Josephine McDermott sits in for Max Pearson presenting a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We hear from the author who stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while shopping for a briefcase in Beverly Hills. Our guest is Dr Anne-Marie Scholz, from the University of Bremen in Germany, who reflects on the impact of dramatizations of World War Two. We also hear about the start of Drum magazine, credited with giving black African writers a voice in the time of Apartheid. The de...
Jan 18, 2025•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We hear a first-hand account of the attack at the offices of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. Our expert guest is Dr Chris Millington, who leads the Histories and Cultures of Conflict research group at Manchester Metropolitan University. We also hear about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two. Plus, the Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks ...
Jan 11, 2025•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We hear two stories from the deadly 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed thousands of people in south-east Asia. Our expert guest is Ani Naqvi, a former journalist who was on holiday in Sri Lanka when the wave hit. We also hear from the two Polish students who created the voice of Alexa, the smart speaker. Plus, the story of Klaus Fuchs, the German-born physicist who passed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union while workin...
Jan 04, 2025•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews which all relate to food. First, Dinner for One, the British TV sketch that's become a German New Year’s Eve tradition. Our expert guest is Ingrid Sharp, professor of German cultural and gender history at the University of Leeds. She tells us about some other festive traditions in Northern Europe including Krampus – the horned figure said to punish children who misbehave at Christmas. We also hear about when South Korea a...
Dec 28, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Chandrika Kaul, a specialist on modern British and Imperial history at the University of St Andrews in the UK. We start by hearing from both sides of Australia's 1999 referendum on becoming a republic. Then, a survivor recounts the horrific 1972 Andes plane crash and the extraordinary things he had to do to survive. We hear how the BBC put text on our television screens f...
Dec 21, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Joan Flores-Villalobos, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Southern California, and author of The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal. First, we hear from a man involved in the handover of the canal from the United States to Panama in 1999. Then, DJ and singer Leonardo Renato Aulder explains how the canal led to the creatio...
Dec 14, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast In partnership with the BBC 100 Women list, we have a selection of stories about inspiring and influential women from around the world. Scientist Katalin Karikó, who won the Nobel Prize and helped save millions of lives in the Covid 19 pandemic, Julia Gillard, the former Australian prime minister who took a stand against misogyny in politics, and Indian artist Nalini Malani whose instillation got people thinking about the consequences of nuclear conflict. We also hear from the founder of Ms Maga...
Dec 07, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear from Magnus Carlsen, who in 2014, became the first player ever to win all three world chess titles in one year, achieving the highest official rating of any player in history. Woman grandmaster, three times British champion and chess historian, Yao Lan is our guest. She talks about the origin of chess. In the 1970s and 80s, scientists in Russia, managed to dig a hole more than 12,000 metres deep. It was called the Kola Superdeep Borehole. One of the geophysicists involved tells us about ...
Nov 30, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast During the early years of Syria’s brutal civil war, the neighbourhood of Yarmouk, close to the Syrian capital Damascus, bore the brunt of the government’s viciousness. Known as ‘the Pianist of Yarmouk,’ Aeham tells Mike Lanchin about their struggle to survive the siege, and how music helped him overcome some of those dark days. Dr Gillian Howell, senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne explains how music has been used as a form of protest and honouring lives lost during conflict. A...
Nov 23, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear about the half-clay, half-grass exhibition match between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Argentinean creative entrepreneur and tennis fan Pablo del Campo tells Uma Doraiswamy how he made the iconic court possible in May 2000. Fiona Skille, professor of Sports History at Glasgow Caledonian University, explains the history of sport exhibition matches. In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king. In Dec...
Nov 16, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear about Polish war hero Irena Sendler who saved thousands of Jewish children during the World War Two. Expert Kathryn Atwood explains why women’s stories of bravery from that time are not as prominent as men’s. Plus, the invention of ‘Baby’ – one of the first programmable computers. It was developed in England at the University of Manchester. Gill Kearsley has been looking through the archives to find out more about the 'Baby In the second half of the programme, we tell stories from Iran. ...
Nov 09, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. For nearly 40 years, Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences in Las Vegas with death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers. But in 2003, their magic show came to a dramatic end when a tiger attacked Roy live on stage. We find out what went wrong, and speak to magician and author Margaret Steele about the - sometimes dangerous - history of illusion and magic. Plus, we learn more about the so-called ‘Ken Burns effect’; t...
Nov 02, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast First, on its 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, we hear from Luke Gygax, whose father created the fantasy role-play game. We also hear from Dr Melissa Rogerson, senior lecturer and board games researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Then, the first dinosaur remains discovered in Antarctica in 1986, by Argentinian geologist Eduardo Olivero. Next, Ethiopia’s internal relief efforts during the famine in 1984, led by Dawit Giorgis. Plus, the fight to stop skin lightening in...
Oct 25, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We hear about the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan in 2014. Brian Hioe, an activist who occupied Parliament in Taipei, recalls the events. We hear from Nino Zuriashvili, one of the protesters at the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003. And Prof Kasia Boddy, author of Blooming Flowers: A Seasonal History of Plants and People explains how flowers have been used as symbols in political history. Plus, the Afghan refugee who fled as a 15 year old. Waheed Arian, a doctor and former Afghan refugee describes...
Oct 18, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We start with the world's first general purpose electronic computer, the ENIAC, built in 1946 by a team of female mathematicians including Kathleen Kay McNulty. We speak to Gini Mauchly Calcerano, daughter of Kathleen Kay McNulty, who developed ENIAC. Then we hear about the man who invented the original chatbot, called Eliza, but did not believe computers could achieve intelligence. We speak to Miriam Weizenbaum, daughter of Joseph Weizenbaum, who built Eliza chatbot. Following that, Dr Hiromich...
Oct 11, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We start our programme in 1973, when two men claiming to be Colombian guerrillas hijacked a plane making it fly across Latin American for 60 hours. Edilma Perez was a former fight attendant for SAM airline. Our expert guest is Brendan Koerner author of The Skies Belong To Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking. Then we take a look at the 2009 UN-backed war crime tribunals in Cambodia that aimed to hold the genocidal Khmer Rouge commanders to account. Rob Hamill, brother of Toul Sleng...
Oct 04, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast We start with the story of a couple who were arrested under South Africa's Immorality Act, which banned sexual relationships between white people and non-white people. Dr Zureena Desai was arrested under the Immorality Act in South Africa. Another law banned Inter-racial marriage in South Africa. In 1985, this was lifted. Suzanne La Clerc and Protas Madlala, the first inter-racial couple to get married under new rules in South Africa share their memories. Our guest is Dr Susanne Klausen, The Bri...
Sep 27, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We start our programme looking at the discovery of New Zealand’s first dinosaur by Joan Wiffen. Our expert guest is Professor Eugenia Gold, a paleontologist at Suffolk University, in Boston, United States, and the author of children’s book She Found Fossils. Then, we hear how the CT scanner was invented. Following that, we go to India in 1994 and an outbreak of the pneumonic plague. Plus, the story of how a small group of ...
Sep 21, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. We’re looking at key moments in Ethiopian history, as it’s 50 years since Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a military coup. We start our programme looking at the moment a military junta called the Derg who ousted the monarchy in September 1974. Then, we hear how, before this, the Emperor lived in exile in Bath, in the west of England. Our expert guest is Hewan Semon Marye, who is junior professor at the University ...
Sep 13, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Myra Anubi presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. We hear about the Irish law that banned married women from working in state jobs until 1973 and Apollo 13's attempted trip to the Moon in 1970. Plus the Umbrella protest in Hong Kong, the ancient Egyptian mummy who flew to France for a makeover and the Argentine basketball player and wrestler nicknamed the Giant. Contributors: Bernie Flynn - one of the first married women to keep her job after the marriage bar was abolished...
Sep 06, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes. Our guest is European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who completed the longest uninterrupted space flight of any European. First, we go to Australia in the 1990s when amateur radio enthusiast Maggie Iaquinto befriended Soviet cosmonauts on the Mir space station. She updated them on global news as the USSR crumbled back on Earth. Then, the inspiring story of Waris Dirie, who walked barefoot across the Somali...
Aug 30, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A warning, this programme includes an account of antisemitic views and descriptions of violence. Egypt recruited thousands of Nazis after World War Two to bolster its security. We hear from Frank Gelli, who in 1964 met Hitler's former propagandist, Johann von Leers, in Cairo. Author, Vyvyan Kinross is our guest and talks about Nazis in Egypt. Also, the celebrity murder case that divided France and how in 2001, Argentina went through five leaders in two weeks. Shatbhi Basu, talks about how became...
Aug 23, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 week's Witness History and Sporting Witness interviews. Our guest is Professor of Indonesian history, Kirsten Shulze from the London School of Econom...
Aug 16, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 television debate. In 1956, the Democratic and Republican candidates sent female representatives. They were Eleanor Roosevelt and Margaret Chase Smith. Our ...
Aug 09, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 van der Linden breaks down the psychology behind virality and outlines the challenges facing those who conquered the algorithm. Plus, how one man smuggl...
Aug 02, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, more about a revolutionary new method for transporting medicines that was launched in Ghana in 1974. The cold chain system helped refrigerate vaccine...
Jul 26, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 sailing hero Pavlos Kontides takes us back to the London 2012 Games. And finally the 'Godfather of Ayia Napa', DJ Nick Power, tells us how the island b...
Jul 19, 2024•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 competitive sport. Plus, the moment when the 'Queen of Salsa', banned from Cuba by Fidel Castro, was allowed to return to Cuban territory for one performanc...
Jul 13, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 in 1937, killing thousands of people, and then how after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the newly independent state was thrown into a polit...
Jul 05, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, the man behind Dignitas, the assisted dying organisation in Switzerland, and the son of a Guatemalan president who was overthrown in an American-backe...
Jun 28, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
