Witness History
BBC World Service
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 – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ 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’s oldest languages.
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 – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ 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’s oldest languages.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 30, 2022 • 9min
The birth of the Slow Food Movement
In 1986, thousands of people gathered in the middle of Rome to protest against the opening of Italy’s first McDonalds fast food restaurant. One of the opponents to the opening of McDonalds was journalist Carlo Petrini. Soon after, he founded a new organisation called the Slow Food Movement. Its main aim was to protect traditional foods and cooking. He has been sharing his story with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Carlo Petrini. Credit: Slow Food International)
Dec 29, 2022 • 9min
Inventing instant noodles
In August 1958, the Japanese entrepreneur, Momofuku Ando, came up with the idea of a brand new food product that would change the eating habits of people across the world. In 2018, Ashley Byrne spoke to Yukitaka Tsutsui, an executive for the company founded by Ando, about the birth of the Instant Noodle.A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Photo: Momofuko Ando holding noodles. Credit: Getty Images)
Dec 28, 2022 • 9min
Malta's bread strike
In February 1977 the bakers of Malta went on an unprecedented strike.It sent shock waves through the Maltese people who couldn’t imagine life without their favourite food… bread.Before long the military was guarding bakeries, the panicked population had created a bread black market and local prisoners were enlisted to bake for the public.Forty-five years later Maltese cultural historian Noel Buttigieg shares his memories of the time, with Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty.(Photo: A queue outside of a bakery during the 1977 strike. Credit: Noel Buttigieg)
Dec 27, 2022 • 9min
Inventing Chicken Manchurian
Chef Nelson Wang created his signature dish Chicken Manchurian in 1975. It was the birth of modern Indo-Chinese cuisine which went on to become hugely popular around the world. He went on to open China Garden, a Chinese restaurant in Mumbai that would draw in Bollywood's glitterati. Nelson's son Edward Wang, who is also a chef, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.(Photo: Chicken Manchurian. Credit: Paul Yeung/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)
Dec 26, 2022 • 9min
Creating ciabatta bread
In 1982, rally driver Arnaldo Cavallari created ciabatta bread in Adria, in northern Italy.His family owned a flour mill and he wanted to invent a loaf to rival the French baguette.Rachel Naylor speaks to his close friend and fellow baker, Marco Vianello.(Photo: Ciabatta. Credit: Getty Images)
Dec 23, 2022 • 9min
Chile mine rescue
On 5 August 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground after a rockfall in the San José copper and gold mine in Chile.They were rescued 69 days later.Rachel Naylor speaks to one of the miners, Mario Sepúlveda, who was nicknamed Super Mario by the media.(Photo: Mario Sepúlveda, in the centre, celebrates being rescued from the mine on 13 October 2010. Credit: Rodrigo Arangua / AFP via Getty Images)
Dec 22, 2022 • 10min
Grozny siege
In December 1994, Russian forces began the siege of Chechnya’s capital Grozny. Dr Aslan Doukaev was a university teacher when the first Chechen war started. In this programme first broadcast in 2010 he tells Ed Butler about surviving months of conflict.(Photo: Russian soldier during the siege of Grozny. Credit: Getty Images)
Dec 21, 2022 • 9min
Colombia's 'false positives' killings
In 2008, it was revealed that Colombia’s army had been executing civilians and pretending they were rebels killed in the country’s ongoing civil war. At least 4,600 innocent people were murdered in this way. They became known as the ‘false positives’. Ben Henderson speaks to Jacqueline Castillo, whose brother was one of the victims, and Carlos Mora, who was ordered to execute civilians when he was a soldier.(Photo: Families of 'false positives' victims. Credit: Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Dec 20, 2022 • 9min
The BBC broadcasting through the Iron Curtain
It is the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service. Broadcasting to countries behind the Iron Curtain without a free or independent media between 1947 and 1991 was arguably the service’s finest hour. The corporation was on the front line of the information war as the BBC’s former Moscow correspondent Bridget Kendall recalls. Programmes such as the German Service’s Letters Without Signatures created a sense of community among isolated East Germans who could not air their views publicly at home. Meanwhile, Peter Udell, the former controller of European Services, had the challenge of trying to overcome the Soviet censors. Produced and presented by Josephine McDermott.Archive recordings of former employees in the BBC Oral History Collection were used courtesy of Sussex University.(Photo: A West Berlin policeman looks at an East German watchtower at night, 1961. Credit: Getty Images)
Dec 19, 2022 • 9min
Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service
To mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service, we trace the development of the Caribbean Service.Its beginnings go back to the early 1940s when the BBC’s first black producer, Una Marson was employed. She created Caribbean Voices, which gave future Nobel laureates such as Derek Walcott their first international platform.In 1969, one of the UK’s best known newsreaders, Sir Trevor McDonald, left Trinidad to join the BBC Caribbean Service as a producer.He reflects on its legacy. Produced and presented by Josephine McDermott.Archive recording of West Indies Calling from 1943, is used courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. Una Marson's poem Black Burden is used courtesy of Peepal Tree Press and the BBC Caribbean Service archive material was provided by the Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies.(Photo: Sir Trevor McDonald and Una Marson. Credit: BBC)
