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
Oct 26, 2022 • 11min
Theatre siege in Moscow
It is 20 years since heavily-armed Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage. They threatened to kill them all if the Russian government didn't call off the war in Chechnya.
When Russian special forces stormed the theatre they let off gas to stun the Chechens - it killed many of the hostages as well. In this programme first broadcast in 2012 Dina Newman speaks to one of the survivors, Prof Alex Bobik. (Photo: Chechen rebel on Russian TV. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 25, 2022 • 11min
The Iranian Revolution and women
Many women supported Iran’s 1979 revolution against the monarchy but some later became disillusioned. Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the things that women objected to.
Sharan Tabari spoke to Lucy Burns in 2014 about her experiences during, and after, the Iranian Revolution.(Photo: Iranian women at the 1 May 1979 protest. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 24, 2022 • 11min
Indonesia’s indigenous people take a stand
In 1998 President Suharto of Indonesia resigned after more than thirty years of military rule. It meant people from indigenous communities were finally free to speak out after years of being ignored.Tribal leaders seized their chance to gather together at the first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago in Jakarta in 1999. Laura Jones has been speaking to Rukka Sombolinggi.(Photo: People in tribal dress at the Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago in 1999. Credit: Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara, the Indigenous Peoples' Alliance of the Archipelago)
Oct 21, 2022 • 11min
Founder of the Cuban National Ballet
We go back to 1959 when Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer Alicia Alonso turned her back on a successful career on the world stage and returned home to form Cuba’s National Ballet Company. She spoke to Mike Lanchin in 2015.(Photo: Alicia Alonso. Credit: Alicia Alonso)
Oct 20, 2022 • 9min
Cuba's boxing ban
Earlier this year, Cuba lifted a 60-year ban on professional boxing, which Fidel Castro imposed in 1962. Before then, amateur boxers who wanted to turn pro, had to risk everything in order to defect. Rachel Naylor speaks to Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez, who escaped in 2007 with the assistance of Mexican gangsters, a fishing boat and an Irish promoter.(Photo: Mike Perez (right) and Bryant Jennings during their heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden on 26 July 2014 in New York. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 19, 2022 • 9min
The ‘army’ that taught Cuba to read and write
In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a nationwide campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba. An ‘army’ of volunteers known as brigadistas equipped with books and pencils travelled across the country to teach people how to read and write. Alex Collins spoke to Rosa Hernandez Acosta who taught many adults even though she was a 10-year-old schoolgirl herself.(Photo: Rosa Hernandez Acosta. Credit: Kian Seara)
Oct 18, 2022 • 11min
Cuban Missile Crisis: The showdown
Jo Fidgen hears what was happening in the Pentagon and the Kremlin in the final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev finally offered to withdraw the missiles as the crisis came to a head.In 2012, his son Sergei remembered those fraught few days.(Photo: Nikita and Sergei Khrushchev. Credit: Sergei Khrushchev)
Oct 17, 2022 • 11min
Cuban Missile Crisis: The photos
In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Jo Fidgen spoke to American Intelligence officer Dino Brugioni who played a crucial role as the crisis unfolded. Dino was a CIA expert whose job was to interpret the photographs of missiles in Cuba.
This programme was first broadcast in 2012.(Photo: Dino Brugioni. Credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Oct 14, 2022 • 10min
Cesar Chavez’s campaign for farm workers
In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm workers inspired Latinos across the US. The movement was led by Cesar Chavez - a man now regarded by his community as a civil rights hero. Dolores Huerta, who coined the slogan “yes we can!”, worked closely with Chavez. She spoke to Simon Watts in this programme first broadcast in 2012.(Photo: Cesar Chavez pointing in front of a crowd at a protest. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 12, 2022 • 9min
Torturing strikers in South Korea
Park Heongjun takes us back to May 1980, when a strike in the city of Gwangju became one of the most divisive moments in South Korea’s history and led to the imprisonment of activist Bae Ok Byoung. She worked in a factory making wigs and along with other female employees, went on strike to demand better working conditions. In this programme first broadcast in 2021, Bae recalls the brutal crackdown by authorities and describes the torture she suffered after her arrest. This is a 2 Degrees West production for BBC World Service. This programme contains descriptions of torture.(Photo: Labour activist Bae Ok Byoung talking to some of the workers at the wig factory in Seoul where she worked in 1980. Credit: Bae Ok Byoung)
