Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Althea McNish, the Trinidadian artist who designed fabric for Queen Elizabeth II. Former Vogue editor Suzy Menkes on the success of the fashion celebration, the Met Gala. The Guatemalan Bishop, Juan Gerardi, killed in his home, after presenting the conclusions of a major investigation into abuses committed during the country's civil war. We remember Harry Belafonte, with a look bac...
Apr 28, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the invention of the labradoodle, the first dog in space and how a Yorkshire terrier called Smoky became the world's first therapy dog. Author Mackenzi Lee talks about her book, The History of the World in Fifty Dogs. She discusses Napoleon Bonaparte's turbulent relationship with pugs and the first guide dogs in America. Plus, the guide dog who saved its owner's life during the 9/1...
Apr 21, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the unearthing of a mass grave in Sernyky, Ukraine, in 1990, and when the Boston Marathon was the target of a terror attack in 2013. This programme contains distressing details. Contributors: James Bulgin - head of public history at the Imperial War Museum in Britain. Richard Wright - archaeologist. Jonathan Dimbleby - broadcaster. Edward Deveau - Watertown Chi...
Apr 15, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the lengths one woman goes to to escape Eritrea, how Zumba was invented by accident and how a giant peace statue on a Japanese island, crumbled into a ghostly ruin. Plus the arguments then, and the arguments still over the Good Friday Peace Agreement for Northern Ireland, and a picnic for peace that breached the Iron Curtain. This programme contains descriptions of sexual violence....
Apr 08, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Vietnam's manicure godfather, how Bengaluru became India's Silicon Valley and how the first ever photograph from a mobile phone was sent. Plus, the popularity of theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, and the windmill that revolutionised wind power. Contributors: Tuong Vu - Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon. Kien Nguyen ...
Apr 01, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories about the history of film and cinema from around the world, including the longest running film in Indian cinema, the man who lived in an airport for 18 years and the ambitious release of the orca from the movie, Free Willy. Plus, the real life escape from Alcatraz and the incredible story of Vietnamese movie star, Kieu Chinh. Contributors: Dr Ranita Chatterjee - Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Exeter. Kajol - India...
Mar 25, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A compilation of stories marking the 20th anniversary of the American led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Caroline Hawley, who was the Baghdad correspondent for the BBC at the time, speaks to Max Pearson about reporting on Iraq. Contributors: Lubna Naji - schoolgirl in Baghdad when the war broke out. Yasir Dhannoon - became a refugee when he fled Iraq. General Vincent Brooks - first revealed the playing cards to help US troops identify the most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government. Muwa...
Mar 18, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories celebrating women who made history including a ground-breaking, African American science fiction writer and the first presidential hopeful in Mexico. Plus the UN's first ever all-female peacekeeping unit, a woman who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland and a child goddess in Nepal. Contributors: Dr Brenda Stevenson - Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women’s History at St John’s College, Oxford University. Nisi Shawl - friend of Octavia Butler. Rosa...
Mar 11, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Uta Rautenberg from the University of Warwick in the UK, an expert on homophobia in Nazi camps. Rudolf Brazda recounts his experience of being a gay man in a Nazi concentration camp, symbolised by the pink triangle he was forced to wear on his uniform. Then, we hear first-hand accounts of the Indigenous American protest at Wounded Knee 50 years ago, and the assassination of Serbi...
Mar 04, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Philippe Sands, Professor of the Public Understanding of Law at University College London, who tells us about the history of ethnic tensions in Mauritius. The programme begins with Kaya a Mauritian musician whose death sparked three days of rioting. Then, we hear from John Huckstep who was interned by the Japanese when living in China during World War Two. In the second half of the ...
Feb 28, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Ilaria Favretto, Affiliate Professor at Kingston University in London, who tells us about the history of workers' protests across Europe. The programme begins with a former union leader describing Italy's 'Hot Autumn' of 1969 when protests erupted. Then, we hear the archaeologist Howard Carter's remarkable account of opening the burial chamber of Tutankhamun, the Egyptian Pharaoh, 1...
Feb 18, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast It has been 10 years since Pope Benedict XVI announced his shock resignation. It was the first time in almost 600 years that a pope had stepped down. In this programme, we hear stories about the history of the papacy, including how a pope is chosen, the inception of Vatican II and what happens when a pope dies. Contributors: Giovanna Chirri - former Ansa journalist Catherine Pepinster - former editor of Catholic newspaper, The Tablet Cormac Murphy-O'Connor - Cardinal John Strynkowski - Monsignor...
Feb 11, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast The launch of the first black music station in Europe - the Dread Broadcasting Corporation in London in 1981 - and why Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Plus the assassination of Burundian President Melchior Ndadaye, the Columbia space shuttle disaster and the bombing of the Palestine Post. Contributors: Michael Williams - former DBC station manager Carmella Jervier - DJ Dr Caroline Mitchell - Professor of Radio at the University of Sunderland Jean-Marie Ngendaha...
Feb 04, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Chiara Sangiorgio, Death Penalty Adviser at Amnesty International, who tells us about the history of the death penalty and its effectiveness. The programme begins with two perspectives on capital punishment: Yoshikuni Noguchi recounts his time as a prison guard on death row in Japan in the 1970s; then we hear archive recordings of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's most famous hangman. P...
Jan 28, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. These include memories of the horsemeat scandal of 2013 from the man who uncovered what was happening. We'll hear analysis of other historical food scandals from expert Professor Saskia van Ruth. Plus the last passenger off the plane, which landed on the Hudson river in 2009, shares his story. Also on the programme: secret schools for Kosovar Albanians, nuclear testing in Algeria and teenager...
Jan 21, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. You'll hear the story of how a marine biologist made a shocking discovery finding small bits of plastics floating thousands of miles of the east coast of America. Then, marine biologist Christine Figgener talks about the history of oceans. Also, the world's first transatlantic concert, a dispute over sea cucumbers in the Galapagos Islands, the world's first tidal power station and the first w...
Jan 14, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. You'll hear the story of how a protest led by the punk band Pussy Riot in one of Moscow's main cathedrals led to a trial which made the news inside Russia and around the world. Then, historian Robert Service talks about other examples of rebellion, from the time of the Russian empire through to modern day. Also, the man Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet wanted dead, the most bizarre football ...
Jan 07, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stories about the history of food, including the creation of ciabatta bread by a rally driver in Italy in 1982 and the Maltese bakers' strike in 1977. Also, the invention of instant noodles in Japan, the start of the Slow Food Movement in Rome and the creation of Chicken Manchurian in India. (Photo: Different shaped artisan bread loaves. Credit: Getty Images) Contributors: Marco Vianello - baker and friend of the creator of ciabatta, Arnaldo Cavallari Noel Buttigieg - food historian Dr Sue Baile...
Dec 31, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. Sir Trevor McDonald reflects on the BBC's first black producer, Una Marson, and her legacy in the development of the BBC Caribbean Service. Also, how the BBC managed to broadcast through the Iron Curtain, Colombia's false positives scandal and the incredible rescue of 33 miners trapped in Chile. (Photo: Sir Trevor McDonald. Credit: BBC) Contributors: Sir Trevor McDonald, Una Marson, Debbie Ra...
Dec 24, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast The forced removal of families who weren't white from District Six, in Cape Town, by the South African apartheid regime and the man who jumped from space back to earth. Also, stories about a Soviet fashionista, the Nazi occupation of Jersey and the Mongolia Revolution. (Photo: District Six, circa 1969, in Cape Town. Credit: Getty Images) Contributors: Zahra Nordien - who was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977 Chrischené Julius - the manager of Collections, Research and Documentation...
Dec 17, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. We go to Quebec in 1995 when voters went to the polls to decide whether the province should declare independence from Canada. Tim Marshall, the author of The Power of Geography and presenter of the World Service podcast, The Compass, explores other referendums which have taken place in recent history. Plus the creation of children's TV series Teletubbies in 1994. It became a global hit. (Phot...
Dec 10, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service. We hear from a man who was aged six when he was among the Japanese families expelled from his island home, as it was taken over by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Our guest is Professor Haruko Satoh from Osaka University who analyses recent Japan-Russian relations and the impact of the invasion of Ukraine. Twenty years after the Mombasa hotel bombing, a survivor recounts her expe...
Dec 03, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Malaysia's Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, recounts being put on trial for sodomy and corruption. Our guest is the BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, who tells us about Malaysian political history. Iran's first women's minister describes the challenges she had to overcome. We hear how the seat belt and cat's eyes were invented. And a Swedish man remembers the chaos when his count...
Nov 26, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes, which focus on the Arabian Peninsula to mark the start of the football World Cup in Qatar. Our guest is Dr Wafa Alsayed, Lecturer in Political Science and History at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. We hear about how the states across the peninsula won independence, and speak to the architect of the region's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. There's also the invention of the...
Nov 19, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of Witness History episodes, presented by Max Pearson. We look at how racism led to raids in the 1970s and protests in the 1980s in New Zealand, and the assassination of Pim Fortyn. In New Zealand in the 1970s, dawn raids targeted Polynesian migrants who had overstayed their work permits. In response, the community formed a resistance group, the Polynesian Panthers, in June 1971. Professor Niki Alsford of Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in England, descr...
Nov 12, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of Witness History episodes, looking at how young men in Africa have been exploited through football and and sex-selective abortion in India. Presented by Max Pearson. For millions of gamers all over the world Tonton Zola Moukoko is a cult hero. The Swedish-Congolese footballer found fame as a brilliant player in the computer game series Championship Manager. But in the real world, things were very different. African football expert and journalist Oluwashina Okeleji reports on the h...
Nov 05, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of Witness History episodes, this week focusing on global events where women have taken a stand for equality from Sudan to Iran and Australia. In Iran in 1979, Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the issues women objected to during the Iranian revolution. The BBC's Rana Rahimpour discusses the protests currently taking place in Iran triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini with echoes of what happened in 1979. We also head to Sudan in 1991 when a law was introduced t...
Oct 29, 2022•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of the latest Witness History programmes which are all about Cuba. Presented by Max Pearson, who speaks to boxing journalist Steve Bunce about the nation's great boxers. Earlier this year, Cuba lifted the ban on professional boxing, which Fidel Castro imposed in 1962. Rachel Naylor speaks to Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez, who escaped in 2007 after being rewarded with a fizzy drink and two snapper fish after winning a world amateur title for his country. His defection needed the assistance ...
Oct 22, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of the latest Witness History programmes, presented by Max Pearson. We look at moments from around the world when workers took industrial action in pursuit of better conditions from geisha in Japan to tortured wig factory workers in South Korea. This programme contains descriptions of torture. Disney cartoonists went on strike for nine weeks in 1941. They were led by Art Babbitt, Disney’s top animator who created Goofy. The picket line was remarkable for its colourful artwork and su...
Oct 15, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A collection of this week's Witness History programmes, presented by Max Pearson. The guest is Dr Emily Zobel Marshall. She explains the rise of festivals around the world celebrating Caribbean culture. In 1962, Nigerian man Phil Magbotiwan opened a brand new nightclub in Manchester, UK. In part because of his own personal experiences of racism, Phil wanted to create somewhere where everyone would be welcome – Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub. The Reno was born. Phil’s youngest da...
Oct 08, 2022•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
