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PODCAST

Witness History

BBC World Service

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

society & culture personal journals

All Episodes

10:38

The Spanish king reclaims his throne

Witness History ·

2025/11/20

In 1975, the death of General Francisco Franco was announced in Spain, bringing to an end 36 years of dictatorship.Franco had already chosen his successor: Prince Juan Carlos, grandson of the last monarch, Alphonso XIII. This was the man who - Franco thought - would continue his authoritarian, anti-democratic and deeply conservative regime.But Juan Carlos defied expectations. In the years that followed, he would lead Spain from a dictatorship to a democracy until, in 1977, the country held its first

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10:32

The death of Franco

Witness History ·

2025/11/19

General Francisco Franco died in November 1975, ending 36 years of dictatorship over Spain. The general had been in power since 1939 after winning the country’s bloody civil war, and his death followed a long illness.He was mourned by conservative Spaniards but those on the left celebrated, calling him a fascist who had once been an ally of Hitler and Mussolini.In 2015, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Jose Antonio Martinez Soler, a young journalist about the ending of an era.Eye-witness accounts brought to

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10:47

Angela Merkel suspends EU asylum rules

Witness History ·

2025/11/18

In the summer of 2015, there was a surge in the number of people from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, seeking asylum in Europe. Social Democrat politician Aydan Özoğuz was Angela Merkel's minister of state concerned with immigration, refugees and integration from 2013 to 2018. She describes to Josephine McDermott visiting her father's home city of Kilis in Turkey, near the Syrian border in 2015, where refugees were being sheltered. And she recalls the motivation for Mrs Merkel's decision to suspend

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10:18

Reagan and Gorbachev: The Geneva Summit

Witness History ·

2025/11/17

Forty years ago, in November 1985, two of the world’s most powerful leaders met for the first time. With Cold War tensions running high and the nuclear arms race dominating global politics, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came together for the first time at the Geneva Summit. Using archive recordings, Megan Jones explores what happened during this landmark meeting.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We

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10:51

When Maldives' ministers met underwater

Witness History ·

2025/11/14

On 17 October 2009, the Maldives’ top government officials donned their scuba gear for the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting. Fish floated around while ministers communicated with hand gestures, white boards and special underwater pencils. Meanwhile on the surface, journalists jostled to see what was happening. The watery meeting was filmed and photographed and subsequently broadcast across the world. The President at the time, Mohamed Nasheed, wanted to show the world the impact climate

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10:33

Bataclan attack in Paris

Witness History ·

2025/11/13

On 13 November 2015, 90 people were shot dead by gunmen at the Bataclan theatre in France during an Eagles of Death Metal concert. A further 40 people were killed in co-ordinated terror attacks by jihadists across the city on the same night. Rachel Naylor speaks to British couple Justine Merton-Scott and Tony Scott, who managed to escape the venue by climbing out of a skylight. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the

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11:09

Prosecuting Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials

Witness History ·

2025/11/12

In November 1945, the first major war crimes trial in history opened in the German city of Nuremberg. Senior Nazis who had committed atrocities during World War Two were prosecuted by the victorious Allied powers of Britain, the USA, France and the Soviet Union. In 2014, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Benjamin Ferencz, who helped unearth evidence of mass murder by the Nazi mobile death squads and prosecuted them in Nuremberg. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those

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10:35

Birth of the G7

Witness History ·

2025/11/11

In November 1975, a summit took place at Rambouillet, France, where the heads of six of the world’s most industrialised nations and their finance ministers came together. The leaders of the US, France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Italy hoped to solve the ongoing economic crisis. The summit marked the birth of an institution now known as the G7. France’s former Finance Minister, Jean-Pierre Fourcade, was at the conference. He speaks to Ben Henderson. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive

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10:30

Breaking the sound barrier

Witness History ·

2025/11/10

On 14 October 1947, American Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound. Despite having two broken ribs, Chuck reached Mach 1.06 – a speed of more than 1,100km per hour.He flew an orange, single-seated, rocket-powered Bell X-1, 13,000m above the Mojave Desert in California. 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 by the past. We take you to

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10:41

Discovering the largest dinosaur ever

Witness History ·

2025/11/07

In 2012, a shepherd uncovered a bone belonging to a new species of dinosaur on a ranch in Patagonia, in Argentina.A team from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio found more than 150 bones, belonging to six skeletons.The Patagotitan, a type of titanosaur, was 40 metres long, 20 metres tall and weighed 77 tonnes.Rachel Naylor spoke to Dr Diego Pol, a palaeontologist who led the dig. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you

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10:22

The ‘father of e-books’

Witness History ·

2025/11/06

In 1971, an American historical document typed out on a university computer played a vital role in the digital revolution of electronic books. It became the foundation of Project Gutenberg.Michael Hart, the visionary behind the project, later became known as the ‘father of e-books’.His close friend, Greg Newby, who was Project Gutenberg’s CEO and director, tells Gill Kearsley how a bike ride to a shop became the unlikely catalyst for a global transformation in how we read and share literature. Greg

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10:47

The creation of Miffy

Witness History ·

2025/11/05

It's 70 years since Miffy was created.The little rabbit with two dots for eyes and an X for a mouth went on to feature in 32 books translated into more than 50 languages.The Dutch author and illustrator Dick Bruna reveals in his own words from the BBC archive that in the beginning, his black outlined illustrations with bold colours were controversial with parents. But children loved them. Miffy, or Nijntje as she's known in the Netherlands, went on to star in several TV series and a feature film

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10:48

President Clinton is impeached

Witness History ·

2025/11/04

In 1999, the US Senate chamber in Washington DC was turned into a court to put President Bill Clinton on trial, after he admitted lying about an affair with an intern called Monica Lewinsky. In 2011, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary spoke to Neil Razzell. Joe Lockhart recounted the impeachment and the fight to save his presidency. 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

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10:41

The brains behind Thunderbirds

Witness History ·

2025/11/03

In 1965, a groundbreaking children's show using cutting-edge puppets first blast onto television screens. Thunderbirds was set in 2065 and followed the antics of secret organisation ‘International Rescue’ which was manned by Jeff Tracy, his team of five sons and agent Lady Penelope. Set up to save humanity, the characters travelled in futuristic vehicles across land, sea and air from their remote base in Tracy Island. It was created by husband and wife Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who used

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10:02

Emerante de Pradines: Haiti’s musical trailblazer

Witness History ·

2025/10/31

Emerante de Pradines was a Haitian singer, dancer and folklorist who became the first person from her country to sign a record deal. She was dedicated to de-demonising vodou music and folklore and went on to teach dance at some of America’s most prestigious universities. Her son Richard Morse speaks to Emma Forde about his mother’s life and her legacy. 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

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10:22

Orson Welles broadcasts The War of the Worlds

Witness History ·

2025/10/30

The night before Halloween in 1938, 23-year-old Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air performed a radio adaptation of HG Wells’s The War of the Worlds.It would become one of the most notorious radio broadcasts in history. In their own words, from the BBC's archive, Orson Welles, producer John Houseman and writer Howard Koch describe how it was "a very boring show" until they had the idea to update the science fiction story, using reportage and the name of a real location in New Jersey in

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10:17

Srebrenica massacre

Witness History ·

2025/10/29

It's 30 years since a massacre of Bosnian Muslims during the war in the former Yugoslavia. The Srebrenica massacre, recognised by the United Nations as a genocide, was the shocking climax of the war in Bosnia.In 2014, Louise Hidalgo talked to Hasan Nuhanović whose father, brother and mother were among the 8,000 Bosnians killed.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

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10:35

The invention of the balloon-expandable stent

Witness History ·

2025/10/28

An estimated 2 million stents are implanted into people’s hearts around the world each year – making it one of the key treatments for heart disease. The treatment was invented by Argentinian doctor Julio Palmaz, who credits a piece of metal being left by a construction worker in his home as inspiration for the structure of the stent. Collaborating with a US Army cardiologist and getting funding from the owner of a fast-food chain and a pharmaceutical giant; the coronary stent was approved for use

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10:12

Death of a priest

Witness History ·

2025/10/27

The 1977 murder of Father Rutilio Grande sent shockwaves through El Salvador. The 48-year-old Jesuit priest was an outspoken champion of the poor in the deeply divided central American nation. In the immediate aftermath of his murder, the Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, took the unprecedented step of holding just one single mass, ordering all other churches in his archdiocese to cancel theirs. Romero also refused to attend any government functions. Father Grande was one of the first

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10:12

The man who invented the scratch card

Witness History ·

2025/10/24

In May 1974, scratch cards went on sale for the first time in the US State of Massachusetts. Free giveaway and coupon games from stores had been commonplace across the USA during the 1950s and '60s – but players could easily cheat. The mathematician John Koza was hired to make the games more secure; he succeeded in making the modern-day scratch card. He tells Johnny I’Anson how he convinced the state-run lotteries to use his invention to offer cash prizes. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by

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