Witness History Podcast
History as told by the people who were there.
Episodes to download
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Soweto uprising: Children who marched against apartheid
Tuesday
In 1976, an uprising was sparked when demonstrating children were gunned down
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South Africa's referendum on apartheid
Monday
The last whites-only vote in South Africa was held in 1992
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Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight
Last Friday
The first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion
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Deadly Everest avalanche
Last Thursday
In 2014, an avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall killed 16 sherpas on Mount Everest
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West Africa's Ebola virus epidemic
Last Wednesday
In 2014, Sierra Leone was devastated by Africa's biggest Ebola outbreak on record
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The friendship train: Connecting India and Bangladesh
Tue 16 Apr 2024
In 2008, India and Bangladesh were reconnected by train after 43 years
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Egypt and the ‘Cairo 52’
Mon 15 Apr 2024
In May 2001, 52 men were arrested in a gay nightclub floating on the River Nile
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Hiroo Onoda, Japan’s last WW2 soldier to surrender
Fri 12 Apr 2024
Hiroo Onoda spent 30 years fighting in the jungle, believing the war was still going on
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St Teresa of Avila's severed hand
Thu 11 Apr 2024
How General Franco kept the hand of St Teresa of Avila for spiritual guidance
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The Scream: A stolen masterpiece
Wed 10 Apr 2024
In 1994, an undercover operation was launched to recover the Scream painting
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How Lake Karla in Greece was drained
Tue 9 Apr 2024
In 1962, Thessaly’s Lake Karla was drained by the Greek government
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The 2010 Kampala bombings
Mon 8 Apr 2024
Bombings in Uganda in 2010 killed 74. Many were football fans watching the World Cup
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Bonus: The Black 14
Sat 6 Apr 2024
The lives of 14 black American footballers are changed forever in a fight against racism
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Sweden's Cinnamon Bun Day
Fri 5 Apr 2024
In 1999, a delicious new tradition was born in Sweden's kitchens
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Sweden's pioneering paternity leave
Wed 3 Apr 2024
Fifty years ago Sweden introduced gender neutral parental leave
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The man who invented the seat belt
Tue 2 Apr 2024
In 1958, Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars
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Surviving the Rwandan genocide
Fri 29 Mar 2024
April 1994 was the start of the Rwandan genocide. One hundred days of atrocities followed
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The founding of Nato
Thu 28 Mar 2024
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed to block the Soviet Union's expansion
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Britain's first beach for nudists
Wed 27 Mar 2024
In 1980, a seaside town opened a beach where people could strip off as they pleased
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Britain's Mirpuri migration
Mon 25 Mar 2024
In 1967, the Mangla Dam was built in Mirpur, Pakistan, spurring a huge global migration
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Wham! in China
Fri 22 Mar 2024
How Wham! became the first Western pop act to perform in communist China
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Discovering the Terracotta Army
Thu 21 Mar 2024
In 1974, Chinese farmers stumbled upon an astonishing archaeological site
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The 'comfort women' of World War Two
Wed 20 Mar 2024
Hundreds of thousands of Asian women were forced into sex slavery in the 1930s and 1940s
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Surviving re-education in China’s Cultural Revolution
Tue 19 Mar 2024
Thousands of people were sent to re-education camps during China’s cultural revolution
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Pinyin: The man who helped China to read and write
Mon 18 Mar 2024
In 1958, Zhou Youguang introduced a new writing system in China
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The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius
Fri 15 Mar 2024
Vesuvius is famous for burying Pompeii but it last erupted in 1944, during World War Two
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Winifred Atwell: The honky-tonk star who was Sir Elton John’s hero
Thu 14 Mar 2024
The forgotten story of Winifred Atwell, the pianist from Trinidad who broke sales records
