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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:

The boy who discovered a new species of human ancestor Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

On 15 August 2008, nine-year-old Matt Berger tripped over a fossil that would lead to one of the most important discoveries in the history of human evolution.

The young adventurer had been exploring the Cradle of Humankind, in South Africa, with his father Lee, a paleoanthropologist.

"I didn't really know what was happening. I was just there for fun. But my dad was so excited. So obviously that made me excited too," said Matt.

The fossil turned out to be from a new species of hominid called Australopithecus sediba.

Matt speaks to Vicky Farncombe about his memories of the day.

(Photo: Matt Berger, son of Prof Lee Berger, found the fossil of a new hominid species that lived 1.95 million years ago. Credit: Foto24/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Jean-Michel Basquiat bursts onto the New York art scene Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

In the early 1980s, the young black graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat took the New York art world by storm. Soon, his paintings were selling for huge sums of money, but he would die before the decade was out on the 12th August 1988.

Tom Esslemont hears from Patti Astor who knew him in his heyday.

This programme was first broadcast in 2014.

(Photo: Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1985 Credit: Getty Images)

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's diamonds scandal Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

In 1979, French journalist Claude Angeli and his colleagues discovered Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the French President, received gifts of diamonds worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the grisly and deposed former Emperor Bokassa of the Central African Republic.

The scandal damaged Giscard d’Estaing’s reputation and contributed to him losing the French Presidential election in 1981.

Ben Henderson speaks to Claude Angeli.

(Photo: Giscard d'Estaing and Bokassa in 1975. Credit: William Karel/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Sarajevo’s haven of peace Aug 09, 2023

Show notes

After the collapse of former Yugoslavia, Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, in 1992. More than a quarter of a million people lived under almost constant bombardment and sniper fire for more than four years. Over 10,000 were killed.

Hunger and destitution took hold quickly. So, a small Jewish charity stepped in to provide essential food and medicine and evacuate elderly people and children from all sides of the conflict. In peace time, Sarajevo’s Jewish community had maintained good relations with Bosnian Muslims, Serbs and Croats. This enabled them to provide a haven of peace for everyone.

In this episode, Jacky Rowland hears from Jakob Finci, who was the vice president of the Jewish community at the time. Part of their motivation, he says, was that many Jews in Sarajevo had been sheltered by Bosnian Muslims during the Nazi occupation in the 1940s.

This is a CTVC production for the BBC World Service.

(Photo: members of the Jewish community being evacuated by bus to Croatia in 1993. Credit: Getty Images)

The Great Train Robbery Aug 08, 2023

Show notes

On 8 August 1963, a gang of thieves held up a British Royal Mail train on its journey from Glasgow to London.

They stole more than £2 million.

It was the biggest ever raid on a British train.

Most of the robbers ended up behind bars, but most of the money has never been recovered.

The robbery still occupies a unique place in the history of British crime.

In 2012 Chloe Hadjimatheou spoke to Reginald Abbiss who was a young BBC journalist who covered the story.

(Photo: The train involved in the robbery. Credit: Getty Images)

Brownie Wise: The creator of Tupperware parties Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

In the 1950s, self-made businesswoman Brownie Wise transformed the fortunes of Tupperware by inspiring thousands of housewives to sell it at parties.

Her methods for motivating staff included selling the dress off her back and holding annual parties at the company's headquarters.

But as she became a star - appearing on magazine covers and chat shows - Brownie's relationship with her boss, Earl Tupper, soured.

Author Bob Kealing speaks to Vicky Farncombe about Brownie's rise and fall from grace.

(Photo: Brownie Wise tosses a bowl filled with water at a Tupperware party. Credit: Getty Images)

Dinosaur in court Aug 04, 2023

Show notes

In 2012 a dinosaur skeleton became the subject of both a restraining order and a court case.

Mongolian palaeontologist, Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin helped stop the dinosaur falling into the hands of a private buyer after spotting a photo of the skeleton on TV in the United States.

The case became known as United States v One Tyrannosaurus Bataar Skeleton.

She told Gill Kearsley her extraordinary story.

(Photo: The 70-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar on display in Ulan Bator. Credit: Byambasuren Byamba-Ochir/AFP via Getty Images)

Treehouse on the Berlin Wall Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

In the 1980s, a Turkish worker in Germany, Osman Kahlin, provoked controversy when he turned a patch of disputed land against the Berlin Wall into a makeshift farm.

The land was owned by East Germany, but lay on the Western side of the wall due to a quirk in the wall's hurried construction.

Kahlin fought a running battle with both East and West German police to keep hold of the land, and kitted it out with a fully functioning treehouse that became a local symbol of resistance to authority.

Alex Eccleston speaks to Osman's son, Mehmet. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Osman's treehouse. Credit: Schlemmer/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Birth of a new language Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

In the early 1980s deaf children in Nicaragua invented a completely new sign language of their own.

It was a remarkable achievement, which allowed experts a unique insight into how human communication develops.

In 2020, Mike Lanchin spoke to an American linguist Judy Shepard-Kegl, who documented this process.

(Photo: Sign language class in Nicaragua. Credit: INTI OCON/AFP via Getty Images)

First dinosaur eggs identified in India Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

In 1982, nests of dinosaur eggs were identified for the first time in India.

They were found in Jabalpur, on a historic fossil site and former British military cantonment.

The eggs were from Titanosaurs, living at the end of the Cretaceous Period.

Palaeontologist Professor Ashok Sahni made the discovery, he’s been speaking to Laura Jones.

(Photo: Ashok Sahni at home with fossilised dinosaur eggs. Credit: BBC)

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