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
-
![]()
Strictly Come Dancing
Fri 10 May 2019
One of the most successful TV formats in the world started back in May 2004
-
![]()
The war on drugs
Thu 9 May 2019
The first 'war on drugs' was launched by US President Richard Nixon in 1971.
-
![]()
-
![]()
The siege of Dien Bien Phu
Tue 7 May 2019
The French surrender at the siege of Dien Bien Phu ended their colonial rule of Vietnam
-
![]()
Jack Ma: The founder of Alibaba
Mon 6 May 2019
The Chinese billionaire set up his online shopping site in 1999
-
![]()
The Malayan Emergency
Fri 3 May 2019
The struggle against a Communist insurgency in Malaya in the 1950s
-
![]()
The sinking of the Belgrano
Thu 2 May 2019
The Argentine ship was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands war
-
![]()
The Arctic African
Wed 1 May 2019
Why a boy ran away from West Africa to live in the Arctic in the 1960s.
-
![]()
Rupert Brooke
Tue 30 Apr 2019
The English poet whose death at the start of World War One was mourned by millions
-
![]()
Ellen comes out
Mon 29 Apr 2019
Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on primetime American television in April 1997.
-
![]()
The al-Yamamah arms deals
Fri 26 Apr 2019
A record series of arms sales by the UK to Saudi Arabia began in the 1980s
-
![]()
Sri Lanka: A journalist's editorial from the grave
Thu 25 Apr 2019
The assassination of newspaper editor, Lasantha Wickramatunga, in 2009 shocked the world
-
![]()
South Africa's first free elections
Wed 24 Apr 2019
After Apartheid all South Africans regardless of race finally won the right to vote.
-
![]()
Britain's first vegans
Tue 23 Apr 2019
The Vegan Society was established in 1944 by British 'non-dairy vegetarians'
-
![]()
Nato bombs Serbian TV
Mon 22 Apr 2019
A survivor from the April 1999 bombing in Belgrade that killed 16 people.
-
![]()
The Columbine massacre
Fri 19 Apr 2019
13 people were killed and more than 20 injured in the school shooting on April 20th 1999
-
![]()
How organic farming started
Thu 18 Apr 2019
Worries about the industrialisation of farming post-WW2 led some farmers to go organic.
-
![]()
Auto-destructive art
Wed 17 Apr 2019
Gustav Metzger and the birth of the radical new art form in the 1960s
-
![]()
The first play on Broadway written by a black woman
Tue 16 Apr 2019
'A Raisin in the Sun' by Lorraine Hansberry had an almost exclusively black cast too.
-
![]()
Dennis Tito - the first space tourist
Mon 15 Apr 2019
In April 2001 an American multi-millionaire paid Russia to send him into space
-
![]()
Chinese restaurant syndrome
Fri 12 Apr 2019
In the 1960's American diners began to worry that Chinese food was making them ill.
-
![]()
The rise of Hindu nationalism
Thu 11 Apr 2019
The consolidation of the BJP as one of the major powers in Indian politics.
-
![]()
The man who invented wingsuits
Wed 10 Apr 2019
The wingsuit is the ultimate in extreme sports clothing, for BASE jumpers and skydivers
-
![]()
The Amritsar Massacre of 1919
Tue 9 Apr 2019
In April 1919 British Indian troops opened fire on protestors in the city of Amritsar
-
![]()
The man who made Marilyn Monroe dance
Mon 8 Apr 2019
Choreographer Jack Cole had a huge influence on musical theatre and Hollywood films
-
![]()
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Fri 5 Apr 2019
Maya Angelou's iconic memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in 1969
-
![]()
Abolishing the army
Thu 4 Apr 2019
Costa Rica dissolved its Armed Forces after a brief civil war in 1948
-
![]()
The warship lost for more than 300 years
Wed 3 Apr 2019
The discovery of a 17th century Swedish warship, the Vasa, in near perfect condition
-
![]()
EMDR: the eye-movement therapy
Tue 2 Apr 2019
A therapy which seems to work for post-traumatic stress was developed in the late 1980s
-
![]()
Patty Hearst the rebel heiress
Mon 1 Apr 2019
In April 1974 the heiress announced she supported her kidnappers' beliefs
