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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 Story of Dr Zhivago

    Tue 2 Sep 2014

    How Boris Pasternak's great novel Dr Zhivago came to be published in the West .

  • Biba

    Mon 1 Sep 2014

    A ground-breaking new boutique opened in Swinging London in September, 1964

  • World War One in Africa

    Fri 29 Aug 2014

    Rare recordings of African veterans of WW1 in East Africa

  • The Last Outbreak of Smallpox

    Thu 28 Aug 2014

    In the summer of 1978 a British woman became the last known victim of smallpox.

  • LSD Road Trip

    Wed 27 Aug 2014

    Writer Ken Kesey and friends drove across America experimenting with LSD in summer 1964

  • The Death of Getulio Vargas

    Mon 25 Aug 2014

    In 1954 the president of Brazil chose to die rather than submit to the military

  • Freckleton Air Disaster

    Fri 22 Aug 2014

    A US Air Force plane crashed into an English village, killing 61 people in August 1944

  • The Betrayal of the Kurds

    Thu 21 Aug 2014

    In 1975, Iran and America abandon the Iraqi Kurds in their fight against Saddam Hussein

  • Partition

    Wed 20 Aug 2014

    British India was divided into two new countries - India and Pakistan - in August 1947

  • The Liberation of Paris

    Tue 19 Aug 2014

    French and US forces freed Paris from German occupation in August 1944

  • Zimbabwe's Rebel Writer

    Mon 18 Aug 2014

    Zimbabwean writer Dambudzo Marechera died of an AIDS-related illness on 18 August 1987

  • Carlos the Jackal

    Fri 15 Aug 2014

    The terrorist 'Carlos the Jackal' was arrested in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in 1994

  • The Plot to Kill Franco

    Thu 14 Aug 2014

    The Scottish anarchist and the plot to kill General Franco

  • The Wizard of Oz

    Wed 13 Aug 2014

    The cast and crew remember one of the most popular Hollywood musicals of all time

  • The Supremes

    Tue 12 Aug 2014

    The Supremes had their first hit 'Baby Love' in August 1964, 50 years ago

  • Marooned in Stalin's Russia

    Mon 11 Aug 2014

    How thousands of Polish citizens tried to flee the USSR after being freed in August 1941

  • Internment in Northern Ireland

    Fri 8 Aug 2014

    In 1971 the British Army detained hundreds of suspects without trial in Northern Ireland.

  • The Resignation of President Nixon

    Thu 7 Aug 2014

    On 8 August 1974 Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign.

  • Lindow Man

    Wed 6 Aug 2014

    In 1984, the 2000 year old remains of a man were found preserved in a peat bog in England

  • Japanese Prisoner Breakout

    Tue 5 Aug 2014

    On 5 Aug 1944, hundreds of Japanese prisoners attempted the largest breakout of WW2.

  • The Mississippi Burning Case

    Mon 4 Aug 2014

    On 4 Aug 1964 the bodies of three murdered civil rights workers were found in Mississippi

  • The Warsaw Uprising

    Fri 1 Aug 2014

    On 1 August 1944, resistance fighters in the Polish capital rose up against German forces

  • Martha Stewart in Jail

    Thu 31 Jul 2014

    A fellow prisoner recalls how the American TV celebrity survived five months behind bars

  • Christian: The Lion From London

    Wed 30 Jul 2014

    In 1969 two young Australians bought a lion cub in Harrods and raised it in London

  • The World's First Jet Airliner

    Tue 29 Jul 2014

    In July 1949, the British-built de Havilland Comet took off for the first time

  • The Outbreak of World War One

    Mon 28 Jul 2014

    Eyewitness accounts from the archives of the start of war in the summer of 1914

  • Purple Rain

    Fri 25 Jul 2014

    It's 30 years since the release of the film Purple Rain, starring musician Prince

  • The First Palestinian Intifada

    Thu 24 Jul 2014

    In 1987, the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, started in Gaza

  • The Last Days of British Rule in India

    Wed 23 Jul 2014

    In summer 1947 India declared independence after hundreds of years of British rule.

  • The Killing of Miguel Angel Blanco

    Tue 22 Jul 2014

    In 1997 a young Spanish politician was murdered by the Basque separatist group ETA

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