Witness History
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest, the disastrous D-Day rehearsal, and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
Episodes
In 1986, South African businessman Rohan Vos was sitting in the bath when he decided to pursue his passion and launch a vintage railway business. However, the venture nearly bankrupted him, and he was forced to sell his family home.
But, improved economic conditions in the 1990s and a chance encounter with a travel agent in London saved the business.
Rovos Rail is now regarded as one of the most luxurious trains in the world, and c...
In April 1975, the American Freedom Train set out on a tour across the United States to celebrate 200 years of American independence.
On-board were more than 500 priceless artefacts, documenting important moments in America's history - including an original copy of the Constitution, Thomas Edison's first working light bulb and a NASA lunar rover.
Over the next 21 months, seven million people visited the travelling museum as it made i...
On 31 December 1999, a piece of music started playing in a lighthouse in East London.
It’s called Longplayer, and it’s set to keep going, without repeating, until the year 2999.
It was created by Jem Finer from The Pogues, using 234 Tibetan singing bowls.
Megan Jones has been to meet Jem Finer, to find out why he wanted to create a one thousand year long musical composition.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness H...
Seventy-five years ago, Radio Free Europe started broadcasting news to audiences behind the Iron Curtain.
It initially broadcast to Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania and programmes were produced in Munich, Germany.
It now reaches nearly 50 million people a week, in 27 languages in 23 countries.
Rachel Naylor speaks to former deputy director, Arch Puddington.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witne...
In October 1984, as the market for mobile phones was just opening up, one man decided it would be useful if the new technology could be used to send and receive short, electronic messages.
But colleagues of Friedhelm 'Fred' Hillebrand - an engineer for Germany's Deutsche Telekom - told him the system's 160-character limit for text messages rendered it "useless".
After spending an evening typing-up birthday, Christmas and fax messages...
In 1995, Klaus Teuber’s board game Catan launched in Germany.
The board is made up of hexagonal tiles, and it's a game about strategy and collecting resources.
It's since sold over 40 million copies and been translated into more than 40 different languages.
Klaus Teuber died in 2023.
Megan Jones speaks to his son Benjamin, who now runs the company, with brother Guido.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History i...
The Tamagotchi was first released in Japan in 1996 after it was developed by Akihiro Yokoi and his colleagues at his toy development company.
Measuring just a few centimetres long, the egg-shaped digital gadget was home to a series of pixelated alien pets.
Owners had to feed, clean and play with their pets by pressing three tiny buttons. Looking after your Tamagotchi and seeing them evolve was thrilling for many children and its popu...
It was Back to the Future II that made a generation of children dream of travelling by hoverboard.
In the 1989 film, the hero Marty McFly escapes from his arch nemesis Biff by jumping on a flying skateboard.
But it wasn’t until 2011 that inventor Shane Chen came up with the next best thing – a motorised skateboard that moves intuitively and gives the rider a feeling of floating.
The creation became the must-have toy of 2015 and social...
In 1956, one of the world’s most beloved children’s toys went on sale for the first time, but its origins were surprising.
The modelling clay had started out as a household cleaning product. In the days when homes were heated by coal fires, it was used to clean soot and dirt from wallpaper.
But its manufacturer ran into trouble as oil and gas heating became increasingly popular. Then Kay Zufall, whose brother-in-law owned the firm, h...
It's just over 30 years since the brick game was introduced to the world at a department store in London.
Made of 54 wooden blocks stacked into a tower in rows of three by three, each player takes a turn to remove a block from the tower and place it at the top. When the tower falls, the game is over.
Surya Elango speaks to its British designer Leslie Scott about how a family game that started in her parent's home in 1970s Ghana, be...
On 24 December 1951, in the United States, television history was made with the live broadcast of Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera ever composed specifically for TV.
Written by acclaimed Italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti, the opera almost didn’t happen. Struggling with writer’s block and a looming deadline, Menotti feared he wouldn’t finish, until a visit to an art gallery sparked a childhood memory and inspired the s...
In December 1953, Hollywood film stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spent a few weeks at the Bull Inn, Bottesford, Leicestershire, while they performed a show at the nearby Nottingham Empire.
Stan’s sister, Olga Healey, was the landlady.
Customers and staff said the duo spent time serving behind the bar, signing autographs and chatting with regulars.
This was produced and presented by Rachel Naylor, in collaboration with BBC Archives.
...
In the late 1980s, Norway needed a new market for its growing farmed salmon production.
Fish-loving Japan and its lucrative sushi market seemed to fit the bill. But salmon was one fish the Japanese did not eat raw.
Lars Bevanger speaks to Bjørn-Eirik Olsen, the man who came up with the idea of putting salmon on sushi rice, and who spent years convincing the Japanese to eat it.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witn...
In December 1995, India's parliament passed the country's first disability rights legislation.
The landmark law aimed to give full participation and equality rights to an estimated 60 million people - around five percent of India's population who are affected by physical or mental disabilities.
In 2015, Farhana Haider spoke to disability rights activist Javed Abidi who led the campaign to change the law.
Eye-witness accounts brought t...
Operation Flagship was a U.S Marshals sting operation, where some of Washington DC’s most wanted fugitives, were lured to a convention centre under the pretence of having won coveted NFL tickets in December 1985.
Upon their arrival, they were greeted by cheerleaders and mascots – all law enforcement officers in disguise. It led to one of America’s most successful mass arrests with more than 100 people being arrested.
Former US Mars...
The world is on the brink of nuclear war. How can the Soviet Union and the USA prevent it? Hosts Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of the superpower leaders President John F Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, tell the personal and political history of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Together Nina and Max explore what drove JFK and Khrushchev during the darkest days of October 1962. And when the crisis moves beyond their con...
On 12 December 2015, nearly 200 countries adopted the Paris climate agreement. It legally committed countries to climate action plans, designed to stop global temperatures rising 2C above pre-industrial levels. Those commitments have influenced government policy and people's lives ever since.
Christiana Figueres was head of climate negotiations at the conference. She speaks to Ben Henderson about the drama behind the scenes, includ...
Following the abolishment of Apartheid in the 1990s, South Africa had to find a way to confront its brutal past without endangering the chance for peace.
But it was a challenging process for many survivors of atrocities committed by the former racist regime.
Sisi Khampepe served on the Amnesty Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she spoke to Rebecca Kesby in 2018 about how she had to put aside her own emotions an...
In 1938, South African museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer discovered a coelacanth, a fish that was believed to have been extinct for 65 million years.
It is thought to be our ancestor and the missing link between how fish evolved into four-legged amphibians.
Produced and presented by Rachel Naylor in collaboration with BBC Archives.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated b...
In 2015, Banksy turned a derelict swimming pool in Weston-super-Mare, England, into a dystopian theme park which drew huge crowds and Hollywood stars.
Working under cover of darkness, the street artist created Dismaland - a 'bemusement park' offering a satirical twist on mainstream resorts.
The temporary exhibition featured a fire-ravaged castle, a riot police van sinking into a lake, and Cinderella’s upturned pumpkin carriage.
Open f...
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