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BBC World Service


A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.


The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is media, culture and creative industries lecturer Sarah Jilani.
 
We start in 1954 with the Japanese film Seven Samurai which is widely considered to be one of world cinema's most influential films.
 
Then, we hear about the 2006 Hindi film Rang de Basanti which broke box-office records and inspired thousands of young Indians to march for justice.
 
We delve into the BBC Archives to hear from director Leni Riefenstahl about one of the most controversial propaganda movies ever made, Triumph of the Will, which was filmed at the Nazis’ Nuremberg rally in 1934.
 
Next, we hear about the challenges of making the Hollywood 1942 classic, Casablanca, from the late son and nephew of the screenwriters.
 
Finally, the story of the Spanish language fantasy, Pan's Labyrinth, which took the world by storm in 2006.
 
Contributors:
 
Hisao Kurosawa - movie producer, head of the Kurosawa Production Company and son of Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa.
 
Sarah Jilani - a Lecturer in the Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries, City St George's, University of London.
 
Kamlesh Pandey - screenwriter.
 
Leni Riefenstahl - film maker (from BBC Archive).
 
Leslie Epstein - the late son and nephew of screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein respectively.
 
Ivana Baquero - actress.
 
(Photo: Ingrid Bergman with Humphrey Bogart in a still from Casablanca. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Movie history: Seven Samurai and Casablanca

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. 

We hear how a speech by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, in 1972, caused a break down in relations with the USA. 

Our guest is an expert in the historic relations between Sweden and the US, Dr Saniya Lee Ghanoui from the University of El Paso in Texas. 

Plus, the story of India’s secret first nuclear test in 1974, and Portugal’s worst train crash which killed 150 people. 

We also learn about the invention of the mobility scooter in the 1960s and the only time the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis, set foot in the UK. 

Contributors: 

Jan Elliason – former Swedish diplomat. 

Dr Saniya Lee Ghanoui – Assistant Professor of history at the University of El Paso. 

Dr SK Sikka – former Indian nuclear scientist. 

Américo Borges – Portuguese volunteer fire commander. 

Al Thieme – the inventor of the mobility scooter. 

Anne Murphy – Elvis superfan.

(Photo: Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1972 during the diplomatic freeze with the USA. Credit: Sjöberg Bildbyrå/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Sweden and the USA's diplomatic freeze and Elvis in the UK

We begin with the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. It was claimed that he traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds.

Our guest, gemmologist James Evans discusses the creation of synthetic diamonds.

Next we head to Syria where a group of young men in the besieged town of Darayya came together to build a secret library during the civil war. 

Plus the start of the Second World War in the Pacific when Japanese troops landed in what was then northern Malaya. 

We hear about a meeting between two of the most prominent figures in history from around the turn of the last century. Florence Nightingale and the Aga Khan, Sir Sultan Muhammed Shah.

Our sporting story takes us back to the summer of 1952 when the first Olympics of the Cold War era took place. Czechoslovakian army officer Emil Zatopek achieved a unique feat.

And finally, the moment when Spain's fledgling democratic government appeared to be under threat.

Contributors: 

Brenda Hollis - Chief prosecutor at the Charles Taylor trial.
Malik Alrifaii - Volunteer who helped run the Syrian library.
Dorothy Variyan -Lived under Japanese rule during the occupation of the Malay peninsula.
Aga Khan III, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah - BBC archive interview from 1950.
Richard Asquith - Emil Zatopek's biographer.
Joaquin Almunia - Former Vice President of the European Commission

Presenter: Max Pearson

(Photo: Charles Taylor (rear C) appears in court in 2006. Credit: Rob Keeris/Getty Images)

Blood diamonds and the meeting between Florence Nightingale and Aga Khan III

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Guri Hjeltnes, an author and World War Two historian. 

We start with Nazi Germany’s occupation of Norway during World War Two by hearing about a secret resistance operation known as “The Shetland Bus”. 

Then, we learn about a playboy spy who, during the 1940s, became one of wartime’s most successful double agents and the reported inspiration behind James Bond.

We hear how a black and white photograph taken in 1982, of a mother and her young daughter raising their arms in protest, became a symbol of Argentina’s resistance. 

Plus, the public health crisis in America in 1980 that led to the setting up of the Tampon Task Force.

In sport, we speak to the BMX rider known as "The Canadian Beast" who took part in the first Extreme Games in 1995.

Finally, we hear from an Austrian mountaineer who spent seven years in Tibet and, in 1948, became friends with the country’s spriritual leader, the Dalai Lama. 

Contributors: 

Leif Larsen – Norwegian sailor and a skipper on “The Shetland Bus”.

Dusko Popov – British double agent during World War Two.

Adriana Lestido - Argentinian newspaper photographer.

Nancy King Reame – Professor Emerita Columbia University and researcher with the Tampon Task Force.

Jay Miron - Canadian BMX rider.

Heinrich Harrer – Austrian mountaineer who became a tutor to the Dalai Lama.

(Photo: Leif Larsen (middle) and other member of The Shetland Bus. Credit: Scalloway Museum)

The Shetland Bus and toxic shock syndrome

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Scottish writer, editor and music programmer Arusa Qureshi.

We start in 1989 when the British rock band Pink Floyd played a highly controversial concert in Venice. 

Then, we cover Dr Rita Levi-Montalcini whose bedroom experiments won her the Nobel Prize.

We hear from a man who worked on the Mont Blanc Tunnel, which opened in 1965.

A survivor describes Florence's devastating flood in 1966. 

Finally, the story of how the actress Gina Lollobrigida interviewed Cuba's leader Fidel Castro.

Contributors:

Fran Tomasi and Andrea Pattaro - witnesses to Pink Floyd's Venice concert.

Arusa Qureshi - Scottish writer, editor and music programmer.

Franco Cuaz - Mont Blanc Tunnel's first operations manager.

Antonina Bargellini - survivor of the Florence flood.

(Photo: Pink Floyd performing in Venice. Credit: Andrea Pattaro)

Italian history

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes from the BBC World Service.
 
What does a tickle look like? That was the question eight-year-old Adam Hargreaves asked in 1971. He explains how it led his father Roger Hargreaves, to create the children's book series Mr Men. 
 
Our guest Professor Nina Christensen, head of the Centre for Children's Literature and Media at Aarhus University, on the wider history of children's literature.
 
We hear a remarkable account from Captain Chris Fraser-Perry, who took part in the Jugroom Fort rescue mission, during the war in Afghanistan.
 
Plus from Cuba, we learn about the Mariel boatlift of 1980 in which thousands of people left for the United States and in 2022, the controversial visit to Cuba by former US President Jimmy Carter.
 
And the story behind the contamination of Austria's fine wine in 1985.
 
Our Sporting Witness episode this week looks at the first sister-brother duo to win Alpine Ski World Cup races on the same day.
 
Contributors:
 
Adam Hargreaves - Roger Hargreaves son
Nina Christensen - head of the Centre for Children's Literature and Media at Aarhus University
Captain Chris Fraser-Perry - British Royal Marine
Mirta Ojito - Cuban-born journalist
Jennifer McCoy - former director of the Carter Center 
Ivica Kostelic - Croatian alpine skier
Janica Kostelic - Croatian alpine skier
Heidi Schroek - Austrian wine-maker 
 
(Photo: English author Roger Hargreaves. Credit: Monti Spry/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Creating Mr Men and the Austrian wine scandal

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We travel back to Chile in 2006 where more than 600,000 schoolchildren are marching through the streets to protest about their schools. The nationwide demonstrations will become known as the "Penguin Revolution".

Our guest Dr Laura Tisdall, a historian from Newcastle University, explains why this isn’t the first time children have challenged authority.

And we examine another protest in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1979 which became a seminal moment in the country’s transition to democracy.

Plus, one of the most defining moments of World War Two – the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazis’ largest death camp in 1945.

And the remarkable story of the 5,000-year-old mummy found frozen and perfectly preserved in Europe’s Ötzal Alps in 1991. 

In sport, we explore the inspiring story of how rugby union came to thrive in Syria - despite mass protests and violent government crackdowns during 2011...

Finally, we celebrate 100 years since a technological breakthrough that would change the world. The start of television.

Contributors:

Karina Delfino – one of the leaders of the Penguin Revolution.

Dr Laura Tisdall - lecturer in Modern British History, Newcastle University.

Yao Chia-wen – protester in the Kaohsiung Incident.

General Vasily Petrenko – Soviet army commander who helped liberate Auschwitz. 

Konrad Spindler – archaeologist.

Rainer Henn - forensic pathologist.

Mohamad Jarkou – Syrian rugby union player.

Iain Logie Baird – grandson of John Logie Baird, the inventor of television.

(Photo: High school students in Santiago, 2006. Credit: Claudio Pozo/AFP via Getty Images)

Chile’s Penguin Revolution and the 5,000-year-old frozen mummy

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

Our guest Sugandhi Jayaraman, lecturer in air transport management at the University of Westminster, discusses the changes in airports over time. We hear about the Irish priest whose dream of air travel in a remote part of West Ireland became a reality. 

And we travel back to 1943 to one of the most audacious hoaxes of World War Two. Plus the Challenger Shuttle disaster where a member of the public had been chosen to join the experienced astronaut crew.

We also commemorate Agatha Christie and we go back to 1979 when Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Tehran from Paris after being exiled. 

Contributors:

Pearce Concannon - firefighter at Knock airport

Sugandhi Jayaraman - lecturer

Roger Morgan - amateur historian

Barbera Morgan - trained alongside the Challenger team

Mathew Prichard- Agatha Christie's grandson 

Mohsen Sazegara - worked for the Ayatollah 

(Picture: Cabin crew with Monsignor James Horan at Knock Airport. Credit: Independent News And Media/Getty Images)

The priest behind a new airport and Agatha Christie

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

Our guest is food historian Dr Annie Gray.

She discusses the impact of the first modern, fitted kitchen - the Frankfurt Kitchen - on the kitchens of today. It all goes back to 1926 and the reluctant Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky who said she wanted to be remembered for more than designing a "damned" kitchen. Sorry Margarete.

Next is the invention of the board game Cluedo, or Clue in the United States, which stemmed from playing the piano at murder mystery parties in English country houses and hotels in the 1930s.

Then, we enter the murky world of computer viruses. The first one to affect personal computers in 1986 became known as 'Brain'.

We hear from a survivor of the deadly mudslides which affected Venezuela in December 1999.

A Lotus mechanic gives his account of Brazilian racing star Ayrton Senna's first Formula 1 win in 1985.

And finally, a glimpse into a period of freedom in Afghanistan from 2005 when a TV musical talent contest called Afghan Star gripped audiences.

Contributors:

Christine Zwingl - architect.

Marcia Lewis - daughter of the creators of Cluedo.

Amjad Farooq Alvi - founder of Brain Computers.

Leydys Crespo - survivor of Venezuelan mudslides in 1999.

Chris Dinnage - Ayrton Senna's mechanic.

Jahid Mohseni - the development producer for Afghan Star.

(Picture: A 1950s fitted kitchen. Credit: Getty Images)

The birth of the modern fitted kitchen and the creation of Cluedo

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.
This programme contains distressing details.

Our guest is Bárbara Fernández Melleda, Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies at the University of Hong Kong.

We start with Chilean author Isabel Allende on her debut novel, The House of the Spirits, in 1982 which reflects Chile’s 20th century history.

Then, we hear the memories of a soldier injured in the Battle of Gallipoli.

The recollections of a mother who lost both her daughters in a crowd crush at Hillsborough stadium in 1989 - the UK's worst sporting disaster.

How a British artist's unmade bed was nominated for a prestigious art prize in 1999.

Next the swimsuit made ahead of the Beijing Olympic games in 2008 that was so good it had to be banned.

Finally, we learn about the world's longest running animated TV series that began in 1969.

Contributors:

Isabel Allende - a Chilean author.

Rupert Westmacott - a soldier (from archive).

Jenni Hicks - a mother who lost her two daughters in the Hillsborough tragedy.

Dame Tracey Emin - an artist.

Jason Rance - former head of Speedo's global research and development team.

Sunishi Yukimuro - an animated cartoon writer.

(Image: Chilean author Isabel Allende. Credit: Felipe Amilibia/AFP via Getty Images)

The House of the Spirits and Tracey Emin's unmade bed

Why the BBC started broadcasting to South and Central America, plus the My Lai Massacre, Brazil's careful transition to democracy, and Moscow's show trials in the 1930s.

Photo: Members of the BBC's Brazil service rehearsing in a London studio in 1943. Credit: BBC.

The Battle of the Airwaves in Latin America

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