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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Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap the Reichstag
Wed 12 Jun 2019
How a huge public art project entranced post-Cold War Berlin
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The first anti-psychotic drug
Tue 11 Jun 2019
How a 1950s drug helped revolutionise the treatment of mental illness
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The end of the war in Kosovo
Mon 10 Jun 2019
Hundreds of thousands of Kosovans fled when NATO began bombing former Yugoslavia in 1999
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The Gurkha soldiers fight for equality
Fri 7 Jun 2019
A Nepalese regiment of the British army won the right to settle in Britain in 2009.
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Broadcasting D-Day
Thu 6 Jun 2019
How the Âé¶¹Éç reported the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France, 6 June 1944
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The Little Prince
Wed 5 Jun 2019
The mystery surrounding the death of the author of the world famous children's tale
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D-Day
Tue 4 Jun 2019
Eyewitness accounts of the Allied landings in Normandy during WW2 on 6 June 1944.
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Vikings in York
Mon 3 Jun 2019
Archaeologists uncovered perfectly preserved domestic Viking life in York in the 1970s
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Six Degrees - the first online social network
Fri 31 May 2019
Andrew Weinreich founded the first online social network in 1997.
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Behind the scenes on Sesame Street
Thu 30 May 2019
The inside story of one of the most popular children's TV shows ever made
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Tiananmen Square escape
Wed 29 May 2019
Dan Wang was the most wanted student leader after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
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Bokassa's massacre of the children
Tue 28 May 2019
How protests by young people led to Jean-Bédel Bokassa's fall from power in C.A.R
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The death of Jawaharlal Nehru
Mon 27 May 2019
The man who led India to independence died on May 27th 1964
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The Acid Survivors Foundation
Fri 24 May 2019
The Bangladesh charity dedicated to treating the survivors of acid attacks.
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How environmental campaign group Greenpeace was formed
Thu 23 May 2019
The story of how environmental campaign group Greenpeace was formed
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Fighting Uganda's anti-gay laws
Wed 22 May 2019
When MPs tried to toughen the laws against homosexuality, LGBT activists took a stand.
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The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs
Tue 21 May 2019
The Chicxulub impact crater was discovered in 1978.
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Walking the Great Wall of China
Mon 20 May 2019
Three friends set off on an epic trek along the Great Wall of China in May 1984
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Hitler's stolen children
Fri 17 May 2019
During WW2 the Nazis abducted blonde blue-eyed children to build an Aryan master race
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China's One Child policy
Thu 16 May 2019
The Chinese Communist Party started ruthlessly enforcing birth control in the early 1980s
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The final days of Sri Lanka's civil war
Wed 15 May 2019
How the army finally crushed Tamil Tiger rebels after 25 years of bloody civil war
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Predicting the financial crash
Tue 14 May 2019
The economists who predicted the 2008 financial crash but whose warnings were ignored
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Strictly Come Dancing
Fri 10 May 2019
One of the most successful TV formats in the world started back in May 2004
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The war on drugs
Thu 9 May 2019
The first 'war on drugs' was launched by US President Richard Nixon in 1971.
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The siege of Dien Bien Phu
Tue 7 May 2019
The French surrender at the siege of Dien Bien Phu ended their colonial rule of Vietnam
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Jack Ma: The founder of Alibaba
Mon 6 May 2019
The Chinese billionaire set up his online shopping site in 1999
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The Malayan Emergency
Fri 3 May 2019
The struggle against a Communist insurgency in Malaya in the 1950s
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The sinking of the Belgrano
Thu 2 May 2019
The Argentine ship was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands war