A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.
…
continue reading
The Workforce Management Podcast discusses the technologies, strategies and everything you need to know about workforce management, including time and attendance, employee scheduling, labour demand forecasting, workforce analytics and much more. We pay particular attention to AI and how that is changing the landscape. We aim to help you navigate through the complex Workforce Management world, tackle the most pressing questions and give you a complete understanding of all the aspects involved ...
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Indonesian’s independence and the last Olympic art competition
51:11
51:11
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:11
We hear about the founding father of Indonesian independence. Then, we look at how 'spray on skin' was used after the 2002 Bali bombings. Next, we hear about the last ever Olympic art competition. Plus, the most decorated Paralympian in history. And, the Brazilian singer who earned the title Queen of Samba. Max Pearson presents a collection of this…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. It's 50 years since Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign, following the Watergate scandal. To mark this anniversary, we're featuring first hand accounts from major moments in US presidential history. We start with the first ever presidential televi…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Ice Bucket Challenge and Bulgaria's dancing bears
51:07
51:07
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:07
A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died. Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We take a look at the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral fundraising sensation that took over the internet in 2014. Our guest Professor Sander va…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We go underground for a tour of the Moscow Metro, the subterranean transport network built by thousands of Russian workers in the 1930s. Our guest Mark Ovenden, author of Underground Cities, reveals how the Moscow system influenced many other countries around the world. Plus,…
…
continue reading
We hear Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot perspectives on the island's 1974 coup and subsequent invasion. Bekir Azgun, a Turkish-Cypriot writer, remembers the events. On the 20 July 1974 Captain Adamos Marneros landed the final flight at Nicosia Airport. Nicoletta Demetriou talks about returning to her family home in 2003. Then, a Cypriot Olympic s…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Brazil's ban on women in football and the first air fryer
50:14
50:14
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:14
We hear about the law in Brazil which made it illegal for women and girls to play football for 40 years. Dilma Mendes shares her incredible experience of being arrested numerous times as a child, just for kicking a ball. Our guest, Alexandra Allred, herself a pioneering sportswomen, discusses the discrimination women have faced to break into compet…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We hear about the era-defining book Subway Art and how Fight the Power became a protest anthem. Artist curator Marianne Vosloo explains how both street art and hip-hop are linked. Plus, two stories from Georgia. Firstly, how Stalin carried out his most severe purge in Georgia…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We hear the story of the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world and the creation of one of the most recognisable characters on the planet. Plus, an amazing first hand account of the expulsion of German-speakers from Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War, …
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service on the history of travel. Our guest is Dr. Susan Houge Mackenzie, Associate Professor in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago in New Zealand. First, we'll hear from the man responsible for the first commercial bungee jump. Then, the …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Boko Haram massacre in Nigeria and the Irish shopworkers strike
50:55
50:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:55
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. First, we hear about Boko Haram militants driving into Gwoza in north-east Nigeria in 2014, to begin an assault which left hundreds dead. Next, the Irish shopworkers who went on strike after refusing to handle South African goods. Then, it’s 25 yea…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The weather report that delayed D-Day and panda-mania in Taiwan
51:15
51:15
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:15
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. First, we hear how a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin Sweeney drew up a weather report that delayed the date of D-Day. Then, 99-year-old former field medic, Charles Norman Shay, shares his remarkable account of landing on the Normandy beach i…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
South American revolutionaries and the first Aboriginal MP
50:31
50:31
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:31
A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died. Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. First, the story of Brazil's most wanted, Carlos Lamarca. He was a captain who deserted the army in the 1960s and …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The first Air Jordan and Imelda Marcos's 3,000 pairs of shoes
50:08
50:08
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:08
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week’s programmes are all about the history of footwear. First we take a trip back to the 1960’s when Brazilians were introduced to a new type of footwear, which went on to become one of the country’s biggest exports. Plus the story of how a t…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Independence in French Polynesia and the 'Queen of Cuba'
51:30
51:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:30
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, we hear how nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia. Plus, the story of how the FBI caught Ana Montes, the spy known as the ‘Queen of Cuba’. We also talk to Jewish and Palestinian people about the moment the state of Israel …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
India’s ambitious ID scheme and the iconic Princess Diana photo
51:01
51:01
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:01
This week, how more than one billion people living in India were given a unique digital ID during the world's largest biometric project. The Aadhaar scheme was launched in 2009 but it wasn't without controversy. Our guest, digital identity expert Dr Edgar Whitley, tells us about the history of ID schemes around the world. Plus, the Spanish doctor w…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Paraguay’s ‘disappeared’ and the history of the Channel Tunnel
50:53
50:53
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:53
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we hear the story of Rogelio Goiburu, who has dedicated his life to finding the victims of Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship in Paraguay, including the remains of his own father. Our expert Dr Francesca Lessa talks about other enforced di…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Thirty years since the first free elections in South Africa
51:02
51:02
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:02
It’s been thirty years since the first fully democratic elections in South Africa, which saw the African National Congress take power in 1994. But two years before that historic moment, white South Africans had to vote in a referendum that would decide whether or not to usher in a multi-racial government. We hear from President FW de Klerk’s then c…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Ebola outbreak and the Friendship Train returns
50:50
50:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:50
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It’s 10 years since the world’s deadliest outbreak of Ebola started in West Africa. We hear from a survivor and discuss the legacy of the epidemic with the BBC's global health reporter Tulip Mazumdar. Plus, the first World War Two battalion to be l…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It's 30 years since Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, was stolen from the national gallery in Oslo, Norway. We hear from the man who helped to recover it. Our expert guest is historian and author, Susan Ronald, who explores the history of art he…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It has been 50 years since Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, so we're exploring Swedish history. Also in 1974, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. One father who took the leave…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Seventy-five years of Nato and the Heimlich Manoeuvre
52:37
52:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:37
It's 75 years since the founding of Nato. In 1949, a group of 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the expansion of the Soviet Union. Professor Sten Rynning, the author of Nato: From Cold War to Ukraine, talks about some of the most significant moments in Nato's history. It's 30 years since the beginning of the Rwanda…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. To mark 50 years since the discovery of the Terracotta Army, we're exploring modern Chinese history. We hear from the man who helped to modernise the Chinese language by creating a new writing system. It's called Pinyin and it used the Roman alphab…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Finding early vertebrate’s footprints and the Deaflympic badminton champion
52:07
52:07
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:07
First, we go back to 1992, when 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. Dr Frankie Dunn, who is a senio…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Uruguay's smoking ban and the Carnation Revolution
51:55
51:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:55
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We first hear about Uruguay’s tale of David v Goliath - when a tobacco giant took South America's second-smallest country to court over its anti-smoking laws. Uruguay’s former public health minister María Julia Muñoz describes the significance of t…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We first hear about a bloodless war between Denmark and Canada, that involved whisky. In 1984, the two nations were disputing the ownership of the tiny Hans Island, just off the coast of Greenland. It might be the friendliest territorial dispute ev…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the famous ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb. In 2003, the venue won its bid to host the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. Hugh Smythe, known as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Whistler, has been sharing his memories of the mount…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Letters to Juliet and Saint Valentine’s traditions
51:55
51:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:55
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the Juliet Club in Verona, Italy. The club has been replying to mail addressed to Shakespeare’s tragic heroine, Juliet since the early 1990s. Professor Lisa Bitel talks about the traditions of Valentine’s Day. Plus, how the small Iris…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service telling stories about inspirational black women. In 1973, the Battle of Versailles pit up-and-coming American designers using black models against the more traditional French. We hear from Bethann Hardison, one of those black models, about how the c…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Cyberia - the first commercial internet café which opened in London in 1994. Director of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, Professor Vicki Nash, talks us through other notable landmarks in the internet’s histo…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service all about figures branded as traitors. In 1939 Wang Jingwei, once a national hero in China, signed an agreement with Japanese invaders which made his name synonymous with the word ‘Hanjian’, a traitor to China. But Pan Chia-sheng’s memories of livin…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We’re going wild for animals this week. We find out how the Ibadan Zoo became one of Nigeria’s biggest tourist attractions during the 1970s. Our guest Harriet Ritvo, professor of history at MIT, looks back across the centuries to reveal the fascina…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The first lesbian couple to get married and World Laughter Day
51:43
51:43
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:43
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise gay marriage. Four couples were chosen to take part in a collective wedding at midnight which was broadcast on TV. Hélène Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus talk about the wedding they thought t…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Barbara Waibel, author of a book on the Hindenburg and Director of Archives at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She tells us about the history of airships. We begin with some remarkable archive of the Hindenburg airship…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, we look at the disputed history of pad Thai with food writer Chawadee Nualkhair. We also hear from former fruit exporter Don Turner on why his family changed the name of the Chinese gooseberry to the kiwi fruit. Our expert guest is food …
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, we hear from Lumepa Hald who survived the devastating tsunami that hit Samoa in 2009 but suffered a tragic loss. Our expert guest, Prof Tiziana Rossetto, looks back at some of the worst tsunamis in history and how they have shaped our la…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Ongama Mtimka, lecturer in South African politics at the Nelson Mandela University. He tells us about Mandela's life and legacy 10 years on from his death. We start with with Mandela's daughter, Makaziwe, describing her relationship…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about two of the most influential computer games of the 1990s with their creators. John Romero was one of the developers of Doom and talks about the concept of a martian military base populated by zombie soldiers. Coder Jan Tian describes h…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Saving animals from extinction and Cabbage Patch Kids
52:54
52:54
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:54
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, the bird that defied extinction. In 1969, a Peruvian farmer Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century. The American author and conservat…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Zambia celebrates independence and the invention of bubble tea
51:36
51:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:36
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, we’re looking at the birth of a new African nation – Zambia - in 1964, and find out how the country got its name. We also learn more about life after independence with our guest Dr Alfred Tembo, head of history of the University of Zambi…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Iceland and EpiPen invention
52:22
52:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:22
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Jenni Barclay from the University of East Anglia in the UK. She tells us about some of the most significant volcanic eruptions in history. We start with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010, which caused air travel to sto…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Pakistani popstars, and the hippo and the tortoise
52:17
52:17
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:17
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Zoheb Hassen, one half of a sibling duo from Pakistan who topped the charts in countries all over the world with their dancefloor filler, Disco Deewane. Our guest is BBC radio presenter and Pakistani music fan Raess Khan. He talks abou…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Che Guevara's daughter and marrying Freddie Mercury
51:25
51:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:25
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Tony Kapcia, Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research on Cuba. He tells us about the history of Cuban foreign policy. We start with Aleida Guevara's memories of being sent from Cuba to provide medical ai…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from activist and actor Memet Ali Alabora on how his social media post contributed to the civil unrest following the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013. Our guest, Selin Girit who covers Turkey for BBC World Service, talks to us about Tur…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Osmondmania! and the launch of Lagos Fashion Week
50:55
50:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
50:55
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Osmondmania! The moment in 1973 when teenage fans of American heartthrobs, The Osmonds, caused a balcony at Heathrow to collapse. Also, we find out about the first peace walk in Cambodia and how it united a country torn apart by war. …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The creation of Ghana's flag and the oldest person at primary school
51:17
51:17
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:17
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Kwasi Okoh about how his mother Theodosia Okoh designed Ghana’s flag after it became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. Our guest, former diplomatic and foreign affairs editor, Tim Marshall, explains the impo…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Marking 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis
52:10
52:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
52:10
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. To mark 50 years since the global oil crisis, we’re focusing on oil - from discovery to disaster. We hear from Dr Fadhil Chalabi, then the deputy secretary general of Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) about what happened duri…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about the sinking of a migrant boat off Lampedusa in 2013 which was one of the Mediterranean’s worst shipwrecks. Also, we find out about Wally Hendrickson, the US physicist who volunteered to be dropped into the front line of the Vietnam War…
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
Nazi eugenics and the year of the vuvuzela
51:48
51:48
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:48
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the people with disabilities who were sterilised in Germany following an order in 1933, passed by the then Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Also, we find out about the first man to descend into the “Gates of Hell”, the Darvaza Crater, in Turk…
…
continue reading
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It's thirty years since the Oslo Accords were signed. This agreement in 1993 aimed to bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. So this week, we're bringing you stories from Israeli and Palestinian history. We hear about attempts at …
…
continue reading
![Artwork](/static/images/128pixel.png)
1
The Chilean coup and Zanzibar’s most famous singer
51:42
51:42
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
51:42
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Chilean politician Hermógenes Pérez de Arce, who helped oust President Allende in 1973. We also hear from the widow of folk singer Victor Jara, who was killed during the military coup. Our guest is Dr Camila Vergara, who is a historian…
…
continue reading