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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

  •

    Estonia's Bootleg Vodka Poisoning

    Fri 9 Sep 2016

    In September 2001, 68 people died after an outbreak of alcohol poisoning in Estonia.

  • How Europe won over the British left

    Thu 8 Sep 2016

    A speech by Jacques Delors helped change British trade unionists' attitude to Europe

  • Star Trek - The Early Years

    Wed 7 Sep 2016

    In September 1966 the cult American science fiction series first went on air.

  • Remembering Chairman Mao

    Tue 6 Sep 2016

    On September 9th 1976 the founding father of Chinese Communism, Mao Zedong, died.

  • Italy's Partisan Fighters

    Mon 5 Sep 2016

    The brother and sister who took part in the struggle to free Italy from fascism in WW2.

  • The Day Sweden Turned Right

    Fri 2 Sep 2016

    In September 1967 Swedish traffic changed to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

  • The Mexican American War

    Thu 1 Sep 2016

    Testimonies from the conflict that changed US-Mexican relations forever

  • The Last Case of Smallpox in the UK

    Wed 31 Aug 2016

    Alasdair Geddes on finding smallpox in Janet Parker in 1978 and the events that followed

  • The Fall of Bukhara

    Tue 30 Aug 2016

    In 1920, the Central Asian Muslim kingdom of Bukhara was taken over by Communists.

  • Burning Man

    Mon 29 Aug 2016

    It's thirty years since the birth of the counter-culture festival Burning Man.

  • Fania All Stars - Legends of Salsa

    Fri 26 Aug 2016

    How a Latin music supergroup helped spread salsa music from New York to the world.

  • Helmand Convoy

    Thu 25 Aug 2016

    An audacious military mission to bring electricity to southern Afghanistan.

  • The Dance Theatre of Harlem

    Wed 24 Aug 2016

    In August 1969, the first classical ballet company to focus on black dancers was formed

  • The Stockholm Syndrome

    Tue 23 Aug 2016

    The hostage who trusted her kidnapper more than the police

  • The "Don't Die of Ignorance" Aids Campaign

    Mon 22 Aug 2016

    In 1986 the British government launched the first ever public health campaign on Hiv Aids

  • John Muir and America's Wild Places

    Fri 19 Aug 2016

    The Scottish-born naturalist considered the father of the National Parks in the USA.

  • Conflict over a Tree in the DMZ

    Thu 18 Aug 2016

    In August 1976, two US soldiers were killed in the zone between North and South Korea.

  • Studio Ghibli - Japanese Animation

    Wed 17 Aug 2016

    In August 1986 the first Studio Ghibli film hit Japanese cinema screens.

  • Bibles in US Schools

    Tue 16 Aug 2016

    In 1963 a third of schools in the US had to change their rules on Bible reading.

  • The murder of Federico Garcia Lorca

    Mon 15 Aug 2016

    How the great poet and dramatist was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

  • The Kray Gang

    Fri 12 Aug 2016

    Maureen Flanagan on her relationship with London's gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

  • Fleeing Deportation to the USSR

    Thu 11 Aug 2016

    After WW2, many Soviet citizens who had ended up outside the USSR, refused to go home.

  • The Nairobi Embassy Bombing

    Wed 10 Aug 2016

    In 1998, al-Qaeda killed more than 200 people in attacks on US embassies in East Africa.

  • The Excavation of Masada

    Tue 9 Aug 2016

    Nearly two thousand years ago, Masada in Israel was the site of a mass suicide.

  • The Twin Towers High-Wire Walk

    Mon 8 Aug 2016

    Philippe Petit recalls his daring feat high above the New York streets in August 1974

  • American Air Traffic Controllers' Strike

    Fri 5 Aug 2016

    In August 1981 over 11,000 air traffic controllers were fired after two days on strike.

  • Lebanon's Baalbek Festival

    Thu 4 Aug 2016

    The Middle East's oldest arts festival, in Baalbek in Lebanon, started 60 years ago

  • The Reclusive JD Salinger

    Wed 3 Aug 2016

    It's 65 years since JD Salinger's classic novel The Catcher in the Rye was published

  • Jacqueline Du Pre

    Tue 2 Aug 2016

    Jacqueline Du Pre makes one of the most famous classical recordings of the 20th Century

  • The University of Texas Shooting

    Mon 1 Aug 2016

    In August 1966 14 people were shot dead in America's first mass shooting at a university

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