PODCAST

The History Hour

BBC World Service

A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.

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All Episodes

51:00

American presidents

The History Hour ·

2024/08/09

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.It's 50 years since Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign, following the Watergate scandal.To mark this anniversary, we're featuring first hand accounts from major moments in US presidential history.We start with the first ever presidential television debate. In 1956, the Democratic and Republican candidates sent female representatives. They were Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith.Our expert

51:07

Ice Bucket Challenge and Bulgaria's dancing bears

The History Hour ·

2024/08/02

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We take a look at the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral fundraising sensation that took over the internet in 2014. Our guest Professor Sander van der Linden breaks down the psychology behind virality and outlines the challenges facing those who conquered the algorithm. Plus, how one man smuggled

50:47

Moscow Metro and the Olympics

The History Hour ·

2024/07/26

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We go underground for a tour of the Moscow Metro, the subterranean transport network built by thousands of Russian workers in the 1930s.Our guest Mark Ovenden, author of Underground Cities, reveals how the Moscow system influenced many other countries around the world. Plus, more about a revolutionary new method for transporting medicines that was launched in Ghana in 1974. The cold chain system helped refrigerate vaccines

51:05

Cyprus: coups and clubbing

The History Hour ·

2024/07/19

Max Pearson presents this week's Witness History interviews on the history of Cyprus. Our guest is Dr Antigone Heraclidou, Senior Research Associate at CYENS Centre of Excellence in Cyprus.We hear Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot perspectives on the island's 1974 coup and subsequent invasion.Then, a Cypriot Olympic sailing hero takes us back to the London 2012 Games. And finally the 'Godfather of Ayia Napa' tells us how the island became a party destination.Contributors:Dr Antigone Heraclidou,

50:14

Brazil's ban on women in football and the first air...

The History Hour ·

2024/07/13

We hear about the law in Brazil which made it illegal for women and girls to play football for 40 years. Dilma Mendes shares her incredible experience of being arrested numerous times as a child, just for kicking a ball. Our guest, Alexandra Allred, herself a pioneering sportswomen, discusses the discrimination women have faced to break into competitive sport.Plus, the moment when the 'Queen of Salsa', banned from Cuba by Fidel Castro, was allowed to return to Cuban territory for one performance.We

50:02

Subway Art and terror in Georgia

The History Hour ·

2024/07/05

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We hear about the era-defining book Subway Art and how Fight the Power became a protest anthem. Artist curator Marianne Vosloo explains how both street art and hip-hop are linked.Plus, two stories from Georgia. Firstly, how Stalin carried out his most severe purge in Georgia in 1937, killing thousands of people, and then how after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly independent state was thrown into a political

50:02

The Sagrada Família and Hello Kitty

The History Hour ·

2024/06/28

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We hear the story of the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world and the creation of one of the most recognisable characters on the planet.Plus, an amazing first hand account of the expulsion of German-speakers from Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War, the man behind Dignitas, the assisted dying organisation in Switzerland, and the son of a Guatemalan president who was overthrown in an American-backed coup

50:55

Bungee jumping and the Benidorm boom

The History Hour ·

2024/06/21

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service on the history of travel. Our guest is Dr. Susan Houge Mackenzie, Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago in New Zealand. First, we'll hear from the man responsible for the first commercial bungee jump. Then, the pioneers of low-cost transatlantic flights and luxury cruises describe how they revolutionised travel. Finally, we hear the remarkable stories of how

50:55

Boko Haram massacre in Nigeria and the Irish...

The History Hour ·

2024/06/14

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, we hear about Boko Haram militants driving into Gwoza in north-east Nigeria in 2014, to begin an assault which left hundreds dead. Next, the Irish shopworkers who went on strike after refusing to handle South African goods.Then, it’s 25 years since Nato bombed the Serbian state TV station in Belgrade. Plus, Norway’s biggest industrial disaster.And, Brazil’s iconic egg-shaped telephone booth

51:15

The weather report that delayed D-Day and panda-mania...

The History Hour ·

2024/06/07

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, we hear how a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin Sweeney drew up a weather report that delayed the date of D-Day. Then, 99-year-old former field medic, Charles Norman Shay, shares his remarkable account of landing on the Normandy beach in France codenamed Omaha on D-Day. Next, we also talk to Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi who hurled his shoes at the President of the United States

50:31

South American revolutionaries and the first...

The History Hour ·

2024/05/31

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, the story of Brazil's most wanted, Carlos Lamarca. He was a captain who deserted the army in the 1960s and joined in the armed struggle against the military regime in the country.Then, Bill Booth - historian of twentieth century Latin America at University

50:08

The first Air Jordan and Imelda Marcos's 3,000 pairs...

The History Hour ·

2024/05/24

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week’s programmes are all about the history of footwear.First we take a trip back to the 1960’s when Brazilians were introduced to a new type of footwear, which went on to become one of the country’s biggest exports. Plus the story of how a then rookie basketball player called Michael Jordan signed a deal with Nike that revolutionised sports marketing.We also hear about the thousands of shoes

51:30

Independence in French Polynesia and the 'Queen of Cuba'

The History Hour ·

2024/05/17

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we hear how nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia.Plus, the story of how the FBI caught Ana Montes, the spy known as the ‘Queen of Cuba’.We also talk to Jewish and Palestinian people about the moment the state of Israel was proclaimed in 1948.Finally, we tell the unlikely story of how a heavy metal rock band emerged during the violent years of Saddam Hussein's regime in

51:01

India’s ambitious ID scheme and the iconic Princess...

The History Hour ·

2024/05/10

This week, how more than one billion people living in India were given a unique digital ID during the world's largest biometric project. The Aadhaar scheme was launched in 2009 but it wasn't without controversy. Our guest, digital identity expert Dr Edgar Whitley, tells us about the history of ID schemes around the world.Plus, the Spanish doctor whose pioneering surgery helped millions of people to get rid of their glasses and see more clearly. And why East Germany's thirst for caffeine in the 1980s

50:53

Paraguay’s ‘disappeared’ and the history of the...

The History Hour ·

2024/05/03

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we hear the story of Rogelio Goiburu, who has dedicated his life to finding the victims of Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship in Paraguay, including the remains of his own father. Our expert Dr Francesca Lessa talks about other enforced disappearances in South America.Plus, we hear about how, in February 2014, ordinary people got to see inside Mezhyhirya, the extraordinarily extravagant

51:02

Thirty years since the first free elections in South...

The History Hour ·

2024/04/26

It’s been thirty years since the first fully democratic elections in South Africa, which saw the African National Congress take power in 1994.But two years before that historic moment, white South Africans had to vote in a referendum that would decide whether or not to usher in a multi-racial government. We hear from President FW de Klerk’s then communications officer about how they helped “close the book on apartheid.”Then we journey back to 1976 and hear about the Soweto Uprising, a student led

50:50

Ebola outbreak and the Friendship Train returns

The History Hour ·

2024/04/20

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It’s 10 years since the world’s deadliest outbreak of Ebola started in West Africa. We hear from a survivor and discuss the legacy of the epidemic with the BBC's global health reporter Tulip Mazumdar. Plus, the first World War Two battalion to be led by an African-American woman. Major Charity Adams’ son tells her story. We hear about the group of men arrested in Egypt in 2001 at a gay nightclub who

50:59

The history of art heists

The History Hour ·

2024/04/12

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It's 30 years since Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, was stolen from the national gallery in Oslo, Norway. We hear from the man who helped to recover it.Our expert guest is historian and author, Susan Ronald, who explores the history of art heists in the 20th century.Plus, a first hand account from Kampala terror attacks in 2010 and the mystery of St Teresa of Avila's severed hand.Finally, we

50:57

Swedish History

The History Hour ·

2024/04/05

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It has been 50 years since Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, so we're exploring Swedish history.Also in 1974, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. One father who took the leave tells us about this pioneering policy. We hear from one of the inventors of Bluetooth. The technology was named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking

52:37

75 years of Nato and the Heimlich Manoeuvre

The History Hour ·

2024/03/30

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It's 75 years since the founding of Nato. In 1949, a group of 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the expansion of the Soviet Union.Professor Sten Rynning, the author of "Nato: from Cold War to Ukraine", talks about some of the most significant moments in Nato's history.It's 30 years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. We hear from one of the survivors. This

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