The History Hour

A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.

World Service,488 episodes

Episodes

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Marking 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis
Why oil prices spiralled in 1973, plus Amoco Cadiz, one of the world’s largest oil spills
07 Oct 2023,52 mins
The Lampedusa disaster and cat cafes
The sinking of a migrant boat 10 years ago, and the world's first cat cafe in Taiwan.
30 Sep 2023,50 mins
Nazi eugenics and the year of the vuvuzela
Adolf Hitler’s order to sterilise people, and the ‘world’s most annoying instrument’
23 Sep 2023,51 mins
Israeli and Palestinian history
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes.
16 Sep 2023,51 mins
The Chilean coup and Zanzibar’s most famous singer
The 1973 military coup in Chile and Zanzibar’s ‘golden grandmother of music’
09 Sep 2023,51 mins
Historic Korean summit and goat island
The first inter-Korean summit in 50 years and the Mexican island overrun by goats
02 Sep 2023,50 mins
Ireland's 'ghost estates' and the first Rose of Tralee
The Celtic Tiger, the first Rose of Tralee and activist swimmers in Dublin.
26 Aug 2023,50 mins
Judy Garland's legacy and the Benin Bronzes
The legacy of Judy Garland and the return of two looted Benin Bronzes stolen in 1897
19 Aug 2023,52 mins
Presidential diamonds and Tupperware parties
A duck that toppled a president, a British train robbery and the Tupperware party boom.
12 Aug 2023,50 mins
Dinosaur discoveries and a Berlin Wall treehouse
Prehistoric eggs, a dinosaur in court and the treehouse built beside the Berlin Wall.
05 Aug 2023,51 mins
West African food and computer viruses
The rise of Mr Bigg's in Nigeria and the man who made the first personal computer virus
29 Jul 2023,52 mins
Wartime surrenders and the birth of Barbie
A compilation of this week's Witness History episodes
22 Jul 2023,51 mins
Five great inventions that changed the world
The world's first robot dog, the first emoji and the invention of the Rubik's Cube
15 Jul 2023,52 mins
Tourism arrives in the Maldives and a royal night out
How tourism began in the Maldives, the start of the NHS in the UK and a royal night out
08 Jul 2023,52 mins
South Korea store collapse and Lady Gaga's meat dress
Seoul's department store collapse and the man who made Lady Gaga's meat dress
01 Jul 2023,51 mins
Somalia's civil war and golf on the moon
The Somali pilot who defied orders to bomb civilians, and playing golf on the moon
24 Jun 2023,52 mins
Amazing photographs and the people who took them
Focusing on Lee Miller in Hitler's bath, a shell-shocked US marine and an unseen Africa
17 Jun 2023,51 mins
Inuit children taken from families and Le Mans crash
Why children like Adamie Kalingo were taken from their indigenous communities in Canada
10 Jun 2023,51 mins
Scaling Everest, the highest mountain in the world
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, were the first people to reach the summit of Everest
03 Jun 2023,51 mins
Bosnian concentration camp photo and hero clown
A shocking photo from the Yugoslav war and how a clown helped after an earthquake in Peru
27 May 2023,51 mins
Singapore executes Filipina maid and German child evacuees of World War Two
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes
20 May 2023,51 mins
World War Two African victory and 'Kai Tak heart attack'
The Allies' campaign in North Africa and the last flight out of a Hong Kong airport
13 May 2023,51 mins
The 'Stone of Destiny' and a self-proclaimed Emperor
The removal of a symbolic royal stone and the former child King turned Prime Minister
06 May 2023,51 mins
Artist Althea McNish and history of the Met Gala
Trinidadian Althea McNish designs for Queen Elizabeth II and the Met Gala's popularity
29 Apr 2023,52 mins
The history of dogs
Inventing the labradoodle, the first dog in space and the world's first therapy dog
22 Apr 2023,50 mins
Unearthing World War II mass graves and the Boston bombing
The unearthing of a mass grave in Ukraine, and the Boston bombing in 2013
15 Apr 2023,51 mins,
Escaping Eritrea and inventing Zumba
One woman's journey to escape Eritrea and how Zumba was invented by accident
08 Apr 2023,51 mins
The godfather of manicures and India's Silicon Valley
Vietnam's manicure godfather and how Bengaluru became India’s Silicon Valley
01 Apr 2023,50 mins
Film and cinema around the world
The longest running Indian film and freeing Free Willy
25 Mar 2023,50 mins
The Invasion of Iraq
Stories marking 20 years since the American led invasion of Iraq in March 2003
18 Mar 2023,51 mins