Witness History
BBC World Service
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 28, 2022 • 9min
The 'Snow Revolution' against Vladimir Putin
Starting in late 2011, tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets to try to stop what they saw as a power grab by Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The demonstrators wanted to stop what they considered a fraudulent parliamentary election and a surprise announcement that Putin would run for president for a third time. The movement was not successful, but analysts say it worried the Russian leader so much that he launched a crackdown on dissent that has lasted to this day. Rachel Naylor talks to Russian rock journalist, Artemy Troitsky, who composed a song that became an anthem of what was sometimes called the "Snow Revolution".(Photo: An anti-Putin rally in Moscow in December 2011. Credit: Getty Images)
Mar 25, 2022 • 9min
Soviet holidays in Crimea
Artek, on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea, was the Soviet Union's most popular holiday camp. Thousands of children visited every year. Maria Kim Espeland went there in the 1980s. She spoke to Lucy Burns in 2014.Photo: Group of children attending Artek. (Credit: Irina Vlasova)
Mar 24, 2022 • 9min
Ukraine's Babi Yar massacre
During World War Two, Ukraine was occupied by Nazi Germany and on 29th September 1941, the organised massacre of Ukrainian Jews began. In the capital Kyiv, most of the victims were taken to a ravine on the outskirts of the city called Babi Yar, and shot. In 2011, David Stern spoke to Raissa Maistrenko, who escaped the shooting as a three-year-old girl, and to Rabbi Alexander Dukhovny, whose mother survived the Holocaust outside the city.PHOTO: The memorial at the Babi Yar site near Kyiv (Getty Images)
Mar 22, 2022 • 9min
The Budapest Memorandum
Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited the Soviet-era atomic weapons on its soil and became - for a few years - the world's third biggest nuclear power. After months of tense diplomacy, the newly independent Ukraine agreed to give up the weapons in return for what were termed "assurances" about its future security and territorial integrity. These "assurances" were agreed by Russia, the USA and Britain in the Budapest Memorandum, signed in December 1994. They are now controversial given the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and then the rest of Ukraine in 2022. Louise Hidalgo talks to Steven Pifer, a senior American diplomat involved in the talks.PHOTO: Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators in London in 2022 (Getty Images)
Mar 21, 2022 • 9min
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster
In April 1986 a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, in the USSR, causing the worst nuclear accident ever. Sergii Mirnyi was in charge of a monitoring unit which measured radiation levels in the 30 km exclusion zone around the plant.(Photo: The Chernobyl plant shortly after the explosion in 1986. Credit: Getty Images)
Mar 18, 2022 • 9min
The Shard
The Shard - one of the dominant features of the London skyline - opened to the public in February 2013. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, the skyscraper divided public opinion: it features tall, fractured slivers of glass rising in a pyramid-like shape to a jagged spire. The Shard is also home to London's highest viewing gallery. Reena Stanton-Sharma talks to engineer, Roma Agrawal, who helped build the Shard.PHOTO: The Shard towering over South London (Getty Images)
Mar 17, 2022 • 11min
Zaha Hadid's Cincinnati Arts Center
When the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati opened to the public in 2003 it wowed both the public and critics. With its undulating curves and galleries that interlock, it was the first major project that the renowned architect had completed, and also the first American museum to be designed by a woman. The New York Times hailed the Contemporary Arts Center as the most important building to be completed in the US since the Cold War. Farhana Haider has been listening to archive interviews with the late Zaha Hadid and speaking to Jay Chatterjee, Dean Emeritus at the college of Design Architecture, Art and Planning at the University of Cincinnati. He was on the panel that chose her ground-breaking design.Photo Credit Courtesy of the Contemporary Arts Center
Mar 16, 2022 • 9min
Teheran's Freedom Tower
A vast new monument was opened to the public in Tehran in early 1972. It was called Shahyad and was dedicated to centuries of Iranian royalty. After the Islamic revolution of 1979 the monument's name changed to the Azadi or Freedom Tower, but it has remained a centrepiece for public events and demonstrations in the city. In 2016, Rozita Riazati spoke to Hossein Amanat, the young architect hired to design it.PHOTO: The Azadi tower in 2016 (Getty Images)
Mar 15, 2022 • 9min
Chandigarh: India's city of the future
After the trauma of Partition in 1947, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru persuaded the maverick Swiss-French architect, Le Corbusier, to build a new capital city for the province of Punjab. He hoped the project would symbolise a newly-independent, forward-looking India. Le Corbusier had revolutionised architecture and urban planning in the first half of the twentieth century. He was loved and hated in equal measure for his modernist approach, favouring flat roofs, glass walls and concrete. In 2016, Claire Bowes spoke to Sumit Kaur, former Chief Architect and lifelong resident of Chandigarh, about the legacy left by Le Corbusier.(Photo: The Chandigarh Legislative Assembly building. 1999. Credit: John Macdougall/AFP)
Mar 14, 2022 • 9min
The Frauenkirche - Dresden's symbol of war and reconstruction
In 2005 Dresden’s Lutheran church, the Frauenkirche, opened its doors to the public for the first time in 60 years. The Frauenkirche in the East German city of Dresden was destroyed in 1945 by British and American bombing. The church remained in ruins for over 40 years. Then, in 1993, a painstaking project began to piece the church back together and restore it to its former glory. Josephine Casserly talks to Thomas Gottschlich who was one of the architects leading the reconstruction.PHOTO: Ruins of the Frauenkirche in Dresden, Germany after the WWII bombing in 1945. (Probst/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)
