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 and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
Episodes to download
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The IRA hunger strikes
Tue 4 May 2021
Republican prisoner Bobby Sands died in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland on May 5 1981
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How Amsterdam became the cannabis smoking capital of Europe
Mon 3 May 2021
How Amsterdam became the home of cannabis coffee shops.
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The killing of Osama Bin Laden
Fri 30 Apr 2021
The man behind the 9/11 attacks was killed by US special forces on 2 May 2011
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The battle of Tora Bora
Thu 29 Apr 2021
How US special forces lost bin Laden in the mountains of Afghanistan in December 2001
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The Nairobi US Embassy bombing
Wed 28 Apr 2021
A survivor's account of the al-Qaeda attacks in East Africa in 1998 which killed hundreds
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Meeting Osama bin Laden
Tue 27 Apr 2021
One man's story of his journey to talk to the Al-Qaeda leader in 1996
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The siege of Mecca
Mon 26 Apr 2021
In 1979 Islamist militants took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam
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The first space shuttle mission
Fri 23 Apr 2021
How the space shuttle Columbia revolutionised manned space exploration
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How the NRA became a US political lobbying giant
Thu 22 Apr 2021
How the National Rifle Association turned into a US political lobbying colossus.
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The Raymond Davis Incident
Wed 21 Apr 2021
How a shooting in the streets of Lahore brought US-Pakistani relations to the brink
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The return of Blue Lake
Tue 20 Apr 2021
How an ancient Native American sacred lake was finally returned to the Taos Pueblo people
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The Eichmann trial
Mon 19 Apr 2021
In April 1961 the Nazi official who ran holocaust death camps was put on trial in Israel
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China's 'Kingdom of women'
Fri 16 Apr 2021
An ancient matrilineal society which doesn't believe in marriage and where the women rule
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The vultures saved from extinction
Thu 15 Apr 2021
South Asian vultures started dying in huge numbers in the 1990s but no one knew why.
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Fighting for Castro at the Bay of Pigs
Wed 14 Apr 2021
Hear from a Cuban who fought against the US-backed exiles that invaded Cuba in April 1961
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How a worm helped explain human development
Tue 13 Apr 2021
The nematode worm c. elegans has enabled all sorts of discoveries about human biology
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The US Supreme Court's first woman justice
Mon 12 Apr 2021
In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman judge at America's top court
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Discovering the Jet Stream
Fri 9 Apr 2021
Air raids and balloon bombs - the strange story behind the discovery of the Jet Stream
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From Leningrad to St Petersburg
Thu 8 Apr 2021
How the people of Russia's second city dropped the great communist leader's name
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David Attenborough's First Expedition
Wed 7 Apr 2021
The story of David Attenborough's first expedition.
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Mexico's female serial killer
Tue 6 Apr 2021
Juana Barraza was found guilty of murdering at least eleven elderly women in Mexico city
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The women who reclaimed the night
Mon 5 Apr 2021
How women in England took to the streets to protest against a serial killer
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Black Jesus
Fri 2 Apr 2021
In 1967 an African American church minister began preaching that Jesus was black.
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Kidnapped on an orchid hunt
Thu 1 Apr 2021
How two Englishmen were seized by Colombian rebels while crossing the lawless Darien Gap
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Mrs Thatcher’s ground-breaking Soviet TV interview
Wed 31 Mar 2021
How Mrs Thatcher shook up the Soviet media with a landmark interview in Moscow.
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When the prisoners ran the prison
Tue 30 Mar 2021
Prisoners at Walpole maximum security prison were in charge for three months in 1973
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Anorexia nervosa
Mon 29 Mar 2021
The death of the singer, Karen Carpenter, showed how devastating the illness could be.
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South Africa takes on big pharma
Thu 25 Mar 2021
The fight between Big Pharma and South Africa over the right to import cheap drugs.
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The woman who got America talking about sex
Wed 24 Mar 2021
Dr Ruth Westheimer first became popular on a radio show in New York in the early 1980s
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Banksy’s first street art mural
Tue 23 Mar 2021
It’s difficult to pinpoint the first major piece of Banksy street art, could this be it?