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
Dec 22, 2023 • 10min
'The bad boy of Welsh politics'
In the 1960s, the singer Dafydd Iwan started campaigning for the Welsh language to gain official status in Wales. For years, Dafydd received little support. In January 1969 he decided to up the pressure, defacing a police station sign written in English with paint. He ended up in prison, but soon young people across the country were picking up paint pots and taking up the cause. Today, the Welsh language is found in schools, on documents and on police station signs. Dafydd tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his activism and singing.(Photo: Dafydd after his release from Cardiff prison. Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)
Dec 21, 2023 • 9min
Al Jazeera Three: Imprisoned in Egypt
In 2014 three journalists were sentenced to seven years in jail in Egypt.Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed became known as the Al Jazeera Three.The jail terms handed out to them led to an international outcry as protesters called for press freedom.Peter Greste tells his compelling story to Gill Kearsley.(Photo: Peter Greste inside the defendants’ cage. Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)
Dec 20, 2023 • 9min
The mysterious death of Pablo Neruda
In late 1973, Chile was in turmoil. General Augusto Pinochet had led a military coup deposing the socialist president Salvador Allende who was now dead.The army was rounding up leftists; torturing, imprisoning and killing them.In the capital Santiago, the country’s best-known poet Pablo Neruda was lying in a hospital bed. He was 69 and had cancer.As a prominent member of the Communist Party his life was in danger. He had to get out.With him was his driver and personal assistant Manuel Araya who spoke to Gideon Long.(Photo : The poet in 1963. Credit: Angelo Cozzi/Mondadori/Getty Images)
Dec 19, 2023 • 9min
The assassination of King Faisal
On 25 March 1975, Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal was murdered, shot by his nephew as he bent to kiss him as a greeting.The king’s oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani was standing beside him when the gun went off.In 2017, Ahmed’s daughter, Dr Mai Yamani, told Louise Hidalgo of her father’s pain at witnessing the death.(Photo: King Faisal in 1967. Credit: Pierre Manevy/Getty Images)
Dec 18, 2023 • 9min
Tsunami devastates Samoa
On 29 September 2009, a devastating tsunami hit Samoa, killing 149 people and leaving a trail of destruction.
For Lumepa Hald it was a terrifying day which resulted in a tragic loss.
She tells her story to Gill Kearsley.(Photo: The devastation in Samoa after the tsunami in 2009. Credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Dec 15, 2023 • 16min
The funeral of Nelson Mandela
On 15 December 2013, South Africa held the funeral of Nelson Mandela who led the struggle in defeating apartheid and became the country’s first black president. His ancestral home in the village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape hosted 60 world leaders including four United States presidents and two UN secretary generals. It was the first state funeral held by the country.Nelson Mandela’s eldest child Dr Makaziwe Mandela tells Josephine McDermott how it took eight years to plan and why it makes her proud to remember that day.(Photo: Candles are lit under a portrait of Nelson Mandela at his funeral service. Credit: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)
Dec 14, 2023 • 9min
Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi disappears
In 1983, the disappearance of a teenage girl who was a citizen of Vatican City led to a scandal.When Pope John Paul II made a public appeal to the people holding Emanuela Orlandi captive, the world took notice and her case was treated as a suspected kidnapping.Forty years on, the reason she vanished is still unclear.Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, speaks to Daniel Gordon about his life-long mission to find out what really happened to his sister.(Photo: A protester holds a photo of Emanuela. Credit: Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty Images)
Dec 13, 2023 • 9min
Anna Akhmatova: The poet who defied a regime
The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova lived through some of the darkest chapters of Soviet history, but never stopped writing even though the communist regime repeatedly tried to silence her. One of Anna's most famous poems, Requiem, is about her son's arrest and the Stalinist terror.In 2022, art historian Era Korobova told Tatyana Movshevich about the poet's tumultuous relationship with her son.(Photo: Anna Akhmatova (second from right, at a Soviet writers' conference in 1965. Credit: Getty Images)
Dec 12, 2023 • 9min
Yeltsin speaks at the reburial of the Romanovs
In 1998, Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin shocked the nation with a last-minute decision to speak at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, 80 years after their murder.“We must end an age of blood and violence in Russia,” he said, as he called for the country to face up to the crimes of its communist past.Lilia Dubovaya, a reporter for the state news service, told Robert Nicholson about the emotional weight of the day. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.(Image: President Yeltsin at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II. Credit: Reuters)
Dec 11, 2023 • 9min
Murder of the Romanovs
As civil war raged in Russia, on 17 July 1918, the imprisoned royal family were told they were to be taken to a place of refuge.But the move was a trick and half an hour later Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and his children lay dead, gunned down and bayonetted.In 2018, his great niece Olga Romanov told Olga Smirnova about that night, and the family’s reburial 80 years later.(Photo: The room where the Romanovs were murdered. Credit: Getty Images)
