The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes.

We hear a survivor's incredible archive account of living through the Siege of Paris in 1870. Sydney Snell was in her 80s when she recorded her memories with the BBC in 1946.

Our guest Professor Beatrice Heuser, from the General Staff College of the Bundeswehr in Hamburg, Germany, explains how sieges in other military campaigns have influenced history.

There’s more on why newly reunified Germany held a vote in 1991 to decide which city would become its capital: Bonn or Berlin.

Plus, the world’s first public earthquake warning system launches in Mexico. And the story behind singer George Michael's cheeky video response to his arrest in a public toilet in Beverly Hills.

Also, the creation of CAMRA, one of Europe's most successful consumer movements. And in Sporting Witness, German football embraces its first shirt sponsor in 1973.

Contributors: Sydney Snell – survivor of the Siege of Paris. Professor Beatrice Heuser – historian, General Staff College of the Bundeswehr, Hamburg Jürgen Nimptsch – former mayor of Bonn. Wolfgang Schäuble – former German interior minister. Juan Manuel Espinosa Aranda – Seismic Instrumentation and Record Centre director. Bernd Gersdorff – retired footballer. Graham Lees – CAMRA co-founder. Vaughan Arnell – video director.

(Image: Army cannons at Le Raincy, the siege of Paris, 1870. Credit: API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes.

American artist Keith Haring's bold 1986 mural on the Berlin Wall and British naturalist Gerald Durrell's 1950s mission to save species from extinction.

We discuss other examples of art which aim to bring peace and unity around the world with Dr Lucy Weir, head of art history at the University of Edinburgh.

Plus Malta's divorce referendum in 2011, Hungary's 1956 uprising, the first Refugee Olympic Team of 2016 and how Ten Canoes made cinema history in Australia in 2006.

Contributors: Alexandra Hildebrandt - the chairwoman of the Wall Museum at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. Dr Lucy Weir - the head of the history of art at the University of Edinburgh. Gerald Durrell - British naturalist. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando - Maltese MP. Péter Pallai - survivor of the Hungarian uprising. Frances Djulibing - actor in Ten Canoes. Rose Lokonyen - 800m runner for the Refugee Olympic Team.

(Photo: Keith Haring painting his mural on the Berlin Wall in 1986. Credit: Patrick Piel/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

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

We hear about the tests on baby rhesus monkeys which would become some of the most controversial in modern science. Also, the chimpanzee who apparently learned American sign language.

Our guest zoologist Megan McCubbin discusses how ethics around using animals in experiments have changed over the years. And we hear about the two monkeys that were sent into space in the late 1950s.

Also the campaign to get chimps listed as endangered, and the murder of the mountain gorilla scientist Dian Fossey. Finally in this week's Sporting Witness, we learn why Manchester City fans started taking inflatable bananas to games in the late 80s.

Contributors:

Harry Harlow - psychologist.

Roger Fouts - worked with Washoe the chimpanzee.

Megan McCubbin - zoologist and author.

Dr Ron Nowak - led the team which declared chimpanzees endangered.

Lieutenant Joe Guion - commander of the USS Kiowa.

Kelly Stewart - Dian Fossey’s colleague.

Dr Gary James - football historian.

Imre Varadi - former Man City striker.

(Photo: Monkeys Able and Baker at a press conference to mark their return from space. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

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

We hear from one of the Peruvian pilots who secretly flew fighter jets to help Argentina during the Falklands War in 1982. We discuss with our guest, Iberian and Latin American historian Stella Krepp from Bern University, about the stance Peru and other countries from the region took in the conflict.

Plus, the killing of the Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981, the mirrors that brought winter sunshine to a Norwegian town, the rats that were trained to detect landmines, and the real-life boy who inspired the Winnie-the-Pooh books.

Finally, this week's Sporting Witness – the day Australia’s cricket captain had to choose between setting a personal record and his team’s chance to win.

Contributors:

Rubén Mimbela – former Peruvian Air Force pilot.

Jehan Sedat – Anwar Sadat’s widow.

Martin Andersen – inventor and artist.

Bart Weetjens – product designer.

Christopher Robin Milne – son of author A.A. Milne (archive).

Mark Taylor – Australia’s former cricket captain.

(Photo: Argentina's Air Force patrol during the Falklands War. Credit: Fireshot/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Dr. April Nowell, a paleolithic archaeologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in Canada.

We start by hearing how in 2012, archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi made a discovery that changed our understanding of early human history.

Next, we're in the UK in 1957, as the final touches are made to what was then the largest radio telescope in the world: Jodrell Bank.

Plus, how the contraceptive pill was finally legalised in Japan in 1999, after decades of campaigning.

Then we go back to 1947 for what's been described as one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century: the Dead Sea Scrolls.

And we hear one soldier's account of the siege of Ladysmith, a key moment in the Boer War in 1899.

Finally, we're in Kenya for the start of one athlete's historic journey to javelin gold at the World Athletics Championships in 2015.

Contributors:

Professor Maxime Aubert - archaeologist, Griffith University, Australia

Sir Bernard Lovell - British radio astronomer and physicist (archive)

Yoriko Madoka - Japanese politician

Gerald Lankester Harding - British archaeologist (archive)

James Dalton - British Army bandsman with the Gordon Highlanders (archive)

Julius Yego ('Mr YouTube Man') - Kenyan track and field athlete

(Photo: Cave painting, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Credit: Maxime Aubert)

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

We dedicate this edition to Manchester, in England. We hear about the man who opened the city's first racially inclusive nightclub in 1962. This programme contains descriptions of racial discrimination. Our guest Kath McDermott, a Mancunian DJ and producer at BBC 6 Music, tells us about Manchester's musical scene and how it helped shape the town’s culture and identity.

The acclaimed artist Harold Riley was a local to Greater Manchester and also the only one granted access to paint Nelson Mandela from life.

Plus, we remember the time the city hosted the Fifth Pan-African Congress in 1945, where activists from around the world met to discuss the struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination.

And we go back to 1948, when the University of Manchester developed ‘Baby,’ the world’s first stored-program computer.

Also, the mass trespass on Kinder Scout in the Peak District that challenged private landownership to demand access to the countryside.

And the UK’s first female football photographer.

Contributors: Lisa Ayegun – daughter of Phil Magbotiwan, the founder of The Reno. Harold Riley – artist (archive). Peter Abrahams – African National Congress activist and writer. Tom Kilburn – creator of the 'Baby' computer (archive). Hakim Adi – historian. Benny Rothman – organiser of the Kinder Scout mass tresspass (archive). Harry Rothman – son of Benny Rothman. Magi Haroun – football photographer.

(Photo: Albert Square in Manchester in 1968. Credit: Manchester Evening News Archive/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

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

We hear how Norwegian teachers resisted peddling Nazi propaganda during the German occupation of the Second World War and our guest, Dr Rachel Pistol, talks us through other examples of resistance around Europe.

Plus, the Stardust nightclub fire in Dublin in 1981, the Iranian engineer who connected homes to the internet using cable TV and the birth of India's call centre industry.

Finally, this week's Sporting Witness - the most successful Paralympian and the discovery of the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks.

Contributors: Mr Roll Hansen - Norwegian teacher. Dr Rachel Pistol - a historian specialising in the Second World War, from the University of Southampton. Antoinette Keegan - survivor of the Stardust nightclub fire. Rouzbeh Yassini - father of the cable modem. Pramod Bhasin - businessman who set up India’s first call centre. Trischa Zorn-Hudson - the most successful Paralympian. Juan Manuel Santos - former President of Colombia.

(Photo: German troops marching through Oslo in occupied Norway during World War Two in 1940. Credit: European / FPG / Getty Images)

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

We hear how a French curator uncovered lost documents showing that the Nazis researched the Bayeux Tapestry during World War Two.

Our guest, Professor Catherine Clarke, takes us through the finer details of the famous medieval tapestry.

Plus, communist fighters struggling to survive while following Mao Zedong during the Chinese Civil War in 1935.

The firefighter who survived the collapse of the North Tower with his crew during the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

The Irish woman whose report changed the date of D-Day, and the winner of the first Rubik's Cube World Championship.

We also learn how reports of a moving statue in rural Ireland drew thousands of visitors in 1985.

Contributors:

Sylvette Lemagnen - former curator of the Bayeux Tapestry Catherine Clarke - Professor at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London

Zhong Ming - soldier in Mao Zedong's army

Jay Jonas - former New York firefighter

Edward Sweeney - son of Maureen Flavin

Minh Thai - Rubik's Cube World Champion 1982

Ita Dungan - pilgrim to the site of the reported moving statue in Ballinspittle

(Photo: The Bayeux Tapestry. Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau)

Max Pearson presents a collection of science fiction themed Witness History stories from the BBC World Service.

Our guest is Lisa Yaszek, Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech in the USA.

Actor Peter Coyote looks back on the making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, sharing memories from the set and reflecting on the film's enduring appeal.

We hear the story of Octavia E. Butler, who overcame poverty, racism and sexism to become one of the most influential voices in science fiction.

Plus, how American television boldly went where it had never gone before with what is claimed to be the country’s first interracial kiss broadcast on television, in an episode of Star Trek in 1968.

We also hear about Turkish Star Wars, the cult film that would go on to gain a reputation as one of the world's worst movies.

And how the success of the original Star Wars transformed toy marketing forever.

Then, in Sporting Witness, the story behind Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien's legendary reaction to Norway's 2-1 victory over England in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo in 1981.

Contributors: Lisa Yaszek - Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech in the USA. Peter Coyote - actor in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Nisi Shawl - friend of Octavia E. Butler. Nichelle Nichols - actress who played Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek (archive). Çetin İnanç - film director (archive). Jim Swearingen - toy designer. Marius Lillelien - son of Bjørge Lillelien.

(Photo: On the set of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Credit: Universal/Getty Images)

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

We learn why, in 2004, Uruguayans voted to enshrine water as a human right in their constitution - the first country in the world to do so. And environmental historian Ellen Arnold reveals how water has shaped human history.

Also, we tell the story of the fatal hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Pakistan, 40 years ago. And how the island of Antigua was devastated when Hurricane Luis hit the Caribbean in 1995.

We find out more about the abandoned Nazi photo album revealing the chilling normality of life at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Plus, how a Northern Ireland peace movement was born from one family’s tragedy.

Finally, in Sporting Witness, why Ghana’s sprinting superstar Alice Annum won the nickname ‘Baby Jet’.

Contributors: Carmen Sosa - member of the water workers trade union. Ellen Arnold – environmental historian. Eli Fuller – Antigua resident. Madhvi Bahunga - Pan-American Airways flight attendant. Rebecca Erbelding – archivist and historian. Gerry Grehan - chairperson of the Peace People. Alice Annum - Ghanian sprinter.

(Photo: A woman casts her ballot in Montevideo, 2004. Credit: Miguel Rojo/AFP via Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Dr Elisabeth Fondren, Associate Professor of Journalism at St John's University in New York, USA.

We start by hearing some groundbreaking frontline reporting from the Battle of Mandalay in World War Two.

Then, we hear how in 1950s Canada, a controversial government scheme saw the relocation of nearly 30 thousand people.

Next, a pioneering scientist on his role in the fight against a flesh-eating parasite, the New World screwworm in the 1950s.

Plus, the extraordinary life and times of India's "Queen of Melody", Asha Bhosle.

Then, the formation of the English Premier League in 1992.

Finally, how, an Australian recipe book brought novelty birthday cakes to the masses in 1980.

Contributors: Dr Elisabeth Fondren - Associate Professor of Journalism at St John's University in New York, USA. Douglas Cleverdon - BBC radio producer (Archive). Don White - one of thousands relocated under a Canadian government scheme (Archive). Edward Knipling - entomologist known for his development of the Sterile Insect Technique (Archive). Asha Bhosle - celebrated Indian playback singer (Archive). David Dein, co-founder, English Premier League. Agnes Lee - former home economist at The Australian Women's Weekly.

(Photo: British and Indian Troops of the 14th Army in Burma, March 1945. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes focussing on Kenya.

We hear about Muthoni Kirima, one of the last Mau Mau fighters to come out of hiding and lay down her arms.

Caroline Elkins, Professor of History at Harvard University, discusses the brutality of the conflict between Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army, the British and Kenyan loyalists.

Next, when Princess Elizabeth became queen while staying at the Treetops Hotel, a lodge in the Aberdare National Park.

In 1997, scientists travelled to Kenya, in search of a cave believed to have been the den of the man-eating lions that terrorised railway workers in 1898.

Plus, we hear how Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga signed an unprecedented power-sharing deal to end a wave of violence that left more than 1,200 people dead.

And the heartwarming story of the friendship between a baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise.

Finally for our Sporting Witness story, we head to the first Ultimate Frisbee World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1983.

Contributors: Caroline Elkins - Professor of History at Harvard University, and author of Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya. Muthoni Kirima - Field Marshall in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. Frank Gillard - BBC correspondent. Thomas Gnoske - Scientist. Alan Patterson - British Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson's grandson. Maina Kiai - Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights in 2008. Maini Schildt - Swedish Ultimate Frisbee player.

(Photo: Mau Mau suspects are rounded up by police outside the camp in Manyani, Kenya, 1955. Credit: Getty Images/Authenticated News)

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

This week, we hear about the end of decades-long martial law in Taiwan and discuss its impact on the country's literature with Ti-han Chang, the Deputy Director of Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS University of London.

Next, the making of City of God, the film that showed the raw reality of children's gangs in Brazil's favelas.

Plus, we remember Ashley Kriel, the young activist who became an anti-apartheid icon on the Cape Flats.

We also hear about the first carbon offset scheme that planted millions of trees in Guatemala.

We go back 50 years to the first time women played basketball in the Olympic Games.

And the birth of Club Med, the resort that pioneered the all-inclusive holiday.

Contributors: Fred Chin - former Malaysian student imprisoned during Taiwan's White Terror. Katia Lund - co-director of City of God. Adiel 'Gorie' November - former anti-apartheid activist. Roberto Antonio Alvarado - planted the saplings that became some of the world’s first carbon offsets. Pierre-Xavier Bécret - son of Club Med employees. Juliene Brazinski Simpson - former US basketball player.

(Photo: Green Island former prison, Taiwan. Credit: James Wendlinger/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

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

We hear how a comic book fan and his friends began the very first comic convention in New York in 1964.

Our guest is comic book expert Dr Barbara Postema, from the University Groningen in the Netherlands.

Next, we hear how Oasis 1995 hit Wonderwall was made with the man who was the sound engineer on the record.

Plus, the memories of the cellist of Auschwitz in World War Two and the final use of a barbaric execution method in Franco’s Spain.

Sporting Witness takes us back to Hearts of Midlothian’s heartbreaking season of 1986.

And finally, we learn how Sweden gave its workers some of the longest paid holidays in the world in 1970.

Contributors:

Bernie Bubnis – organiser of the first Comic Con

Dr Barbara Postema - lecturer in the English programme at the University of Groningen

Nick Brine – sound engineer on Oasis’ song Wonderwall

Anita Lasker-Wallfisch – the cellist of Auschwitz

Carme Puig Antich – brother of Salvador Puig Antich

Gary Mackay and striker John ‘Robbo’ Robertson – former Hearts players

Inga Persson - beneficiary of Sweden’s long summers

(Photo: Oasis performing in 1996. Credit: Bernd Mueller/ Redferns via Getty)

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

This week, we hear about the first solar-powered flight around the world, and discuss other moments in the history of solar power with Prof Laura Herz, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, in the UK.

Plus, the start of the largest mountain carving in the world in honour of Native American warrior Crazy Horse, Mexico's 'little old lady killer' and the birth of the 'African Oscars', FESPACO.

Finally, when American football came to Europe and how a Peruvian instrument, the cajon, revolutionised flamenco.

Contributors: Bertrand Piccard - one of the pilots of Solar Impulse 2. Prof Laura Herz, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. Monique Ziolkowski - daughter of the sculptor who started the Crazy Horse Memorial. Dr Feggy Ostrosky - neuropsychologist who worked with Juana Barraza. Alimata Salembéré - president of the first organising committee of the Pan African Film and Television Festival. Oliver Luck - former president of NFL Europe. Rubem Dantas - percussionist who helped introduce the cajon into flamenco.

(Photo: Solar Impulse 2 flies over the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco in 2016. Credit: Jean Revillard via Getty Images)

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

This week, we mark 90 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War. Our guest is historian Professor Sir Paul Preston, who explains how the conflict transformed Spain and paved the way for the rise of General Francisco Franco. We hear the story of a young refugee who fled the fighting but later returned home while the war was still under way.

We then travel to the Canadian Arctic, where the Inuit fought for greater control over their land and way of life. Their campaign would eventually lead to the creation of Nunavut, Canada's newest and largest territory.

We also hear the story behind ‘The Kiss of Life’, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph that captured a life-saving rescue.

From Turkey, we hear memories of the failed military coup of July 2016, a night of violence that left hundreds dead.

Plus, the story of the Birkin bag, the oversized handbag created in the 1980s that became one of the world's most coveted fashion accessories.

And from Sporting Witness, why do thousands of sports fans around the world suddenly stand up, throw their arms into the air and sit down again? We discover the origins of the Mexican wave and how it became a global sporting tradition.

Contributors: Professor Sir Paul Preston – historian, author and professor at London School of Economics Paul Quassa- Inuit politician and activist JD Thompson- American lineman in ‘The Kiss of Life’ photograph Can Cumhurcu - Mukhtar of Çengelköy, Istanbul Jane Birkin – creator of the Birkin bag in interviews from BBC Archive Krazy George Henderson – creator of the Mexican Wave

(Photo: Spanish Civil War in September 1936. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Mateja Kurir, associate professor at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the editor of the book, On Power in Architecture.

We start with Jackie Kennedy's 1962 renovation of the United States' White House and the immigrant workers who protested against rent hikes and living conditions in 1970s France.

Next, the toxic explosion in a chemical factory in northern Italy in 1975 and South Sudan's celebration of independence in 2011.

Plus, the art movement Dada which began 110 years ago and went on to influence Surrealism and punk.

Finally, the Wimbledon final of 2008 between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer which some call the greatest tennis match ever played.

Contributors: Jackie Kennedy - featured in a CBS TV special in 1962. Mohammed Kherbachi - witness to the foyer strikes of the 1970s. Giuseppe Cassina - former Mayor of Seveso. Malual Bol Kiir - on the time of South Sudan's independence. Richard Huelsenbeck - interviewed in 1959 for the BBC programme, The Meaning of Dada. Rafael Nadal - winner of 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

This episode has been updated since its original broadcast to clarify the national origins of some artists.

(Photo: The White House in 1962. Credit: Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Jan English from the American Museum and Gardens in Bath in the UK.

We start with the moment the remains of a Native American chief were returned to the US, more than a century after his death in England in 1892.

Next we head to 1959 when Hawaii was brought into the United States of America as the 50th state with the passing of the Hawaiian Admission Act.

And we go back to the 1940s, when a Mexican American launched the US's first radio service in Spanish.

We fast forward to the 1980s, when the Statue of Liberty was showing her age and was given a multi-million-dollar facelift.

To the story of Rosa Parks who made civil rights history in 1955, when she refused to give up her seat on the bus, despite segregation laws discriminating against black people. This story contains outdated language.

Finally, the creative vision behind West Germany's 1990 World Cup shirt which became a design classic and is now one of the most sought-after by kit collectors around the world.

Contributors: Mary Black Feather Condon - Chief Long Wolf’s great‑granddaughter. John Waihe'e - Former governor of Hawaii. Jan English - American Museum and Gardens Collections and Public Engagement Director. Guillermo Nicolas - Raoul Cortez's grandson. Peter Dessauer - Architect who oversaw the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. Rosa Parks - Civil rights activist. Ina Franzmann - Designer of West Germany’s 1990 football shirt.

(Photo: The Statue of Liberty surrounded by scaffolding during its restoration. Credit: Terry Disney/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh in the UK.

We start with the birth of an Australian campaign to get people to take care in the sun and Ireland's response to the UK Brexit vote.

Next, the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and the Hong Kong bookseller detained for selling material critical of China's leaders.

Finally, Brazilian footballer Ronaldo's knee injury in 2000 and the story behind a famous insulting song in Mexico - Rata de dos Patas.

Contributors: Professor David Hill - former head of Cancer Council Victoria. Professor Devi Sridhar - Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh. Rory Montgomery - former diplomat, who led Ireland's Brexit negotiating team. Lam Wing-kee - Hong Kong bookseller who was detained for selling material critical of China’s leaders. Nilton Petroni - Ronaldo Nazario's former physiotherapist. Manuel Eduardo Toscano - composer of Rata de dos Patas.

(Photo: Sid the Seagull, mascot for the Slip Slop Slap campaign. Credit: Cancer Care Victoria)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Rachel E. Johnson, Professor of Modern African History at Durham University in the UK.

We begin with the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, which became a defining symbol of youth resistance to apartheid. We hear from one of the students who took part in the protest, which was violently suppressed by South African security forces in June 1976.

Then we have the harrowing account of an ethnic Georgian poet who fled his home in Abkhazia when the breakaway region was engulfed in war in 1993.

We also hear from one of the Greek Cypriot women who, in 1987, marched towards the ceasefire line dividing Cyprus to protest against the island’s partition.

Next, the scientist who identified Lyme disease in 1976.

Plus, the discovery of the remains known as “Mungo Man”, a 42,000‑year‑old skeleton that transformed understanding of Australia’s ancient past.

And Brazil’s heaviest defeat in a World Cup, which happened on home soil in 2014.

Contributors:

Professor Rachel E. Johnson – Professor of Modern African History, Durham University

Bongi Mkhabela – Soweto Uprising participant

Guram Odisharia – Georgian poet from Abkhazia

Niki Katsaouni – Greek Cypriot peace activist

Dr Jim Bowler – geologist

Prof Allen Steere – rheumatologist

Thomas Müller – German footballer

(Photo: Black students protesting against the compulsory teaching of Dutch-based Afrikaans in schools. Credit: Getty Images)

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

First, the story of the Belgian teenager who exposed a scandal within the country’s Royal Family in 1999.

Our guest, Professor Kate Williams takes us through some other royal scandals from history.

We hear how a group of women set up an underground newspaper in communist Poland and how an E-Coli outbreak caused one of Canada’s worst public health emergencies.

Plus, how Montenegro achieved independence from Serbia through a 2006 referendum.

Our sporting story this week takes us to Eastern Ukraine and the rise of Shakhtar Donetsk.

Contributors: Mario Danneels – teenager who exposed King Albert II of Belgium’s secret child Professor Kate Williams – royal historian Helena Luczywo – former editor of Polish underground newspaper Mazovia Weekly Bruce Davidson – resident who experienced Canada’s E-Coli outbreak Ivan Vujovic – independence campaigner in Montenegro Darijo Srna – former captain of Shakhtar Donetsk

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast after it was identified that an archive interview used in it was wrongly attributed.

(Photo: Queen Paola and King Albert II of Belgium in 1999. Credit: Reuters)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. And today, we’re celebrating international archives week, set up to highlight the importance of protecting the world's historical records.

Our guest is BBC curator Joe Schultz who talks about some of the jewels in the BBC radio collections. We find out why cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was stripped of his Soviet citizenship in 1978.

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela reveals how he survived prison in South Africa. Plus, Pablo Picasso and his fellow artists enjoy a Surrealist summer in 1930s France. And more on the inspiration behind Anton Chekhov's most famous play, Three Sisters.

We hear about the Jordanian king who survived numerous assassination attempts to become one of the Middle East’s longest serving leaders. And finally, Pickles the dog: the four-legged hero who found the stolen Jules Rimet trophy ahead of the 1966 World Cup.

Contributors:

Joe Schultz – BBC curator.

Mstislav Rostropovich - virtuoso cellist.

Nelson Mandela – former president of South Africa.

Eileen Agar – Surrealist artist.

Paul Shishkoff – friend of playwright Anton Chekhov.

King Hussein of Jordan.

Jack Pizzey – TV documentary-maker.

Pickles the dog – hero of the 1966 World Cup.

David Corbett – Pickles' owner.

(Photo: Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, 1950. Credit: Michael Ward/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Giuliana Pieri, an expert in Italian noir from Royal Holloway, University of London.

We start with the author Andrea Camilleri on the creation of his fictional detective Inspector Montalbano in 1994, and his influence on Italian noir.

Then we explore the tapes recorded in the 1950s with Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

We hear about the Chinese protests in 1989 that led up to the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Plus, the launch of Ireland's first Irish language television channel in 1996.

Next, when Diana Ross missed a penalty at the World Cup in 1994.

Finally, we hear from the artist behind the first of Australia's 'Big Things', the giant novelty sculptures that became a national phenomenon.

Contributors:  

Professor Giuliana Pieri - an expert in Italian noir from Royal Holloway, University of London

Andrea Camilleri - Italian crime-writer (archive)

Saskia Sassen - daughter of Dutch journalist Willem Sassen, who recorded interviews with Adolf Eichmann

Wu'er Kaixi - Chinese student organiser of pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square

Sinéad Ní Ghuidhir - first live presenter to speak on Teilifís na Gaeilge: Ireland's first television channel broadcasting exclusively in the Irish language

Alan Rothenberg - former president of the US Soccer Federation

Paul Kelly - Australian artist behind both the Big Scotsman and the equally iconic Big Lobster

Christobel Kelly - daughter of Paul Kelly

(Photo: Italian writer Andrea Camilleri, Rome, Italy, 2011. Credit: Luciano Viti/Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Michelle Meinhart, a reader in musicology and cultural history at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. We start by hearing about a Mexican song that captivated lovers in World War Two. Then, a marketing strategist recalls how he worked on a Mexican election campaign in 2000 that saw a change of government for the first time in 71 years. We hear how millions of indigenous women in Mexico won the right to vote and stand in elections in 2014. Plus, a woman recalls her family's escape from a deadly gas explosion in Mexico City in 1984. Finally, we find out how Titanic, one of the most successful films in movie history, was made in Mexico in 1997. Contributors: Mariano Rivera Velazquez - son of singer Consuelo Velazquez who wrote Bésame Mucho. Michelle Meinhart - a reader in musicology and cultural history at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Francisco Ortiz - marketing strategist. Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza - campaigner for indigenous women's rights. Virginia Martínez Tellez - San Juanico resident. Antonio Moreno - sports journalist. Luisa Gomez de Silva - assistant coordinator in the art department for the movie Titanic. (Photo: A welcoming kiss. Credit: Topical press agency/Hulton archive/Getty images)

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

We start with the launch of Expedition Robinson in Sweden in 1997 and discuss how reality TV began around the world with our guest Misha Kavka, Professor of Cross-Media Culture at the University of Amsterdam.

Plus, a Norwegian Sami protest song that made history in 1980, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which investigated residential schools and the uncovering a lost burial ground in Brazil in 1996.

Also, the 'sporting miracle' of 5,000-to-one outsiders Leicester City FC winning the English Premier League and the discovery of the fossil that revealed the first feathered dinosaur.

Contributors: Martin Melin - the first winner of Expedition Robinson. Misha Kavka - Professor of Cross-Media Culture at the University of Amsterdam. Chief Wilton "Willie" Littlechild - former Commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Philip Currie - palaeontologist who helped identify the first fossil of a feathered dinosaur. Wes Morgan - former captain of Leicester City FC. Inga Haetta - sister of Mattis Haetta, who performed the first joik at Eurovision.

(Photo: Captain Wes Morgan and manager Claudio Ranieri of Leicester City lift the Premier League Trophy on 7 May 2016. Credit: Michael Regan / Getty Images)

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

We start with the broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough. To mark his 100th birthday, we go back to the mid 1950s and the television programme that launched his career. Our guest is Dr Paula Kahumbu, a Kenyan conservationist and head of the conservation organisation, Wildlife Direct.

Then, the story of a World War Two sabotage plot carried out by a team of Norwegian resistance fighters.

We hear about Africa's worst stadium disaster, at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana.

Plus, a Spanish nun reflects on the killing of two fellow sisters during the Algerian civil conflict in the 1990s.

We also hear how the world's most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex was found in South Dakota, USA, in 1990.

Finally, how the Nigerian 4 x 400m relay team were declared Olympic champions, 12 years after the race.

Contributors:

Sir David Attenborough - naturalist and broadcaster (BBC archive)

Dr Paula Kahumbu, CEO of Kenyan conservation organisation, Wildlife Direct

Gunnar Deinboll Jenssen - nephew of the Norwegian resistance fighter Lieutenant Peter Deinboll

Herbert Mensah - former chair of the football club Asante Kotoko

Sister Lourdes Migueles - Spanish nun who chose to stay in Algeria during civil conflict

Peter Larson - American commercial fossil collector and researcher

Enefiok Udo-Obong - former Nigerian sprinter

(Photo: Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster, with two ring-tailed lemurs. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. This week, we hear from a perfumer who in 1990 helped create the world’s first perfume archive in Versailles France. Our guest is Dr William Tullett, a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York and author of Sniff, History of Smells.

Then, we hear how in 1991 African journalists created the Windhoek declaration - a set of free press principles. It led to World Press Freedom Day marked annually on 3 May.

Next, the global oil crisis of 1973. A former Dutch politician tells us how the Netherlands became the first country in Europe to introduce car-free Sundays.

Plus, the philosopher on how his 1972 essay on the Drowning Child thought experiment inspired the Effective Altruism movement.

And President Obama’s speech writer on how secret negotiations in 2014 improved relations between the US and Cuba.

Finally, a Sporting Witness on the Juventus match-fixing scandal in 2006.

Contributors:

Jean Claude Ellena - perfumer

Dr Will Tullett - Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York and author of Sniff, History of Smells

Wim Meijer - State Secretary for Culture, Recreation and Social Work in the Den Uyl Labour Government

Peter Singer - philosopher

Ben Rhodes - Barack Obama’s speech writer

Paddy Agnew - journalist

(Photo: Perfume bottles. Credit: Walter Zerla via Getty Images)

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

On the 40th anniversary of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, we hear from one man involved in the clean-up operation.

Our guest is Jordan Dunbar, presenter of the BBC documentary ‘The Last Dance Floor in Chernobyl’.

Next, we hear about the worst floods in 50 years that the Mexican state of Tabasco experienced and the race to save thousands of animals in Paraguay and Brazil in 1982.

Plus, the unexpected drought in the Danube River in 2011 and when Canada saw their largest ever campaign of civil disobedience in 1993 to save a rainforest.

In our episode of Sporting Witness, the tale of the 1981 film ‘Escape to Victory’.

Contributors:

Yurіy Skaletskyy – former radiological officer in Soviet Union military

Jordan Dunbar – BBC presenter

Marco Franco – emergency co-ordinator for the Red Cross in Mexico

Dario Perez Chena – rescue worker in the Mymba Kuera operation

Kristian Yakimov - an ecologist and tourist guide in Bulgaria

Tzeporah Berman – environmental activist in Canada

(Photo: Chernobyl in the aftermath of the explosion in 1986. Credit: SHONE/GAMMA/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

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

This week, the moment when Irish writer Roddy Doyle discovered he'd won one of the most prestigious honours in fiction: The Booker Prize.

And our guest, Merritt Moseley, emeritus professor of English at the University of North Carolina in Asheville, discusses the history of the award.

Plus, we look back at the assassination of radical African leader Thomas Sankara in 1987, and find out more about the Indonesian province that introduced Sharia law.

Also, how Hans Christian Andersen's 'lost fairytale' was discovered in Danish archives, and the female rollerblader who beat the men to grab X Games glory.

Finally, the story behind the creation of the children's playtime favourite, My Little Pony, in 1983.

Contributors:

Roddy Doyle – author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

Merritt Moseley - emeritus professor of English at the University of North Carolina in Asheville.

Paul Sankara – brother of Captain Thomas Sankara.

Bonnie Zacharle – toymaker.

Azwar Abubakar - acting governor of Aceh.

Ejnar Askgaard - curator and senior researcher, Museum Odense.

(Photo: Roddy Doyle with his prize winning book, 1993. Credit: PA Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Sahar Saleem, an Egyptian paleoradiologist specialising in using medical imaging technology to study mummies and ancient artefacts.

We start with the story a Jewish interpreter who helped guard Adolf Hitler's teeth in the final days of the Second World War.

Then, the engineering efforts to reduce the tilt of the Leaning Tower of Pisa - which kept it closed to the public for 11 years.

We hear a Nepalese activist recall the massive protests that led to the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990.

Plus, a childhood memory of the first major surrealist exhibition in New York.

Finally, we hear of the current whereabouts of Jorge, a popular Argentine sea turtle.

Contributors:

Lyubov Summ - granddaughter of interpreter Yelena Rzhevskaya.

Nunziante Squeglia - professor of geotechnics at the University of Pisa.

Durga Thapa - Nepalese activist.

Carroll Janis - performer at the first major surrealist exhibition.

Nicky Salapu - former goalkeeper for American Samoa,

Alejandro Saubidet - Argentine marine biologist.

(Photo: Pisa Leaning Tower and Pisa Cathedral, in the celebrated Piazza dei Miracoli. Credit: Getty)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Sarah Ward, a maritime archaeologist from the Australian National University.

We start with the discovery of the sunken Terra Nova, Scott of the Antartic's ship.

We hear from the Danish food entrepeneur Claus Meyer - a driving force behind New Nordic Cuisine.

Then, the long journey that finally took Picasso's Guernica to Spain.

Plus, the Chinese pharmacist who invented the e-cigarette.

And, the life of Echo the elephant - the star of the world's longest-running study of wild elephants in Kenya.

Finally, "fan man" James Miller and boxing's most bizarre night.

Contributors:

Leighton Rolley - oceanographer.

Dr Sarah Ward - maritime archaeologist from the Australian National University.

Claus Meyer - Danish food entrepeneur.

Ambassador Rafael Fernandez-Quintanilla - Spanish diplomat (from BBC archive).

Hon Lik - inventor of the e-cigarette.

Dr Cynthia Moss - founder of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project.

Marc Ratner - former representative of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

(Photo: The Terra Nova held up in the pack, Antarctica, 1910. Credit: Herbert Ponting/Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Paulina Guzik, International editor with the Catholic wire service, OSV News.

We start in 1986 when Pope John Paul II visited New Zealand.

Then, we hear about the reunification of Germany in 1989 from a key political advisor.

How one Maasai community overcame a devastating drought in 2013.

The recollections of one of the first people to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China in 1984.

Next, the first official penalty shootout in 1970 that changed football forever.

Finally, we look at an essay published in 1999 that was an unfiltered look into restaurant kitchen culture.

Contributors:

Michael Jarka - a man who met Pope John Paul II.

Paulina Guzik - OSV News.

Joachim Bitterlich - a key advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Dalmas Tiampati - founder of Ildalalekutuk Maasai Action for Development.

Yaohui Dong - one of the first to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China.

Frankie Banks - former Hull City player.

Martyn Kelly - a football fan.

Philip Lajaunie - Anthony Bourdain's former boss at Les Halles restaurant, New York.

(Photo: Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd during Mass at Auckland Domain. Credit: Reuters/Luciano Mellace)

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

We hear from a Cypriot lawyer, imprisoned by the British for almost two years during the "Cyprus Emergency” of 1955-1959.

Our guest, Professor Rebecca Bryant, explains how this period impacted life in Cyprus in the following years.

Plus, the story of India’s controversial nuclear deal with the USA in 2006 and when thousands of people rallied against a racially motivated killing in Norway.

We also learn about the questionable conviction of four men in Mauritius, who became known as the L’Amicale Four, and about how Tunisian independence helped improve women’s rights 70 years ago.

And finally, the remarkable story of when the unfancied Czech Republic reached the final of Euro 96.

Contributors:

Renos Lyssiotis - former Cypriot lawyer.

Dr Rebecca Bryant – Professor of cultural anthropology at Utrecht University.

Ronen Sen – former Indian ambassador to the United States.

Luciana Parvaneh Zehi – friend of Benjamin Hermansen.

Imran Sumodhee – one of the L’Amicale Four.

Saida El Gueyed – founding member of the Women’s Union in Tunisia.

Patrik Berger – former Czech footballer.

(Photo: British troops searching for EOAK fighters in 1956. Credit: Bert Hardy/Getty Images)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

Our guest is Professor Barbara Keys, a specialist in US history at Durham University.

We start with a celebration of the American Freedom Train, as the US prepares to mark 250 years of independence.

Then, the South African railway enthusiast who created one of the most luxurious train services in the world.

We hear about the invention of text messaging and how it changed the way we communicate.

Plus, 75 years of Radio Free Europe broadcasting news to audiences behind the Iron Curtain.

The thousand-year-long musical composition that's due to end in 2999.

And our Sporting Witness looks at how a British teenager won a six-month contract to play for Italian champions Inter Milan.

Contributors:

Lou Nelson - former security guard on the American Freedom Train 1975-76.

Rohan Vos - founder and CEO of Rovos Rail.

Friedhelm "Fred" Hillebrand - inventor of SMS and text messaging.

Arch Puddington - former deputy director Radio Free Europe.

Jem Finer - musician and composer of Longplayer.

Ben Greenhalgh - Margate player-manager and winner of reality show "Football's Next Star".

(Photo: American Freedom Train, 1976. Credit: NARA/DVIDS)

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

We learn about how Play-Doh evolved from a cleaning product to a childhood favourite and the creation of one of the best-selling board games of all time, Catan.

Our guest is the editor of Toy World Magazine, Caroline Tonks, who takes us through the history of toy crazes.

We also hear about the invention of the hoverboard, and how the Tamagotchi allowed people to have their own virtual pet.

Plus, how the family favourite game, Jenga, was born in 1970s Ghana.

And our Sporting Witness looks at how a piece of software revolutionised the game of football through data analysis.

Contributors:

Peg Roberts – daughter of Kay Zufall

Benjamin Teuber – son of Catan inventor Klaus Teuber

Caroline Tonks – editor of Toy World Magazine

Shane Chen – the inventor of the hoverboard

Akihiro Yokoi – the inventor of the Tamgotchi

Leslie Scott – the creator of the game Jenga

Ramm Mylavaganam – inventor of ProZone

(Photo: The Tamagotchi was introduced in 1996 and is one of the best-selling toys in history. Credit: Reuters)

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

We learn about how a Norwegian businessman brought salmon sushi to Japan in the 1980s.

Our guest is cookbook author Nancy Singleton Hachisu, who tells us more about the history of sushi in Japan and around the world.

We hear about the first opera written for TV in 1950s America and how U.S Marshalls used fake NFL tickets to capture some of Washington DC’s most wanted.

Plus, how disability rights campaigners in India led to a change in the law in 1995 and when Scotland played hockey in Germany during the cold war.

Finally, the story of when Laurel and Hardy spent Christmas at an English country pub.

Contributors:

Bjørn-Eirik – Norwegian businessman who brought salmon sushi to Japan

Nancy Singleton Hachisu – cookbook author

Archive of Gian Carlo Menotti – Italian composer

Stacia Hylton – former U.S Marshall

Javed Abidi – Indian disability rights campaigner

Archive of customers at The Bull Inn – the pub that Laurel and Hardy visited in 1953

Valerie Sinclair – member of Scotland's hockey team who played West Germany in 1961

(Photo: Japanese demonstration to Norwegian royal family. Credit: Bjørn-Eirik Olson)

We start with the street artist Banksy, and his 2015 dystopian 'bemusement park'.

Then, we talk to roller coaster enthusiast Megan MacCausland, from the European Coaster Club.

Plus, we go back through the BBC archives to tell the story of the coelacanth, a fish believed to have been extinct for 65 million years.

Next, South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up after the abolishment of apartheid in the 1990s. This programme contains contains harrowing testimony and graphic descriptions of human rights violations throughout.

Also, the six-day IRA siege on London's Balcombe Street in 1975, where a couple were taken hostage.

Finally, it's been 10 years since 193 countries and the European Union adopted the Paris climate agreement, in December 2015.

Our Sporting Witness programme this week looks at how an international skiing scene developed in the mountains of Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, in 2011.

Contributors:

Kurtis Young - steward at Dismaland. Megan MacCausland - European Coaster Club. Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer - South African museum curator (from archive). Sisi Khampepe - served on the Amnesty Committee. Steven Moysey - saw the Balcombe Street siege unfold. Christiana Figueres - head of climate negotiations at 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Alishah Farhang - Afghanistan skier.

(Photo: Dismaland in Weston Super-Mare. Credit: Kristian Buus/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes, all with a Nigerian theme.

We hear two personal stories of the Biafra war, which began in 1967, including the writer Wole Soyinka who was jailed for trying to stop it. Plus, we hear from Patricia Ngozi Ebigwe about escaping the conflict. She's now better known as TV and music star Patti Boulaye.

We speak to Dr Louisa Egbunike, who is an Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University in England.

Also, a retired Brigadier General speaks about West African countries fighting back against the jihadist militant group Boko Haram in 2015.

Then, the opening of the New Afrika Shrine in 2000, by Fela Kuti's children to honour his legacy.

Finally, we hear from Omoyemi Akerele who founded Lagos Fashion Week in 2011.

Our Sporting Witness programme this week looks at Nigeria becoming the first team to represent Africa at the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991. This is a Made in Manchester Production.

Contributors:

Wole Soyinka - Nobel Prize-winning poet and playwright. Patricia Ngozi Ebigwe - TV and music star. Dr Louisa Egbunike - Associate Professor in African Literature at Durham University. Sani Kukasheka Usman - retired Brigadier General. Omoyeni Anikulapo-Kuti, also known as Yeni Kuti - the eldest daughter of Fela Kuti. Omoyemi Akerele - founder of Lagos Fashion Week. Nkiri Okosieme – captained Nigeria women's national football team.

(Photo: Biafran national army soldiers. Credit: AFP via Getty Images)

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

Our guest is literature lecturer Dr Hetta Howes on major literary hoaxes around the world.

We hear about Howard Hughes' fake autobiography, the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá in Colombia and how the Indian musician Ravi Shankar taught George Harrison the sitar.

Plus, the Indian woman who led her country's first delegation to the United Nations, the Premier League's first female photographer and how Toy Story revolutionised animation.

Contributors: Clifford Irving - American author who faked an autobiography of Howard Hughes. Dr Hetta Howes - a senior lecturer in English Literature at City St George’s, at the University of London. Jorge Enrique Castelblanco - Colombian engineer behind the Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá. Ravi Shankar - Indian sitar maestro. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit - led India's first delegation to the United Nations in 1946. Magi Haroun - the Premier League's first female photographer. Doug Sweetland - animator on Toy Story.

(Photo: Clifford Irving leaving the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, followed by news crews in 1972. Credit: Bettmann Archive / Getty Images)

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast, with concert dates and song writing credits corrected.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Mercedes Peñalba- Sotorrío, a senior lecturer in modern European history at Manchester Metropolitan University, England.

We start with the death of General Francisco Franco in 1975 ending 36 years of dictatorship over Spain.

Then, we use archive to hear how King Juan Carlos reclaimed the Spanish throne in 1975 and led the country to a democracy. This episode was made in collaboration with BBC Archives.

We hear from a Social Democrat politician about Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to suspend asylum rules for Syrians fleeing war in 2015.

How the Bosnian war ended with the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.

Next, how a substitute fielder ran out the Australian captain in the fourth test of the 2005 Ashes, turning the game in England's favour.

Finally, we use archive to hear about cold war diplomacy in the Geneva summit in 1985.

Contributors:

José Antonio Martínez Soler - a journalist.

King Juan Carlos - the former King of Spain (from archive).

Aydan Özoğuz - a Social Democrat politician and former minister of state for immigration.

Milan Milutinović - a negotiator in the Dayton Peace Accords.

Gary Pratt - a fielder in the England cricket team in the 2005 Ashes series.

Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev - The former US President and former Soviet leader (from archive).

(Image: King Juan Carlos, 1975. Credit: Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is aviation historian Dr Victoria Taylor.

We start with an archive interview of American Chuck Yeager who became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound in 1947. Then, a couple who were caught up in the attack on the Bataclan theatre in Paris in November 2015.

We hear from a prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials in 1945 after World War Two.

France’s former finance minister recalls how an economic crisis in the 1970s led to the birth of the G7.

Next, how a heated NBA game in 2004 spiralled into one of the most infamous brawls in sports history.

Finally, we hear the story of the first ever underwater cabinet meeting in 2009.

Contributors:

Chuck Yeager (from archive) - the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Justine Merton-Scott and Tony Scott - a couple who survived the Bataclan attack in Paris.

Benjamin Ferencz - a prosecutor in the Nuremburg trials.

Jean-Pierre Fourcade - France's former finance minister.

Mark Boyle - radio broadcaster for the NBA's Indiana Pacers.

Mohamed Nasheed - former President of the Maldives.

(Photo: The first powered take off of Chuck Yeager's supersonic plane in 1947. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Darja Dankina, who's a palaeontologist from the Natures Research Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania.

We start with the discovery of the largest dinosaur ever, uncovered by a shepherd on a ranch in Argentina in 2012.

Then, we hear from the daughter of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who created children's show Thunderbirds in 1965.

Plus, the impeachment of US President Clinton in 1999.

How an American historical document typed out on a university computer in 1971 played a vital role in the digital revolution of electronic books.

Also, Colonel Gaddafi’s son being signed to Italy’s top football league in 2003.

Finally, we use BBC archive to hear how children's book character Miffy was created in 1955. In the programme Dick Bruna reads from Miffy Goes Flying with permission from Mercis Publishing bv.

Contributors:

Dr Diego Pol - palaeontologist who lead the dig for the Patagotitan. Darja Dankina - palaeontologist from the Natures Research Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. Dee Anderson - daughter of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Joe Lockhart - Bill Clinton’s former press secretary. Greg Newby - Project Gutenberg’s CEO and director. Jay Bothroyd and Zeljko Kalac - former Perugia players. Dick Bruna - Dutch author and illustrator.

(Photo: The Patagotitan. Credit: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Emerante de Pradines's son, Richard Morse, tells us about his mother’s life and her commitment to de-demonising vodou culture through her music. Haiti expert Kate Hodgson, from University College Cork in Ireland, expands on the history of the country in the 20th Century.

The story of how an Argentinian doctor was inspired to create a new treatment for heart disease and when the death of a Catholic priest sent shockwaves through El Salvador in 1977.

Plus, the memories of a survivor of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, when thousands of Bosnian Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb Soldiers thirty years ago.

The first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup and Orson Welles’s famous re-telling of the War of the Worlds, which sparked mass panic in America.

Contributors:

Richard Morse – son of Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines

Kate Hodgson – lecturer in French at University College Cork in Ireland

Dr Julio Palmaz – the inventor of the balloon-expandable stent

Gabina Dubon – colleague of Father Rutilio Grande

Sister Ana Maria Pineda – theologian and author

Hasan Nuhanovic – survivor of the Srebrenica massacre

Michelle Payne – 2015 Melbourne Cup winner

Archive recordings of Orson Welles, his producer John Houseman and writer Howard Koch

Presenter: Max Pearson

(Photo: Orson Welles rehearsing a radio broadcast of H.G. Wells' classic, The War of the Worlds on 10 October, 1938. Credit: Photo12/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

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

Sonny Roberts’ daughter tells us about how her father created the UK’s first black-owned music studio - this programme contains outdated and offensive language. Music producer and professor emerita at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Lucy Durán takes us through the history of music studios around the world.

How a Macedonian scientist’s discovery led to treatments for diabetes and obesity, and the story of the Kenyan ecologist who became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Plus, the mysterious sinking of a British oil tanker in Indonesia in the the 1950s and how the first lottery scratchcard was invented by an American mathematician.

As well as the story of the first South American to win the International Surfing Association world title back in 2004.

Contributors:

Cleon Roberts – daughter of Sonny Roberts.

Lucy Duran – music producer and professor at the School of Oriental and African studies at the University of London.

Svetlana Mojsov – Macedonian scientist who discovered the hormone called GLP-Joseph McCorry – who was on the San Flaviano oil tanker.

Wanjira Mathai – daughter of Wangari Maathai.

Sofia Mulanovich – three-time world surfing champion.

John Koza – the inventor of the scratchcard.

(Photo: Jamaican record producer Sonny Roberts Record Shop in Willesden Junction, London, UK in December 1982. Credit: David Corio/Redferns via Getty)

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

Indian-based author and podcaster Purba Chakraborty talks about the history of fiction writing.

We hear about the rise in popularity of 'Nordic Noir', following the publication of Henning Mankell's crime novels.

Then we listen to BBC archive of writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges - regarded as one of the most influential Latin American writers in history.

Plus, the trial of two Soviet writers, Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky, accused of smuggling their works to the west.

Helen Fielding looks back at her weekly newspaper column about a 30-something, single woman in London, which became a cultural phenomenon in the 1990s.

The niece of Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson talks about her iconic Moomin books - which have been published in more than 60 languages.

And finally, we hear the personal story of young Nepalese athlete Mira Rai, which shocked the ultra-running world.

Contributors: Anneli Høier - literary agent. Jorge Luis Borges - short story writer and poet. Purba Chakraborty - writer and podcaster. Andrei Sinyavsky - Russian writer and Soviet dissident. Alexander Daniel - son of Yuli Daniel, Russian writer and Soviet dissident. Helen Fielding - journalist and writer. Sophia Jansson - niece of Tove Jansson, author and artist. Mira Rai - Nepalese trail runner.

(Photo: Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell and a copy of one of his books. Credit: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)

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

We start with a BBC archive interview where one woman recounts what it was like to survive the earthquake and landside in 1961 following the volcanic eruption in Tristan da Cunha. Our guest is Anne Green, a retired schoolteacher from the island of Tristan da Cunha. She describes what it was like to return to the island in 1963.

Then, the rare eyewitness account from a 105-year-old who is the only Briton alive today, that was at the ceremony when Japan surrendered to China in Beijing at the end of eight years of brutal occupation.

Next, the economist who in 2001 wrote a report about countries set to shape the world economy, accidentally coining the acronym BRICS.

Plus, the man who won the national competition to design the Indian rupee symbol when he was just a student.

Finally, the story of how VHS and Betamax battled over which video recorder would win the home entertainment market.

Contributors: Anne Green - former teacher from Tristan da Cunha Archive interview with Mary Swain - resident of Tristan da Cunha John Stanfield - British Army veteren Jim O'Neill - economist Udaya Kumar Dharmalingam - Professor at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati Marc Wielage - digital colourist

(Photo: Tristan Da Cunha islanders arriving in England in 1961. Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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

Tea expert Sabita Banerji talks about the history of tea in India. We look back at how women teapickers in 2015 fought for justice - and improved the lives of thousands of tea plantation workers.

We hear the story of a famous photo of American president John F Kennedy working at his desk in the White House - with his cheeky young son underneath.

Also, from 1985 one of the most notorious killings from the apartheid era in South Africa of the men who became known as the Cradock four - this includes graphic descriptions of violence.

It’s 30 years since American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend. We hear from one of his former friends who testified against him in the criminal trial including his desciptions of the injuries suffered by the victims.

And finally, it’s 40 years this week since the release of Microsoft Excel, the spreadsheet software that's now used all over the world. We hear from one of the creators.

Contributors: Rajeshwary - tea plantation worker. Sabita Banerji - founder of Thirst tea charity. Lukhanyo Calata - son of Fort Calata, one of the Cradock Four. Ron Shipp - who testified against OJ Simpson. Mike Koss – one of the creators of Microsoft Excel. Plus, archive recordings of American photographer Stanley Tretick from the John F Kennedy Library and Museum.

(Photo: Female tea pickers on strike in Munnar. Credit: Countercurrents.org)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History episodes taking us from India to Texas.

Professor Sunny Singh, author of A Bollywood State of Mind, discusses the origins of Indian cinema in 1912. And we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of Bollywood romance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

We also head to Paris in 1971, to the launch of what would become one of the world’s best known humanitarian organisations: Médecins Sans Frontières.

And we learn how Lord Robert Baden-Powell laid the foundations for one of the largest international youth organisations.

Finally, we discover how Bette Graham, a single mum from Texas cooked up the first correction fluid in her kitchen.

Contributors: Kajol, Bollywood actress Professor Sunny Singh, author of A Bollywood State of Mind Asmaou Diallo, mother of a protestor who was killed in the 2009 Guinea rally Dr Xavier Emmanuelli, one of the founders of Medecins San Frontieres

(Photo: Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai. Credit: Indranil Mukherjee AFP via Getty Images)

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

We find out more about the 2014 fight against sexual harassment. And we hear from Professor Nicola Pratt, an expert on Middle East feminism about the significance of that moment in the fight for women's rights.

Also, we go to the 1960s when antiquities were saved to make way for the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile. And recollections from Egypt's first free democratic presidential election in 2012. Plus, the woman who broke the convention of the role of a first lady to help change divorce laws. And finally, we remember the moment the egyptian actor Omar Sharif swept onto the world stage in Lawrence of Arabia.

Contributors: Engy Ghozlan - co-founder of HarassMap Professor Herman Bell - scientist Rabab El-Mahdi - chief strategist to one of Mohamed Morsi's rival candidates Jehan Sadat - wife of President Anwar Sadat who helped change divorce laws Archive recordings of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif

(Photo: Women at a protest in Cairo, Egypt, in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Lucy Durán, a Spanish ethnomusicologist, record producer and Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

We start with an African American artist who recounts exhibiting her work at Nigeria's largest ever festival of African arts and culture in 1977.

Then, the testimony of a pilot stranded in airspace following the 9/11 terror attack.

A 94-year-old Jewish refugee remembers how she was saved by the Philippines during World War Two.

The first woman to complete the challenge of crossing straits of the world’s Seven Seas, reveals how she was inspired by a traditional Bengali folk tale.

Finally, from a BBC archive interview in 1974, the story of how a satirical book, that was a parody of management theory, became an instant classic in 1969.

Contributors: Lucy Durán - Spanish ethnomusicologist Viola Burley Leak - artist Beverley Bass - American Airlines pilot Lotte Hershfield - former Jewish refugee in the Philippines Bula Choudhury - Indian long-distance swimmer Archive interview with Dr Laurence J Peter - Canadian academic

(Photo: The official emblem of festac'77. Credit: Alamy)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's episodes of Witness History.

The formation of an unconventional special force during the Second World War sparks a discussion about three others around the world with military historian Lucy Betteridge-Dyson.

Plus, the founding of the United States Agency for International Development, the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic 40 years ago and the first baby born after a womb transplant.

Finally, Mexican-American boxer Oscar De La Hoya's toughest test - a clash with Ghana's Ike 'Bazooka' Quartey and how the online marketplace started at a house party in Lithuania in the noughties.

The first item contains outdated and offensive language.

Contributors: Major General Orde Wingate - leader of the Chindits. Baroness Jackson - economist who influenced the founding of USAID. Cathy Offinger and Jean Louis Michel - explorers who helped find the wreck of the Titanic. Prof Pernilla Dahm-Kähler - gynaecologist who helped deliver the first baby after a womb transplant. Oscar De La Hoya - boxer nicknamed 'the Golden Boy of Boxing'. Milda Mitkutė - co-founder of Vinted.

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast to add additional context.

(Photo: Members of the Chindits in the jungle in Burma, now Myanmar. Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)

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

We learn why the Mount Pleasant riots erupted in Washington DC in 1991, and hear from our guest, Sarah Jane Shoenfeld, a public historian of the US capital.

Plus, more on John Lennon’s benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York, his final and only full-length solo shows after leaving The Beatles.

And the story behind how the world's first permanent international criminal court was created in 1998.

Also, when the internet security tool, Captcha, moved from an idea to a reality, and why a photo of Chile’s goalkeeper in 1989 exposed a cheating scandal.

Finally, a peak behind the scenes of the making of a noir film classic, The Third Man.

Contributors:

Victor ‘Lilo’ Gonzalez – Mount Pleasant resident. Sarah Jane Shoenfeld - public historian. Andrei Broder – computer scientist. Judge Phillipe Kirsch – chair of the Rome conference. Geraldo Rivera – TV journalist. Ricardo Alfieri – sports photographer. Angela Allen - production assistant.

(Photo: Capitol Building, Washington DC. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Jacquie McNish, author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.

We start with the former co-CEO of BlackBerry, who recounts the company's remarkable boom and bust.

Then, the creation of the Spot the dog children's books in the 1970s.

We hear the testimony of a US soldier who defected to the Soviet Bloc in the 1950s.

An author recalls how her 2010 book challenged Norway's immigration policy.

The inside story of the creation of the Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991.

Finally, the 19th century battle that inspired the Geneva Conventions.

Contributors:

Jim Balsillie - former BlackBerry co-CEO. Jacquie McNish - Author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal. Chris Hill - son of Eric Hill, creator of Spot the dog. Victor Grossman - US soldier who defected to the Soviet Bloc. Maria Amelie - author of book on Norway's immigration system. Alice D Cooper - organiser of the first Women's Rugby World Cup. Henry Dunant - instigator of the Geneva Conventions, diary read by his descendant Gabriel Martinez.

(Photo: Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of BlackBerry. Credit: Visual China Group via Getty Images)

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

Our guest is Dr Anne-Lot Hoek, a research fellow at the International Institution of Social History in Amsterdam.

This week, we’re looking at key moments in Indonesian history, as the country marks 80 years since independence.

We start by hearing about the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who wrote Buru Quartet while imprisoned in the notorious labour camp on Buru island.

Then, the reopening of the worlds’ largest Buddhist monument after major restoration work.

Plus, 50 years since the Santa Cruz massacre, when Indonesian troops opened fire on independence activists.

Also, Jakarta’s ban on the use of dancing monkeys on the city’s streets. And, the discovery of a new species of human.

Contributors:

Pramoedya Ananta Toer - archive recordings of the writer.

Werdi – one of the workers on the project.

Dr Anne-Lot Hoek - research fellow at the International Institution of Social History in Amsterdam.

Max Stahl - archive recordings of the British cameraman.

Femke den Haas – animal rights activist.

Peter Brown - Australian paleoanthropologist.

(Photo: Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Credit: Reuters)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

Our guest is Dr Nivi Manchanda, a reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London.

First, a moment when two cultures clashed in 1985 at Stonehenge.

We hear about an English language novel from 1958, called Things Fall Apart.

Then, the 1992 creation of the iconic Champions League anthem.

Plus, how police raided the popular but controversial file-sharing website The Pirate Bay in 2006.

Finally, how Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip went on one final tour, after their guitarist was given months to live in 2015.

Contributors:

Helen Hatt - one of more than 500 people arrested at the Battle of the Beanfield. Dr Nivi Manchanda - reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London. Nwando Achebe - Chinua Achebe's youngest daughter. Tony Britten - composer of the Champions League anthem. Peter Sunde - co-founder of The Pirate Bay. Rob Baker - lead guitarist in the Tragically Hip.

(Photo: Stonehenge protests. Credit: PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

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

The expert guest is Dr Mirjam Brusius, a research fellow in colonial and global history at the German Historical Institute.

First, we hear about Martín Chambi - Peru's pioneering documentary photographer.

Then Amaize Ojeikere talks about his father, JD 'Okhai’ Ojeikere, who created an iconic collection revealing the elaborate ways African women styled their hair.

Plus, the story of Magnum Photos – the picture agency started up by World War Two photographers.

And, Vivian Maier, the nanny who - since her death - has been hailed as one of the best street photographers of the 20th century.

Finally, the mystery behind Lunch Atop a Skyscraper – the famous photograph showing 11 ironworkers eating lunch nearly 70 storeys high.

Contributors:

Roberto Chambi – grandson of photographer Martín Chambi Dr Mirjam Brusius - research fellow in colonial and global history at the German Historical Institute Amaize Ojeikere – son of photographer JD 'Okhai’ Ojeikere Christine Roussel – Rockefeller Center archivist Jinx Rodger - widow of George Rodger, one of the founders of Magnum Photos Inge Bondi - Magnum Photos employee

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast.

(Photo: Two books of photographs in the exhibition 'Martin Chambi and his contemporaries’. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Elizabeth Abbott, writer, historian and author of the book, "Sugar: A Bittersweet History".

First, we confront the dark history of sugar.

We hear how a researcher in the 1990s uncovered the unethical aspects of Sweden’s Vipeholm experiments in the 1940 which led to new recommendations for children to eat sweets just once a week.

And, how Mexico, a country which had one of the highest rates of fizzy drink consumption in the world, approved a tax on sugary soft drinks in 2013.

Then an event which shaped the second half of the last century - On 14 May 1955, the leader of the Soviet Union and Heads of State from seven European countries met to sign the Warsaw Pact.

Plus, the story of how two rival electricity pioneers, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison brought electricity to the world.

Finally, we hear from Finnish singer Marion Rung on winning the 1980 Intervision Song Contest, the USSR’s answer to Eurovision.

Contributors:

Dr Elin Bommenel - academic Dr Simon Barquera - director of health and nutrition research at The Institute for Public Health of Mexico Dr Elizabeth Abbott - writer and historian Otto Grotewohl - German politician Mark Seifer - biographer of Nikola Tesla William Terbo - relative of Nikola Tesla Marion Rung - Finnish winner of Intervision song contest 1980

(Photo: sugar cubes and fizzy drinks, Credit: Anthony Devlin/Press Association)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Rubina Raja, professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University in Denmark.

First, we go back to May 2015, when the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria was about to fall to Jihadist fighters and how of a group of men risked their lives to preserve the world-famous archaeology.

Plus, the entrepreneur and engineer Yoshitada Minami and his wife Fumiko Minami who came up with a way to liberate women from two to three hours of housework a day through the invention of the rice cooker in 1955.

Then the story of the sinking of the Lusitania, the British ocean liner sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland during the First World War.

Also, celebrating 80 years since the end of the Second World War in Europe we dive into the BBC archives to listen to correspondents capturing the scenes of joy across London on VE day in 1945.

Finally, how in 2000, keen cricketer Paul Hawkins wanted to turn his passion into innovation when he created the technology we now known as ‘HawkEye’.

Contributors:

Khalil Hariri - archaeology expert who worked at Palmyra’s museum Rubina Raja - professor of classical archaeology and art at Aarhus University in Denmark Aiji Minami - son of Yoshitada and Fumiko Minami Margaret Hague Thomas – passenger on the Lusitania Leslie Morton – merchant seaman on the Lusitania Paul Hawkins – founder of ‘Hawkeye’

(Photo: Palmyra. Credit: PHAS / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service about the Vietnam War and the invention of the hugely popular mobile phone game, Snake.

Don Anderson, a former BBC TV reporter during the final days of Vietnam, discusses the atmosphere in Saigon as the North Vietnamese forces closed in.

We also hear about the network of tunnels in the south of the country which Viet Cong guerrillas built during the fighting.

Finally, the former president of the European Commission and two-time prime minister of Italy, Romano Prodi on steering through the ten-state expansion of the European Union in 2004.

Contributors:

Le Van Lang - a Viet Cong veteran.

Dr Xuan Dung Tran - a doctor in the South Vietnamese Marines.

Don Anderson - former BBC TV reporter.

Phạm Chi Lan - economist at Vietnam’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Romano Prodi - former president of the European Commission and two-time prime minister of Italy.

Taneli Armanto - mobile phone game Snake, inventor.

(Photo: Viet Cong soldier inside the Cu Chi tunnels. Credit: Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is World War Two military historian and archivist Elisabeth Shipton.

We start by concentrating on two events from the last year of the Second World War.

Exercise Tiger took place in April 1944 in preparation for the D-Day landings of Allied forces in Normandy. But during that rehearsal a German fleet attacked and about 749 US servicemen died.

We hear remarkable archive testimony from Adolf Hitler's secretary who witnessed his last days in a bunker in Berlin before he took his own life.

Plus, 20 years since the video sharing platform, YouTube, was first launched.

We hear about the apartheid-era production of the play Othello in South Africa, which broke racial boundaries.

And finally, how in 1985, Coca-Cola messed up a reworking of the drink's classic formula.

Contributors:

Paul Gerolstein - survivor of Exercise Tiger (from archive audio gathered by Laurie Bolton, from the UK Exercise Tiger Memorial, and the journalist, David Fitzgerald).

Traudl Junge - Adolf Hitler's secretary.

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen - on the start of YouTube.

Dame Janet Suzman - on the staging of Othello in 1987.

Mark Pendergrast - author.

(Photo: US troops ahead of D-Day. Credit: Keystone/ Getty Images)

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

It’s 50 years since soldiers of the communist Khmer Rouge party stormed into the capital, Phnom Penh. It was the start of a four year reign of terror which resulted in up to two million people being killed. We hear two stories from people affected by the regime.

Our guest is journalist and author, Elizabeth Becker. She is one of the foremost authorities on the history of Cambodia, and one of the few westerners to have interviewed Pol Pot.

The scientist who invented the white LED lightbulb in 1993 tells his story.

Plus, the Bali Nine: young Australians facing the death penalty for drug smuggling and, Spain’s historic link to World Book Day.

Contributors:

Youk Chang – lived through the Khmer Rouge regime Aki Ra - child soldier of Cambodia Elizabeth Becker – journalist and author Professor Shuji Nakamura – inventor of the white LED lightbulb Bishop Tim Harris – friend of one of the Bali Nine families Pere Vicens - book publisher and one of the creators of World Book Day

(Photo: The fall of Phnom Penh in 1975. Credit: Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images)

8th May 1945 was a day of rejoicing in Britain, the US and many other countries: Germany had surrendered, and World War II was over, at least in Europe.

Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone: for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army.

In this documentary, Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unfolds the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time, through their memoirs and diaries. Amongst others, we hear from:

Siegbert Stümpke, a 12-year-old schoolboy who was used as a runner by the German Wehrmacht in the final days of the war;

Lore Ehrich, a young mother from East Prussia (now Poland) who had to flee with two small children across a frozen lagoon;

Hans Rosenthal, who was Jewish and had survived the Holocaust hidden in a Berlin allotment colony before very nearly getting shot by the Soviet liberators;

Melita Maschmann, who got hooked on Nazi ideology aged 15, became a youth leader and took years to acknowledge her share of the responsibility for the crimes committed by the National Socialists.

Narrator: Lore Wolfson Windemuth Producer / Editor: Kristine Pommert Research: Katie Harris

A CTVC production for the BBC World Service.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Katrin Paehler, Professor of modern European history at Illinois State University.

First, a journalist describes how he accompanied Hitler through the embers of the Reichstag fire in 1933.

Then, the harrowing recollections of a doctor who saved survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Next, a woman describes how she was caught between her job and her clan during the UN's disastrous Somalia mission in the 1990s.

A Liberian woman explains how she helped end the country's civil war.

Finally, how Germany's 'death zone' became a natural paradise.

Contributors:

Sefton Delmer - British journalist at the Reichstag fire. Dr David Tuggle - surgeon at the Oklahoma City bombing. Halima Ismail Ibrahim - former UN worker in Somalia. Leymah Gbowee - Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Professor Kai Frobel - co-founder of Germany's 'Green Belt'.

(Photo: Reichstag building on fire. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)

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

We hear from the first woman to lead DC Comics - the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Jenette Kahn began turning the company around in the 1970s.

Our expert is Dr Mel Gibson, associate professor at Northumbria University. She has carried out extensive research into comics and graphic novels.

Next, Minda Dentler, the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the super-endurance Ironman World Championship in 2013, tells us about achieving her goal after contracting polio as a child.

Then, the invention of the life-size training dummy Resusci Anne in the 1960s, which was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The ghost town in Namibia that's slowly being buried by the desert after it was abandoned in the 1950s when the diamonds ran out.

Finally, the accidental invention of superglue in 1951, which only became a big hit following an appearance on a US tv show.

Contributors: Jenette Kahn - former President of DC Comics. Dr Mel Gibson - associate professor at Northumbria University. Minda Dentler - wheelchair athlete. Tore Lærdal - Executive Chairman of Lærdal Medical. Dieter Huyssen - grandson of an emigree to Kolmanskop in Namibia. Adam Paul - grandson of Dr Harry Coover, inventor of superglue.

(Photo: Cover illustration for Action Comics with Superman, June 1938. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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

We hear about the historic moment in Nigerian politics when Goodluck Jonathan made a phone call to General Buhari marking the peaceful handover of power in 2015.

Our expert is historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast, Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie, who takes us through Nigeria's political history in the leadup to the phone call that changed Nigeria.

We find out about Harold Riley who was the only artist to ever be granted a sitting to paint Nelson Mandela and how the portrait was unveiled in 2005.

Plus the moment co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, crashed Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 into a mountain killing 150 people on board in 2015.

In 1991, when a Yugoslav People's Army Commander died in mysterious circumstances during the Croatian War of Independence.

Finally, the creation of a new genre of music called Ethio-jazz in 1960s New York.

Contributors:

Dr Reuben Abati - one of Goodluck Jonathan's special advisers Adesuwa Giwa-Osagie - Historian and creator of the Untold Stories podcast Archive of Harold Riley - the only artist to be granted a sitting with Nelson Mandela General David Galtier - military person who led the Germanwings plane crash search operation Mulatu Astatke - musician and 'father of Ethio-jazz'

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.

(Photo:Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari (L) speaks with outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan (R) Credit: Pool / Nigeria Presidency Press Office/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we’re looking at the history of space travel, including the 60th anniversary of the first ever space-walk by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Also, the speech that would have been given if the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t make their way back from the moon; the founding of the European Space Agency and how Brazil came back from tragedy to launch their fist successful rocket. The Sky at Night’s Dr Ezzy Pearson joins us to tell us about the history of robot’s in space and the Soviet Union’s exploration of Venus. Contributors: Archive of Alexei Leonov – the first man to walk in space Dr Ezzy Pearson – Features Editor for the BBC’s Sky at Night magazine Felix Palmerio – engineer for Brazil’s space programme Archive of William Safire – speechwriter for US President Richard Nixon Bill Holland – former historian for NASA Andrea Amaldi – grandson of Edoardo Amaldi, one of the founding fathers of the European Space Agency

(Photo: Alexei Leonov on his first space walk in 1965. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

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

We find out about the landmark protest in 1990 when wheelchair users crawled up the steps of the US Capitol Building in Washington DC, campaigning for disability rights.

Our expert is Dr Maria Orchard, law lecturer at the University of Leeds, who has carried out research into disability and inclusion.

We hear about the 2015 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunisia's capital, in which 22 tourists were killed.

Next, the Gambian woman who in 1997 began making bags and purses out of old discarded plastic and is now globally recognised as Africa's Queen of Recycling.

The South African musical King Kong which opened to critical acclaim in 1959 and whose all-black cast defied apartheid.

Finally, the invention of the Global Positioning System - GPS - in the late 1970s, which now keeps aircraft in the sky and supports banking transactions.

Contributors:

Anita Cameron - disability rights campaigner Dr Maria Orchard - lecturer in law at the University of Leeds Hamadi Ben Abdesslem - tour guide Isatou Ceesay - environmental campaigner Nelson Mandela - former President of South Africa Marian Matshikiza - daughter of Todd Matshikiza, jazz pianist and composer Professor Brad Parkinson - chief architect of GPS

(Photo: 8 year-old Jennifer Keelan crawls up the steps of the US Capitol, 12 March 1990. Credit: AP/Jeff Markowitz)

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

We find out how Sylvan Goldman’s invention of the shopping trolley in 1930s America turned him into a multi-millionaire.

Our expert is Rachel Bowlby, Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London, who is also the author of two books on the history of shopping.

We hear about Toyota’s military pick-up trucks that transformed the 1987 north African conflict between Chad and Libya.

The 2015 migrant crisis in Europe which led to thousands of people setting-up camp in the French port of Calais.

Next, how US forces invaded the Central American state of Panama in 1989 to depose General Manuel Noriega.

And finally in 1965 at the height of the USA’s civil rights struggle, the landmark legislation that was brought in to guarantee the rights of African Americans to vote.

This programme contains outdated language which some people might find offensive.

Contributors: Charles Kuralt – a journalist for CBS News Sylvan Goldman – inventor of the shopping trolley Rachel Bowlby - Professor of Comparative Literature at University College London Mahamat Saleh Bani - former officer in the Chadian Armed Forces Enrique Jelenszky – lawyer Jean-Marc Puissesseau - former President and Chairman of the Port of Calais C T Vivian – US minister George Wallace – former Governor of Alabama Lyndon B Johnson – former President of the United States

(Photo: A woman pushing a shopping cart, 1949. Credit: Bettman via Getty Images)

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

We hear about the moment Dr Max Perutz discovered the haemoglobin structure.

Our expert is Professor Sir Alan Fersht, who is a chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology and knew Dr Perutz personally.

We also hear about 22 Inuit children from Greenland's indigenous population who were sent to Denmark as part of a social experiment in 1951.

Also, when mixed-raced children from the then Belgian Congo known as ‘métis’, were forcibly taken from their homes in 1953.

When an eruption of violence in Assam led to an estimated 3,000 being killed in the Nellie massacre of 1983.

Finally, the devastating impact of the 2010 tsunami in Chile and a woman who survived it.

This programme contains outdated language which some people might find offensive.

Contributors: Lectures and programmes from the BBC archive Professor Sir Alan Fersht - chemist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Helen Thiesen - a child in Denmark's Inuit children social experiment. Marie-José Loshi - one of the mixed-race ‘métis’ who was forcibly removed from her home in the then Belgian Congo. Bedabrata Lahkar - a journalist for the Assam Tribune newspaper at the time of the Nellie massacre. Alison Campbell - a survivor of Chile’s 2010 tsunami.

(Photo: Dr Max Perutz and Dr Paul Kedrew. Credit: Hulton Deutsch/Contributor via Getty Images)

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

We hear about the death of one of the oldest languages in the world, when an 85 year old woman died and took it with her in 2010.

Our expert guest is Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur, who is the Head of the Endangered Languages Archive which endeavours to preserve languages that are disappearing at “an alarming rate.”

We also hear about the historian who helped bring a former Stasi officer to justice decades after he killed a man.

Also the moment Bolivia elected its first ever indigenous president in 2005.

The Thai couple that broke the world record for the longest kiss twice.

Plus, it’s 60 years since the controversial black activist, Malcolm X was assassinated. We hear from a man who was in the audience in New York when it happened.

This programme contains outdated and offensive language.

Contributors: Dr Anvita Abbi – linguist who documented one of the oldest languages before it died Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur – Head of the Endangered Languages Archive Dr Filip Gańczak – the historian who helped convict a former Stasi officer of murder Herman Ferguson who was in the audience when Malcolm X was assassinated Álvaro García Linera – Vice President of Bolivia under Evo Morales for 14 years Ekkachai – one half of the couple who broke the record for the world’s longest kiss

(Photo: Boa Senior in Hospital. Credit: Anvita Abbi)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We discuss the 1992 speech given by Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, in which he acknowledged the moral responsibility his government should bear for the horrors committed against Indigenous Australians, with our guest Dr Rebe Taylor from Tasmania University.

We also look at two female orators from opposite ends of the political spectrum: Eva Peron, also known as Evita, from right-wing Argentina and Dolores Ibárruri, who was a communist and anti-fascist fighter in the Spanish Civil War.

There are also two speeches from the USA, one which is remembered as one of the great presidential speeches of all time and another which help to change the view of AIDS in the country.

Contributors: Don Watson - who wrote Paul Keating's Redfern speech in 1992.

Dr Rebe Taylor - Australian historian from the University of Tasmania.

Archive of Eva Peron - former first lady of Argentina.

Mary Fisher - who addressed the Republican Party convention in 1992.

David Eisenhower and Stephen Hess - Dwight Eisenhower's grandson and former speechwriter.

Archive of Delores Ibárruri - former anti-fascist fighter in the Spanish Civil War.

(Photo: Paul Keating Credit: Pickett/The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)