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.
Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we revisit one moment that helped shape the world and hear it through the voice of someone who was there. Scientists, artists, campaigners, soldiers, leaders and everyday people tell their true stories.
When you subscribe to Witness History, you’ll be taken inside turning points in world affairs, from West Africa’s fight back against Boko Haram in 2015, to the behind-closed-doors talks that led to the US-Cuba “thaw” and the surprise announcement of restored relations.
You’ll discover what it was like to experience disasters and how people recovered from them, including the Tabasco floods in Mexico, Portugal's worst train disaster, and the huge clean-up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
You’ll explore culture and ideas too: Sweden’s Expedition Robinson, often credited as the first modern reality TV game show; the friendship between The Beatles’ George Harrison and Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar; and the night a tiger attack brought Las Vegas superstars Siegfried and Roy’s show to a sudden end.
And if you’re curious about inventions, we’ll tell you how air fryers, BlackBerry, YouTube, Alexa, GPS, superglue, the shopping cart (shopping trolley) and bubble tea were created.
If you’re new to Witness History, the appeal is simple: real voices, one strong true story, and a fresh way to understand today through events from history – all in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of tea or a walk around the block. Join millions of BBC World Service podcast listeners around the globe and enjoy the insight, context and detail Witness History will bring you.
Episodes to download
-
![]()
The siege at Ruby Ridge
Fri 21 Aug 2020
An 11-day standoff between a fugitive and the US government ended with three people dead.
-
![]()
The Guatemalan syphilis scandal
Thu 20 Aug 2020
How American doctors carried out secretive STD experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s
-
![]()
The first modern asthma inhaler
Wed 19 Aug 2020
Millions of people’s lives have been saved and improved by the metered dose inhaler.
-
![]()
The lost King of England
Tue 18 Aug 2020
How archaeologists discovered the lost grave of King Richard III under a car park
-
![]()
Surviving Saddam
Mon 17 Aug 2020
The memories of a young Iraqi woman who grew up in the dictator's inner social circle
-
![]()
The invention of the modern ventilator
Fri 14 Aug 2020
How a polio epidemic in Denmark in 1952 led to the invention of the modern ventilator
-
![]()
Scoring a victory for women's rights in Turkey
Thu 13 Aug 2020
How Turkish campaigners forced a radical change in the law on crimes against women
-
![]()
Beirut's Hotel War
Wed 12 Aug 2020
How the Lebanese Civil War came to Beirut's luxury hotel district in 1975.
-
![]()
Bremen’s Elephant Statue
Tue 11 Aug 2020
How the German city addressed its colonial past by rededicating a famous monument
-
![]()
Radar and World War Two
Mon 10 Aug 2020
How British women operated secret radar technology during World War Two
-
![]()
The American who put women's rights in the Japanese constitution
Fri 7 Aug 2020
How Beate Sirota Gordon got wording on gender equality into Japan's post-war constitution
-
![]()
The atomic bombs dropped on Japan
Thu 6 Aug 2020
Atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945
-
![]()
The battle of Midway
Wed 5 Aug 2020
How a huge naval battle between aircraft carriers changed the war in the Pacific
-
![]()
The internment of Japanese Americans
Tue 4 Aug 2020
During World War Two thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to prison camps
-
![]()
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Mon 3 Aug 2020
A first-hand account of the surprise strike on a US naval base in December 1941.
-
![]()
The death of Heinrich Himmler
Fri 31 Jul 2020
The leading Nazi was caught by British troops shortly after WW2 had ended in Europe
-
![]()
Benidorm and the birth of package tourism
Thu 30 Jul 2020
The story of the mayor who created one of the world's biggest holiday resorts.
-
![]()
Adrift for 76 days
Wed 29 Jul 2020
A remarkable story of survival, alone in a life-raft adrift in the Atlantic ocean
-
![]()
Australia's 'Black Saturday' bushfires
Tue 28 Jul 2020
How 400 separate bushfires burnt their way across Victoria, Australia in 2009.
-
![]()
The writer who put Latinos centre stage
Mon 27 Jul 2020
Remembering the pioneering Cuban-American playwright and agony aunt, Dolores Prida
-
![]()
The fastest vaccine ever developed
Fri 24 Jul 2020
How a five-year-old girl helped her father create a record-breaking vaccine
-
![]()
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
-
![]()
The struggle to save Borneo's rainforests
Wed 22 Jul 2020
When logging threatened the rainforests of Sarawak, local communities fought back
-
![]()
The Million Man March
Tue 21 Jul 2020
On 16th October 1995 hundreds of thousands of black American men marched on Washington DC
-
![]()
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
-
![]()
South Korea's 1980s prison camps
Fri 17 Jul 2020
A so-called Social Purification project led to thousands of citizens being imprisoned
-
![]()
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.
-
![]()
Returning Ethiopia's looted history
Wed 15 Jul 2020
The Stele of Axum, a 4th century Ethiopian treasure, was returned by Italy in 2005
-
![]()
How Club Med changed holidays
Tue 14 Jul 2020
Holidaymakers arrived at the first Club Med resort in Majorca in summer 1950
-
![]()
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
