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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:

Tsunami devastates Samoa Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

On 29 September 2009, a devastating tsunami hit Samoa, killing 149 people and leaving a trail of destruction. For Lumepa Hald it was a terrifying day which resulted in a tragic loss. She tells her story to Gill Kearsley.

(Photo: The devastation in Samoa after the tsunami in 2009. Credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The funeral of Nelson Mandela Dec 15, 2023

Show notes

On 15 December 2013, South Africa held the funeral of Nelson Mandela who led the struggle in defeating apartheid and became the country’s first black president.

His ancestral home in the village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape hosted 60 world leaders including four United States presidents and two UN secretary generals.

It was the first state funeral held by the country.

Nelson Mandela’s eldest child Dr Makaziwe Mandela tells Josephine McDermott how it took eight years to plan and why it makes her proud to remember that day.

(Photo: Candles are lit under a portrait of Nelson Mandela at his funeral service. Credit: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)

Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi disappears Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

In 1983, the disappearance of a teenage girl who was a citizen of Vatican City led to a scandal.

When Pope John Paul II made a public appeal to the people holding Emanuela Orlandi captive, the world took notice and her case was treated as a suspected kidnapping.

Forty years on, the reason she vanished is still unclear.

Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, speaks to Daniel Gordon about his life-long mission to find out what really happened to his sister.

(Photo: A protester holds a photo of Emanuela. Credit: Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty Images)

Anna Akhmatova: The poet who defied a regime Dec 13, 2023

Show notes

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova lived through some of the darkest chapters of Soviet history, but never stopped writing even though the communist regime repeatedly tried to silence her. One of Anna's most famous poems, Requiem, is about her son's arrest and the Stalinist terror.

In 2022, art historian Era Korobova told Tatyana Movshevich about the poet's tumultuous relationship with her son.

(Photo: Anna Akhmatova (second from right, at a Soviet writers' conference in 1965. Credit: Getty Images)

Yeltsin speaks at the reburial of the Romanovs Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

In 1998, Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin shocked the nation with a last-minute decision to speak at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, 80 years after their murder.

“We must end an age of blood and violence in Russia,” he said, as he called for the country to face up to the crimes of its communist past.

Lilia Dubovaya, a reporter for the state news service, told Robert Nicholson about the emotional weight of the day. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Image: President Yeltsin at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II. Credit: Reuters)

Murder of the Romanovs Dec 11, 2023

Show notes

As civil war raged in Russia, on 17 July 1918, the imprisoned royal family were told they were to be taken to a place of refuge.

But the move was a trick and half an hour later Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and his children lay dead, gunned down and bayonetted.

In 2018, his great niece Olga Romanov told Olga Smirnova about that night, and the family’s reburial 80 years later.

(Photo: The room where the Romanovs were murdered. Credit: Getty Images)

The release of DOOM Dec 08, 2023

Show notes

In December 1993, the release of a new video game captivated gamers around the world. It was called DOOM.

Set on a Martian military base overrun by zombified soldiers and demons, DOOM saw players take control of a nameless soldier called ‘The DOOM guy’ as he fights the demonic enemies to stop them taking over Earth.

The game was released at a time when violence in video games was big news and a topic of discussion in the United States Senate.

Kurt Brookes speaks to John Romero, one of the game’s developers, and remembers the release of what went on to become one of the most influential games ever.

A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: John Romero. Credit: Made in Manchester)

‘The disappeared’ of Argentina Dec 07, 2023

Show notes

Between 1976 and 1983 in Argentina, the military ruled the country. Thousands of mainly young, left-wing Argentinians went missing.

Known as 'the disappeared', they were taken to detention centres, such as Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada, known as ESMA in the capital, Buenos Aires. Around 5,000 prisoners passed through its gates. Most were killed.

As well as the murders and torture, hundreds of babies were taken from pregnant prisoners and given away to military personnel and families who supported the government.

In December 1983 the Argentinian president Raul Alfonsin signed a decree putting the military junta responsible on trial.

In 2010, Candice Piete spoke to one of the survivors, Miriam Lewin.

(Photo: ESMA. Credit: Reuters)

A Greek coup: The day the colonels took power Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

On 21 April 1967, a group of right-wing army officers seized power in Greece to prevent the election of a social democratic government led by veteran politician George Papandreou.

The dictatorship, backed by the United States, lasted for seven years. Thousands of people were imprisoned, exiled and tortured.

The grandson of that politician, also called George, was 14 at the time. He went on to be elected as Greece’s prime minister in 2009.

In February 2012, George Papandreou Junior spoke to Maria Margaronis about the night when tanks rolled through Athens and soldiers came to arrest his father. Archive audio is used by permission of ERT, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.

Archival audio used by permission of ERT, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.

(Photo: The younger George Papandreou in 2011. Credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Thousands of Danish brains in plastic buckets Dec 05, 2023

Show notes

In 1945, two Danish scientists opened an institute to study mental illnesses.

In the four decades until it closed, almost 10,000 brains were collected from dead psychiatric patients and stored in plastic buckets.

However, they were removed during autopsies without seeking permission from relatives. Following much debate in the 1990s, it was decided they should be used for research.

Now based in the University of Southern Denmark, the collection is believed to be the world’s largest brain bank. Scientists hope it can help our understanding of mental illness and brain disease.

Adrienne Murray speaks to pathologist and caretaker of the brains, Martin Wirenfeldt Nielsen.

(Photo: Brains stored in plastic buckets at the University of Southern Denmark. Credit: BBC)

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