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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 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 the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron 鈥� Argentina鈥檚 Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous 鈥榯ear down this wall鈥� speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler鈥檚 List; and Jacques Derrida, France鈥檚 鈥榬ock star鈥� philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal ; and the death of one of the world鈥檚 oldest languages.

Updated: daily
Episodes available: indefinitely

Episodes to download

  •

    Africa United

    Thu 23 May 2013

    The leaders of 32 newly-independent African countries met to discuss uniting the continent

  • The Watergate Hearings

    Wed 22 May 2013

    The scandal which lead to President Richard Nixon standing down 40 years ago

  • The Murder of Aldo Moro

    Tue 21 May 2013

    It is 35 years since the Italian Prime Minister, Aldo Moro was found dead in a car in Rome

  • Protect and Survive

    Mon 20 May 2013

    In May 1980 the British government published a booklet on how to survive nuclear war

  • Dambusters

    Fri 17 May 2013

    A crewman's account of the famous British raid on Hitler's dams in 1943.

  • The Death of Marlene Dietrich

    Thu 16 May 2013

    It is 21 years since screen star Marlene Dietrich died in Paris at the age of 90

  • Announcing an Ethiopian Coup

    Wed 15 May 2013

    The journalist who became an unwitting voice against Ethiopian ruler Col. Mengistu

  • Polish Protests in 1968

    Tue 14 May 2013

    As rebellion swept across Europe, Polish students called for democratic change in Poland

  • The Great Gatsby

    Mon 13 May 2013

    Author F. Scott Fitzgerald as remembered by two close personal links

  • The Arctic Convoys

    Fri 10 May 2013

    Allied ships battled arctic storms, bombers and U-boats to ferry supplies to Russia in WW2

  • FA Cup - The Matthews Final

    Thu 9 May 2013

    It is 60 years since England's football legend Stanley Matthews led his team to victory

  • The Secret US Bombing of Cambodia

    Wed 8 May 2013

    In May 1969 the New York Times revealed that US war planes were secretly bombing Cambodia

  • Pavarotti's UK Debut

    Tue 7 May 2013

    On May 7th 1963 Luciano Pavarotti first perfomed on a British stage, in Northern Ireland

  • IRA Hunger Strike

    Mon 6 May 2013

    In 1981 the British government was faced with prisoners on hunger strike

  • The White Collar Art Collectors

    Fri 3 May 2013

    In 1992 an ex-postal worker and his wife donated a priceless art collection to a gallery

  • The Children's Crusade

    Thu 2 May 2013

    Thousands of black American children protest against segregation in Birmingham, Alabama

  • Australia's Aboriginal Referendum

    Wed 1 May 2013

    In May 1967 campaigning began across Australia to consolidate Aboriginal rights

  • The death of Hitler

    Tue 30 Apr 2013

    On April 30th 1945 Adolf Hitler killed himself in a bunker beneath Berlin.

  • The Shooting of Rudi Dutschke

    Mon 29 Apr 2013

    In 1968 German students called for a revolution when their leader Rudi Dutschke was shot

  • The Ballerina and the Coup

    Fri 26 Apr 2013

    In April 1959 Dame Margot Fonteyn was part of a bizarre plot against Panama's government.

  • Muhammad Ali and the Draft

    Thu 25 Apr 2013

    How the boxing champion's refusal to go to Vietnam made him a hero to 1960s radicals

  • The Hitler Diaries Hoax

    Wed 24 Apr 2013

    Thirty years ago newspapers spent millions on what they thought were Hitler's diaries

  • Pau Casals

    Tue 23 Apr 2013

    The acclaimed musician who became a symbol of Catalan resistance to General Franco

  • Haile Selassie in Jamaica

    Mon 22 Apr 2013

    Ethiopia's emperor visited Jamaica - the birthplace of the Rastafarian movement - in 1966

  • The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

    Fri 19 Apr 2013

    Jewish fighters in the Polish capital rose up against the German army in 1943

  • The Khmer Rouge take power

    Thu 18 Apr 2013

    In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia.

  • The funeral of Sir Winston Churchill

    Wed 17 Apr 2013

    In January 1965 Britain held a state funeral for the man who led it through World War Two.

  • The discovery of LSD

    Tue 16 Apr 2013

    It is 70 years since a Swiss chemist stumbled on the controversial hallucinogenic drug.

  • The First War in the Air

    Mon 15 Apr 2013

    The story of a young British pilot who survived the world's first war in the air

  • Black Golfer at the US Masters

    Thu 11 Apr 2013

    How Lee Elder broke one of the last colour barriers in US sport in 1975

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