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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.

Updated: daily
Episodes available: indefinitely

Episodes to download

  •

    The Assassination of Benigno Aquino

    Tue 25 Aug 2015

    On 21 Aug 1983, the opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, was shot dead in the Philippines

  • Mass Executions in Iran

    Mon 24 Aug 2015

    In the summer of 1988 thousands of political prisoners were suddenly executed in Iran.

  • A Bizarre Poisoning Plot in Oregon

    Fri 21 Aug 2015

    A clash between a religious commune and the locals leads to the mass poisoning of a town.

  • Charles Rennie Mackintosh

    Thu 20 Aug 2015

    In August 1915 the Scottish architect was arrested on suspicion of spying.

  • The Assassination of Leon Trotsky

    Wed 19 Aug 2015

    Esteban Volkov recalls the murder of his grandfather, Leon Trotsky, in Mexico in Aug 1940

  • The Dieppe Raid

    Tue 18 Aug 2015

    The disastrous raid by Allied forces on the German occupied French port of Dieppe in WW2.

  • The Tolpuddle Martyrs

    Mon 17 Aug 2015

    How six English farmworkers defied the authorities to form a trade union in 1834.

  • Korea Divided

    Fri 14 Aug 2015

    In August 1945 Korea is split along the 38th parallel.

  • Child Prisoners of the Japanese

    Thu 13 Aug 2015

    The story of one young American girl held prisoner by the Japanese during WW2.

  • The Man Who Published Harry Potter

    Wed 12 Aug 2015

    In 1996 struggling author JK Rowling finds a publisher at last for wizard Harry Potter.

  • Devil's Island

    Tue 11 Aug 2015

    A convict's experience of the notorious French penal colony in South America.

  • The World's Most Valuable T-Rex

    Mon 10 Aug 2015

    Peter Larson tells us how his team discovered the most complete T-Rex fossil in the world

  • The Great Iraqi Defection

    Fri 7 Aug 2015

    In 1995 two of the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's son-in-laws defected to Jordan.

  • Singapore Independence

    Thu 6 Aug 2015

    Singapore leaves the Federation of Malaysia and becomes an independent sovereign state

  • The Bombing of Hiroshima

    Wed 5 Aug 2015

    A Japanese schoolgirl tells her story of surviving the US nuclear attack on Hiroshima

  • The Plot to Kill Iranian Writers

    Tue 4 Aug 2015

    In August 1996 in Iran, there was a plot to kill 21 writers on a bus jouney to Armenia

  • First Cochlear Implant

    Mon 3 Aug 2015

    In August 1978 an Australian doctor successfully fitted a multi-channel cochlear implant.

  • Afghanistan's First Coup

    Fri 31 Jul 2015

    In July 1973 military officers staged a coup which toppled the monarchy in Afghanistan

  • Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

    Thu 30 Jul 2015

    In August 1960 the controversial Oscar-nominated psychological thriller was released

  • First Inter-racial Kiss on TV

    Wed 29 Jul 2015

    In July 1964, a white actor and a black actress, kissed, live, on a British TV show

  • Scouts in the Warsaw Uprising

    Tue 28 Jul 2015

    On 1 August 1944, the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation of Poland began

  • Chilean Students Set on Fire

    Mon 27 Jul 2015

    Chilean soldiers attacked and burnt two students during protests in July 1986.

  • Britain's Landslide 1945 Election

    Fri 24 Jul 2015

    In July 1945 Labour won a surprise victory, defeating war-time leader Winston Churchill

  • The Tulia Drug Bust

    Thu 23 Jul 2015

    A drug sting in a small Texas town in 1999 went badly wrong and caused a national scandal

  • Tehran's Red Light District

    Wed 22 Jul 2015

    In July 1979 Iran's new Islamic government closed down Tehran's red-light district.

  • CIA Mind Control Experiments

    Mon 20 Jul 2015

    In the 1950s the CIA began attempts to brainwash psychiatric patients.

  • Ghiggia: Uruguay鈥檚 World Cup Hero

    Fri 17 Jul 2015

    Alcides Ghiggia scored a famous goal for Uruguay in a match at Brazil鈥檚 Maracana stadium

  • The Manhattan Project

    Thu 16 Jul 2015

    The first ever nuclear weapon was detonated by scientists in the USA on 16 July 1945

  • Poison Gas in WW1

    Wed 15 Jul 2015

    Soldiers who witnessed gas attacks recount their experiences in archive recordings

  • Marie Curie

    Tue 14 Jul 2015

    Winner of two Nobel prizes for her pioneering research into radioactivity

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