PODCAST

The History Hour

BBC World Service

A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.

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All Episodes

60:48

Music producer Sonny Roberts and treating diabetes

The History Hour ·

2025/10/25

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Sonny Roberts’ daughter tells us about how her father created the UK’s first black-owned music studio - this programme contains outdated and offensive language. Music producer and professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Lucy Durán takes us through the history of music studios around the world. How a Macedonian scientist’s discovery led to treatments for diabetes and

60:03

Nordic Noir and the Moomins

The History Hour ·

2025/10/18

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Indian-based author and podcaster Purba Chakraborty talks about the history of fiction writing.We hear about the rise in popularity of 'Nordic Noir', following the publication of Henning Mankell's crime novels.Then we listen to BBC archive of writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges - regarded as one of the most influential Latin American writers in history.Plus, the trial of two Soviet writers, Yuli

59:50

The evacuation of Tristan da Cunha and Japan...

The History Hour ·

2025/10/10

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We start with a BBC archive interview where one woman recounts what it was like to survive the earthquake and landside in 1961 following the volcanic eruption in Tristan da Cunha. Our guest is Anne Green, a retired schoolteacher from the island of Tristan da Cunha. She describes what it was like to return to the island in 1963. Then, the rare eyewitness account from a 105-year-old who is the only

59:20

India's nine day tea strike and the birth of the...

The History Hour ·

2025/10/04

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.Tea expert Sabita Banerji talks about the history of tea in India. We look back at how women teapickers in 2015 fought for justice - and improved the lives of thousands of tea plantation workers.We hear the story of a famous photo of American president John F Kennedy working at his desk in the White House - with his cheeky young son underneath.Also, from 1985 one of the most notorious killings from the apartheid era in South

60:00

The origins of Indian cinema and the start of Scouting

The History Hour ·

2025/09/27

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes taking us from India to Texas. Professor Sunny Singh, author of A Bollywood State of Mind, discusses the origins of Indian cinema in 1912. And we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Bollywood romance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. We also head to Paris in 1971, to the launch of what would become one of the world’s best known humanitarian organisations: Médecins Sans Frontières.And we learn how Lord Robert

59:58

The fight against sexual harassment in Egypt and Omar...

The History Hour ·

2025/09/20

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all with an Egyptian theme.We find out more about the 2014 fight against sexual harassment. And we hear from Professor Nicola Pratt, an expert on Middle East feminism about the significance of that moment in the fight for women's rights.Also, we go to the 1960s when antiquities were saved to make way for the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile. And recollections from Egypt's first free democratic presidential election in 2012

60:31

Nigeria’s Festac’77 and Gander’s generosity during 9/11

The History Hour ·

2025/09/12

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Lucy Durán, a Spanish ethnomusicologist, record producer and Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. We start with an African American artist who recounts exhibiting her work at Nigeria's largest ever festival of African arts and culture in 1977. Then, the testimony of a pilot stranded in airspace following the 9/11 terror attack.A 94-year-old Jewish refugee

60:31

The Chindits and USAID

The History Hour ·

2025/09/06

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's episodes of Witness History.The formation of an unconventional special force during the Second World War sparks a discussion about three others around the world with military historian Lucy Betteridge-Dyson.Plus, the founding of the United States Agency for International Development, the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic 40 years ago and the first baby born after a womb transplant. Finally, Mexican-American boxer Oscar De La Hoya's toughest test -

60:02

Washington DC and a film noir classic

The History Hour ·

2025/08/29

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.We learn why the Mount Pleasant riots erupted in Washington DC in 1991, and hear from our guest, Sarah Jane Shoenfeld, a public historian of the US capital. Plus, more on John Lennon’s benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York, his final and only full-length solo shows after leaving The Beatles.And the story behind how the world's first permanent international criminal court was created

59:07

BlackBerry phones and Spot the dog

The History Hour ·

2025/08/23

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Jacquie McNish, author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.We start with the former co-CEO of BlackBerry, who recounts the company's remarkable boom and bust.Then, the creation of the Spot the dog children's books in the 1970s. We hear the testimony of a US soldier who defected to the Soviet Bloc in the 1950s.An author recalls how her 2010 book challenged

50:20

Indonesian history

The History Hour ·

2025/08/15

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Dr Anne-Lot Hoek, a research fellow at the International Institution of Social History in Amsterdam.This week, we’re looking at key moments in Indonesian history, as the country marks 80 years since independence. We start by hearing about the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who wrote Buru Quartet while imprisoned in the notorious labour camp on Buru island.Then, the reopening of the

50:52

Nagasaki bomb and Brazil’s biggest bank heist

The History Hour ·

2025/08/09

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Simone Turchetti, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester in the UK. It's 80 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender at the end of the Second World War. We hear from a British prisoner of war who was in Nagasaki at the time.Then, the son of musician Dmitri Shostakovich tells of his famous

50:54

Russian revolutionaries and Japan’s record breaking...

The History Hour ·

2025/08/01

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Dr Lara Douds, Assistant Professor of Russian history.We start in 1907, the men who would go on to lead the Russian Revolution met in London for a crucial congress marking a point of no return between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. Then, in 2000, the launch of Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan, becoming the world’s longest rollercoaster at nearly 2.5 km in length.Next,

50:51

Saxophone diplomacy and bulletproof vests

The History Hour ·

2025/07/25

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Natalia Grincheva, an expert in cultural diplomacy from Lasalle, University of the Arts in Singapore. We start by hearing about when US president Bill Clinton was presented with a saxophone on a 1994 visit to Prague and he and the Czech president Vaclav Havel performed together on stage.Then, India’s first female anthropologist, Irawati Karve.Twenty years on, the cousin of John

51:13

Nuclear diplomacy and Italo disco

The History Hour ·

2025/07/19

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dina Esfandiary, Middle East Geo-economics Lead at Bloomberg.We start in 2015 with insider accounts of the Iran nuclear deal and the Greek debt crisis.Then, the 1995 'Turbot War' between Canada and Spain.We hear how international broadcaster Voice of America was born during World War 2. Finally, the rise of Italo disco in the early 1980s.Contributors:Baroness Catherine Ashton - EU High

50:59

The 'trial of the juntas' and Evita’s missing body

The History Hour ·

2025/07/12

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all with an Argentine theme. We find out more about the 1985 ‘trial of the juntas’ when the country’s former military leaders stood accused of torturing and murdering thousands of their own people. And we hear from historian Dr Victoria Basualdo about life in Argentina, both before and after the trial.Also, the story of the grandmothers who championed the study of genetics to find their missing loved ones. And why tens of

50:53

Dancing in the Street and Ai Weiwei

The History Hour ·

2025/07/05

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes including the story behind Mick Jagger and David Bowie's duet for Live Aid in 1985 and the Chinese artist who was jailed for his art inspired by the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. He speaks to music journalist Alice Austin to explore other concerts in world history that have had a political impact. Also, the American politician who first coined the phrase "drill, baby, drill" in 2008, the making of Back To The Future in 1985 and

50:58

Robert Kennedy's funeral train and the opening of the...

The History Hour ·

2025/06/28

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service, all related to trains and journeys which have helped to shape our world.Our guest Nicky Gardner, travel writer and co-author of Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide, discusses the origins of train travel. The first story involved the hijacking of a train in 1950s communist Czechoslovakia which was driven across the border into West Germany.We also hear about Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train

51:07

Jaws and the Charleston church shooting

The History Hour ·

2025/06/21

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.This programme includes outdated and offensive language.It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975. Our guest is Jenny He, senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. She tells us about the history of this blockbuster movie. We also hear from Carl Gottlieb, who co-wrote the

50:51

Ronald Reagan and Lonesome George

The History Hour ·

2025/06/14

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dolly Jørgensen, Professor of History at the University of Stavanger in Norway and a specialist in the history of extinction.We start in 2012 with the death of a famous Galapagos tortoise called Lonesome George, who was the last of his species.Then, the incredible tale of how an Irish priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, saved thousands of prisoners of war and Jews in Rome during World

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