Witness History Podcast
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.
Episodes to download
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The Torrey Canyon Disaster
Mon 17 Mar 2014
An oil tanker hit the rocks off the the south-west coast of England in March 1967
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1989 and the Lebanese Civil War
Fri 14 Mar 2014
Fighting intensified in the Lebanese capital Beirut in March 1989
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Taiwan '228 Incident'
Thu 13 Mar 2014
In 1947, Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese nationalist troops killed 20,000 civilians in Taiwan
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The Creation of Barbie
Wed 12 Mar 2014
The woman who created the most famous doll in the world - Barbie
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The Madrid Train Bombings
Tue 11 Mar 2014
The bombing of commuter trains in Spain's capital that killed 191 people and injured 1800
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Suffragette Art Attack
Mon 10 Mar 2014
In 1914 a suffragette attacked a painting in London's National Gallery with a cleaver
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Ghana Veterans and the 1948 Accra Riots
Fri 7 Mar 2014
In 1948 Ghana was rocked by riots following the killing of Ghanaian WW2 veterans
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Soviet Mission to Halley's Comet
Thu 6 Mar 2014
In 1986, two Soviet space probes intercepted Halley's Comet
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The Miss World Protest
Wed 5 Mar 2014
In 1970 feminists stormed the stage at the Miss World pageant in London.
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British Miners' Strike
Tue 4 Mar 2014
In March 1984, coal miners across the UK went on strike over planned pit closures
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The Maharishi's World Tour
Mon 3 Mar 2014
In spring 1959, an Indian guru toured the world teaching Transcendental Meditation.
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Hugo Chavez's First Coup
Fri 28 Feb 2014
Left-leaning army officers staged an unsuccessful coup in Venezuela in February 1992
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The Downfall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Thu 27 Feb 2014
In February 2004 the president of Haiti was forced out of power by a countrywide uprising
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The Khrushchev Thaw
Wed 26 Feb 2014
In the 1950s Soviet citizens were allowed to buy tape recorders for the first time.
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Spitting Image
Tue 25 Feb 2014
In February 1984 an outrageous satirical puppet show hit British television screens
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Stalin's 1944 Deportations
Mon 24 Feb 2014
How nearly half a million Chechen and Ingush people were deported from the North Caucasus
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Protests for the Mother Tongue
Fri 21 Feb 2014
In February 1952 thousands marched in Dhaka in defence of the Bengali language
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The Fall of Albania's Enver Hoxha
Thu 20 Feb 2014
In February 1991 protesters pulled down the giant statue of Albania's communist dictator.
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The Death of Deng Xiaoping
Wed 19 Feb 2014
Deng Xiaoping's translator, Victor Gao remembers the architect of China's transformation
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The True Story of "Whisky Galore"
Tue 18 Feb 2014
In February 1941, a ship carrying nearly 30,000 cases of whisky was wrecked in Scotland.
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Fighting the Contras
Fri 14 Feb 2014
Sandinista 'Daniel Alegria' on the brutal fight with US-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua
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The Exile of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Thu 13 Feb 2014
On 13 February 1974 the Russian dissident writer was sent into exile in the West
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Women and the Iranian Revolution
Wed 12 Feb 2014
In 1979, the Islamic Revolution changed Iranian women's lives forever.
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The Search for Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction
Tue 11 Feb 2014
In 2004, the US began to realise Saddam Hussein may not have been stockpiling WMDs
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The Buildup to World War Two
Mon 10 Feb 2014
In 1939 tension was growing in Europe, over Nazi Germany's expansionist plans
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Beatlemania
Fri 7 Feb 2014
On 7 February 1964 the pop group the Beatles were met by hysterical crowds in the USA
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War Brides
Thu 6 Feb 2014
In 1946 tens of thousands of British women went to Canada on the first 'war brides' ship
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Colossus: the World's First Electronic Computer
Wed 5 Feb 2014
In February 1944, the first electronic computer began attacking coded Nazi messages
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The Death of Chinese Cockle Pickers
Tue 4 Feb 2014
In February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrants drowned off the coast of north-west England
