History as told by the people who were there. Witness talks to people who lived through moments of history to bring you a personal perspective on world events.
Episodes available:
Indefinitely 
Fri, 24 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
A top United Nations official recalls Israel's hasty withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
Thu, 23 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
In May 1963, African leaders held a historic summit in Addis Ababa. At stake was the dream of a united Africa.
Wed, 22 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
40 years ago an investigation began which led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
Tue, 21 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
35 years ago the Italian Prime Minister was found dead in Rome.
Mon, 20 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
In May 1980 the British government published a booklet about how to survive nuclear war.
Fri, 17 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
A crewman recalls the famous 1943 British attack on Hitler's dams.
Thu, 16 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
It is 21 years since screen star Marlene Dietrich died in Paris at the age of 90.
Wed, 15 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
The story of a journalist who was caught up in an attempt to overthrow Ethiopia’s hardline ruler, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1989
Tue, 14 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
How students in Poland tried to force changes on the communist authorities, but were met with arrests and repression.
Mon, 13 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
As a new film of the great American novel premieres this week, we hear about its author, F Scott Fitzgerald.
Fri, 10 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
The story of a sailor, Jack Humble, whose ship was torpedoed while escorting a convoy to Russia in WW2.
Thu, 9 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 60 years since Stanley Matthews secured his place as a legend in British football.
Wed, 8 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
How the New York Times revealed the secret and illegal bombing of Cambodia by American war planes during the Viet Nam war.
Mon, 6 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1981 the British government was faced with Irish republican prisoners starving themselves to death.
Fri, 3 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1992, a retired postal worker from New York and his wife donated a priceless art collection to the US National Gallery of Art.
Fri, 3 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
On May 7th 1963 the great Italian opera singer first appeared on a UK stage - in Northern Ireland.
Thu, 2 May 13
Duration:
10 mins
How thousands of black American schoolchildren took to the streets to protest against racial segregation.
Wed, 1 May 13
Duration:
9 mins
In May 1967 campaigning began across Australia to consolidate Aboriginal rights in the country.
Tue, 30 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
Hear from one of Hitler's former secretaries who was in the bunker during the dictator's last hours.
Mon, 29 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1968 German students were calling for a revolution when their leader Rudi Dutschke was shot.
Fri, 26 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
How a world famous ballet dancer became embroiled in a plot to overthrow the government of Panama.
Thu, 25 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
How the American boxing champion's refusal to serve in Vietnam made him a hero to 1960s radicals.
Wed, 24 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
30 years ago a German magazine and an English newspaper believed they had found the dictator's private diaries.
Tue, 23 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
The acclaimed musician who became a symbol of resistance to Spanish dictator, General Franco.
Mon, 22 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
In April 1966, Ethiopia's ruler made a spectacular arrival in Jamaica, the birthplace of the Rastafarian movement which revered him.
Fri, 19 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
Hear from one of the very few survivors of the WW2 Jewish uprising.
Thu, 18 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
Hear one boy's story of living through Year Zero.
Wed, 17 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1965, Great Britain came to a standstill for the state funeral of its wartime prime minister.
Tue, 16 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 70 years since a Swiss scientist discovered the controversial hallucinogenic drug-LSD.
Mon, 15 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
The story of a young British pilot who fought in the First World War.
Thu, 11 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
How Lee Elder broke the colour barrier at one of the world's top golf tournaments in 1975.
Wed, 10 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
How severely burnt Second World War airmen learnt to overcome their terrible injuries.
Tue, 9 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
This programme contains disturbing scenes. Tens of millions of people died of starvation during the late 50s and early 60s in China.
Mon, 8 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
This programme contains graphic descriptions of violence which are very disturbing. In the early 1980s, thousands of Zimbabweans were killed by government security forces in a campaign againsst dissidents.
Fri, 5 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
The day after Martin Luther King was killed, the famous soul singer held a concert in Boston.
Thu, 4 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
One of the few reporters to meet the famously reclusive American billionaire remembers their 20-year relationship.
Wed, 3 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
In the spring of 1975 the USA began to airlift people out of Vietnam including hundreds of orphans.
Tue, 2 Apr 13
Duration:
10 mins
The tragic story of the real-life family that inspired the writing of Peter Pan.
Mon, 1 Apr 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is over 175 years since Caroline Norton fought to change the law on mother's rights in Britain.
Fri, 29 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
How El Salvador's outspoken Roman Catholic Archbishop was shot dead while saying mass.
Thu, 28 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
In 1973, American prisoners of war first told how they had been tortured by the Vietcong.
Wed, 27 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is almost 40 years since a vast army of life-size statues of soldiers was found buried in China.
Tue, 26 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
The Romanian dictator ran one of the most feared secret police forces in communist Eastern Europe.
Mon, 25 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
Fifty years ago, a sex scandal threatened to engulf the British government.
Fri, 22 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
An Iraqi official remembers formally identifying Saddam Hussein after his capture by American forces in December 2003. This programme was first broadcast in 2010.
Thu, 21 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
How one young Iraqi, who took a job with the US military, was threatened with death as a traitor.
Wed, 20 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
When US troops first rolled into Baghdad in 2003 there was chaos and looting in much of the city.
Tue, 19 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
Hear one American soldier's story of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003
Mon, 18 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
10 years on from the invasion of Iraq we listen back to memories of that time.
Fri, 15 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 2 years since anti-government demonstrations in Syria sparked off the current conflict.
Thu, 14 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
Giandomenico Picco went to Beirut to try to free western hostages - hear his story.
Wed, 13 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
In 1921 Marie Stopes opened Britain's first birth control clinic in London.
Tue, 12 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
How thieves stole the body of Charlie Chaplin from a Swiss cemetery
Mon, 11 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
In March 1959 the people of Tibet turned against Chinese occupying forces.
Fri, 8 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
Airman Leonard Matlovich fought the ban on gays in the US military way back in 1975.
Thu, 7 Mar 13
Duration:
10 mins
15 years ago a new "wonder" drug was approved for use on the American market.
Wed, 6 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
One man's mission to bring the fun back to the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
Mon, 4 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 25 years since rioting broke out in the city of Sumgait in Azerbaijan.
Fri, 1 Mar 13
Duration:
9 mins
It's seventy years since 173 people were crushed to death in an air-raid shelter in London.
Thu, 28 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
A Cardinal tells the story of the Papal Conclave that elected Pope Benedict in 2005.
Wed, 27 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
40 years ago American Indian activists took on the US authorities at the site of massacre.
Tue, 26 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
A member of the security staff recalls the huge bomb blast at the World Trade Center nearly a decade before 9/11
Mon, 25 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1994 Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream" was stolen from a Norwegian art gallery.
Fri, 22 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is seventy years since three German students were executed in Munich for trying to start a revolt against Hitler.
Thu, 21 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
In 1963, three young Welsh nationalists took up arms against the construction of a controversial dam.
Wed, 20 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
How four days of protests swept President Ferdinand Marcos from power in 1986.
Tue, 19 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
It's 50 years since a frustrated American housewife published a text that helped inspire the women's liberation movement.
Mon, 18 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
In 1995, archaeologists in Egypt's Valley of the Kings made a remarkable discovery.
Fri, 15 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
How peace activists travelled to Baghdad in 2003 to try to protect civilians during the war in Iraq.
Thu, 14 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
In February 1942 tens of thousands of Commonwealth soldiers were taken prisoner by the Japanese.
Wed, 13 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
In the 1990s, more than 150,000 died in a conflict between the Algerian military and radical Islamists.
Tue, 12 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
How two child killers shocked Britain 20 years ago.
Mon, 11 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
It is fifty years since the suicide of American poet Sylvia Plath.
Fri, 8 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 30 years since the Derby winning racehorse was stolen at gunpoint.
Thu, 7 Feb 13
Duration:
10 mins
The great French writer remembered by one of his aristocratic friends and by his faithful maid, Celeste.
Tue, 5 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
Thirty years ago Nigeria expelled up to 2 million African migrants in just a few weeks. Most were Ghanaian.
Mon, 4 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
In February 1992 a group of army officers tried to overthrow the government in Venezuela.
Fri, 1 Feb 13
Duration:
9 mins
How German forces, close to starvation and running out of ammunition, surrendered to the Soviet Red Army.
Thu, 31 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
How India came to a standstill in 1948 to mourn the Father of the Nation.
Wed, 30 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
How the young tsar was inspired by a hell-raising visit to London in 1698.
Tue, 29 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
The inside story of the construction of one of the world's great monuments in 1887.
Mon, 28 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 2002 a weapons store exploded in Lagos, Nigeria. It was one of the largest civil disasters in the country's history.
Fri, 25 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
The legendary guitarist's girlfriend recalls his early days in 60s London.
Thu, 24 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
Before Adolf Hitler killed himself towards the end of WW2, he dictated his last will and testament.
Wed, 23 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
How an American naval intelligence ship and its crew were captured by the North Koreans.
Tue, 22 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
How millions of Dutch faced starvation at the end of World War 2.
Mon, 21 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
19 years ago, the heir to the Syrian presidency died in a car crash. Hear his tutor's memories.
Fri, 18 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
Two Nazi hunters tracked down the former Gestapo leader. He was living comfortably in Bolivia.
Thu, 17 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
Legendary striker, Osei Kofi, remembers the golden days of Ghanaian football in 1960.
Wed, 16 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
In 1973 a landmark case legalised abortion across the USA.
Tue, 15 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 120 years since the birth of the hugely influential Expressionist painter.
Mon, 14 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
For nearly 40 years, the US government conducted a secret experiment on 600 African-American men.
Fri, 11 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
A survivor from the Indonesian province of Aceh recalls the devastating 2004 Tsunami.
Thu, 10 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
Islamist rebels have recently banned music in Northern Mali. Today, we go back to the event in 2001 which launched Tuareg music on the world scene.
Wed, 9 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
In 1944 the Yugoslav partisan leader found sanctuary on a tiny island in the Adriatic.
Tue, 8 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
It is 45 years since the Country star first played a gig in a high-security jail.
Mon, 7 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
A former rebel describes the invasion of the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, in Jan 1999. Listeners may find his account disturbing
Fri, 4 Jan 13
Duration:
9 mins
In January 1967 the world famous speed driver died in his jet-boat Bluebird.
Thu, 3 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
How a play in which nothing happens revolutionised 20th century theatre.
Wed, 2 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
55 years ago Charles Keeling began the detailed and long-term measurement of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Tue, 1 Jan 13
Duration:
10 mins
It is 35 years since the white newspaper editor was forced into exile.
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Throughout the week BBC World Service offers a wide range of documentaries and other factual programmes. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.
Fri, 31 Dec 10
23 minutes
Throughout the week BBC World Service offers a wide range of documentaries and other factual programmes. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.
Wed, 30 Dec 09
23 minutes
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