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Spot the Dog

In 1978, British artist Eric Hill designed an interactive book about a yellow puppy for his two-year-old son, Chris.

In 1978, British artist Eric Hill designed an interactive book about a yellow puppy for his two-year-old son, Chris.

Eric had noticed Chris kept lifting up the paper he was working on to see what was underneath and it inspired him to come up with a new format for a children鈥檚 book - lift-the-flap.

Since Where鈥檚 Spot? was published in 1980, more than 65 million copies of Spot books have been sold worldwide, in more than 60 languages.

Rachel Naylor speaks to Eric鈥檚 son, Chris Hill.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by 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 the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron 鈥� Argentina鈥檚 Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous 鈥榯ear down this wall鈥� speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler鈥檚 List; and Jacques Derrida, France鈥檚 鈥榬ock star鈥� philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world鈥檚 oldest languages.

(Photo: Eric Hill with Spot in 1984. Credit: Ted Bath / Daily Express / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

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11 minutes

Last on

Tue 19 Aug 2025 02:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 18 Aug 2025 07:50GMT
  • Mon 18 Aug 2025 11:50GMT
  • Mon 18 Aug 2025 21:50GMT
  • Tue 19 Aug 2025 02:50GMT

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