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 rise and fall of BlackBerry
In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.
Sam Gruet speaks to former co-CEO Jim Balsillie about Bl…
The book that changed Norway’s view of immigrants
In 2010, a book came out in Norway that transformed the way people looked at paperless immigrants. The author, a 25-year-old Russian woman, fled North Ossetia as a child with her parents. They were n…
One man’s escape from McCarthyism
In 1951, at the height of the McCarthy era, a time when the US government pursued suspected communists, Victor Grossman was drafted into the army. A committed communist since his teens, he hid his po…
Spot the Dog
In 1978, British artist Eric Hill designed an interactive book about a yellow puppy for his two-year-old son, Chris.
Eric had noticed Chris kept lifting up the paper he was working on to see what was …
Pramoedya Ananta Toer: The banned author of Indonesia
In 1969, Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer was imprisoned without trial in the notorious labour camp on Buru Island. He spent 10 years there.
He is best known for his novels about the rise of In…
Jakarta’s ban on dancing monkeys
In 2013, Jakarta's governor moved to outlaw the use of dancing monkeys on the city’s streets.
The Indonesian tradition saw macaques made to perform for passers-by - often restrained by chains and dres…
Discovery of the 'Hobbit'
In 2003, archaeologists on the island of Flores, in Indonesia, discovered the skeleton of a new species of human - Homo floresiensis.
It was nicknamed the 'Hobbit', because they were just over a metre…
Borobudur Temple
In 1983, Borobudur Temple in Indonesia reopened.
The worlds’ largest Buddhist monument is in the shadows of an active volcano and was once lost to the jungle.
In 1973, major restoration work started …
The Santa Cruz Massacre
On 12 November 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on independence activists in East Timor's capital, Dili.
During a protest march to the Santa Cruz cemetery after a memorial service for an independen…
1965 Singaporean independence
On 9 August 1965 Singapore announced it had left the Federation of Malaysia and become an independent sovereign state. Explaining the separation at a news conference, the prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew…
Brazil’s biggest bank heist
In August, 2005, a gang of robbers tunnelled their way into a Brazilian bank vault in a heist straight out of the movies.
Three months before, the thieves had set up a landscaping business, Grama Sint…
The Assam-Tibet earthquake
On 15 August 1950, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake shook the Himalaya mountains – wiping out whole villages in Tibet and north-east India.
The death toll was estimated to be about 4,800.
The late British b…
When Stalin silenced Shostakovich
Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But in 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a performance of Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
The Sov…
Nagasaki bomb
On 9 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing at least 74,000 people.
It led to the end of World War Two in Asia, with Japan surrendering to the Allies six da…
Trailer. 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
The epic space story of a sci-fi dream that changed spaceflight forever. Told by the Nasa astronauts and team who made it happen. Our multi-award-winning podcast is back, hosted by space scientist M…
Japan's record-breaking rollercoaster
On 1 August 2000, a new rollercoaster opened to the public at a theme park in Japan.
Named Steel Dragon 2000, it's located at the Nagashima Spa Land amusement park in Kuwana.
When it first opened, it b…
Chuquicamata: Chile's abandoned mining town
By 2007, the 25,000 residents of a Chilean mining town had moved out of their homes due to concerns about pollution levels from one of the largest copper mines in the world.
Today, the ghost town of C…
Cleveland Balloonfest '86
In 1986, a world record attempt was launched by the city of Cleveland, in the US.
One and a half million balloons were blown up by volunteers ready to be released into the sky, with thousands of peop…
Eta’s assassination of Juan Mari Jáuregui
On 29 July 2000, retired Spanish politician Juan Mari Jáuregui was assassinated by Basque separatists Eta. Deemed a terrorist organisation by the European Union, Eta killed more than 800 people betwe…
The Russian revolutionaries nearly stranded in London
In 1907, the men who would go on to lead the Russian Revolution met in London for a crucial congress.
But the revolutionaries – including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Leon Trotsky – were nearly …