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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Adrift for 76 days
Wed 29 Jul 2020
A remarkable story of survival, alone in a life-raft adrift in the Atlantic ocean
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Australia's 'Black Saturday' bushfires
Tue 28 Jul 2020
How 400 separate bushfires burnt their way across Victoria, Australia in 2009.
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The writer who put Latinos centre stage
Mon 27 Jul 2020
Remembering the pioneering Cuban-American playwright and agony aunt, Dolores Prida
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The fastest vaccine ever developed
Fri 24 Jul 2020
How a five-year-old girl helped her father create a record-breaking vaccine
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The first safe house for Afghan women
Thu 23 Jul 2020
Mary Akrami set up the first refuge for women fleeing violence and abuse in Afghanistan
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The struggle to save Borneo's rainforests
Wed 22 Jul 2020
When logging threatened the rainforests of Sarawak, local communities fought back
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The Million Man March
Tue 21 Jul 2020
On 16th October 1995 hundreds of thousands of black American men marched on Washington DC
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The man who tried to kill Hitler
Mon 20 Jul 2020
On 20th July 1944 Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg put a bomb under Adolf Hitler's desk
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South Korea's 1980s prison camps
Fri 17 Jul 2020
A so-called Social Purification project led to thousands of citizens being imprisoned
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The scandal of Liverpool's missing Chinese sailors
Thu 16 Jul 2020
How the British city forced out Chinese seamen who'd served during World War Two.
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Returning Ethiopia's looted history
Wed 15 Jul 2020
The Stele of Axum, a 4th century Ethiopian treasure, was returned by Italy in 2005
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How Club Med changed holidays
Tue 14 Jul 2020
Holidaymakers arrived at the first Club Med resort in Majorca in summer 1950
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The fight for women's prayer rights in Israel
Mon 13 Jul 2020
A Jewish feminist group's campaign to pray freely at the Western Wall in Jerusalem
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The 1960s report that warned the USA was racist
Fri 10 Jul 2020
A US government report into the riots of 1967 blamed white racism for creating ghettos
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The death of Frida Kahlo
Thu 9 Jul 2020
In July 1954 the great Mexican artist died after years of illness. She was just 47.
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Montreal's 'Night of Terror'
Wed 8 Jul 2020
When the city's police force went on strike there was looting and rioting in the streets.
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The unlawful death of Christopher Alder
Tue 7 Jul 2020
The black former soldier choked to death on the floor of a British police station in 1998
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The doctor who discovered how cholera spread
Mon 6 Jul 2020
How Dr John Snow found out the cholera bug was spread through contaminated water in 1854.
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How South Africa banned skin-lightening creams
Fri 3 Jul 2020
In 1990, South Africa banned skin-lightening creams containing hydroquinone
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The lost Nazi-era art trove
Thu 2 Jul 2020
How a secret collection of art missing since Nazi rule was found in Germany in 2012
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Quarantined in a TB sanatorium
Wed 1 Jul 2020
The life of a nine-year-old girl quarantined in a TB sanatorium for 4 years in the 1950s
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The Rolling Stones drugs trial
Tue 30 Jun 2020
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards went on trial for drugs offences in June 1967
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Jana Andolan – Nepal’s people power movement
Mon 29 Jun 2020
A people’s movement brought an end to Nepal’s absolute monarchy in 1990.
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Russia’s bitter taste of capitalism
Fri 26 Jun 2020
Chaos and hardship hit Russia with the sudden market reforms of early 1992.
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The Chilean economy and its 'Chicago Boys'
Thu 25 Jun 2020
Thinkers trained in free-market economics in Chicago shaped Chile after its military coup
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Tanzania's socialist experiment
Wed 24 Jun 2020
In the 1960s Tanzania tried out a new form of socialism called Ujamaa
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South Korea's economic miracle
Tue 23 Jun 2020
How a poor, war-ravaged nation became a global economic powerhouse
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The New Deal
Mon 22 Jun 2020
How the USA used public spending projects to battle through the Great Depression
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The ‘Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes’ anti-racist exercise
Fri 19 Jun 2020
A teacher decided to separate pupils according to eye colour to teach them about racism.
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The friendship train
Thu 18 Jun 2020
The passenger train service between India and Bangladesh was resumed after 43 years.
