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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:

Inventing Chicken Manchurian Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

Chef Nelson Wang created his signature dish Chicken Manchurian in 1975. It was the birth of modern Indo-Chinese cuisine which went on to become hugely popular around the world.

He went on to open China Garden, a Chinese restaurant in Mumbai that would draw in Bollywood's glitterati.

Nelson's son Edward Wang, who is also a chef, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.

(Photo: Chicken Manchurian. Credit: Paul Yeung/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

Creating ciabatta bread Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

In 1982, rally driver Arnaldo Cavallari created ciabatta bread in Adria, in northern Italy.

His family owned a flour mill and he wanted to invent a loaf to rival the French baguette.

Rachel Naylor speaks to his close friend and fellow baker, Marco Vianello.

(Photo: Ciabatta. Credit: Getty Images)

Chile mine rescue Dec 23, 2022

Show notes

On 5 August 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground after a rockfall in the San José copper and gold mine in Chile.

They were rescued 69 days later.

Rachel Naylor speaks to one of the miners, Mario Sepúlveda, who was nicknamed Super Mario by the media.

(Photo: Mario Sepúlveda, in the centre, celebrates being rescued from the mine on 13 October 2010. Credit: Rodrigo Arangua / AFP via Getty Images)

Grozny siege Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

In December 1994, Russian forces began the siege of Chechnya’s capital Grozny.

Dr Aslan Doukaev was a university teacher when the first Chechen war started.

In this programme first broadcast in 2010 he tells Ed Butler about surviving months of conflict.

(Photo: Russian soldier during the siege of Grozny. Credit: Getty Images)

Colombia's 'false positives' killings Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

In 2008, it was revealed that Colombia’s army had been executing civilians and pretending they were rebels killed in the country’s ongoing civil war. At least 4,600 innocent people were murdered in this way. They became known as the ‘false positives’.

Ben Henderson speaks to Jacqueline Castillo, whose brother was one of the victims, and Carlos Mora, who was ordered to execute civilians when he was a soldier.

(Photo: Families of 'false positives' victims. Credit: Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The BBC broadcasting through the Iron Curtain Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

It is the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service. Broadcasting to countries behind the Iron Curtain without a free or independent media between 1947 and 1991 was arguably the service’s finest hour.

The corporation was on the front line of the information war as the BBC’s former Moscow correspondent Bridget Kendall recalls.

Programmes such as the German Service’s Letters Without Signatures created a sense of community among isolated East Germans who could not air their views publicly at home.

Meanwhile, Peter Udell, the former controller of European Services, had the challenge of trying to overcome the Soviet censors. Produced and presented by Josephine McDermott.

Archive recordings of former employees in the BBC Oral History Collection were used courtesy of Sussex University.

(Photo: A West Berlin policeman looks at an East German watchtower at night, 1961. Credit: Getty Images)

Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

To mark the 90th anniversary of the BBC World Service, we trace the development of the Caribbean Service.

Its beginnings go back to the early 1940s when the BBC’s first black producer, Una Marson was employed.

She created Caribbean Voices, which gave future Nobel laureates such as Derek Walcott their first international platform.

In 1969, one of the UK’s best known newsreaders, Sir Trevor McDonald, left Trinidad to join the BBC Caribbean Service as a producer.

He reflects on its legacy. Produced and presented by Josephine McDermott.

Archive recording of West Indies Calling from 1943, is used courtesy of the Imperial War Museum. Una Marson's poem Black Burden is used courtesy of Peepal Tree Press and the BBC Caribbean Service archive material was provided by the Alma Jordan Library, The University of the West Indies.

(Photo: Sir Trevor McDonald and Una Marson. Credit: BBC)

Felix Baumgartner's huge leap Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

In 2012, former Austrian paratrooper Felix Baumgartner was watched live by millions as he ascended into the stratosphere in a helium balloon. He then jumped an estimated 38km from space back to earth.

In doing so, he broke the speed of sound and the highest skydive record that had lasted more than 50 years.

Felix spoke to Dan Hardoon about his big leap in 2022.

A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Photo: Felix Baumgartner jumping from space. Credit: Getty Images)

Soviet fashionista Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

Slava Zaitsev was the first designer to create high fashion collections in the Soviet Union.

He tells Dina Newman about the challenges he faced working under communism.

This programme was first broadcast in 2018.

(Photo: A sketch of a dress designed by Slava Zaitsev. Credit: Slava Zaitsev)

Returning to District Six Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

When Zahra Nordien was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977, she vowed to one day return.

She was one of the 60,000 people who were forcibly removed from the neighbourhood because of the racist South African apartheid government.

What seemed like a pipe dream became a reality when Zahra set up the District Six Working Committee campaigning to get former residents into newly rebuilt homes.

In 2013 her elderly mother moved back into District Six with Zahra, more than three decades after they were expelled.

Zahra tells Reena Stanton-Sharma about her ongoing fight for restitution.

(Photo: Cape Town, South Africa in the 1970s. Credit: Gallo Images / Juhan Kuus)

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