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 11, 2022 • 9min
Disney animators' strike
Walt Disney cartoonists went on strike for nine weeks in 1941. They were led by Art Babbitt, Disney’s top animator who created Goofy.The picket line was remarkable for its colourful artwork and support from Hollywood actors.The confrontation was rooted in the paranoia of the day – the infiltration of communism into American life, as Art Babbitt explains in BBC archive recordings presented by Josephine McDermott.(Photo: Art Babbitt leads Disney animators holding placards with cartoon characters at a film premiere. Credit: Kosti Ruohomaa, a former Disney worker, courtesy of Cowan-Fouts Collection)
Oct 10, 2022 • 10min
UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’
In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers. But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied. Claire Bowes spoke to the gravediggers’ convener Ian Lowes in 2011. (Photo: Protestors during the 'Winter of Discontent'. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 7, 2022 • 10min
The beginnings of Notting Hill Carnival
On 30 January 1959, the late Trinidadian activist Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party in St Pancras Town Hall in London, planting the seeds for the famous carnival.She wanted to bring Caribbeans across the UK's capital together for dancing, singing and steel bands. Rachel Naylor hears from her best friend, Corinne Skinner-Carter.(Photo: A woman having a good time at Claudia Jones' Caribbean carnival, at St Pancras Town Hall in London, 1959. Credit: Daily Mirror via Getty Images)
Oct 6, 2022 • 10min
The Harder They Come
In 1972, a low-budget Jamaican film and its legendary soundtrack helped popularise reggae music in the world. Ben Henderson speaks to one of the most famous reggae artists ever, Jimmy Cliff, who played the film's protagonist and wrote a number of the songs. Jimmy explains why the film was so popular and how it reflected his own life.'The Harder They Come' was produced by International Films Inc.(Photo: Jimmy Cliff in 'The Harder They Come'. Credit: Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
Oct 5, 2022 • 11min
The fall of Slobodan Milosevic
On 5 October 2000, protests in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade spiralled into an attack on the parliament building. Hours later President Slobodan Milosevic stood down.
Mark Lowen spoke to Srdja Popovic - one of the leaders of the student-led opposition movement - in 2010.(Photo: Demonstrators and police at the Belgrade parliament. Credit: Getty Images)
Oct 4, 2022 • 9min
The release of Gilad Shalit
On 18 October 2011, Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was freed after spending over five years in captivity in Gaza. His release was part of a controversial prisoner exchange which saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails. Alex Collins talks to Israeli spy, David Meidan, who was successful in negotiations where others had failed.(Photo: Gilad Shalit and David Meidan standing directly behind him. Credit: IDF via Getty Images)
Oct 3, 2022 • 10min
The funk and soul club that changed Manchester
In 1962, Nigerian man Phil Magbotiwan opened a brand new nightclub in Manchester, England. In part because of his own personal experiences of racism, Phil wanted to create somewhere where everyone would be welcome – Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub. The Reno was born. The nightclub became a particularly important space for Manchester's mixed heritage community, who felt unwelcome in city centre venues. Phil’s youngest daughter, Lisa Ayegun shares her memories, of the Reno and her dad, with Matt Pintus.This programme contains descriptions of racial discrimination.(Photo: Phil Magbotiwan (right) standing in front of the Reno nightclub in Manchester. Credit: The Magbotiwan family)
Sep 30, 2022 • 10min
Dassler brothers’ rift
In 1948, brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler who lived in a small German town fell out. They went on to create globally renowned sportswear firms Adidas and Puma. Adi Dassler played a crucial role in West Germany's victory in the 1954 World Cup with his game-changing footwear. Reena Stanton-Sharma hears from Adi Dassler’s daughter Sigi Dassler, who remembers her dad’s obsession with sports shoes and talks about her fondness for rappers Run-DMC who paid tribute to her dad’s shoes in their 1986 song My Adidas.(Photo: Adi Dassler. Credit: Brauner/ullstein bild via Getty Images)
Sep 29, 2022 • 11min
The raising of the Mary Rose
It’s 40 years since a wrecked English Tudor warship was brought back to the surface. On 11 October 1982, 60 million people worldwide watched the extraordinary feat live on television – the raising of the 400-year-old Mary Rose – from the seabed off the south coast of England. Susan Hulme spoke to Christopher Dobbs, one of the archaeologists who helped excavate the Mary Rose. This programme was first broadcast in 2017.(Photo: The Mary Rose is raised above the water by a crane near Portsmouth Harbour, 11 October 1982. Credit: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Sep 28, 2022 • 10min
Castrating Pablo Escobar's hippos
When drug kingpin Pablo Escobar died in 1993 having built a billion dollar cocaine empire, he left behind a zoo. While his rhinos, giraffes, elephants and kangaroos were re-housed, the hippos were left in Escobar’s abandoned ranch in the Colombian countryside. In 2007 they started turning up 100 kilometres away, frightening fishermen. Vet Carlos Valderrama was called in to tackle the problem. He describes to Josephine McDermott his experience of the first ever castration of a hippo in the wild.(Photo: Carlos Valderrama castrating the hippo. Credit: Carlos Valderrama)
