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Society & Culture

Witness History

by BBC World Service
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Latest episodes

  • Bonn v Berlin: how Germany chose its capital

    October 27, 2026 · 11 min

    In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and a reunited Germany had to decide which city would be its new capital. The contenders were the West German city of Bonn and the East German city of Berlin and the two fought it out in a ferocious political…

  • The Siege of Paris

    October 26, 2026 · 11 min

    During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the city of Paris was besieged by the Prussian army. The citizens of Paris experienced starvation and fuel shortages during a period of extreme cold. They resorted to eating horses, cats, dogs…

  • The Hungarian Revolution

    October 23, 2026 · 11 min

    In October 1956, students and workers took to the streets of Budapest to protest at Soviet rule in Hungary. The demonstrations turned violent and for a while, the revolutionaries were in control, before being brutally repressed. In 2010…

  • Keith Haring’s Berlin Wall mural

    October 22, 2026 · 10 min

    American artist Keith Haring became extremely successful and popular in the 1980s for his mix of graffiti and pop art-style work. In 1986, he was invited to paint a mural on the Berlin Wall by the director of the Wall Museum at Checkpoint…

  • Malta’s divorce referendum

    October 21, 2026 · 11 min

    In 2011, Maltese voters were called to the polls to decide whether Malta should remain one of the few places in the world where divorce was not permitted. The referendum divided the country. Supporters of divorce, including a group of MPs…

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  • How Ten Canoes made cinema history

    October 20, 2026 · 9 min

    In 2006, Ten Canoes made Australian cinema history. It became the first feature film performed entirely in Aboriginal languages and the first to bring a traditional Yolngu story to the screen. Shot in the remote swamplands of Arnhem Land…

  • Gerald Durrell's mission to save species from extinction

    October 19, 2026 · 11 min

    In 1959, British conservationist and author Gerald Durrell opened the gates to a zoo with one clear aim - to save endangered species from extinction. Gerald had grown up fascinated by the natural world and had spent years travelling…

  • Manchester City’s inflatable banana craze

    October 17, 2026 · 10 min

    In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Manchester City supporters became famous for an unusual sight on the terraces: inflatable bananas. What began as a light-hearted joke soon turned into one of the most memorable fan crazes in English…

  • Declaring chimpanzees an endangered species

    October 16, 2026 · 11 min

    In 1990, after years of campaigning by activists, including Dr Jane Goodall, chimpanzees were declared endangered for the first time. The apes had been classed as threatened since 1976, but their situation hadn’t improved. Dr Ron Nowak…

  • When Dian Fossey was murdered

    October 15, 2026 · 11 min

    In 1985, American gorilla expert Dian Fossey was murdered in her cabin at the research station she established in the mountains of Rwanda. Lucy Burns spoke to Kelly Stewart in 2013 who worked alongside Dian for 10 years in Volcanoes…

  • Washoe: The chimp who learnt to sign

    October 14, 2026 · 11 min

    In 1970, Washoe the chimpanzee was widely recognised as the first non-human to learn a human language. She was taught American sign language in a revolutionary experiment led by psychology professors Allen and Trixie Gardner at the…

  • Harry Harlow's monkey attachment studies

    October 13, 2026 · 10 min

    In the late 1950s, psychologist Harry Harlow conducted a series of experiments on baby rhesus monkeys which would become some of the most controversial in modern science. Using wire models as surrogate mothers, he explored how infants form…

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About the show

Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we revisit one moment that helped shape the world and hear it through the voice of someone who was there. Scientists, artists, campaigners, soldiers, leaders and everyday people tell their true stories. When you subscribe to Witness History, you’ll be taken inside turning points in world affairs, from West Africa’s fight back against Boko Haram in 2015, to the behind-closed-doors talks that led to the US-Cuba “thaw” and the surprise announcement of restored relations. You’ll discover what it was like to experience disasters and how people recovered from them, including the Tabasco floods in Mexico, Portugal's worst train disaster, and the huge clean-up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. You’ll explore culture and ideas too: Sweden’s Expedition Robinson, often credited as the first modern reality TV game show; the friendship between The Beatles’ George Harrison and Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar; and the night a tiger attack brought Las Vegas superstars Siegfried and Roy’s show to a sudden end. And if you’re curious about inventions, we’ll tell you how air fryers, BlackBerry, YouTube, Alexa, GPS, superglue, the shopping cart (shopping trolley) and bubble tea were created. If you’re new to Witness History, the appeal is simple: real voices, one strong true story, and a fresh way to understand today through events from history – all in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of tea or a walk around the block. Join millions of BBC World Service podcast listeners around the globe and enjoy the insight, context and detail Witness History will bring you.