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
Italian happiness trains
Between 1945 and 1952, ‘happiness trains’ transported 70,000 children from southern to northern Italy to live with wealthier families.
It was a scheme organised by the Union of Italian Women and the I…
The opening of the Medellin Metro
When the Medellin Metro opened in 1995, the Colombian city had recently been called the “murder capital of the world” due to the high homicide rate caused by Pablo Escobar’s drug wars.
The network h…
The funeral train for Robert Kennedy
In June 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy was killed during his campaign for the American presidency.
There was nationwide mourning with huge crowds lining the tracks for his funeral train, as it travelled…
The Czech Freedom Train
On 11 September 1951, the 9.55am train from Prague to Aš, in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany.
One hundred and eleven people were on board and 34 of them ne…
The Gratitude Train: France thanks America
In 1949, the Gratitude Train arrived in the United States, made up of 49 wagons filled with thousands of gifts from France.
The convoy was a thank-you to American families who’d sent food and supplies…
Making Jaws
It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975.
Directed by a young Steven Spielberg, who was relatively unknown at the time, i…
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles
On 28 June 1919, in the Palace of Versailles in Paris the signing of the Treaty of Versailles took place.
It was a peace agreement that marked the end of World War One.
The terms of the treaty punish…
Civil rights swim-in
On 18 June 1964, black and white protesters jumped into a ‘whites only’ swimming pool at a motel in St Augustine, in Florida.
Photos of the Monson Motor Lodge manager, James Brock, pouring cleaning ac…
Charleston church shooting
On 17 June 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a bible group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. As it was ending, the 21-year-…
'Tripperburgen' the sexual health clinics that detained women
After the Second World War, in what was then East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), tens of thousands of women and girls were forcibly detained and abused in sexual health clinics.
In…
The Schengen Agreement
On 14 June 1985, five politicians met on a boat in the town of Schengen, in Luxembourg, to sign an agreement to get rid of border checks between their countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,…
Ronald Reagan’s ‘Tear down this wall’ speech
In 1987 Uunied States President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall. In his speech he called on the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall".
The famous words were me…
Lonesome George: The celebrity tortoise
In 2012, Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species died.
George, from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, was a global symbol of conservation and brought to the attention of the …
The woman born in a prisoner of war camp
After the Sino-Indian war in 1962, around 3,000 men, women and children were incarcerated in a disused World War Two prisoner of war camp. Indians of Chinese descent were sent there having fallen pre…
World War Two’s Rome escape line
Between September 1943 and June 1944 in World War Two, the Italian capital Rome was occupied by German soldiers.
Italy had surrendered and thousands of Allied prisoners of war had escaped from internm…
Usonia: Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘utopian’ town
In 1948, the foundation was laid for a “utopian” community of houses designed by a man described as America’s greatest ever architect.
Frank Lloyd Wright had been approached by a group who wanted to c…
The discovery of the first exoplanets
On 9 January 1992, astronomers Alex Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced they had discovered the first two exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, while working at the Arecibo Observatory in P…
Favela life: The diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus
Carolina Maria de Jesus was a poor, single mother-of-three who lived in a derelict shack and spent her days scavenging for food.
Her diary, written between 1955 and 1960, brought to life the harsh rea…
The world’s largest model train set
In 2000, nightclub owners and twins Frederik and Gerrit Braun went from the neon lights of a Hamburg nightclub to building the world’s largest model trainset.
Miniatur Wunderland is now a top tourist…
Dolly Rathebe: South Africa’s first international film star
South Africa’s first feature film aimed at black audiences was released in 1949, launching Dolly Rathebe’s career.
The actress and jazz musician was discovered by chance by two British film makers an…