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BBC World Service


A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.


The History Hour

In partnership with the BBC 100 Women list, we have a selection of stories about inspiring and influential women from around the world. 

Scientist Katalin Karikó, who won the Nobel Prize and helped save millions of lives in the Covid 19 pandemic, Julia Gillard, the former Australian prime minister who took a stand against misogyny in politics, and Indian artist Nalini Malani whose instillation got people thinking about the consequences of nuclear conflict.

We also hear from the founder of Ms Magazine, the feminist campaigner Gloria Steinem who in 1972, co-founded the first magazine in the US which was owned, run and written by women.

And the story of Portugal's "Three Marias" whose book ‘Novas Cartas Portuguesas’, was banned after it was published. 

Contributors:

Maria Teresa Horta - one of the "Three Marias".

Dr Katalin Karikó - Nobel Prize winning scientist.

Valeria Perasso - Team leader at the BBC's 100 Women project.

Julia Gillard - Former Australian Prime Minister.

Nalini Malani - Indian artist. 

Gloria Steinem - Co-founder of Ms Magazine. 

(Photo: Nalini Malani. Credit: Ritesh Uttamchandani/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Women making a mark

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Joan Flores-Villalobos, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Southern California, and author of The Silver Women: How Black Women’s Labor Made the Panama Canal.

First, we hear from a man involved in the handover of the canal from the United States to Panama in 1999. Then, DJ and singer Leonardo Renato Aulder explains how the canal led to the creation of Reggaeton music. 

Next we go to Cuba. An old comrade of Fidel Castro recounts the violent start of the Cuban revolution in 1953. And a member of the Obama administration explains how he negotiated better US-Cuba relations in 2014.

Finally, the story of the 442nd US military regiment, made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans, that earned more than 4,000 Purple Heart medals for extraordinary heroism during World War Two.

Contributors:
Alberto Aleman Zubieta - Panama Canal administrator.
Leonardo Renato Aulder - Reggaeton singer and DJ.
Joan Flores-Villalobos - Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California.
Agustín Díaz Cartaya - Cuban revolutionary.
Ben Rhodes - Speechwriter for US President Barack Obama.
Clyde Kusatsu - son of 442nd Regiment veteran.

(Photo: World War Two veterans from the highly decorated 442nd Regiment in 2015. Credit: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Panama and the 'Purple Heart Battalion'

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Chandrika Kaul, a specialist on modern British and Imperial history at the University of St Andrews in the UK.

We start by hearing from both sides of Australia's 1999 referendum on becoming a republic. 

Then, a survivor recounts the horrific 1972 Andes plane crash and the extraordinary things he had to do to survive. 

We hear how the BBC put text on our television screens for the first time. 

Plus, a grieving mother recounts the Taliban's horrific 2014 attack on a military school in Pakistan. 

Finally, we hear how the communist authorities enforced martial law in Poland over Christmas in 1981.

Contributors:

Malcolm Turnbull - former Australian Prime Minister and leader of republican campaign.
Professor David Flint - leader of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy.
Nando Parrado - Andes plane crash survivor.
Angus McIntyre - son of Colin McIntyre, Ceefax's first editor.
Andaleeb Aftab - survivor of Pakistani military school attack.
Maciek Romejko - Polish Solidarity member and activist

(Photo: Malcolm Turnbull, leader of the Australian Republican Movement, 1999. Credit: Torsten Blackwood/AFP via Getty Images)

Referendums and cannibalism

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews which all relate to food.
First, Dinner for One, the British TV sketch that's become a German New Year’s Eve tradition.
Our expert guest is Ingrid Sharp, professor of German cultural and gender history at the University of Leeds. She tells us about some other festive traditions in Northern Europe including Krampus – the horned figure said to punish children who misbehave at Christmas.
We also hear about when South Korea and Japan had a diplomatic row over kimchi.
Plus, the arrival of instant noodles in India and how they changed people’s cooking habits.
Next we find out how the BBC's Masterchef conquered the world of TV cookery.
Finally, the first woman to become White House head chef describes what it’s like to cook for five presidents.

Contributors:

Thomas Frankenfeld – son of Peter Frankenfeld who produced Dinner for One.

Ingrid Sharp - professor of German cultural and gender history at the University of Leeds.

Dr Chaelin Park - World Institute of Kimchi. 

Sangeeta Talwar – former executive vice president of Nestle India.

Franc Roddam – creator of Masterchef.

Cristeta Comerford – former White House chef.

(Photo: Dinner for One. Credit: Getty Images)

German traditions and cooking for presidents

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear two stories from the deadly 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which killed thousands of people in south-east Asia.

Our expert guest is Ani Naqvi, a former journalist who was on holiday in Sri Lanka when the wave hit.

We also hear from the two Polish students who created the voice of Alexa, the smart speaker.

Plus, the story of Klaus Fuchs, the German-born physicist who passed nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union while working on the first atomic bomb.

Finally, we find out about Robert Ripley, the American cartoonist who made millions from sharing bizarre facts.

Contributors:

Choodamani and Karibeeran Paramesvaran – couple whose three children died in the Boxing Day tsunami.

Dendy Montgomery – photographer who captured the tsunami devastation.

Ani Naqvi – former journalist who was caught up in the tsunami.

Lukasz Osowski and Michal Kaszczuk – creators of Alexa.

Klaus Fuchs-Kittowski – nephew of atomic spy Klaus Fuchs.

John Corcoran – director of exhibits at Ripley’s.

(Photo: Tsunami devastation in Indonesia. Credit: Getty Images)

The Boxing Day tsunami, and Alexa’s creation

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes. 

We hear a first-hand account of the attack at the offices of French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo. 

Our expert guest is Dr Chris Millington, who leads the Histories and Cultures of Conflict research group at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

We also hear about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two. 

Plus, the Bosphorus boat spotter tracking Russian military trucks in Turkey. 

Russian military trucks on a civilian ship bound for Syria.

Also, the Norwegian man who invented the hotel key card in the 1970s.

Finally, we’re sparking joy with Japanese tidying expert Marie Kondo. 

Contributors: 

Riss – Charlie Hebdo cartoonist.

Dr Chris Millington - Histories and Cultures of Conflict research group at Manchester Metropolitan University. 

Yörük Işık – boat spotter.

Archive recordings from 2015. 

Anders – son of Tor Sornes.

Marie Kondo - organising consultant. 

(Photo: Charlie Hebdo mural. Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The Charlie Hebdo attack and the art of decluttering

Josephine McDermott sits in for Max Pearson presenting a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes.

We hear from the author who stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while shopping for a briefcase in Beverly Hills.

Our guest is Dr Anne-Marie Scholz, from the University of Bremen in Germany, who reflects on the impact of dramatizations of World War Two.

We also hear about the start of Drum magazine, credited with giving black African writers a voice in the time of Apartheid. 

The devastation of the earthquake in the port city of Kobe, Japan, is recalled by a child survivor. 

Plus, the New Deal created by President Franklin D Roosevelt to drag the United States from the Depression of the 1930s. 

Finally, the family intervention of American former First Lady Betty Ford, which led to the world-famous rehabilitation clinic being started. 

Contributors: 

Thomas Keneally – author of Schindler’s Ark.

Dr Anne-Marie Scholz - author of From Fidelity to History: Film Adaptations as Cultural Events in the 20th Century.

Prospero Bailey - son of Jim Bailey on the origins of Drum magazine.

Kiho Park – survivor of the 1995 Kobe earthquake. 

Adam Cohen – expert on Roosevelt's New Deal.

Susan Ford Bales – daughter of Betty Ford. 

(Photo: Nazi SS troops in Germany. Credit: Getty Images)

World War Two on film and Africa's landmark lifestyle magazine

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes, all about events which happened in 1995. 

First, we hear how Microsoft launched Windows 95 after a $300 million marketing campaign. 

Our expert guest is Dr Lisa McGerty – Chief Executive of the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge.

Next, after 17 years terrorising America, we hear about the hunt for the Unabomber. 

Plus, the sarin gas attack on a Tokyo metro, carried out by members of a doomsday cult.

Finally, how China exerted its influence over Tibetan Buddhism’s leadership. 

Contributors: 

Sarah Leary – project manager for Microsoft.

Dr Lisa McGerty – Chief Executive of the Centre for Computing History.

Carmine Gallo – police officer.

Dr Kathleen Puckett – FBI agent.

Atsushi Asakahara – metro passenger.

Arjia Rinpoche – senior Tibetan Lama.

(Photo: People lined up by US Microsoft Windows 95 exhibit. Credit: Forrest Anderson/Getty Images)

Back to 1995

We hear from 'wolf child' Luise Quietsch who was separated from her family and forced to flee East Prussia. Whilst trying to survive during World War Two, these children were likened to hungry wolves roaming through forests. 

Journalist and documentary film-maker Sonya Winterberg who recorded the testimony of “wolf children” for her book, discusses the profound impact it had on their lives. 

We also hear about the first major series of English lessons which were broadcast on Chinese television in 1981. Kathy Flower presented the English education programme, Follow Me, several times a week at primetime. It was watched by an estimated 500 million people keen to get a taste of the English language and observe westerners on television. Kathy Flower recalls what it was like becoming the most famous foreign person in China.

A series of unprecedented teachers’ strikes temporarily shut most of New York’s schools in the late 1960s, provoked by an ongoing dispute over whether parents could have a say in the running of their children’s schools. Monifa Edwards was a pupil at a school in the district of Ocean Hill-Brownsville, a name that became synonymous with the struggle over who controlled the local schools: the communities or the mainly white city officials.

On 16 March 1988, loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone killed three mourners and injured 60 others attending a funeral for IRA members killed in Gibraltar. American journalist Bill Buzenberg, who was covering the funeral for National Public Radio in the US, was knocked off his feet in the gun and grenade attack.

Finally we head to Eastern Europe in 1989, where approximately two million people joined hands across across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to form a human chain demanding independence from the Soviet Union. It was a key moment in the protests in Eastern Europe that became known as the Singing Revolution. In 2010, Damien McGuinness spoke to MEP Sandra Kalniete, a Latvian organiser of the event.

(Photo: Luise Quietsch. Credit: Rita Naujokaitytė)

The 'Wolf Children' of World War Two and China's TV lessons

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is film critic and journalist Helen O'Hara who dissects what makes a cult film classic, after we hear about the making of the 1989 American film Heathers.

We also learn about the French philosopher behind the theory of deconstruction and how the world first became aware of coral bleaching in the 1980s. 

As the climax of the American Football season approaches we look back at one of the most memorable moments from Super Bowl history. 

Contributors: 
Lisanne Falk - American star of the film Heathers.

Helen O'Hara - film critic and journalist. 

Helene Cixous - lifetime friend of French philosopher Jacques Derrida.

Agathe Hébras - granddaughter of Robert Hébras, survivor of the Oradour Massacre. 

Clive Wilkinson - the former co-ordinator for the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

Osi Umenyiora - two-time Super Bowl winner with the New York Giants.

(Photo: Winona Ryder, Kim Walker, Lisanne Falk, and Shannen Doherty on the set of Heathers 1988, New World Pictures/Getty Images)

Cult films and a 'rockstar' philosopher

In November 2006, the world was shocked by the murder in London of former Russian intelligence officer, Alexander Litvinenko. We hear from his widow Marina about his life and agonising death, and get an analysis of the case from Luke Harding, author of "A Very Expensive Poison". Also in the programme, an astonishing assassination plot during El Salvador's Civil War, a huge oil spill in Spain, and the purpose-built city in Siberia which was home to the Soviet Union's best scientists.

(PHOTO: Alexander Litvinenko in a London hospital a couple of days before his death in November 2006. Credit Getty Images.)

The Poisoning of Litvinenko

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