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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

  •

    Trivial Pursuit

    Christmas Day 2017

    The game has become a holiday tradition with families around the world.

  • To Kill A Mockingbird

    Fri 22 Dec 2017

    One of the most successful American films of all time was released at Christmas 1962.

  • BR Ambedkar

    Thu 21 Dec 2017

    The Indian independence leader and campaigner for Dalit rights died in December 1956.

  • The Exam That Changed China

    Wed 20 Dec 2017

    The return of university entrance exams showed the Cultural Revolution had really ended.

  • The Development of WiFi

    Tue 19 Dec 2017

    Australian scientists were central to the development of wifi.

  • Somalia's Islamic Courts Union

    Mon 18 Dec 2017

    How the Islamic movement brought a brief moment of peace to Mogadishu after years of war

  • The Disappearance of Harold Holt

    Fri 15 Dec 2017

    The Australian Prime Minister went for a swim on December 17th 1967 - and never came back

  • The Great London Smog

    Thu 14 Dec 2017

    Thousands died as a thick polluted fog engulfed London in 1952

  • The Unsung Hero of Heart Surgery

    Wed 13 Dec 2017

    The African-American lab technician whose surgery helped save millions of babies..

  • Otis Redding

    Tue 12 Dec 2017

    The great soul singer who was killed in a plane crash in December 1967

  • Hypnotising Saddam's Son

    Mon 11 Dec 2017

    How an American hypnotist went to Iraq to treat Uday, the eldest son of Saddam Hussein.

  • Art in Revolutionary Russia

    Fri 8 Dec 2017

    Avant-garde art flourished in Russia after the 1917 revolution but was later suppressed

  • The Discovery of Whale Song

    Thu 7 Dec 2017

    Whales were being hunted to extinction until a biologist realised they could sing.

  • Finland Wins Independence From Russia

    Wed 6 Dec 2017

    In December 1917 Finland became an independent country for the first time.

  • Britain's withdrawal from South Yemen

    Tue 5 Dec 2017

    In 1967 Britain's departure from Aden leads to the creation of an independent South Yemen

  • Mount Rushmore

    Mon 4 Dec 2017

    Construction on one of America's most famous monuments started in 1927.

  • Science City in Siberia

    Fri 1 Dec 2017

    Thousands of scientists moved to deepest Siberia to dedicate their lives to research.

  • The Poisoning of Litvinenko

    Thu 30 Nov 2017

    Former colonel in the Russian secret service Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London.

  • The Prestige Oil Disaster in Spain

    Wed 29 Nov 2017

    How thousands of volunteers cleaned up after a huge environmental disaster in 2002

  • The Audacious Plot to Kill a Colonel

    Tue 28 Nov 2017

    How El Salvador's leftist rebels led a top army officer into a deadly trap

  • The Case of Alger Hiss

    Mon 27 Nov 2017

    The conviction of diplomat Alger Hiss was one of America's most notorious spy cases

  • The Exile of Wolf Biermann

    Fri 24 Nov 2017

    East Germany's most famous singer-songwriter was exiled to the West in November 1976.

  • Toy Story - The First Digitally-Animated Feature Film

    Thu 23 Nov 2017

    It was a box-office hit and a revolution in the world of animated films.

  • The Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem

    Wed 22 Nov 2017

    The president of South Vietnam was overthrown and murdered in a coup in November 1963.

  • The Man Who Prosecuted Charles Manson

    Tue 21 Nov 2017

    Charles Manson's followers murdered 9 people on his orders. But how to prove his guilt?

  • The Siege of Mecca

    Mon 20 Nov 2017

    In 1979 Islamic militants took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam

  • Botswana's Diamonds

    Fri 17 Nov 2017

    Huge diamond deposits were first discovered in the Kalahari desert in Botswana in 1967

  • The 'Disappeared' of Lebanon

    Thu 16 Nov 2017

    Searching for the thousands who went missing during Lebanon's brutal civil war.

  • The Windmill Theatre

    Wed 15 Nov 2017

    A British national institution closed in 1964.

  • The British Love Affair with Curry

    Tue 14 Nov 2017

    Indian restaurants first became popular in the UK in the 1950s.

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