The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Barbara Waibel, author of a book on the Hindenburg and Director of Archives at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She tells us about the history of airships.We begin with some remarkable archive of the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937. Then British scientist Jonathan Shanklin describes how he discovered the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.In the second half of the programme we hear from a NASA scientist who worked on the Voyager space probe which took the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photo of Earth. A physicist from Quebec remembers when a solar flare plunged the Canadian province into darkness. And we hear the exciting and dangerous story of the invention of the wingsuit.Contributors: Barbara Waibel - Author and Director of Archives at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Jonathan Shanklin - Scientist who discovered the hole in the ozone layer. Candice Hansen - NASA scientist. Aja Hruska - Physicist from Quebec. Jari Kuosma - Inventor of the commercial wingsuit.(Photo: Hindenburg airship. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)

Chawadee Nualkhair, a Thai food writer, discusses the intriguing and disputed origins of Pad Thai, revealing its ties to both Chinese immigrants and a 1940s military dictatorship. Ken Hom, the Chinese-American chef who popularized Chinese cooking on TV, shares his journey and mentorship in transforming culinary perceptions. They also dive into how Pad Thai's branding reshaped Thailand's global image and the kiwi fruit's fascinating transition from a little-known gooseberry to a celebrated export. A delightful exploration of food, culture, and identity!

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we hear from Lumepa Hald who survived the devastating tsunami that hit Samoa in 2009 but suffered a tragic loss.Our expert guest, Prof Tiziana Rossetto, looks back at some of the worst tsunamis in history and how they have shaped our landscapes.Plus we talk to Caster Semenya, the gold medallist who faced questions over her gender at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.There’s also an interview with Peter Greste, one of three Al Jazeera journalists sentenced to seven years in jail in Egypt. We also look at the mystery surrounding the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda with his driver, Manuel Araya.And finally we talk to singer Dafydd Iwan, the “bad boy of Welsh politics”, who was arrested for defacing an English sign. He wanted official recognition for the Welsh language.Contributors: Lumepa Hald – survivor of the tsunami that hit Samoa in 2009. Tiziana Rossetto - Professor of Earthquake Engineering at University College London, UK. Caster Semenya – world champion runner who faced questions over her gender. Peter Greste – journalist sentenced to seven years in prison in Egypt. Manuel Araya – driver of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Dafydd Iwan – singer who campaigned for official recognition the Welsh language.(Photo: Devastation at a beach in Samoa after the 2009 tsunami. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Ongama Mtimka, lecturer in South African politics at the Nelson Mandela University. He tells us about Mandela's life and legacy 10 years on from his death. We start with with Mandela's daughter, Makaziwe, describing her relationship with her father and planning his funeral. Then, the brother of Emanuela Orlandi describes his lifelong mission to unravel the mystery of her disappearance in Rome in 1983.The second half of the programme has a Russian flavour. A relative of Tsar Nicholas II describes the murder of the Romanov royal family in 1918. Then a Russian journalist describes attending the Romanov's controversial reburial 80 years later. We finish with one of Russia's greatest poets, Anna Akhmatova. Contributors: Dr Ongama Mtimka - Lecturer in South African politics at the Nelson Mandela University. Dr Phumla Makaziwe Mandela - Nelson Mandela's daughter. Pietro Orlandi - Emanuela Orlandi's brother. Olga Romanov - Great niece of Tsar Nicholas II. Lilia Dubovaya - Journalist who was at the reburial of the Romanovs. Era Korobova - Art historian and expert on Anna Akhmatova.(Photo: Nelson Mandela. Credit: Tom Stoddart Archive/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about two of the most influential computer games of the 1990s with their creators. John Romero was one of the developers of Doom and talks about the concept of a martian military base populated by zombie soldiers. Coder Jan Tian describes how his devotion to working on the football game FIFA 94 landed him in hospital. Our guest, The Guardian newspaper's video games editor Keza MacDonald, looks back on games which had a global impact.Also how in 1945, 10,000 brains were collected from dead psychiatric patients in Denmark. It is now thought to be the world’s largest brain bank. We also find out how a group of right-wing army officers seized power in Greece in 1967 to stop the election of a social democratic government led by veteran politician George Papandreou.And 30 years on since the cult French film La Haine was released, its director Mathieu Kassovitz describes how it caught the attention of high profile politicians with its criticism of policing in France.Contributors: John Romero – Doom developer Jan Tian – FIFA 94 coder Keza MacDonald – video games editor, The Guardian Martin Wirenfeldt Nielsen – pathologist George Papandreou Jnr – former Greek Prime Minister Mathieu Kassovitz – film director(Photo: Brains stored in plastic buckets at the University of Southern Denmark. Credit: BBC)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, the bird that defied extinction. In 1969, a Peruvian farmer Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century.The American author and conservationist Michelle Nijhuis is this week's guest. She talks about some of the most interesting attempts in modern history to save animals on the brink of extinction.Also this week, the world's first solar powered home, when Tanzania adopted Swahili and when the world went crazy for Cabbage Patch Kids.This programme has been updated since its original broadcast. It was edited on 6 December 2023. Contributors: Rafael Del Solar - son of conservationist Gustavo Del Solar Michelle Nijhuis - author and conservationist Meredith Ludwig - friend of Cabbage Patch Kids creator Martha Nelson Thomas Peter Baxter and George Kling - scientists Walter Bgoya - author in Tanzania Andrew Nemethy - lived in the world's first solar powered house(Photo: A whooping crane. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we’re looking at the birth of a new African nation – Zambia - in 1964, and find out how the country got its name. We also learn more about life after independence with our guest Dr Alfred Tembo, head of history of the University of Zambia.Elsewhere, two survivors of a series of terrifying gun attacks in Mumbai talk about their experiences. And there’s a look back to 2003, when the worst heatwave in centuries caused thousands of deaths across Europe, and led to a health crisis in Paris.Plus, we hear extracts from the lost memoirs of Manchester United goalkeeper Les Sealey. He recorded them before his death and the tapes were discovered years later.And finally, the invention of bubble tea, a creation that would change the tea drinking world. The first cup was sold in a tea shop in Taiwan in 1987.Contributors:Mulenga Kapwepwe – daughter of Simon Kapwepwe, fighter for Zambia’s independence Dr Alfred Tembo – head of history, University of Zambia Devika Rotawan – survivor of gun attack in Mumbai Arun Jadhav – policeman and survivor of gun attack in Mumbai Dr Patrick Pelloux - emergency doctor at St Antoine Hospital in Paris Les Sealey – former Manchester United goalkeeper Liu Han-Chieh – tea leaf seller and shop owner Lin Xiuhu – developer of bubble tea(Photo: Celebrations after Zambian election, 1991. Credit: Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Jenni Barclay from the University of East Anglia in the UK. She tells us about some of the most significant volcanic eruptions in history.We start with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010, which caused air travel to stop across Europe. Then, memories of the Bolivian Water War in 2000.In the second half of the programme, we hear how the EpiPen was invented by Sheldon Kaplan. Plus, how Rosalind Franklin’s research helped determine the structure of DNA. Finally, the discovery of the ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion, underwater off the coast of Egypt.Contributors: Sigrun Hreinsdottir - scientist who saw the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Jenni Barclay - professor of volcanology at the University of East Anglia, UK. Oscar Olivera - union official who led Bolivian Water War protests and negotiations. Michael Kaplan - son of Sheldon Kaplan, inventor of the EpiPen. Michael Mesa - colleague of Sheldon Kaplan. Jenifer Glyn - sister of scientist Rosalind Franklin, who helped discover the structure of DNA. Franck Goddio - underwater archaeologist who discovered Thonis-Heracleion.(Photo: Eyjafjallajokull erupting in 2010. Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Zoheb Hassen, one half of a sibling duo from Pakistan who topped the charts in countries all over the world with their dancefloor filler, Disco Deewane.Our guest is BBC radio presenter and Pakistani music fan Raess Khan. He talks about how Pakistani pop music evolved from Zoheb’s success.Entertainment star Debbie McGee, who is best known for being the assistant and wife of British magician Paul Daniels talks about escaping from Iran at the start of the revolution in 1978.In 2004 a supermarket fire in Paraguay killed more than 300 people. It was the country’s biggest peacetime disaster. One of the survivors, Tatiana Gabaglio tells her story.Plus, how one of Bosnia's most famous landmarks, the historic bridge in Mostar, was destroyed by Croat guns during the Bosnian war in 1993Finally, the unlikely friendship of a hippo and a tortoise following the tsunami in 2004.Contributors: Zoheb Hassen – former popstar Raess Khan – BBC presenter and Pakistani pop fan Debbie McGee – British celebrity Tatiana Gabaglio – supermarket fire survivor in Paraguay Mirsad Behram – journalist Eldin Palata – cameraman Dr Paula Kahumbu – wildlife conservationist(Photo: Nazia and Zoheb Hassen in 1982. Credit: BBC)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Tony Kapcia, Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research on Cuba. He tells us about the history of Cuban foreign policy.We start with Aleida Guevara's memories of being sent from Cuba to provide medical aid in the Angolan Civil War during the 1980s. Then, the French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi explains how HIV was discovered in 1983.In the second half of the programme, we hear how Australian scientist David Warren invented the black box flight recorder in 1962, which made flying safer. An Ecuadorian politician explains how she tried to save the country's Yasuní National Park. And the actress Jane Seymour recounts how she played the role of Freddie Mercury's bride at the Fashion Aid event in 1985.Contributors: Tony Kapcia - Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research on Cuba. Dr Aleida Guevara - daughter of Che Guevara. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi - scientist who helped identify HIV. Jenny and Peter Warren - children of David Warren, inventor of the black box. Bill Schofield - former colleague of David Warren, inventor of the black box. Ivonne A-Baki - Ecuadorian politician tasked with saving the Yasuní National Park.(Photo: Aleida Guevara with her father, Che, and Fidel Castro in 1963. Credit: Imagno via Getty Images)