piece of Banksy street art, could this be it?
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The Ulster Workers' Strike
Mon 22 Mar 2021
Protestant workers went on strike in Northern Ireland in 1974
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The dirtiest chess match in history
Fri 19 Mar 2021
How the 1978 World Chess Championship was overshadowed by allegations of dirty tricks
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Mars-500 isolation experiment
Thu 18 Mar 2021
Why six men were locked inside a spacecraft on earth for 520 days
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Alva Myrdal - the woman who made modern Sweden
Wed 17 Mar 2021
The story of Swedish social reformer, Alva Myrdal, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1982
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Jamaica’s ‘drug lord’
Tue 16 Mar 2021
The hunt for the Jamaican drug lord which left dozens of civilians dead
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Paris is Burning
Mon 15 Mar 2021
The groundbreaking film about drag queens and LGBTQ+ people in New York
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The woman who asked Britain to return the Parthenon marbles
Thu 11 Mar 2021
Melina Mercouri, actress turned politician, requested the marbles be returned to Greece
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Jane: The underground abortion network
Wed 10 Mar 2021
How feminists ended up performing abortions for women in 1960s America
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Cixi: China's most powerful woman
Tue 9 Mar 2021
She was the power behind the Chinese throne for decades
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The women of Egypt's Arab Spring
Mon 8 Mar 2021
In 2011 women were at the forefront of protests calling for a change in power in Egypt
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Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech
Fri 5 Mar 2021
How the historic speech in March 1946 came to symbolise the beginnings of the Cold War
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The Sharpeville massacre
Thu 4 Mar 2021
In 1960, South African police shot dead 69 black protestors, sparking worldwide outrage