Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
headphones
Witness History

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 football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

profile image
profile image

9 Listeners

comment icon

1 Comment

Share icon

All episodes

Best episodes

Top 10 Witness History Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Witness History episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Witness History for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Witness History episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Witness History - The battle for Berlin

The battle for Berlin

Witness History

play

05/06/20 • 12 min

Hear the eyewitness account of a female Russian soldier and a German schoolboy who fought on opposing sides in the final, brutal battle for the capital of Nazi Germany. The fall of the city to Soviet forces led to the end of the Second World War in Europe in May 1945.

Photo: A Soviet soldier running during a street battle in Berlin, late April 1945 (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

profile image
profile image
profile image

4 Listeners

comment icon

2 Comments

2

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - The death of Hitler

The death of Hitler

Witness History

play

05/05/20 • 8 min

The German leader Adolf Hitler killed himself on April 30th 1945. He had taken shelter in a bunker beneath his government headquarters as the Red Army closed in on Berlin. Louise Hidalgo has gathered firsthand accounts of his death from the BBC's archives.

profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

In 1992 off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth.

They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago. The salamander-type animal which was the size of a basset hound lived when County Kerry was semi-arid, long before dinosaurs, as Iwan Stössel explains to Josephine McDermott.

(Picture: Artwork of a primitive tetrapod. Credit: Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library)

profile image
profile image

2 Listeners

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - Three Strikes Law

Three Strikes Law

Witness History

play

06/12/20 • 14 min

One man's experience of the controversial US law that saw thousands locked up for life. Under the law in California, a third conviction for a felony offence would lead to a life sentence. At times in California, 45% of "three strikers" were African American. Many were sentenced to life in prison for non-violent or minor offences. Alex Last hears the story of Bilal Chatman, and his hopes for reform.

Photo credit: Getty Images

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - The Chinese cure for malaria
play

03/23/20 • 9 min

In the 1970s, scientists in China used ancient traditional medicine to find a cure for malaria. Artemisinin was discovered by exploring a herbal remedy from the 4th century, and can cure most forms of malaria with very few side effects. It has saved millions of lives all over the world. Rebecca Kesby talks to Professor Lang Linfu, one of the scientists involved.

PHOTO: Professor Lang Linfu (family archives)

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - Hiroshima's trees of hope
play

05/01/20 • 9 min

When an atomic bomb was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured. Despite many survivors believing nothing would grow in the city for decades, 170 trees survived close to the epicentre and are still growing 75 years later. Green Legacy Hiroshima is a project which sends seedlings from those trees around the world, spreading a message of hope. Rachael Gillman has been speaking to Teruko Ueno who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, and her daughter Tomoko Watanabe who is a co-founder of the project.

Photo: one of the trees which survived the atomic bomb. Credit BBC.

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
play

03/20/20 • 9 min

In 1990, NASA launched the historic mission which put into orbit the Hubble Space Telescope. The orbiting observatory has revolutionized astronomy and allowed us to peer deeper than ever before into the Universe. Alejandra Martins talks to astronaut, Kathryn Sullivan, about the Hubble mission and the telescope's initial teething problems.

PHOTO: The Hubble Space Telescope (NASA)

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - Klaus Fuchs: Oppenheimer’s atomic spy
play

01/02/25 • 9 min

German-born physicist Klaus Fuchs played a key role in the development of the first atomic bomb during World War Two.

The project, known as the Manhattan Project, was led by scientist J Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in the US.

But, in January 1950, Fuchs admitted passing top secret nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union and was sentenced to 14 years in jail.

His nephew Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski tells Louise Hidalgo about his uncle.

This programme was first broadcast in 2015.

To hear more about the story of Klaus Fuchs, the spy who changed history, search for The Bomb, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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 football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Klaus Fuchs. Credit Jung/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - The Major and the VW Beetle
play

03/20/20 • 9 min

The story of how a car that had originally been the idea of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was saved by a British army officer at the end of World War Two. In August 1945 the British Army sent Major Ivan Hirst to take control of the giant Volkswagen plant in Germany, built under the Nazis to produce 'people's cars' for the German masses. Ivan Hirst persuaded the British authorities to allow production to restart of the Volkswagen Beetle, which Hitler had had designed before the war as an affordable car for ordinary Germans and which would become one of the most successful cars in the world. Louise Hidalgo has been listening to archive of Major Hirst talking about that time.

Picture: Major Ivan Hirst (right) driving the 1000th Beetle off the production line at Wolfsburg in March 1946 (Credit: Volkswagen AG)

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode
Witness History - The 'I Love You' computer virus
play

03/20/20 • 8 min

In May 2000, a virus created by a college dropout in the Philippines caused chaos around the world. Millions of people received - and opened - an email titled I Love You, which then jammed computer networks. Gabriela Jones talks to IT security expert, Graham Cluley.

(Photo: The I Love You email. Credit: Getty Images)

profile image

1 Listener

bookmark
plus icon
share episode

Show more best episodes

Toggle view more icon

FAQ

How many episodes does Witness History have?

Witness History currently has 2364 episodes available.

What topics does Witness History cover?

The podcast is about Society & Culture, History, Personal Journals and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Witness History?

The episode title 'The battle for Berlin' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Witness History?

The average episode length on Witness History is 10 minutes.

How often are episodes of Witness History released?

Episodes of Witness History are typically released every day.

When was the first episode of Witness History?

The first episode of Witness History was released on Jan 3, 2011.

Show more FAQ

Toggle view more icon

Comments

FH
Felice Hardy

@actionpackedtravel

May 2

horizontal dot icon

Some amazing interviews from the BBC archives.

not liked icon

Like

Reply