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 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 – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ 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’s oldest languages.
Episodes to download
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Umuganda: Rwanda's community work scheme
Fri 4 Nov 2022
In 1975, President Habyarimana introduced Umuganda, compulsory, weekly community work
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Dame Carmen Callil: Feminist publisher
Thu 3 Nov 2022
Dame Carmen Callil, who died in October this year, founded a feminist publisher in 1972
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Campaigning against sex-selection in India
Wed 2 Nov 2022
A first-hand account of the 1980s campaign against the sex-selective abortion of girls
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Albania’s Stalinist purges
Tue 1 Nov 2022
In the 1970s, Albania’s Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, launched a series of purges
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The Little Black Book survival guide
Mon 31 Oct 2022
In 1985, a guide was written for young black men in the US who were stopped by the police
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Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech
Fri 28 Oct 2022
Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's career-defining speech in 2012
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Arrested for wearing trousers in Sudan
Thu 27 Oct 2022
In 2002, Amiera Osman Hamed was put on trial after being arrested for wearing trousers
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Theatre siege in Moscow
Wed 26 Oct 2022
It is 20 years since Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage
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The Iranian Revolution and women
Tue 25 Oct 2022
We hear what life was like during, and after the Iranian Revolution in 1979
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Indonesia’s indigenous people take a stand
Mon 24 Oct 2022
The first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago of Indonesia in 1999
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Founder of the Cuban National Ballet
Fri 21 Oct 2022
In 1959, Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer formed Cuba’s National Ballet Company
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Cuba's boxing ban
Thu 20 Oct 2022
In 1962, Fidel Castro banned professional boxing in Cuba, causing some amateurs to defect
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The ‘army’ that taught Cuba to read and write
Wed 19 Oct 2022
In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba.
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Cuban Missile Crisis: The showdown
Tue 18 Oct 2022
The final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in the Pentagon and the Kremlin
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Cuban Missile Crisis: The photos
Mon 17 Oct 2022
The CIA expert whose job was to interpret photographs of missiles in Cuba
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Cesar Chavez’s campaign for farm workers
Fri 14 Oct 2022
How the leader of a labour movement became a US civil rights hero
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Torturing strikers in South Korea
Wed 12 Oct 2022
A strike for better work conditions became a divisive moment in South Korea's history
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Disney animators' strike
Tue 11 Oct 2022
In 1941, the animators at Walt Disney's studios went on strike for nine weeks over pay
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UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’
Mon 10 Oct 2022
In 1979, British gravediggers went on strike over pay
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The beginnings of Notting Hill Carnival
Fri 7 Oct 2022
In 1959, Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party, planting the seeds for the famous carnival
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The Harder They Come
Thu 6 Oct 2022
Jimmy Cliff spoke about the film that brought reggae music to the world in 1972
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The fall of Slobodan Milosevic
Wed 5 Oct 2022
How the Yugoslavian president was forced from office in October 2000
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The release of Gilad Shalit
Tue 4 Oct 2022
Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was freed after being held hostage for more than five years
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The funk and soul club that changed Manchester
Mon 3 Oct 2022
Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub
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Dassler brothers’ rift
Fri 30 Sep 2022
Brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler would go on to create global firms Adidas and Puma.
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The raising of the Mary Rose
Thu 29 Sep 2022
King Henry VIII's warship, The Mary Rose, was raised from the seabed in October 1982
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Castrating Pablo Escobar's hippos
Wed 28 Sep 2022
Pablo Escobar's pet hippos were found roaming Colombian waterways in 2007
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Festival of Light
Fri 23 Sep 2022
The Nationwide Festival of Light held by Christians protested against societal changes
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Iran-Iraq War begins
Thu 22 Sep 2022
On 22 September 1980 the Iran-Iraq war began, one of the bloodiest in recent history