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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:

Ming Smith makes history at MoMA Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

In 1979, The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) purchased photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in its history.

Ming Smith was famous for capturing her subjects with slow shutter speeds and using oil paints to layer colour onto her black and white photos.

She worked as a model in New York in the 1970s, while pursuing her passion for photography and was friends with Grace Jones.

Ming took a powerful image of Grace performing at the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1978 after meeting her at an audition.

Ming was also a backing dancer in Tina Turner’s music video for What’s Love Got to Do with It, where she captured Tina glancing away from the camera, in front of Brooklyn Bridge wearing a leather skirt, denim jacket and patent stilettos with huge spiky hair.

Ming speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about graduating with a degree in microbiology, modelling and struggling to make a living, and then becoming a famous photographer with a retrospective at MoMA in 2023.

(Photo: Tina Turner, What’s Love Got to Do with It. Credit: Ming Smith)

Sir Don McCullin’s photo of a US marine Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

In 1968, British photographer Sir Don McCullin travelled to Vietnam for his second ever war assignment.

His graphic photographs of the fighting made his reputation and influenced public opinion in the West.

Sir Don produced some of his most powerful work during the visit including 'Shell-Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue'.

The photograph shows an American soldier, gripping his rifle whilst the carnage of one of the war’s most intense battle surrounds him.

Speaking to Louise Hidalgo in 2012, Sir Don describes how he took several frames of this man and how the soldier didn’t blink once.

(Photo: Sir Don McCullin in front of his photographs including 'Shell-Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue'. Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)

Malick Sidibé: Mali’s star photographer Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

The Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, is one of Africa’s most celebrated artists.

His most famous photographs show black and white scenes of young people partying in the capital Bamako in the joyful, confident era after Mali’s independence from France in 1960.

In the 1990s, a chance encounter with a French curator brought Sidibé’s work international acclaim.

The wider world had been used to seeing a narrow range of images from Africa, so when Sidibé’s work went on show in Western galleries, audiences were stunned by the exuberant world they revealed.

In 2022, Manthia Diawara, the Malian filmmaker and professor at New York University, who knew Malick when he was a roving nightlife photographer spoke, to Viv Jones.

(Photo: Danser le Twist, 1963 by Malick Sidibé. Credit: Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris)

A Great Day in Harlem: The story behind the iconic jazz photo Jun 13, 2023

Show notes

It's 65 years since aspiring photographer Art Kane persuaded 58 of the biggest names in jazz, including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to line up for a photo outside a townhouse in Harlem.

The resulting photo officially called Harlem 58 became known as 'A Great Day in Harlem' and appeared in Esquire magazine's Golden Age of Jazz edition.

But making it wasn't easy. Jonathan Kane, Art Kane's son, tells Vicky Farncombe the obstacles his late father had to overcome to create the iconic image.

(Photo: Harlem 58. Credit: Art Kane)

Lee Miller in Hitler's bath Jun 12, 2023

Show notes

Vogue's war correspondent Lee Miller found herself in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment when the news broke that he was dead.

Earlier that day, she and fellow photographer David Scherman had witnessed the harrowing scenes at the liberated Dachau concentration camp.

Lee Miller's son and biographer, Antony Penrose, explains to Josephine McDermott the significance of the photograph taken in the final days of World War II in Europe.

(Photo: Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub. Credit: David E. Scherman © Courtesy Lee Miller Archives)

1955 Le Mans disaster Jun 09, 2023

Show notes

On 11 June 1955, more than 80 people were killed and 100 injured at the Le Mans 24-hour race.

A car driven by Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd of around 300,000 causing the deaths.

John Fitch was an American racing driver on the Mercedes team at the centre of the tragedy.

After the crash, racing was banned in several countries.

John Fitch spoke to Claire Bowes in 2010.

(Photo: Crash at Le Mans. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Last communist march before Hitler Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

On 25 January 1933 the last legal communist march was held in Berlin.

Just a few days later Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany.

Soon the Communist Party was banned and the Nazi grip on power was complete.

Eric Hobsbawm was a schoolboy communist at the time. He spoke to Andrew Whitehead in 2012.

(Photo: Communist rally 1932. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Facial reconstruction: From mummy to murder Jun 06, 2023

Show notes

In 1975, British forensic artist Richard Neave used a pile of modelling clay, two prosthetic eyes and a woman’s wig to reconstruct the face of an Egyptian mummy.

It was to be the start of a 40-year career recreating the faces of the dead using the pioneering ‘Manchester technique’ that he invented.

And as his reputation spread worldwide, the police came calling. They needed Richard’s skills to help catch a killer, as he told Jane Wilkinson.

(Photo: Richard Neave in 2012. Credit: Bethany Clarke/Getty Images)

Inuit children taken from families Jun 05, 2023

Show notes

In the early 1960s, the Canadian government launched an experimental programme to take academically promising Inuit children from their homes to be educated in Canada’s cities.

The aim was to produce administrators who could spearhead development in the north of the country, but the project came at a great cost for the children and their families.

Adamie Kalingo, born and raised in Nunavik, Northern Quebec, speaks to Maria Margaronis about being taken away at the age of 12 in 1964, his years living with a white family in Ottawa, and his eventual return.

(Photo: Adamie Kalingo in 1963. Credit: Maureen Bus)

The first Indian woman to conquer Everest Jun 02, 2023

Show notes

As a child, Bachendri Pal never dreamt of conquering mountains but a chance meeting with a climber changed all that.

She applied for a mountaineering course and was chosen to be part of India’s first mixed-gender team to climb Mount Everest.

On the journey, she faced icy winds, freezing temperatures and an avalanche that destroyed the camp.

But finally, on 23 May 1984, Bachendri became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Everest. It was an achievement that changed her life, as she told Jane Wilkinson.

(Photo: Bachendri Pal, pictured on right, on Everest 1984. Credit: Sonam Paljor)

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