Witness History
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 the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.
We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.
You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest, the disastrous D-Day rehearsal, and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 9 minutes
- Episodes
- 2060
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
The Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks
Yörük Işık is a ship spotter who logs all the boats that pass through the narrow Bosphorus Strait near his home in Istanbul, Turkey.
In October 2015, he noticed something unusual - Russian military t…
The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War Two.
Once Soviet troops reached Budapest, Wallenberg reported to Soviet officials on 17 January …
The invention of the hotel key card
In the 1970s, Norwegian Tor Sornes invented the hotel key card. He wanted to improve security in hotels after he heard the news that one of his favourite singers, Connie Francis, was attacked in her …
Charlie Hebdo attack
On 7 January 2015, 12 people were shot dead at the offices of a satirical magazine in Paris, the capital of France.
The two gunmen had targeted Charlie Hebdo because it had published cartoons of the P…
Marie Kondo
In 2011, Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo’s first book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was published.
Overnight she went from tidying other people’s homes to being known around the world for…
Creating Alexa
The smart speaker Alexa is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, but did you know its voice was created by two people in Poland back in 2000?
Lukasz Osowski and Michal Kas…
Klaus Fuchs: Oppenheimer’s atomic spy
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 Oppenhe…
Robert Ripley and the ‘Believe It or Not’ empire
In December 1918, sports writer and cartoonist Robert Ripley was struggling to find some content for his column in the New York Globe.
So he compiled and illustrated some of the quirkiest sports facts…
Indian Ocean tsunami - Aceh
An earthquake off the coast of Indonesia on 26 December 2004, triggered a tsunami which cost the lives of an estimated 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean. It was one of the largest earthquakes ev…
Indian Ocean tsunami - Tamil Nadu
On 26 December 2004, an earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia sparking a tsunami which swept away entire communities around the Indian Ocean. In India, Choodamani and Karibeeran Paramesvaran’s…
Dinner for One: How an English comedy became a German tradition
Every New Year’s Eve, millions of Germans turn on their TVs to rewatch an old favourite – the comedy Dinner for One.
The black and white sketch is in English and features a British cast but is virtual…
'Kimchi war'
In the run-up to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, in the United States, a row broke out between Japan and South Korea over who would supply the athletes' village with kimchi.
The two countries also …
Chef to five presidents
Cristeta Comerford has cooked for some of the most powerful people in the world. She spent almost three decades as a chef in the White House, serving five presidents from Bill Clinton to Joe Biden.
O…
When instant noodles came to India
The arrival of instant noodles in India was a turning point in culinary history.
In 1983, before Maggi 2-Minute Noodles launched, the country’s food culture centred around chapati, lentils and rice a…
'I created MasterChef'
In 1990, a cookery programme launched on BBC TV that would become a global phenomenon.
Today, MasterChef airs in 70 countries around the world and has an estimated audience of one billion people.
Brit…
Australian republic referendum
On 6 November 1999, voters in Australia were asked if they wanted to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic.
The No campaign won with 55% of the vote.
Rachel Naylor speaks to former…
Poland's bleak Christmas
In 1981, the communist government of Poland declared martial law in an attempt to suppress rising protests and strikes.
The civil unrest had been sparked by Solidarity, a trade union which became a so…
Ceefax: the start of interactive television
In 1974, the BBC launched the world's first teletext service.
It provided information, like news and weather, through our TV screens, whenever users wanted, at the push of a button.
Rachel Naylor speak…
Surviving Andes plane crash
When a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the Andes mountains in 1972, search teams soon gave up hope.
But two months later, 16 passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 eme…
Peshawar school massacre
Ten years ago, the Taliban killed more than 140 people at Peshawar Army School on 16 December 2014.
It’s one of the worst terror attacks in Pakistan’s history. Chemistry teacher Andaleeb Aftab survive…