Witness
Witness - history as told by the people who were there. Five days a week we will be talking to people who lived through moments of history to bring you a personal perspective on world events.
- Updated:
Daily -
Episodes available:
Indefinitely
All episodes (106)
La Penca bombing
Tue, 29 May 12
Duration:
9 minsIn May 1984 an attempt was made to assassinate a rebel leader in Nicaragua.
The Dionne Quintuplets
Mon, 28 May 12
Duration:
9 minsHow five baby girls became global superstars in the 1930s.
Dutch School Siege
Fri, 25 May 12
Duration:
9 minsThe ordeal of a nine-year-old child hostage
The Hacienda nightclub
Thu, 24 May 12
Duration:
10 minsIt's 30 years since the legendary Hacienda nightclub opened in Manchester.
The murder of Giovanni Falcone
Wed, 23 May 12
Duration:
9 mins20 years ago the Italian anti-mafia judge was assassinated in Palermo.
Monkeys in Space
Tue, 22 May 12
Duration:
10 minsMonkeys were the first American astronauts
Thirty five years of Star Wars
Mon, 21 May 12
Duration:
9 minsC3PO tells the story of the first blockbuster film.
Mount St Helens erupts
Fri, 18 May 12
Duration:
10 minsOn May 18th 1980 the huge volcano blew, hear from someone who saw it happen close up.
South Asia nuclear standoff
Thu, 17 May 12
Duration:
10 minsIn May 1998 the world watched as a nuclear arms race began in South Asia.
The death of Anne Boleyn
Wed, 16 May 12
Duration:
10 minsThe second wife of Henry VIII was executed in May 1536.
The Anschluss
Tue, 15 May 12
Duration:
9 minsA Vienna resident remembers the day that Hitler marched into Austria.
The Seven Up TV series
Mon, 14 May 12
Duration:
10 minsAlmost 50 years ago a TV programme began filming a group of 7-year olds - they are still filming them today.
The assassination of a Prime Minster
Fri, 11 May 12
Duration:
10 mins200 years ago the British PM Spencer Perceval was shot dead in London.
Paris 1968
Thu, 10 May 12
Duration:
9 minsHow student protests and workers' strikes threatened to bring down the government of France.
Rudolph Hess on the couch
Wed, 9 May 12
Duration:
10 minsHow a British psychiatrist was sent to examine Rudolph Hess in 1941, shortly after the deputy fuhrer flew from Nazi Germany to Scotland.
Attack on Fela Kuti
Tue, 8 May 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 1977 the Nigerian musician's compound in Lagos was attacked by soldiers.
The trial of Charles Manson
Mon, 7 May 12
Duration:
9 minsHe remains one of the most notorious mass killers in the USA.
Britain's General Strike
Fri, 4 May 12
Duration:
9 minsIn 1926 workers all over Britain went on strike in support of coal miners.
Britain's only gay footballer commits suicide
Thu, 3 May 12
Duration:
9 minsThe niece of Justin Fashanu, the only British gay professional footballer, speaks about the death of her favourite uncle in May 1998.
Rodney King and the LA riots
Wed, 2 May 12
Duration:
10 minsRodney King talks about the riots that followed his brutal beating by police.
The capture of Alija Izetbegovic
Tue, 1 May 12
Duration:
9 minsIn May 1992 the Bosnian President was seized by Serb soldiers at Sarajevo airport.
The right to die
Mon, 30 Apr 12
Duration:
9 mins10 years ago a paralysed woman known as Miss B was allowed to die after a controversial court case.
Mass Trespass
Fri, 27 Apr 12
Duration:
9 mins80 years ago hundreds of young hillwalkers held a demonstration on top of a mountain called Kinder Scout in the North of England.
Studio 54
Thu, 26 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is exactly 35 years since one of the coolest nightclubs ever, opened in New York.
Gallipoli
Wed, 25 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsOne New Zealand soldier remembers how he survived the Battle of Gallipoli during World War One.
75 years since the bombing of Guernica
Tue, 24 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsIn the aftermath of the attacks, thousands of Basque children were sent to Britain to escape the Spanish Civil War. (this programme is a repeat)
The trial of Oscar Wilde
Mon, 23 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsHow a court case about homosexual love ruined the 19th century British playwright.
Rivers of Blood
Fri, 20 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsHow a speech by the conservative politician, Enoch Powell, put race at the heart of British political debate in 1968
The birth of The Simpsons
Thu, 19 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsCartoonist Matt Groening remembers how he created The Simpsons 25 years ago.
Auschwitz Train Escape
Wed, 18 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsHow the Belgian resistance helped a group of Jews escape from a train bound for Auschwitz in 1943.
Japanese embassy hostage crisis
Tue, 17 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 1997 left-wing rebels held diplomats hostage for more than 4 months in Lima.
Dissidents Declared Mad
Mon, 16 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsHow political opponents of the Soviet Union were routinely accused of madness and locked up in mental institutions.
The sinking of the Titanic
Fri, 13 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsHear some of the survivors of the disaster - from the BBC archive.
The Washington Post scandal
Thu, 12 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIn 1981 it was revealed that a young journalist had faked a Pulitzer Prize-winning story.
The death of Primo Levi
Wed, 11 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsThe Italian-Jewish writer who survived Auschwitz.
Castro in the USA
Tue, 10 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsIn April 1959, Fidel Castro visited the USA to try to win over critics of the Cuban revolution.
Eichmann on Trial
Mon, 9 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIn April 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal, went on trial in Israel. The hearings helped reveal the full details of the Holocaust.
Good Friday Agreement
Fri, 6 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIt's 14 years since the warring parties in Northern Ireland signed the historic Good Friday peace agreement.
Sarajevo peace protest
Thu, 5 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIn April 1992, thousands of Bosnians took part in a last attempt to stop their capital being sucked into war.
Active Birth movement
Wed, 4 Apr 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 1982, British mothers took to the streets to demand the right to give birth naturally.
The Falklands War - Part Two
Tue, 3 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIn the second Falklands programme, an Argentine soldier gives his account of fighting for the islands in the 1982 war.
The Falklands War
Mon, 2 Apr 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 30 years since Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands.
Lost Boys of Sudan
Fri, 30 Mar 12
Duration:
10 minsHow an American asylum programme helped thousands of stranded children escape from the Sudanese civil war.
Scott of the Antarctic
Thu, 29 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 100 years since the British explorer died returning from the South Pole.
Manolo Blahnik
Wed, 28 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsHow a young designer became a legend in shoes.
An apartheid era bombing
Tue, 27 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsEven as the apartheid system in South Africa was falling away - its enemies were still being targetted.
Pope John Paul II visits Cuba
Mon, 26 Mar 12
Duration:
10 minsIt is 14 years since the last Papal visit to the communist island
The US Peace Corps
Fri, 23 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsThe organisation that sent young American volunteers to work overseas.
How a Little America was built in Afghanistan
Thu, 22 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIn the 1950s the US sent engineers and their families to live in Helmand.
Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway
Wed, 21 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIn March 1995 an obscure Japanese cult released nerve gas in Tokyo.
The bombardment of Baghdad
Tue, 20 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsOn March 20 2003, the US and its allies began their attack on Iraq.
The Torrey Canyon disaster
Mon, 19 Mar 12
Duration:
9 mins45 years ago it was the biggest oil spill the world had ever seen.
The My Lai Massacre
Fri, 16 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIn March 1968 US soldiers went on a killing spree in a village in Vietnam.
Farzad Bazoft
Thu, 15 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsThe British journalist was accused of spying and executed in Iraq in 1990.
The Romans in Britain
Wed, 14 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsThe play which caused a scandal over sex and nudity at the National Theatre.
Myra Hess and the lunchtime concerts
Tue, 13 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsThroughout World War II, the pianist organised concerts to raise morale in London.
The Theremin
Mon, 12 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIn 1929 a young Russian inventor took one of the first electronic musical instruments to the USA.
Stalin's daughter
Fri, 9 Mar 12
Duration:
10 minsOn March 9 1967, Svetlana, daughter of the Soviet dictator Stalin, defected to the West.
Discovery of Penicillin
Thu, 8 Mar 12
Duration:
10 minsHow scientists turned mould into the world's first anti-biotic medicine
The Warhol films
Wed, 7 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIn the 1960s the pop artist turned his attention to film making.
The Zeebrugge disaster
Tue, 6 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsOn March 6 1987, a car ferry capsized in the English Channel killing 193 people.
Witness:
Mon, 5 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsGeeks in a garage gave birth to the computer revolution
First flight of Concorde
Fri, 2 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsOn March 2 1969 the supersonic airliner took to the skies for the first time.
Gujarat riots
Thu, 1 Mar 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 10 years since communal violence broke out in the Indian state.
The killing of Georgi Markov
Wed, 29 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsThe Bulgarian dissident was on his way to work at Bush House when he was stabbed with a poisoned umbrella.
The death of Olof Palme
Tue, 28 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsOn February 28 1986 the Swedish Prime Minster was shot in the street.
Mary Quant and the mini skirt
Mon, 27 Feb 12
Duration:
10 minsHow a young British designer led the fashion revolution of the 1960s.
From the silent screen to talkies
Fri, 24 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsHow Hollywood made the transition to films with words and music.
The Damascus Spring
Thu, 23 Feb 12
Duration:
10 mins12 years ago Syria experienced a brief burst of political openness.
Moose Murders
Wed, 22 Feb 12
Duration:
10 minsNearly 30 years ago the most comprehensive flop ever opened and closed - on the same day - on Broadway.
When Nixon met Mao
Tue, 21 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 40 years since the US President met the Chinese leader.
Sucked out of a Plane
Mon, 20 Feb 12
Duration:
10 minsIn February 1989 nine people were sucked out of a plane over the Pacific Ocean.
Japanese internment in the USA
Fri, 17 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIt's 70 years since the United States began to intern almost anyone of Japanese origin in the United States.
Bombing of Darwin
Thu, 16 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIn February 1942 the Japanese air force started bombing the Australian port town.
Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
Wed, 15 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIn February 1989 the last Soviet troops rolled out of Afghanistan.
Sister Dorothy Stang
Tue, 14 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsThe life and death of Dorothy Stang, the American-born nun whose work with the poor of the Amazon made her a target for gunmen.
Stolen Generation
Mon, 13 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsDebra Hocking was taken from her aboriginal family in Australia as a baby.
Deep Blue and Kasparov
Fri, 10 Feb 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 1996 a computer beat the chess world champion.
Breast Implants
Thu, 9 Feb 12
Duration:
10 minsIts 50 years since silicone breast implants were used in cosmetic surgery. Claire Bowes has been speaking to the American woman who was the first to have the operation
Charonne metro deaths
Wed, 8 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 50 years since 9 peace protestors were crushed to death in Paris.
Mexico drug murder
Tue, 7 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsOn February 7 1985 a US drug enforcement agent was kidnapped in Guadalajara.
Death of King George VI
Mon, 6 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsHow Britain mourned the death of King George VI in February 1952.
Umm Kulthum
Fri, 3 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsThe great Egyptian singer died in February 1975.
Hama Massacre
Thu, 2 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIt's 30 years since thousands of Syrians were killed as government troops put down an uprising in the city of Hama.
Diane Blood
Wed, 1 Feb 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 15 years since a British woman won the right to use her dead husband's sperm to have a baby.
Charles Dickens in America
Tue, 31 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIn February 1842 the great English novelist toured America for the first time.
Bloody Sunday
Mon, 30 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 40 years since 13 civil rights marchers were killed by British soldiers in Northern Ireland.
The Challenger disaster
Thu, 26 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIn January 1986 a space shuttle launch went tragically wrong.
The rise of Hitler
Wed, 25 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIn January 1933 Communists rallied against Hitler for the last time.
Japanese soldier
Tue, 24 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsHe remained in hiding for 27 years after the end of World War II.
Jackson Pollock
Mon, 23 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIt is 100 years since the great American abstract painter was born.
Final Solution
Fri, 20 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIts 70 years since Nazis met at Wannsee and agreed a plan to annihilate Europe's Jews.
Roe v Wade
Thu, 19 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIn 1973 a landmark case legalised abortion across the USA.
Warsaw ghetto
Wed, 18 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsOn January 18 1943 German soldiers began a final drive to rid Warsaw of Jews.
Brinks Robbery
Tue, 17 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 1950 eleven men carried out the biggest ever cash robbery in the US so far, and they almost got away with it.
Vietnam draft dodgers
Mon, 16 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIn January 1977 President Carter pardoned people who had avoided fighting in Vietnam
Johnny Cash plays Folsom prison
Fri, 13 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsHow playing a high-security jail in 1968 transformed the career of country legend, Johnny Cash.
Perez de Cuellar goes to Baghdad
Thu, 12 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsIn January 1991 there was a last minute attempt to stop the first Gulf War.
J'Accuse!
Wed, 11 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsHow an article by the novelist, Emile Zola, turned the case of the Jewish army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, into a defining issue for France.
The death of Emperor Hirohito
Tue, 10 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsHow Japan reacted to the death in 1989 of their Emperor, a leader once regarded as divine.
Crossing the Rubicon
Mon, 9 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIn 49 BC Julius Caesar made a decision which would change history.
Charter 77
Fri, 6 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIn January 1977 an opposition movement was born in Czechoslovakia
Project Stormfury
Thu, 5 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsHow the USA tried to control hurricanes using science.
The Hollywood blacklist
Wed, 4 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsOver 60 years ago a list of radicals in Hollywood was published - it ruined careers.
The capture of the USS Pueblo
Tue, 3 Jan 12
Duration:
10 minsIn January 1968 an American spy ship was captured by North Korean forces
Birth of the Euro
Mon, 2 Jan 12
Duration:
9 minsHow millions of Europeans celebrated the birth of a new currency on New Year's Day 2002.
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Play episodes
- La Penca bombing
- The Dionne Quintuplets
- Dutch School Siege
- The Hacienda nightclub
- The murder of Giovanni Falcone
- Monkeys in Space
- Thirty five years of Star Wars
- Mount St Helens erupts
- South Asia nuclear standoff
- The death of Anne Boleyn
- The Anschluss
- The Seven Up TV series
- The assassination of a Prime Minster
- Paris 1968
- Rudolph Hess on the couch
- Attack on Fela Kuti
- The trial of Charles Manson
- Britain's General Strike
- Britain's only gay footballer commits suicide
- Rodney King and the LA riots
- The capture of Alija Izetbegovic
- The right to die
- Mass Trespass
- Studio 54
- Gallipoli
- 75 years since the bombing of Guernica
- The trial of Oscar Wilde
- Rivers of Blood
- The birth of The Simpsons
- Auschwitz Train Escape
- Japanese embassy hostage crisis
- Dissidents Declared Mad
- The sinking of the Titanic
- The Washington Post scandal
- The death of Primo Levi
- Castro in the USA
- Eichmann on Trial
- Good Friday Agreement
- Sarajevo peace protest
- Active Birth movement
- The Falklands War - Part Two
- The Falklands War
- Lost Boys of Sudan
- Scott of the Antarctic
- Manolo Blahnik
- An apartheid era bombing
- Pope John Paul II visits Cuba
- The US Peace Corps
- How a Little America was built in Afghanistan
- Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway
- The bombardment of Baghdad
- The Torrey Canyon disaster
- The My Lai Massacre
- Farzad Bazoft
- The Romans in Britain
- Myra Hess and the lunchtime concerts
- The Theremin
- Stalin's daughter
- Discovery of Penicillin
- The Warhol films
- The Zeebrugge disaster
- Witness:
- First flight of Concorde
- Gujarat riots
- The killing of Georgi Markov
- The death of Olof Palme
- Mary Quant and the mini skirt
- From the silent screen to talkies
- The Damascus Spring
- Moose Murders
- When Nixon met Mao
- Sucked out of a Plane
- Japanese internment in the USA
- Bombing of Darwin
- Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
- Sister Dorothy Stang
- Stolen Generation
- Deep Blue and Kasparov
- Breast Implants
- Charonne metro deaths
- Mexico drug murder
- Death of King George VI
- Umm Kulthum
- Hama Massacre
- Diane Blood
- Charles Dickens in America
- Bloody Sunday
- The Challenger disaster
- The rise of Hitler
- Japanese soldier
- Jackson Pollock
- Final Solution
- Roe v Wade
- Warsaw ghetto
- Brinks Robbery
- Vietnam draft dodgers
- Johnny Cash plays Folsom prison
- Perez de Cuellar goes to Baghdad
- J'Accuse!
- The death of Emperor Hirohito
- Crossing the Rubicon
- Charter 77
- Project Stormfury
- The Hollywood blacklist
- The capture of the USS Pueblo
- Birth of the Euro
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