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Witness History
BBC
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 time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
Beschikbare afleveringen
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When Italy gave back Ethiopia’s stolen obelisk
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... -
Abebech Gobena: Africa's 'Mother Teresa'
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... -
Ardi: the oldest skeleton of a human ancestor
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... -
When Emperor Haile Selassie lived in exile in England
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... -
Emperor Haile Selassie overthrown
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... -
Giant Gonzalez: from NBA star to WWE wrestler
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... -
Apollo 13
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... -
The end of the Irish marriage bar
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... -
Ramesses II's 'mummy makeover'
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... -
I led the 'Umbrella' protests
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... -
The woman who spoke to the space station
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... -
Guatemala's disappeared
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...