It’s 85 years since the start of World War Two. During the conflict, the Russian city of Leningrad came under siege in 1941. To camouflage the landmarks from enemy attack, a small group of mountaineers climbed up high with paint and canvas. Mikhail Bobrov was just 18 years old when he first got sent up the city’s spires. Mikhail was speaking to Monica Whitlock in 2017. He died in 2018. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take y...
Sep 17, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1971, the CT scanner was invented by South African physicist Allan Cormack and British engineer Sir Godfrey Hounsfield. It was a ground-breaking moment in modern medicine and they're now in almost every hospital around the world. Rachel Naylor speaks to Allan's son, Robert Cormack. 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 min...
Sep 16, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2005, the pieces of an ancient monument were flown back to Ethiopia, having been stolen by Italy. The Obelisk of Axum, built around 1,700 years ago, was 24-metres (78 feet) high and weighed around 160 tons. It was looted from Ethiopia on the orders of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. He had it re-erected in Rome outside the former Ministry of the Colonies building near Circus Maximus. Despite a pledge to the United Nations in 1947 to return all plundered goods, it took nearly 60 years for I...
Sep 13, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1980, Abebech Gobena was on a pilgrimage to Wollo in Ethiopia, when she witnessed the devastating effects of a severe famine and drought, one of the worst in the country's history. Within a year she had rescued 21 orphans and brought them to live with her in Addis Ababa. The organisation she founded has since raised thousands of Ethiopian orphans. Dan Hardoon speaks to Hannah Merkana, one of the children raised in the orphanage, who considers herself one of Abebech's daughters. Eye-witness ac...
Sep 12, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1994, a college student called Yohannes Haile Selassie unearthed a 4.4 million-year-old skeleton in Ethiopia. She was the first near-complete skeleton of a species of human ancestor called Ardipithecus ramidus. The paleoanthropologists who discovered her called her Ardi. The discovery upended how scientists view human evolution. Yohannes Haile Selassie speaks to Ben Henderson. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to ...
Sep 11, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1936, Haile Selassie came to Bath in the west of England to escape Mussolini and the fascists who had invaded Ethiopia. He bought a property – Fairfield House - and moved his entire family and staff there. He quickly became the talk of the town. The local paper ran daily updates on the Emperor’s schedule and dispelled rumours such as the Emperor’s beard "having turned white with anguish" or that he was keeping lions in the basement. Haile Selassie also made a point of indulging in local amuse...
Sep 10, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Haile Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia. His dynasty ruled for centuries, supposedly descending from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In 1974 he was overthrown in a coup by a Marxist-Leninist military junta called the Derg. Over the following months, the insurrectionists executed 60 members of Haile Selassie's government, before murdering the former Emperor in his bed in 1975. Lij Mulugeta Asseratte Kassa is a relative of Haile Selassie. He spent time with the Emperor in the days leading up t...
Sep 09, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1988, Jorge Gonzalez was a basketball star in Argentina and became the first athlete from this country drafted by an NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks. He was over 2.5m tall due to gigantism, which led to big day-to-day challenges like finding shoes his size. But it also gave him great opportunities. The Atlanta Hawks’ never put Jorge on the court because he was too heavy to play. But the owner of the team, Ted Turner, proposed an alternative for Jorge, to wrestle for World Championship Wrestling, ...
Sep 06, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On 13 April 1970, a Moon mission almost ended in tragedy, after an explosion on board the spaceship. Fred Haise was one of the Apollo 13 astronauts. In 2010, he spoke to Richard Howells about how they managed to get back to Earth against the odds. 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 ti...
Sep 05, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Until 1973, married women in Ireland were banned from working in state jobs. It was one of the longest lasting marriage bars in the world. Rachel Naylor speaks to Bernie Flynn, who postponed her wedding and became one of the first married women in the public service. 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...
Sep 04, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1976, the 3,000-year-old mummy of Ramesses II was found to have a fungal infection. The embalmed body of the Egyptian pharaoh was flown from Cairo to Paris for a once-in-a-deathtime makeover. It received a royal welcome at the airport, and was guarded throughout its restoration, which took place at the Musee de l’Homme. Anne-Marie Goden worked as a receptionist at the museum. She tells Gill Kearsley the extraordinary story of the restoration. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. W...
Sep 03, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the 26 September 2014 Nathan Law stood on a makeshift stage outside Hong Kong's central government complex and chanted ‘Democracy Now’ and ‘Freedom’ into a microphone. He was leading hundreds of protesters who had gathered to demand that China grants Hong Kong free and fair elections. As the day went on the protest continued to grow and it wasn’t long before Nathan’s face was all over the news. Then at 2am his microphone was cut off and the protest plunged into darkness as plain-clothed polic...
Sep 02, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Amateur radio enthusiast Maggie Iaquinto spent a year trying to make contact with Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station using special equipment. It took careful planning as she had to know when they were orbiting past her house in Australia and what frequency they’d be on. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Maggie relayed crucial information to cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. Maggie’s son Ben Iaquinto speaks to Megan Jones. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witnes...
Aug 30, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than 200,000 people were killed during Guatemala's 36-year civil war between the military and left-wing rebels which ended in 1996. Of these, an estimated 45,000 people were forcibly disappeared, their bodies buried in unmarked pits. Jeremias Tecu's two brothers were among the disappeared. They went missing after a family party in 1981. Jeremias tells Vicky Farncombe how his mother put herself in danger trying to find out what happened to them. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archiv...
Aug 29, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1987, an unknown 18 year-old Somalian model called Waris Dirie walked into the studio of renowned British photographer Terence Donovan. She had never had her picture taken before but after striking her first pose it was clear belonged in front of the lens. Although she says modelling was "easy-peasy” it was not an obvious career path for Waris. She was born in the Somalian desert to a nomadic family. When she was young she was forced to undergo female genital mutilation after which her family...
Aug 28, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1964, the Disney film 'Mary Poppins' was released. It was based on the character created by writer PL Travers. Travers disliked the Oscar-winning Disney production so much, that she never allowed any more Mary Poppins books to be adapted into films. In 2018, Vincent Dowd spoke to Brian Sibley and Kitty Travers about their memories of PL Travers. 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 ...
Aug 27, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1967, the small town of St. Paul, Canada declared that they were a place that welcomed everyone, even the aliens. They did this by building a giant UFO landing pad, hoping to attract intergalactic tourists. They timed it to coincide with Canada's centennial celebrations. Although most of the town saw it as a light hearted joke the driving force behind the alien parking space Margo Lagassee, was a firm believer in the outer space community. Paul Boisvert who was the part of the original crew b...
Aug 26, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1945, a fight broke out between two groups of teenage boys during a parade in the Spanish town of Buñol in Valencia. The boys ended up throwing tomatoes at each other. They decided to repeat the deed every year on the anniversary of the first fight, defying disapproving looks from older neighbours and even bans by the city council. Eight decades later, their shenanigans have led to one of Spain’s most popular and international festivals, as well as the largest tomato fight in the world: La To...
Aug 23, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2001, Argentina suffered an economic catastrophe so severe the country went through five leaders in two weeks. On the streets police engaged in battles with protestors. Eduardo Duhalde was the fifth President tasked with pulling his country back from the brink. He speaks to Ben Henderson. 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 n...
Aug 22, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1996, an Indian government minister said that the work of women serving in bars "is not suited in our Indian culture”. There were protests and restrictions on women working in bars up until 2007 when a ruling lifted restrictions and saw female bartenders in India become headline news across the world. Shatbhi Basu became known as India’s first female bartender and has been in the business since 1981. She tells Gill Kearsley her story. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness H...
Aug 22, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast After World War Two, Egypt’s government recruited thousands of Nazis and their collaborators to bolster the country’s defence and security. This was part of Egyptian President Nasser’s efforts to modernise the country and present himself as the leader of the Arab world in its conflict with Israel. Johann Von Leers was one of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi propagandists. Nasser’s government recruited him in 1956 to lead Egypt’s antisemitic propaganda machine. Frank Gelli was a member of a far-right group in...
Aug 20, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2003, the French rock star Bertrand Cantat murdered his actress girlfriend, Marie Trintignant. The attack happened in Lithuania where Marie had been shooting a film. Cantat was sentenced to eight years, but was released after just four and returned to music. Journalist Michelle Fines tells Vicky Farncombe how the case divided opinion in France with some calling it a brutal murder, others a crime of passion. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinat...
Aug 19, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two bombs ripped through the Kuta area of the Indonesian island of Bali on 12 October 2002. 202 people were killed. 28 burns victims were taken to Royal Perth Hospital, Australia, where plastic surgeon Professor Fiona Wood worked. She led a team working to save patients suffering between two and 92 percent body burns using ‘spray-on skin’. Professor Wood speaks to Megan Jones. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the...
Aug 16, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as ‘Carlos the Jackal’, carried out bombings, killings and kidnappings. Born in Venezuela, he was considered one of the most notorious political militants of the 1970s and 80s. After years on the run, he was captured in the Sudanese capital Khartoum in 1994. Former CIA operative Billy Waugh tracked him down. He spoke to Alex Last in 2014, before his death in 2023. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We...
Aug 15, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the morning of 17 August 1945, the Indonesian nationalist leader, Sukarno, read out a statement declaring independence. It was broadcast to the country on radio and it came just two days after Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. The announcement marked the culmination of years of struggle against Dutch colonial rule, which had lasted for over three centuries. Sukarno’s youngest daughter, Kartika Soekarno, speaks to Matt Pintus about the journey to independence. Eye-witness accounts ...
Aug 14, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast From 1912 until 1948, you could win medals in art at the Olympic Games, in categories such as architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture. At the London Games in 1948, Canadian composer John Weinzweig won a silver medal for his composition, Divertimento for Flute and Strings. Rachel Naylor speaks to his son, Daniel Weinzweig. 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 throu...
Aug 13, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Singer Clara Nunes is an icon of African Brazilian culture and known as the Queen of Samba. Her first samba song Ê Baiana was released in 1973. In 1974, the release of the song Conto de Areia secured her a place in history. Clara sold more records than any other Brazilian woman had before. She's considered to be one of the greatest samba singers of her generation. She died in 1983. Brazilian radio broadcaster and samba record producer Adelzon Alves worked with Clara. He tells Gill Kearsley Clara...
Aug 12, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1956, the two largest US parties agreed to participate for the first time in a televised debate ahead of the presidential elections. But instead of incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his Democratic opponent Adlai Stevenson, the audience watched two female representatives defending their candidates. Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Senator Margaret Chase Smith took the stage to represent the Democratic and Republican candidates. It was a 30-minute format in which speakers focu...
Aug 09, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast On 8 August 1974, Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. This scandal began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in 1972, which was linked to Nixon’s re-election campaign. The release of tapes from within the White House, dubbed the Nixon Tapes, revealed Nixon’s involvement in the cover-up, leading to a loss of political support and impending impeachment proceeding...
Aug 08, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1979, the Moral Majority was launched and changed the course of US politics. It was set up to promote family values by religious conservatives from Catholic, Jewish and evangelical Christian communities. It urged Protestants, in particular, to go against the tradition of separating politics and religion. It encouraged them to vote Republican. Richard Viguerie was one of the driving forces behind the movement. He spoke to Claire Bowes in 2016. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. W...
Aug 07, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
