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
-
The Ulster Workers' Strike
Mon 22 Mar 2021
Protestant workers went on strike in Northern Ireland in 1974
-
The dirtiest chess match in history
Fri 19 Mar 2021
How the 1978 World Chess Championship was overshadowed by allegations of dirty tricks
-
Mars-500 isolation experiment
Thu 18 Mar 2021
Why six men were locked inside a spacecraft on earth for 520 days
-
Alva Myrdal - the woman who made modern Sweden
Wed 17 Mar 2021
The story of Swedish social reformer, Alva Myrdal, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1982
-
Jamaica’s ‘drug lord’
Tue 16 Mar 2021
The hunt for the Jamaican drug lord which left dozens of civilians dead
-
Paris is Burning
Mon 15 Mar 2021
The groundbreaking film about drag queens and LGBTQ+ people in New York
-
The woman who asked Britain to return the Parthenon marbles
Thu 11 Mar 2021
Melina Mercouri, actress turned politician, requested the marbles be returned to Greece
-
Jane: The underground abortion network
Wed 10 Mar 2021
How feminists ended up performing abortions for women in 1960s America
-
Cixi: China's most powerful woman
Tue 9 Mar 2021
She was the power behind the Chinese throne for decades
-
The women of Egypt's Arab Spring
Mon 8 Mar 2021
In 2011 women were at the forefront of protests calling for a change in power in Egypt
-
Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech
Fri 5 Mar 2021
How the historic speech in March 1946 came to symbolise the beginnings of the Cold War
-
The Sharpeville massacre
Thu 4 Mar 2021
In 1960, South African police shot dead 69 black protestors, sparking worldwide outrage
-
When US police dropped explosives on a Philadelphia home
Wed 3 Mar 2021
How 11 people died when explosives were dropped on a house by a police helicopter
-
-
The world's deepest dive 11km down
Mon 1 Mar 2021
Don Walsh was the first to go to the very bottom of the deepest part of the ocean in 1960
-
The WW2 airman from Sierra Leone
Thu 25 Feb 2021
Johnny Smythe was one of very few West Africans to fly with Britain's airforce during WW2
-
The fall of Kwame Nkrumah
Wed 24 Feb 2021
How one of Africa's most famous independence leaders was overthrown in 1966
-
Ireland's bank bailout
Tue 23 Feb 2021
In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis Ireland had to borrow billions
-
-
-
Free breakfasts with the Black Panthers
Thu 18 Feb 2021
How the revolutionary black rights organisation started serving breakfast to children
-
The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks
Wed 17 Feb 2021
The story of a woman who played a largely unsung role in countless medical breakthroughs
-
Britain's forgotten slave owners: Part two
Tue 16 Feb 2021
The story of Britain's forgotten slave owners and the people they enslaved
-
Britain's forgotten slave owners: Part one
Mon 15 Feb 2021
How researchers in London uncovered the story of Britain's forgotten slave owners
-
How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War
Fri 12 Feb 2021
More than 400 civilians died when US bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in Baghdad
-
A Ghanaian nurse's story
Thu 11 Feb 2021
Nurses from outside the UK form a vital part of the country's medical workforce
-
The paper that helped the homeless
Wed 10 Feb 2021
The 'Street News' paper was sold by homeless people in New York at a profit to earn money
-
Francis Bacon in the archives
Tue 9 Feb 2021
The painter Francis Bacon was known for his disturbing images and bohemian lifestyle
-
-
General Robert E Lee: US Civil War rebel
Fri 5 Feb 2021
Lee was charged with treason, so why did Congress reinstate his citizenship in 1975?