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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Mao's Cultural Revolution
Wed 2 Oct 2019
We hear from one man who took part in China's brutal Cultural Revolution.
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My memories of Chairman Mao
Tue 1 Oct 2019
China's legendary Communist leader in the words of an American who knew him well
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The birth of the People's Republic of China
Mon 30 Sep 2019
On 1 October 1949 Chairman Mao declared China a communist state
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The death of a matador
Fri 27 Sep 2019
The fatal goring of the legendary bullfighter Francisco Rivera Pérez - "Paquirri".
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The Large Hadron Collider
Thu 26 Sep 2019
In September 2008, the world's biggest science experiment was switched on.
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Fighting the Islamic State group online
Wed 25 Sep 2019
How one historian living in Mosul took aim at the Islamic State group on the internet.
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Being black in Nazi Germany
Tue 24 Sep 2019
Theodor Wonja Michael was a child when Hitler came to power in Germany.
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The Sound of Music on Broadway
Mon 23 Sep 2019
The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was performed on stage before it became a movie.
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Sir Anthony Blunt - Soviet spy
Fri 20 Sep 2019
The distinguished art historian was exposed as a former Soviet spy in the autumn of 1979.
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CS Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia
Thu 19 Sep 2019
The first book in CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series was published in autumn 1950
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Free breakfast with the Black Panthers
Wed 18 Sep 2019
The revolutionary Black Panther Party provided free breakfasts for local schoolchildren.
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The repeal of 'Don't ask, don't tell'
Tue 17 Sep 2019
Until 2011 LGBT service people in the US armed forces had to keep their sexuality secret
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An Ethiopian war hero
Mon 16 Sep 2019
Ethiopia sent soldiers to fight alongside the United Nations during the Korean War
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Magellan and the first voyage around the world
Fri 13 Sep 2019
In 1519, the Portuguese explorer set off on the first circumnavigation of the globe.
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Conflict timber in Liberia's civil war
Thu 12 Sep 2019
How the timber industry fuelled a brutal civil war in West Africa.
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India's affirmative action controversy
Wed 11 Sep 2019
Why guaranteeing government jobs to lower caste Hindus led to weeks of student protests.
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The TV series Friends
Tue 10 Sep 2019
One of the most successful TV comedy shows of all time hit US screens in September 1994
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The coup, the president and the embassy
Mon 9 Sep 2019
How the deposed Honduran president spent months holed up in the Brazilian embassy
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The businessman who defied the Italian Mafia
Fri 6 Sep 2019
In 1991 Libero Grassi was killed in Sicily for publicly refusing to pay protection money.
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The Holocaust denial trial
Thu 5 Sep 2019
The libel case that put history itself in the dock in 2000
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Inside lunar astronaut quarantine
Wed 4 Sep 2019
Apollo 11's doctor tells how NASA tried to protect Earth from possible lunar alien life
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The first all-women peacekeeping unit
Tue 3 Sep 2019
The UN deployed its first all-female peacekeepers in Liberia in 2007.
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The outbreak of World War Two
Mon 2 Sep 2019
On September 1st 1939 German troops invaded Poland. Cameraman Douglas Slocombe was there.
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The paedophile identified by his hands
Fri 30 Aug 2019
The first conviction of a paedophile using hand analysis.
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Nina Simone moves to Liberia
Thu 29 Aug 2019
The great African-American jazz singer moved to West Africa in 1974.
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The Kindertransport children who fled the Nazis
Wed 28 Aug 2019
How thousands of unaccompanied children were sent to safety by their desperate parents
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Mexico's murdered women
Tue 27 Aug 2019
How young women began disappearing in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez in 1993
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The murder of black teenager Emmett Till
Mon 26 Aug 2019
In 1955, Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was brutally murdered in Mississippi
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The death of Brazil's Getulio Vargas
Fri 23 Aug 2019
How the influential Brazilian leader took his own life rather than submit to the military
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The return of the wolf
Thu 22 Aug 2019
Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone decades after they were wiped out in the US.
