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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 the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal ; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.
Beschikbare afleveringen
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Italian happiness trains
Between 1945 and 1952, ‘happiness trains’ transported 70,000 children from southern to northern Italy to live with wealthier families. It was a scheme organised by the Union of Italian Women and the Italian Communist Party in an... -
The opening of the Medellin Metro
When the Medellin Metro opened in 1995, the Colombian city had recently been called the “murder capital of the world” due to the high homicide rate caused by Pablo Escobar’s drug wars. The network has grown to include a large cable... -
The funeral train for Robert Kennedy
In June 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy was killed during his campaign for the American presidency. There was nationwide mourning with huge crowds lining the tracks for his funeral train, as it travelled from New York to Washington DC.... -
The Czech Freedom Train
On 11 September 1951, the 9.55am train from Prague to Aš, in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany. One hundred and eleven people were on board and 34 of them never returned, starting new lives on... -
The Gratitude Train: France thanks America
In 1949, the Gratitude Train arrived in the United States, made up of 49 wagons filled with thousands of gifts from France. The convoy was a thank-you to American families who’d sent food and supplies across the Atlantic, via a... -
Making Jaws
It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975. Directed by a young Steven Spielberg, who was relatively unknown at the time, it was considered Hollywood’s... -
The signing of the Treaty of Versailles
On 28 June 1919, in the Palace of Versailles in Paris the signing of the Treaty of Versailles took place. It was a peace agreement that marked the end of World War One. The terms of the treaty punished Germany for their involvement... -
Civil rights swim-in
On 18 June 1964, black and white protesters jumped into a ‘whites only’ swimming pool at a motel in St Augustine, in Florida. Photos of the Monson Motor Lodge manager, James Brock, pouring cleaning acid into the pool to get them out,... -
Charleston church shooting
On 17 June 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a bible group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in the United States. As it was ending, the 21-year-old started shooting and killed nine... -
'Tripperburgen' the sexual health clinics that detained women
After the Second World War, in what was then East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), tens of thousands of women and girls were forcibly detained and abused in sexual health clinics. In 1977, at the age of 15, Sabine was... -
The Schengen Agreement
On 14 June 1985, five politicians met on a boat in the town of Schengen, in Luxembourg, to sign an agreement to get rid of border checks between their countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France and West Germany. The... -
Ronald Reagan’s ‘Tear down this wall’ speech
In 1987 Uunied States President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall. In his speech he called on the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall". The famous words were met with applause and cheers by the...