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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 Plastic People of the Universe

    Fri 25 Sep 2015

    The psychedelic Czech rock band which became a symbol of resistance to communist rule.

  • Jacques Brel

    Thu 24 Sep 2015

    In 1966 the singer-songwriter announced on stage that he was going to stop performing

  • DJ Kool Herc and the Birth of Hip Hop

    Tue 22 Sep 2015

    In the autumn of 1973 a Bronx DJ held a ground-breaking party.

  • The Origins of Ska Music

    Mon 21 Sep 2015

    Jamaica is best known for Reggae music, but before Reggae, came Ska.

  • The Leningrad Symphony

    Fri 18 Sep 2015

    In 1942 starving musicians in besieged Leningrad performed Shostakovich's Symphony

  • The First Glastonbury Festival

    Thu 17 Sep 2015

    We hear from farmer Michael Eavis, who began the music festival in 1970

  • Musicians of the Iranian Revolution

    Wed 16 Sep 2015

    In 1978, Iran's top musicians took a stand against the Monarchy

  • Miriam Makeba

    Tue 15 Sep 2015

    The story of the great South African singer who spent 30 years in exile

  • Willie Nelson's Farm Aid

    Mon 14 Sep 2015

    Country music legend Willie Nelson holds the first benefit concert for American farmers

  • Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

    Fri 11 Sep 2015

    How the Pakistani Qawali singer became an international music sensation..

  • The Monkees

    Thu 10 Sep 2015

    The Monkees were the world's first 'manufactured' boy band - created especially for TV.

  • Umm Kulthum

    Wed 9 Sep 2015

    Millions of Egyptians mourned the death of the legendary singer in 1975

  • Noel Coward Plays Vegas

    Tue 8 Sep 2015

    The English singer, actor and playwright was invited to do a show in Las Vegas

  • The King of Highlife

    Mon 7 Sep 2015

    E.T Mensah's Highlife music took Africa by storm in the 1950s

  • The Heyday of Somali Music

    Thu 3 Sep 2015

    The remarkable story of Maryam Mursal, one of the superstars of 1970s Somali music .

  • Russia's First DJ

    Wed 2 Sep 2015

    Russia's first radio DJ, Seva Novgorodsev, went on air at the height of the Cold War

  • The Auschwitz Cellist

    Tue 1 Sep 2015

    How the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch survived the Holocaust by playing music.

  • Hurricane Katrina

    Fri 28 Aug 2015

    In August 2005 a massive hurricane hit the city of New Orleans in the USA.

  • The Guinness Book of Records

    Thu 27 Aug 2015

    The first edition of one of the world's best-selling books was published in August 1955.

  • Latinos Protest Against Vietnam

    Wed 26 Aug 2015

    How a Mexican-American march against the Vietnam War descended into chaos in 1970.

  • The Assassination of Benigno Aquino

    Tue 25 Aug 2015

    On 21 Aug 1983, the opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, was shot dead in the Philippines

  • Mass Executions in Iran

    Mon 24 Aug 2015

    In the summer of 1988 thousands of political prisoners were suddenly executed in Iran.

  • A Bizarre Poisoning Plot in Oregon

    Fri 21 Aug 2015

    A clash between a religious commune and the locals leads to the mass poisoning of a town.

  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh

    Thu 20 Aug 2015

    In August 1915 the Scottish architect was arrested on suspicion of spying.

  • The Assassination of Leon Trotsky

    Wed 19 Aug 2015

    Esteban Volkov recalls the murder of his grandfather, Leon Trotsky, in Mexico in Aug 1940

  • The Dieppe Raid

    Tue 18 Aug 2015

    The disastrous raid by Allied forces on the German occupied French port of Dieppe in WW2.

  • The Tolpuddle Martyrs

    Mon 17 Aug 2015

    How six English farmworkers defied the authorities to form a trade union in 1834.

  • Korea Divided

    Fri 14 Aug 2015

    In August 1945 Korea is split along the 38th parallel.

  • Child Prisoners of the Japanese

    Thu 13 Aug 2015

    The story of one young American girl held prisoner by the Japanese during WW2.

  • The Man Who Published Harry Potter

    Wed 12 Aug 2015

    In 1996 struggling author JK Rowling finds a publisher at last for wizard Harry Potter.

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