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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 Simone Turchetti, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester in the UK. 

It's 80 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender at the end of the Second World War. We hear from a British prisoner of war who was in Nagasaki at the time.

Then, the son of musician Dmitri Shostakovich tells of his famous father’s confrontation with Stalin in the 1930s. 

Also, the story of a man who survived an 8.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the Himalayan mountains in 1950.

Plus, Singapore's tense and tearful 1965 separation from the Federation of Malaysia and the detective who tracked down the gang responsible for Brazil's biggest bank heist.

Contributors:
Simone Turchetti - Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester.
Maxim Shostakovich – son of musician Dmitri Shostakovich
Manjeet Kaur- remembering Singapore independence in 1965.
Antonio Celso Dos Santos – detective in Brazil 
Plus, archive recording of Geoff Sherring, a British prisoner of war in Nagasaki and Frank Kingdon-Ward who survived an earthquake that shook the Himalayan mountains in 1950.

(Photo: Nuclear explosion over Nagasaki. Credit: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Nagasaki bomb and Brazil’s biggest bank heist

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.

Our guest is Dr Lara Douds, Assistant Professor of Russian history.

We start in 1907, the men who would go on to lead the Russian Revolution met in London for a crucial congress marking a point of no return between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. 

Then, in 2000, the launch of Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spa Land in Japan, becoming the world’s longest rollercoaster at nearly 2.5 km in length.

Next, the political assisination of Juan Mari Jauregui, a retired Spanish politician and long-time campaigner for independence, by Basque separatists in 2000.

Plus, how in 1986, during a world record attempt and publicity stunt, one and a half million balloons were released as a storm rolled over the city.

Finally, the story of Chuquicamata, Chile’s abandoned mining town after its 25,000 residents left due to pollution concerns .

Contributors: 
Henry Brailsford - British journalist 
Dr Lara Douds - Assistant Professor of Russian history 
Steve Okamoto - rollercoaster designer
Maixabel Lasa - widow of Juan Mari Jauregui
Tom Holowatch - project manager of BalloonFest '86
Patricia Rojas - former resident of Chuquicamata

(Photo: Lenin giving a speech in Red Square. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

Russian revolutionaries and Japan’s record breaking rollercoaster

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Natalia Grincheva, an expert in cultural diplomacy from Lasalle, University of the Arts in Singapore. 

We start by hearing about when US president Bill Clinton was presented with a saxophone on a 1994 visit to Prague and he and the Czech president Vaclav Havel performed together on stage.

Then, India’s first female anthropologist, Irawati Karve.

Twenty years on, the cousin of John Charles de Menezes, describes the day the unarmed Brazilian man was shot dead by anti-terrorism police in London.

Plus, the discovery of the super-strong fibre Kevlar in 1965 which was used in bulletproof vests.

And finally, 50 years on from the premiere of the Broadway hit A Chorus Line, an original cast member shares her memories.

Contributors:

Urmilla Deshpande – granddaughter of Irawati Karve.

Patricia da Silva – cousin of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Baayork Lee – Connie in A Chorus Line

Plus, archive recording of Stephanie Kwolek, and material from the Vaclav Havel Center and the William J Clinton Presidential Library.

(Photo: President Bill Clinton accepts a saxophone as a gift from a Belgian delegation in 1994. Credit: Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty Images)

Saxophone diplomacy and bulletproof vests

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dina Esfandiary, Middle East Geo-economics Lead at Bloomberg Economics.

We start in 2015 with insider accounts of the Iran nuclear deal and the Greek debt crisis.

Then, the 1995 'Turbot War' between Canada and Spain.

We hear how international broadcaster Voice of America was born during World War 2. 

Finally, the rise of Italo disco in the early 1980s.

Contributors:

Baroness Catherine Ashton - EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Dina Esfandiary - Middle East Geo-economics Lead at Bloomberg Economics.
Euclid Tsakalotos - Greece's Finance Minister.
Brian Tobin - Canada’s Minister for Fisheries and Oceans.
Ryan Paris - singer of Dolce Vita.

(Photo: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015. Credit: Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images)

Nuclear diplomacy and Italo disco

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all with an Argentine theme. 

We find out more about the 1985 ‘trial of the juntas’ when the country’s former military leaders stood accused of torturing and murdering thousands of their own people. And we hear from historian Dr Victoria Basualdo about life in Argentina, both before and after the trial.

Also, the story of the grandmothers who championed the study of genetics to find their missing loved ones. And why tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires in 2015. Plus, the bizarre story of Eva Peron's disappearing corpse. And finally, more on the Argentine animator who Walt Disney wanted to hire.

Contributors:
Luis Moreno Ocampo - prosecutor
Dr Victoria Basualdo – historian, FLACSO, the Latín American School of Social Sciences
Dr Victor Penchaszadeh – geneticist
Agustina Paz Frontera – journalist and writer
Domingo Tellechea – art restorer and embalmer
Hector Cristiani – grandson of Quirino Cristiani

(Photo: Forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow giving testimony to the trial, 1985. Credit: Daniel Muzio/AFP via Getty Images)

The 'trial of the juntas' and Evita’s missing body

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes including the story behind Mick Jagger and David Bowie's duet for Live Aid in 1985 and the Chinese artist who was jailed for his art inspired by the Sichuan earthquake in 2008. 

He speaks to music journalist Alice Austin to explore other concerts in world history that have had a political impact. 

Also, the American politician who first coined the phrase "drill, baby, drill" in 2008, the making of Back To The Future in 1985 and the trophy killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe in 2015.

Contributors:
Bernard Doherty - former Live Aid press officer.
Alice Austin - music journalist.
Ai Weiwei - artist.
Prof Andrew Loveridge - zoologist who studied Cecil the lion.
Michael Steele - the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, who came up with the slogan "Drill, baby, drill!"
Bob Gale - the co-writer and producer of the Back to the Future.

(Photo: Mick Jagger and David Bowie performing Dancing In The Street. Credit: Brian Cooke / Redferns)

Dancing in the Street and Ai Weiwei

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service, all related to trains and journeys which have helped to shape our world.

Our guest Nicky Gardner, travel writer and co-author of Europe by Rail: the Definitive Guide, discusses the origins of train travel. 

The first story involved the hijacking of a train in 1950s communist Czechoslovakia which was driven across the border into West Germany.

We also hear about Senator Robert Kennedy's funeral train in 1960s America, and Italy's "happiness train", which took children from the poverty stricken south to wealthier families in the north.

Contributors - Archive interview with Karel Ruml.
Frank Mankiewicz - Robert Kennedy's former press secretary, and Rosey Grier, his former bodyguard.
Bianca D’Aniello - a passenger on the “happiness train”.
June Cutchins - received gifts from the Gratitude Train. 
Tomas Andreas Elejalde - general manager of the Medellin Metro.

(Photo: People stand near railroad tracks as a train carries the body of Robert Kennedy on June 8, 1968. Credit: Steve Northrup/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Robert Kennedy's funeral train and the opening of the Medellin Metro

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

This programme includes outdated and offensive language.

It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975. Our guest is Jenny He, senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. She tells us about the history of this blockbuster movie. We also hear from Carl Gottlieb, who co-wrote the screenplay.

Also, the story of the women who were forcibly detained in sexual health clinics across East Germany, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and the 1964 civil rights swimming protest that ended when acid was poured into the pool.

Finally, the horrific account of Polly Sheppard who was a survivor of the Charleston church shooting in South Carolina, USA in 2015.

Contributors:
 
Carl Gottlieb - Jaws co-writer.
Jenny He - senior exhibitions curator at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.
Sabine - one of the women forcibly detained and abused in a sexual health clinic in East Germany.
Archive of William Norman Ewer - journalist who attended the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
Archive of JT Johnson and Mimi Jones -activists in a civil rights swimming protest .
Polly Sheppard- survivor of the Charleston Church shooting.

This programme contains movie excerpts from the 1975 film which was a Universal Picture, a Zanuck/Brown production and directed by Steven Spielberg. 
 
(Photo: Steven Spielberg on the set of the film 'Jaws' in 1975. Credit: Archive Photos/Stringer)

Jaws and the Charleston church shooting

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dolly Jørgensen, Professor of History at the University of Stavanger in Norway and a specialist in the history of extinction.

We start in 2012 with the death of a famous Galapagos tortoise called Lonesome George, who was the last of his species.

Then, the incredible tale of how an Irish priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, saved thousands of prisoners of war and Jews in Rome during World War 2.

We hear how the Sino-Indian War of 1962 left a painful legacy for Indian families of Chinese descent.

Plus, one of the signatories of the Schengen Agreement recalls the day it was signed in 1985.

Finally, Ronald Reagan's former speechwriter looks back on the President's 1987 'Tear down this wall' speech, delivered in Berlin.

Contributors: 

Dolly Jørgensen - Professor of History at the University of Stavanger.
James Gibbs - Vice President of Science and Conservation at the Galapagos Conservancy.
Hugh O’Flaherty - relative of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.
Joy Ma - Indian woman of Chinese descent born in the Deoli camp.
Robert Goebbels - signed the Schengen Agreement.
Peter Robinson - US President Reagan's former speechwriter.

(Photo: Lonesome George the tortoise. Credit: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP Getty Images)

Ronald Reagan and Lonesome George

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

Our guest is Dr Jeni Millard, a science presenter, astrophysicist and astronomer. 

First, how two astronomers announced they had discovered the first two planets outside our solar system.

Then, German twins Frederik and Gerrit Braun on building Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, which is now a world-famous destination visited by celebrities like Adele and Sir Rod Stewart

And in 1949, South Africa’s first feature film, Jim Comes to Jo’burg, also known as African Jim, aimed at black audiences was released, launching Dolly Rathebe’s career.

Finally, how a goal kick in 1970, meant to pick out a striker, instead hit and killed a seagull in a Dutch football match. The dead bird was later stuffed and now resides in the club’s museum.

Contributors:

Alex Wolszczan - astronomer 
Dale Frail - astronomer
Roland Reisley - resident of Usonia 
Dolly Rathebe - actor 
Eddy Treijtel - goalkeeper

(Photo: A gull on a football pitch. Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Discovery of the first exoplanets and the goalie who killed a seagull

How a young boy lived with a rare genetic disorder; plus "Ghana Must Go" - when 1 million Africans were expelled from Nigeria, battling the last major smallpox epidemic in India, reporting the Jimmy Swaggart scandal and the story behind the acclaimed novel "Infinite Jest"
(Photo: David Vetter and his mother Carol-Ann Demaret Credit: Carol-Ann Demaret)

The Boy in the Bubble

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