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Witness History

Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we revisit one moment that helped shape the world and hear it through the voice of someone who was there. Scientists, artists, campaigners, soldiers, leaders and everyday people tell their true stories.

When you subscribe to Witness History, you’ll be taken inside turning points in world affairs, from West Africa’s fight back against Boko Haram in 2015, to the behind-closed-doors talks that led to the US-Cuba “thaw” and the surprise announcement of restored relations.

You’ll discover what it was like to experience disasters and how people recovered from them, including the Tabasco floods in Mexico, Portugal’s worst train disaster, and the huge clean-up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

You’ll explore culture and ideas too: Sweden’s Expedition Robinson, often credited as the first modern reality TV game show; the friendship between The Beatles’ George Harrison and Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar; and the night a tiger attack brought Las Vegas superstars Siegfried and Roy’s show to a sudden end.

And if you’re curious about inventions, we’ll tell you how air fryers, BlackBerry, YouTube, Alexa, GPS, superglue, the shopping cart (shopping trolley) and bubble tea were created.

If you’re new to Witness History, the appeal is simple: real voices, one strong true story, and a fresh way to understand today through events from history – all in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of tea or a walk around the block. Join millions of BBC World Service podcast listeners around the globe and enjoy the insight, context and detail Witness History will bring you.

Copyright: © (C) BBC 2024

Latest Episodes:

Who has the right to vote in America? Aug 28, 2020

Show notes

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, a landmark civil rights-era electoral law was designed to protect African-American and other minority voters. It was introduced to remove the many obstacles that were in place to prevent African-Americans from being able to vote. Many states, particularly in the south, used intimidation, local laws and so-called literacy tests to prevent black people from being able to register to vote. In 2010 Shelby County in Alabama attempted to overturn a key part of the law. In 2013 the US Supreme Court upheld their challenge. Now voters who are discriminated against bear the burden of proving they are disenfranchised. Farhana Haider hears from civil rights attorney Kristen Clarke who fought to protect the Voting Rights Act.

Photo Washington DC June 25. Supporters of the Voting Rights Act outside the U.S. Supreme Court. Credit Getty Images

St Kilda Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

In August 1930 the last inhabitants left their homes on the remote Scottish islands of St Kilda. It was the end of a traditional Gaelic-speaking community who were once believed to live at the end of the world. Simon Watts has been listening to some of their stories, as recorded in the BBC archives.

PHOTO: The men of St Kilda pictured in the late 19th century (Getty Images)

Occupy Wall Street Aug 26, 2020

Show notes

In 2011, the Occupy movement staged demonstrations against financial inequality across the world. The biggest was in New York, where a retired police officer called Ray Lewis became one of the best-known protestors when he was arrested in his old dress uniform. He talks to Robbie Wojciechowski.

PHOTO: Ray Lewis at the Occupy Wall Street protest (Getty Images)

America's first woman combat pilot Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

In 1993, Jeannie Leavitt became the first woman to fly a US Air Force fighter plane after the Pentagon lifted its ban on female pilots engaging in combat. After hundreds of F15 missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, Leavitt went on to become the first woman to command a fighter unit. She talks to May Cameron.

PHOTO: Major-General Jeannie Leavitt in a recent picture (US Department of Defence)

Margaret Ekpo - Nigeria's feminist pioneer Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

One of the leading figures in Nigeria's fight for democracy was Margaret Ekpo, a feminist politician and trades union leader. After Nigerian independence in 1960, Ekpo became an MP and a hero to a generation of Nigerians - men and women. Rebecca Kesby tells the story of her life.

PHOTO: Margaret Ekpo in London in August 1953 (ANL/Shutterstock)

The siege at Ruby Ridge Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Randy Weaver was a white separatist in Idaho in the north-west United States who was wanted by the government on firearms charges. When government agents approached his remote cabin on Ruby Ridge in August 1992, it was the start of an eleven day siege involving hundreds of police officers – which ended with the deaths of Weaver’s wife and teenage son, along with a US marshal. The incident would become a touchstone for the far right and a rallying cry for the American militia movement. Lucy Burns speaks to journalist Bill Morlin, who covered the siege for the Spokesman-Review newspaper. Picture: Randy Weaver (C) shows a model of his Ruby Ridge, Idaho cabin to US Senator Arlen Specter, R-PA, during Senate hearings investigating the events surrounding the 1992 standoff with federal agents (PAMELA PRICE/AFP via Getty Images).

The American who put women's rights in the Japanese constitution Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

In November 1946, Emperor Hirohito proclaimed a new post-war constitution for Japan which contained clauses establishing women's rights for the first time. They were the brainchild of Beate Sirota Gordon, a young American woman working for the Allied occupying forces. Simon Watts tells her story using interviews from the BBC archives.

PHOTO: Beate Sirota Gordon in Japan in 1946 (Family Collection)

The Guatemalan syphilis scandal Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

A team of American doctors, led by the distinguished physician Dr John Cutler, carried out secretive STD tests in Guatemala from 1946 to 1948. The doctors experimented on more than one thousand prisoners, sex workers, mental institution inmates and soldiers, injecting them without their consent with syphilis and gonorrhea. In some cases the victims were provided with penicillin to combat the diseases; in many others they weren't given anything. Mike Lanchin speaks to Susan Reverby, a medical historian, who discovered the original documents from the greusome experiments and helped get a public apology for the victims from the Obama administration in October 2010.

Photo: A doctor examines the injection site of a female psychiatric patient in Guatemala who was exposed to syphilis, cerca 1948 (from the papers of John Cutler/the National Archives and Records Administration)

The first modern asthma inhaler Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

Asthma affects more children than any other non-communicable disease - and it was a teenager who first asked her father "why can't they put my asthma medication in a spray can like hairspray?". Luckily her father ran a pharmaceutical company and got a team of scientists to work on the idea. Charlie Thiel is the one surviving member of the team. The chemist helped create a drug formulation of fine spray that reached further into the lungs than any previous treatment. Claire Bowes hears from him and his colleague Stephen Stein who has helped him document his story.

Photo: Girl using metered dose inhaler 2001 (BBC)

The lost King of England Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

In 2012, archaeologists from the University of Leicester discovered the lost grave of Richard III under a car park in Leicester. Richard was the King of England more than 500 years ago and for centuries was portrayed as one of the great villains of English history. He was killed in 1485 leading his army in battle against a rival claimant to the throne, Henry Tudor. After the battle, Richard III corpse was stripped naked, paraded around down, before being hastily buried in a church within a friary in Leicester, which was later demolished. Alex Last spoke to Dr Richard Buckley who led the archaeological project to find the remains.

Photo: Remains of King Richard III being studied at The University of Leicester (BBC)

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