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Witness History

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most...

Treehouse on the Berlin Wall

9 mins; August 03, 2023

Birth of a new language

10 mins; August 02, 2023

First dinosaur eggs identified in India

10 mins; August 01, 2023

José Mujica: Prison break to president

8 mins; July 31, 2023

Mr Bigg's: The birth of Nigeria's iconic takeaway

9 mins; July 28, 2023

The 1960 coup against Haile Selassie

9 mins; July 27, 2023

The Pope’s controversial Nicaragua visit

8 mins; July 26, 2023

Brain: The first personal computer virus

10 mins; July 25, 2023

Escaping the Nazis in Greece

8 mins; July 24, 2023

The US singer who became the Soviet Union’s Red Elvis

10 mins; July 21, 2023

The birth of Barbie

10 mins; July 20, 2023

Japan surrenders in China

10 mins; July 19, 2023

The ‘Barricades’ of Latvia

10 mins; July 18, 2023

Tamoxifen: Breast cancer ‘wonder drug’

11 mins; July 17, 2023

Creating the first emoji

9 mins; July 14, 2023

When disposable nappies were invented

10 mins; July 13, 2023

Inventing Rubik’s Cube

10 mins; July 11, 2023

Invention of the ballpoint pen

9 mins; July 10, 2023

A right royal night out

9 mins; July 07, 2023

When tourism came to the Maldives

10 mins; July 06, 2023

The National Health Service begins

9 mins; July 05, 2023

Longest-serving democratically elected communist government

10 mins; July 04, 2023

The trial of John Demjanjuk

8 mins; July 03, 2023

I made Lady Gaga's meat dress

10 mins; June 30, 2023

The 'graveyard' for communist statues

10 mins; June 29, 2023

Sampoong department store disaster

9 mins; June 28, 2023

First reports of Ebola

10 mins; June 27, 2023

JFK’s Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech

10 mins; June 26, 2023

My dad played golf on the moon

9 mins; June 23, 2023

The Empire Windrush arrives

8 mins; June 22, 2023

Anti-gay police raid at Tasty nightclub

9 mins; June 21, 2023

The Somali pilot ordered to bomb his own country

12 mins; June 20, 2023

Uprising in East Germany

8 mins; June 19, 2023

Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

10 mins; June 16, 2023

Sir Don McCullin’s photo of a US marine

9 mins; June 15, 2023

Malick Sidibé: Mali’s star photographer

8 mins; June 14, 2023

A Great Day in Harlem: The story behind the iconic jazz photo

10 mins; June 13, 2023

Lee Miller in Hitler's bath

9 mins; June 12, 2023

1955 Le Mans disaster

9 mins; June 09, 2023

Last communist march before Hitler

8 mins; June 08, 2023

Facial reconstruction: From mummy to murder

9 mins; June 06, 2023

Inuit children taken from families

9 mins; June 05, 2023

The first Indian woman to conquer Everest

9 mins; June 02, 2023

Tragedy on Everest

10 mins; June 01, 2023

Mallory on Everest

10 mins; May 31, 2023

Tenzing Norgay conquers Everest

10 mins; May 30, 2023

Edmund Hillary conquers Everest

10 mins; May 29, 2023

The deadliest glacial avalanche in the world

10 mins; May 26, 2023

Trying to unite Africa

8 mins; May 25, 2023

Chasing the world’s biggest tornado

9 mins; May 24, 2023

Fikret Alić

8 mins; May 23, 2023

The sergeants' coup in Suriname

8 mins; May 22, 2023

Pippi Longstocking

9 mins; May 19, 2023

Creating New Zealand's national walking trail

8 mins; May 18, 2023

The Dambusters

10 mins; May 17, 2023

German child evacuees of World War Two

9 mins; May 16, 2023

Singapore executes Filipina maid

9 mins; May 15, 2023

World War II victory in North Africa

11 mins; May 12, 2023

Warsaw Ghetto uprising

9 mins; May 11, 2023

The last commercial flight out of Kai Tak

9 mins; May 10, 2023

The sinking of the SS Tilawa: the ‘Indian Titanic’

9 mins; May 09, 2023

United States bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade

9 mins; May 08, 2023

The removal of Scotland's Stone of Destiny

9 mins; May 05, 2023

Last King of Bulgaria

8 mins; May 04, 2023

The 'execution' of Oliver Cromwell

8 mins; May 03, 2023

Jean-Bédel Bokassa's coronation

8 mins; May 02, 2023

The king under the car park

8 mins; May 01, 2023

The fight to televise the Queen's Coronation

9 mins; April 28, 2023

The Met Gala goes global

10 mins; April 27, 2023

Guatemala's outspoken bishop

9 mins; April 26, 2023

Discovering the secrets of DNA

9 mins; April 25, 2023

Althea McNish: 'I designed fabrics for the Queen'

9 mins; April 24, 2023

The Russian man who pretended to be a dog

9 mins; April 21, 2023

Smoky the World War II dog hero

9 mins; April 20, 2023

Roselle the 9/11 guide dog

9 mins; April 19, 2023

The world's first labradoodle

9 mins; April 18, 2023

The first dog in space

9 mins; April 17, 2023

Richard Dimbleby describes Belsen

21 mins; April 14, 2023

I led the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers

8 mins; April 13, 2023

Mass grave at Sernyky

9 mins; April 12, 2023

The universal recycling symbol

8 mins; April 11, 2023

Emperor Tewodros II

9 mins; April 10, 2023

The Good Friday Agreement referendum

9 mins; April 07, 2023

Beto Perez: 'I created Zumba by accident'

9 mins; April 06, 2023

Awaji Kannon: One of the world's tallest statues

9 mins; April 05, 2023

Pan-European picnic

8 mins; April 04, 2023

Escaping national service in Eritrea

26 mins; April 03, 2023

A Brief History of Time

9 mins; March 31, 2023

The first photo sent from a phone

8 mins; March 30, 2023

Godfather of manicures

8 mins; March 29, 2023

How Bengaluru became India’s Silicon Valley

9 mins; March 28, 2023

The windmill that revolutionised wind power

9 mins; March 27, 2023

Keiko: Freeing 'Free Willy'

9 mins; March 24, 2023

The man who lived in an airport

9 mins; March 23, 2023

DDLJ: India’s longest running movie

9 mins; March 22, 2023

Alcatraz: The strangest escape

9 mins; March 21, 2023

Kieu Chinh: A real Hollywood story

8 mins; March 20, 2023

Iraq War: US security guards killed my son

10 mins; March 17, 2023

Iraq War: The capture of Saddam Hussein

10 mins; March 16, 2023

Iraq War: 'Most wanted' playing cards

10 mins; March 15, 2023

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