Witness History

Zoran Djindjic, the prime minister of Serbia, was assassinated on 12 March 2003. He was murdered by an associate of former president, Slobodan Milosevic.Gordana Matkovic served in Djindjic's cabinet. Two decades on from the murder, she shares her memories of that time with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Zoran Djindjic poster held up during remembrance gathering. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1992, the late zoologist Nigel Bonner opened one of the world's most remote museums, the South Georgia Whaling Museum, on South Georgia, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. Despite its isolated location, 1,400km east of the Falkland Islands, it remains open today and gets around 15,000 visitors a year. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jan Cheek, a friend of the founder and former trustee of the museum.(Photo: South Georgia Museum. Credit: Richard Hall for SGHT)

In 2004 Jason deCaires Taylor started building the world's first underwater gallery.He wanted to attract divers away from fragile coral reefs, so he submerged life-sized, human cement models in the Caribbean Sea.Within a few days the art was covered in purple and blue sponges, orange fire coral and green algae... and was even home to a few octopuses.Nineteen years later, Jason tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his memories of building the park. Archive Credit: Grenada Broadcasting Network.(Photo: ‘Viscissitudes’ - A sculpture installed in Grenada. Credit: Jason deCaires Taylor)

In 2009, Rudolf Brazda, one of the last known survivors of the Pink Triangles, returned to the former site of Buchenwald concentration camp where he’d been imprisoned during World War Two, for being gay in Nazi Germany. In never previously broadcast recordings, taped by Jean-Luc Schwab, who wrote Rudolf’s biography, we hear Rudolf’s reaction to returning as a 95-year-old man. Jean-Luc Schwab who became friends with Rudolf in the last few years of his life, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.This programme contains distressing details. (Photo: Rudolf Brazda. Credit: Frederick Florin/ Getty Images)

Fifty years ago, indigenous American activists staged a historic protest against the US authorities.A siege began which lasted for two months and resulted in the violent deaths of two tribal members and the injuring of a US marshal.In 2011 Russell Means, the former national director of the ‘American Indian Movement', spoke to the programme. (Photo: Russell Means in 1973. Credit: Getty Images)

How did an estimated 900 million people come to witness Her Majesty the Queen apparently parachuting from a helicopter with James Bond?Frank Cottrell-Boyce who wrote the scene for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games explains how it came about.Josephine McDermott hears how corgis, a clothes line and the Queen’s dresser all played important parts. 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 football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: The moment the Queen and James Bond appeared to jump out of a helicopter above the Olympic Stadium in London. Credit: Getty Images)

Despite facing malnutrition, starvation and disease, Christopher John Huckstep's father set up a school in the Japanese internment camp where his family was sent in 1943.Herbert Huckstep ensured the 350 children of Lunghwa Civilian Assembly Centre were taught a wide range of subjects using brown paper bags to write on. The school was called Lunghwa Academy and it had its own badge, motto and certificates. A syllabus was followed, exams were taken and there were even evening classes for adults. The Japanese set up more than 20 internment camps in China and Hong Kong holding an estimated 14,000 people, but it is not believed that such a sophisticated schooling system was established elsewhere. In spite of the many hardships, educational standards were kept so high that qualifications taken in the camp were later recognised by the Cambridge exam board when the exam scripts were taken to England after the war. Christopher John Huckstep shares his memories with Josephine McDermott.(Photo: Christopher John Huckstep and other children at Lunghwa Civilian Assembly Centre, Shanghai, in 1945. Credit: Oscar Seepol. Image courtesy of Susannah Stapleton and Special Collections, University of Bristol Library)

In 1958, Stanislav Brebera invented Semtex. It was a malleable, odourless and stable plastic explosive which became the choice weapon for those seeking to spread terror.In 2018, Maria Jestafjeva spoke to Mirisov Brebera, the brother of the chemist who created it.(Photo: Semtex. Credit: Getty Images)

Mauritian musician Kaya, who pioneered a new genre called seggae, fusing reggae and sega, died in police custody on 21 February 1999.His death sparked three days of rioting. People believed Kaya had been beaten to death.Veronique Topize, Kaya's widow demanded an independent autopsy and President Cassam Uteem travelled into the heart of the disorder to appeal directly to the rioters to put down their weapons and go home.Veronique Topize and Cassam Uteem shared their memories with Reena Stanton-Sharma.(Photo: Painting of Kaya (left). Credit: BBC)

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and Germany had to decide which city would be the new capital. The contenders were the West German city of Bonn and the East German city of Berlin and the two fought it out in a ferocious political battle that would help define the country.Ilona Toller hears from Bonn citizen Jürgen Nimptsch, who would later become the mayor of the city and Wolfgang Schäuble who fought on the side of Berlin.(Photo: Bundestag 2023. Credit: Getty Images)