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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 End of El Salvador's Civil War

    Mon 16 Jan 2017

    A former Salvadoran guerrilla fighter talks about her experience of war and peace.

  • US Presidential Transitions

    Fri 13 Jan 2017

    What exactly goes on during the months between election and inauguration?

  • Princess Diana's Minefield Walk

    Thu 12 Jan 2017

    How Britain's most famous Royal brought the danger landmines to the world's attention.

  • Chicago's Police Torture

    Wed 11 Jan 2017

    A victim of abuse at the hands of the Chicago police tells his story.

  • The Zimmermann Telegram

    Tue 10 Jan 2017

    How British code-breakers exposed a German plot against the United States in 1917

  • Turkey's Headscarf Row

    Mon 9 Jan 2017

    In 1999 a Turkish woman MP appeared in parliament wearing a headscarf. It caused uproar.

  • Death in the Amazon

    Fri 6 Jan 2017

    Auca tribesmen killed five American missionaries in the jungle in January 1956.

  • Albania's Economic Chaos

    Thu 5 Jan 2017

    How the collapse of 'pyramid' investment schemes caused riots in Albania in 1977

  • Charter 77

    Wed 4 Jan 2017

    In January 1977 an opposition movement began in Soviet-era Czechoslovakia.

  • Vietnam War: The Cu Chi Tunnels

    Tue 3 Jan 2017

    A Vietnamese war veteran on life in the Viet Cong's tunnel network in South Vietnam

  • Russia's 'Dog Man'

    Fri 30 Dec 2016

    How conceptual artist Oleg Kulik posed as a dog, attacking passers-by in Moscow.

  • The Launch of Vogue Russia

    Thu 29 Dec 2016

    Aliona Doletskaya remembers starting post Soviet-Russia's biggest glossy fashion magazine

  • The Nuclear Legacy

    Wed 28 Dec 2016

    The story of how the world was made safe from the former Soviet Union's nuclear legacy

  • Georgia In Crisis

    Tue 27 Dec 2016

    After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Georgia found itself on the verge of civil war.

  • The Break-Up of the Soviet Union

    Boxing Day 2016

    Hear from two of the key players who brought to an end over 70 years of communism

  • Apollo 8

    Fri 23 Dec 2016

    How the first mission around the Moon captured the world's imagination at Christmas 1968

  • Samuel Beckett

    Thu 22 Dec 2016

    The great Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett died on 22nd December 1989

  • Turkey-Greece Island Dispute

    Wed 21 Dec 2016

    How Greece and Turkey almost came to war over a tiny rocky island in the Aegean sea.

  • Derek Jarman

    Tue 20 Dec 2016

    The experimental film-maker made his first feature film 'Sebastiane' in 1976.

  • Death of an Anarchist

    Mon 19 Dec 2016

    Giuseppe Pinelli was an Italian anarchist who died in police custody - but why?

  • The First Latin American 'Telenovela'

    Fri 16 Dec 2016

    Brazil's Vida Alves starred in the first ever Latin American soap opera in December 1951.

  • Cot Death

    Thu 15 Dec 2016

    The 'Back to Sleep' campaign was launched in 1991 to prevent babies dying in their cots

  • The Hindu 'Milk Miracle'

    Wed 14 Dec 2016

    Millions of Hindus were gripped by reports of their God, Ganesha, 'drinking' milk.

  • Sara Ginaite Lithuanian Jewish Partisan

    Tue 13 Dec 2016

    A young Jewish woman escaped from the Kaunas Ghetto in Lithuania to fight the Nazis.

  • Yoyes - Woman leader of ETA

    Mon 12 Dec 2016

    The life and tragic death of the first woman leader of the Basque separatist group ETA.

  • Fighting for Rural Women in South Africa

    Fri 9 Dec 2016

    Sizani Ngubane set up the Rural Women's Movement in South Africa in the 1990s

  • Recreating Down Syndrome in Mice

    Thu 8 Dec 2016

    Scientist Elizabeth Fisher created a new strain of mouse to help understand Down Syndrome

  • Wangari Maathai Wins Nobel Prize

    Wed 7 Dec 2016

    In 2004, the Kenyan ecologist became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

  • Soviet Woman Bomber Pilot

    Tue 6 Dec 2016

    Yelena Malyutina was a Soviet female bomber pilot who fought in WW2.

  • Digging up the Truth

    Mon 5 Dec 2016

    Mercedes Doretti has spent her life uncovering mass graves around the world.

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