Witness History
BBC World Service
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 15, 2022 • 9min
New York's LGBT High School
In 1985, a unique High School opened in New York to provide a safe environment for LGBT students needing specialised education. The publicly-funded Harvey Milk High School was founded by former social worker, Steve Askinazy. Initially, it faced some opposition from the media and Christian groups, but the school eventually expanded and currently takes about 60 students a year. Alex Collins talks to Steve Askinazy.PHOTO: A protest outside the Harvey Milk High School in 1985 (Getty Images)
Jun 14, 2022 • 10min
Vietnam's 'Napalm Girl'
It’s 50 years since Kim Phuc's village in Vietnam was bombed with napalm. The photograph of her, running burned and crying away from the attack, became one of the iconic images of the Vietnam War. Christopher Wain was one of the journalists who witnessed the attack, and who helped save her. This programme brings Kim Phuc and Christopher Wain together in conversation. It is a Made in Manchester production.Photo: Vietnamese-Canadian Phan Thi Kim Phuc delivers her speech before her June 8, 1972 Pulitzer-Prize-winning photograph during the Vietnam war, during a lecture meeting in Nagoya, Aichi prefecture on April 13, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.
Jun 13, 2022 • 9min
Holy Cross school dispute
A violent sectarian dispute took place outside Holy Cross primary school in Belfast in 2001. Loyalist protesters tried to block Catholic pupils and their parents going to school for months. Rachel Naylor spoke to one of the parents, Elaine Burns.(Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Image)
Jun 10, 2022 • 9min
The Gulabi Gang
In the early 2000s, Sampat Pal Devi, a villager from a remote part of India's Uttar Pradesh state, started a women's rights group which now has thousands of followers across the country. The Gulabi Gang were originally vigilantes who fought back with sticks against wife-beaters, rapists and corrupt police officers. Now a more mainstream organisation, the Gulabi Gang are known for wearing pink saris and have even inspired a Bollywood film. Sampat Pal Devi talks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.
Jun 9, 2022 • 9min
How Sri Lanka's president survived a suicide bombing
In 2006, Sri Lanka’s current president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, came within metres of death when he was targeted in a suicide bomb attack in Colombo. The attack was orchestrated by the Tamil Tigers during what was supposed to be a ceasefire in Sri Lanka’s long-standing civil war. Matt Pintus has been speaking to former Sri Lankan foreign minister, Pali Palihakkara, who was injured in the blast.Photo: Burning car after explosion (Getty Images)
Jun 8, 2022 • 10min
Saving Gabon's rainforest
In 2002 Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon, set up a network of national parks to protect the country's forests from logging and help save its population of forest elephants. He was responding to pressure from campaigners worried by a surge in logging over the previous decade. Among them was a British biologist called Lee White, who went on to become Gabon's Minister of Forests and the Environment. Lee White talks to Laura Jones.Photo: A forest elephant in Gabon (Getty Images)
Jun 7, 2022 • 9min
The Diary of Anne Frank
In June 1947, one of the most powerful accounts of the Holocaust - the Diary of Anne Frank - was published for the first time. In her diary, the teenager described her life in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands up until shortly before she was arrested and sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In 2012, Mike Lanchin spoke to Anne Frank's cousin, the late Buddy Elias.PHOTO: Anne Frank (Press Association)
Jun 6, 2022 • 13min
The assassination of Bobby Kennedy
In June 1968, US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy was assassinated shortly after addressing his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was less than five years after his older brother, President John F Kennedy, had also been assassinated. Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the crime, but many - including Kennedy's friend Paul Schrade - suspect a second gunman was involved. Schrade was shot himself that night and he told Rebecca Kesby about why he’s campaigning for the case to be reopened. PHOTO: Robert Kennedy speaking at the Ambassador Hotel shortly before his assassination (Getty Images)
Jun 3, 2022 • 9min
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
As the Queen celebrates her Platinum Jubilee weekend, Claire Bowes takes us back to her Coronation in London's Westminster Abbey in June 1953. In 2013, she brought together the memories of two of the Maids of Honour, Lady Anne Glenconner and Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart.
(Photo by Bela Zola/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Jun 2, 2022 • 9min
Sarin attack in Syria
In 2013, more than a thousand people are thought to have died in a chemical weapons attack on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus called Ghouta. It was the single deadliest attack of the Syrian civil war and the UN later confirmed that the nerve agent Sarin had been used. Louise Hidalgo speaks to Angela Kane, the former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. Her team of chemical weapons inspectors reached the site in Ghouta just days after the attack.PHOTO: A UN inspector at work in Ghouta in August 2013 (AFP/Getty Images)
