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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

  •

    The Kitchen Debate

    Tue 24 Jul 2018

    When two Cold War leaders argued about living standards in their countries.

  • South Korea's Summer Of Terror

    Mon 23 Jul 2018

    How thousands of suspected communist sympathisers were killed in South Korea in 1950.

  • A Vet Remembers The Hyde Park Bombing

    Fri 20 Jul 2018

    Two IRA bombs in London parks killed 11 military personnel and 7 horses on 20th July 1982

  • The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

    Thu 19 Jul 2018

    The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed in July 1968

  • The Bombing of the King David Hotel

    Wed 18 Jul 2018

    The attack by an armed Jewish group on British HQ in Palestine that left 91 dead.

  • The Virgin Lands Campaign

    Tue 17 Jul 2018

    To fight food shortages in the 1950s the USSR embarked on a major agricultural project

  • The Killing of the Russian Tsar

    Mon 16 Jul 2018

    The Russian Tsar and his family were shot in a cellar in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918

  • Italy's 'Ghost Shipwreck'

    Fri 13 Jul 2018

    How journalists located the wreck of a boat that capsized killing nearly 300 migrants

  • The Spiegel Affair

    Thu 12 Jul 2018

    How a magazine article about West Germany's defence strategy led to a government crisis.

  • Smiling Buddha: India's First Nuclear Test

    Wed 11 Jul 2018

    How India secretly developed and exploded its first atomic device in 1974

  • Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    Tue 10 Jul 2018

    Published in 1958 the Nigerian writer's first novel revolutionised African fiction.

  • Kosovo: 'Madeleine's War'

    Fri 6 Jul 2018

    Ex-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on why she argued for Nato action in Kosovo

  • Playgrounds Made of Junk

    Thu 5 Jul 2018

    Post-war Britain saw a rise in "adventure playgrounds" born out of bomb-sites

  • The Toilet

    Wed 4 Jul 2018

    The controversial art installation which upset Russians but is now seen as a masterpiece

  • Flight 655: When The US Shot Down An Airliner

    Tue 3 Jul 2018

    All 290 on board were killed when a US warship downed an Iranian passenger jet in 1988

  • The Search For Deep Throat

    Mon 2 Jul 2018

    In July 2005, the most famous informant in American history Deep Throat revealed himself

  • The President and the Gun Lobby

    Fri 29 Jun 2018

    Former President George Bush Senior's public row with the National Rifle Association.

  • Whiskey On The Rocks

    Thu 28 Jun 2018

    The Cold War stand-off when a Soviet submarine was stranded on a Swedish rock.

  • The SARS Emergency

    Wed 27 Jun 2018

    Early 2003 saw a medical emergency sweep across the world.

  • Veronica Guerin - Dying for the Story

    Tue 26 Jun 2018

    The Irish journalist murdered for her work exposing drug barons in the 1990s

  • The King of Lampedusa

    Mon 25 Jun 2018

    How 4,000 Italian troops surrendered to a young Jewish pilot from London, during WW2.

  • How the World Woke Up to Global Warming

    Fri 22 Jun 2018

    James Hansen got US politicians to listen to his warnings about climate change in 1988.

  • Demoted For Being Gay

    Thu 21 Jun 2018

    When the Israeli Army punished Colonel Uzi Even for being gay, he fought back.

  • Wittenoom: An Australian Tragedy

    Wed 20 Jun 2018

    How a town built around an asbestos mine made its residents fatally ill.

  • Bata the Shoemaker's Revolution

    Tue 19 Jun 2018

    Bata, a Czech company, pioneered assembly line shoemaking

  • The Battered Child

    Mon 18 Jun 2018

    The American doctor who forced the medical profession to face up to child abuse.

  • The Death of Kim Il-sung

    Fri 15 Jun 2018

    The founding father of communist North Korea died in July 1994.

  • The Unified Korean Table Tennis Team

    Thu 14 Jun 2018

    How ping pong brought together athletes from bitter rivals North and South Korea.

  • The GI Who Chose China

    Wed 13 Jun 2018

    After the Korean war ended a few American prisoners chose to try life under communism.

  • The Beginning of the Korean War

    Tue 12 Jun 2018

    North Korean communist troops invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.

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