The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

It’s 50 years since soldiers of the communist Khmer Rouge party stormed into the capital, Phnom Penh. It was the start of a four year reign of terror which resulted in up to two million people being killed. We hear two stories from people affected by the regime.

Our guest is journalist and author, Elizabeth Becker. She is one of ...

8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.

Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone: for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army....

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Katrin Paehler, Professor of modern European history at Illinois State University.

First, a journalist describes how he accompanied Hitler through the embers of the Reichstag fire in 1933.

Then, the harrowing recollections of a doctor who saved survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Next, a woman describes how s...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s.

Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.

Next, Minda Dentler, the firs...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

We hear about the historic moment in Nigerian politics when Goodluck Jonathan made a phone call to General Buhari marking the peaceful handover of power in 2015.

Our expert is historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast, Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, who takes us through Nigeria's political history in the leadup to the phone call that...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we’re looking at the history of space travel, including the 60th anniversary of the first ever space-walk by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Also, the speech that would have been given if the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t make their way back from the moon; the founding of the European Space Agency and how Brazil came back ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

We find out about the landmark protest in 1990 when wheelchair users crawled up the steps of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC, campaigning for disability rights.

Our expert is Dr Maria Orchard, law lecturer at the University of Leeds, who has carried out research into disability and inclusion.

We hear about the 2015 attack on ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We find out how Sylvan Goldman’s invention of the shopping trolley in 1930s America turned him into a multi-millionaire.

Our expert is Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London, who is also the author of two books on the history of shopping.

We hear about Toyota’s military pick-up trucks that tra...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We hear about the moment Dr Max Perutz discovered the haemoglobin structure.

Our expert is Professor Sir Alan Fersht, who is a chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology and knew Dr Perutz personally.

We also hear about 22 Inuit children from Greenland's indigenous population who were sent to Denmark as p...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We hear about the death of one of the oldest languages in the world, when an 85 year old woman died and took it with her in 2010.

Our expert guest is Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur, who is the Head of the Endangered Languages Archive which endeavours to preserve languages that are disappearing at “an alarming rate.”

We also hear about the ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We discuss the 1992 speech given by Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, in which he acknowledged the moral responsibility his government should bear for the horrors committed against Indigenous Australians, with our guest Dr Rebe Taylor from Tasmania University.

We also look at two female orators from opposite ends of the poli...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is film critic and journalist Helen O'Hara who dissects what makes a cult film classic, after we hear about the making of the 1989 American film Heathers.

We also learn about the French philosopher behind the theory of deconstruction and how the world first became aware of coral bleaching in the 1980s.

As the climax of th...

We hear from 'wolf child' Luise Quietsch who was separated from her family and forced to flee East Prussia. Whilst trying to survive during World War Two, these children were likened to hungry wolves roaming through forests.

Journalist and documentary film-maker Sonya Winterberg who recorded the testimony of “wolf children” for her book, discusses the profound impact it had on their lives.

We also hear about the first major series ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all about events which happened in 1995.

First, we hear how Microsoft launched Windows 95 after a $300 million marketing campaign.

Our expert guest is Dr Lisa McGerty – Chief Executive of the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.

Next, after 17 years terrorising America, we hear about the hunt for the Unabomber.

Plus, the sarin gas attack on a Tokyo metro...

Josephine McDermott sits in for Max Pearson presenting a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear from the author who stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while shopping for a briefcase in Beverly Hills.

Our guest is Dr Anne-Marie Scholz, from the University of Bremen in Germany, who reflects on the impact of dramatizations of World War Two.

We also hear about the start of Drum magazine, credited with giving ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear a first-hand account of the attack at the offices of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.

Our expert guest is Dr Chris Millington, who leads the Histories and Cultures of Conflict research group at Manchester Metropolitan University.

We also hear about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two.

P...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear two stories from the deadly 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed thousands of people in south-east Asia.

Our expert guest is Ani Naqvi, a former journalist who was on holiday in Sri Lanka when the wave hit.

We also hear from the two Polish students who created the voice of Alexa, the smart speaker.

Plus, the story of Klaus Fuchs, the German-born physicis...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews which all relate to food. First, Dinner for One, the British TV sketch that's become a German New Year’s Eve tradition. Our expert guest is Ingrid Sharp, professor of German cultural and gender history at the University of Leeds. She tells us about some other festive traditions in Northern Europe including Krampus – the horned figure said to punish children ...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Chandrika Kaul, a specialist on modern British and Imperial history at the University of St Andrews in the UK.

We start by hearing from both sides of Australia's 1999 referendum on becoming a republic.

Then, a survivor recounts the horrific 1972 Andes plane crash and the extraordinary things he had to do to s...