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鈥� life and Omar Sharif鈥檚 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鈥� 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 Guerrilla Girls
Mon 9 Nov 2020
The women who launched an anonymous poster campaign against sexism and racism in art.
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The church that rose from the rubble
Fri 6 Nov 2020
Reconstructing Dresden's historic baroque church.
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The 1945 Pan-African Congress
Thu 5 Nov 2020
How a meeting in Manchester shaped the post-war struggle against colonialism
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The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
Wed 4 Nov 2020
The Israeli PM was shot by an extremist opposed to the peace process on November 4th 1995
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The sex musical that wowed New York and London
Mon 2 Nov 2020
In 1969 a theatrical revue called Oh Calcutta opened. It featured male and female nudity.
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With the president on 9/11
Fri 30 Oct 2020
How former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card broke news of 9/11 to President Bush
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Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority
Thu 29 Oct 2020
How US religious conservatives organised in the 1970s to get Republicans elected.
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The Watergate scandal
Wed 28 Oct 2020
The investigation that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.
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Shirley Chisholm - the black woman who tried to be president
Tue 27 Oct 2020
The pioneering politician who launched a run for the US presidency in 1972.
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When JFK won the US presidency
Mon 26 Oct 2020
The US election of 1960 was a close race between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
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Nasa's pioneering black women
Fri 23 Oct 2020
The mathematicians who worked behind the scenes on the American space programme
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The missing victims of apartheid
Thu 22 Oct 2020
How a South African team is searching for those who disappeared during apartheid rule
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The Cutter Incident
Wed 21 Oct 2020
How mistakes with the initial production of polio vaccine made thousands of children ill.
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Joan Littlewood, 'mother of modern British theatre'
Tue 20 Oct 2020
The working class woman who shook up the British theatre establishment
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Why Portugal decriminalised all drugs
Mon 19 Oct 2020
In the grip of a drugs crisis, the country took a radical approach in 2001.
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Saddam Hussein's big movie project
Fri 16 Oct 2020
Behind the scenes at the Iraqi-funded, Clash of Loyalties
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The US Voting Rights Act of 1965
Thu 15 Oct 2020
The landmark legislation was introduced to ensure the rights of African Americans to vote
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The last of the Kazakh herders
Wed 14 Oct 2020
Many of the nomadic herders in Kazakhstan left the USSR and moved to China in the 1920s
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The end of the Lebanese Civil War
Tue 13 Oct 2020
On October 13th 1990 the fifteen year long conflict in Lebanon finally came to an end
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The launch of CNN
Mon 12 Oct 2020
1980 saw the launch of the first TV station dedicated to 24 hour news.
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The Battle of Lewisham
Fri 9 Oct 2020
How anti-racists stopped a far-right march in South London in 1977.
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Desmond's - a sitcom that changed Britain
Thu 8 Oct 2020
The story of our times told by the people who were there.
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Fighting racism on the dancefloor
Wed 7 Oct 2020
New laws were used to stop clubs from banning black and ethnic minority people in 1978
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Britain's first black woman headteacher
Tue 6 Oct 2020
Yvonne Conolly was made head of a London primary school in 1969.
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The voyage of the Empire Windrush
Mon 5 Oct 2020
A ship carrying hundreds of migrants from the Caribbean set sail for Britain in 1948
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The house by the lake
Fri 2 Oct 2020
The summer house by a lake which witnessed much of Germany's 20th century history
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Operation Breakthrough: Fighting to save three whales
Thu 1 Oct 2020
Three gray whales got caught in the ice off Alaska in October 1988
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The founding of Google
Wed 30 Sep 2020
In 1998 the world's most popular search engine was launched by two PHD students
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The Mafia trial of Italy鈥檚 former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti
Tue 29 Sep 2020
A trial which shone a light on links between Italian politicians and the Mafia
