Witness History

I fought for Mexico’s indigenous women to get political equality

27 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 2014, indigenous women in Mexico won a landmark victory in their struggle for political rights. It came after years of campaigning by Eufro...

Mexico: The election that ended one‑party rule

26 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In July 2000 an historic election in Mexico saw a change of government for the first time in 71 years. Vicente Fox of the National Action Party was el...

The Mexican song that captivated lovers during World War II

25 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1944, as World War II was drawing to a close, the Mexican love song Besame Mucho crossed the Atlantic and became one of the most recognisable melod...

Canada's worst E.coli outbreak

22 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2000, contaminated drinking water in the small Canadian town of Walkerton triggered one of the country’s worst public health disasters.Heavy rain...

Montenegro votes for independence

21 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Montenegro achieving independence from Serbia in 2006 was the final part of the break-up of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Mont...

When Krishna Menon met Stalin

20 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1953, an Indian diplomat nicknamed the 'sombre porcupine' was given a rare opportunity when he was invited to the Kremlin to meet Joseph Stalin, on...

Exposing King Albert II's secret child

19 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1999, a teenager's debut book unintentionally caused a royal scandal in Belgium that wouldn't be resolved for more than 20 years.Each evening after...

Poland’s underground newspaper

18 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981, Poland's communist regime imposed martial law and the dissident Solidarity movement was suppressed. In response, Helena Luczywo helped set up...

The Sami protest song that made Eurovision history

15 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1980, Norway’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest included a traditional Sami joik song from the country’s indigenous community. It was the f...

When Sweden invented the reality game show

14 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1997, Sweden changed television history. That year saw the launch of Expedition Robinson, widely regarded as the world’s first reality-based comp...

Uncovering a lost burial ground in Rio

13 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1996, the bricklayer renovating Merced dos Anjos’ home in Rio de Janeiro told her something strange had happened. Bones appeared as he was breaki...

The fossil that revealed the first dinosaur feathers

12 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1996, a fossil unearthed in China became the first confirmed record of a dinosaur covered in feathers.Before this discovery, some palaeontologists ...

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

11 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was a seven-year project which examined the country’s residential school system. For more than 100 y...

Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest

08 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1954, the BBC broadcast a new television programme in Britain. It was called Zoo Quest and it launched the career of a man who has since brought th...

Africa's worst stadium disaster

07 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 9 May 2001, 127 people died and dozens more were injured at the Accra Stadium in Ghana.It is Africa's worst football stadium tragedy. The disaste...

Finding the world’s most complete T-rex fossil

06 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 12 August 1990, the world's most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex was found in South Dakota.Deena Newman speaks to Peter Larson whose team ...

Norway's WW2 railway sabotage plot

05 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1942, a team of Norwegian resistance fighters in occupied Norway were getting ready to blow up a railway carrying materials crucial to the Germ...

Nuns killed in Algeria

04 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1990s, Algeria was engulfed by a brutal civil conflict, as armed Islamist groups fought the state and civilians lived in fear. Foreigners...

The origins of World Press Freedom Day

01 May 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In April 1991, journalists from 38 African countries came together in Namibia for a week-long seminar to discuss the need for a free, independent and ...

Inside the Cuban thaw

30 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 December 2014, United States president Barack Obama and the leader of Cuba, Raúl Castro, announced the normalisation of their countries' relati...

Peter Singer’s Drowning Child thought experiment

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1971, the region that is now Bangladesh fought for independence from Pakistan. At the time, Peter Singer was a philosophy lecturer at the Universit...

Car-free Sundays during the global oil crisis

28 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1973, the Netherlands was the only western European country to face a full oil embargo from the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Co...

The world's first perfume archive

27 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 26 April 1990, the world's first perfume archive opened in Versailles, France.The idea behind L'Osmothèque was to create a collection of scents an...

The Tabasco floods

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2007, the Mexican state of Tabasco experienced its worst flooding in 50 years, with more than a million people affected. Eighty per cent of the re...

The clean-up of Chernobyl

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine, on 26 April 1986, was the world’s worst nuclear accident. The explosion in reactor fo...

The war in the woods

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993, plans to log one of Canada’s ancient rainforests sparked the country’s largest act of civil disobedience. It was known as the war in the ...

Europe’s long drought of 2011

21 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2011, after months of little or no rain in central and eastern Europe, water levels on some parts of the Danube River fell to their lowest level in...

Mymba Kuera: the race to save wildlife at the Itaipu dam

20 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1982, Paraguay and Brazil closed the gates of the Itaipu River, beginning to fill the reservoir of what would soon be the world's largest d...

Discovering Hans Christian Andersen's 'lost fairytale'

17 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 2012, a local historian stumbled upon a misplaced pamphlet in the Danish Archives. It was a story called the Tallow Candle and is believed ...

The introduction of Sharia law in Aceh, Indonesia

16 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Aceh in Sumatra is the only Indonesian province where Sharia Law, Islamic religious law, is in force. It followed years of conflict between Aceh and t...

The assassination of Thomas Sankara

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1987, one of Africa's most radical leaders, Captain Thomas Sankara, was gunned down in a coup in Burkina Faso. His overthrow was orchestrat...

Roddy Doyle: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

14 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993, the Irish writer Roddy Doyle won the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction. His novel, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, was remarkable for the way it co...

The creation of My Little Pony

13 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

My Little Pony first appeared in shops in the United States in 1983 and in that decade alone more than 100 million would be sold. But American toymake...

The turtle freed after 41 years in captivity

10 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, loggerhead sea turtle Jorge became trapped in fishing nets and was moved to an aquarium in Mendoza. He was kept in captivity for more than 40...

Khula Manch, the victory rally

09 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 9 April 1990, people gathered at Khula Manch, an open stage in Kathmandu. They were celebrating the end of Nepal’s party-less Panchayat system an...

Hitler's teeth

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 8 May 1945, Yelena Rzhevskaya was handed a small box covered in red satin. The box had once held perfume but now inside – so she said – were Ad...

Marcel Duchamp and the urinal that changed art

07 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In October 1942, the great French conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp helped put on the first major surrealist exhibition in New York. Carroll Janis's...

Straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa

06 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 15 December 2001, the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened to the public after an unprecedented 11-year closure. Famous worldwide for its dramatic lean, ...

The first commercially successful electronic cigarette

03 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the summer of 2003, pharmacist Hon Lik was one of millions of smokers in China.He was coughing a lot and having problems with his breathing and won...

Spain welcomes Picasso’s Guernica

02 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981 one of the world’s most iconic works of art – Guernica - was finally handed to Spain after a 44-year exile.Pablo Picasso had created the h...

New Nordic cuisine

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2004, Danish food entrepreneur Claus Meyer launched the ‘Nordic Kitchen Manifesto’, kick-starting a revolution in Nordic cooking focused on loc...

The discovery of the Terra Nova shipwreck

31 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2012, a team of researchers discovered one of the most famous polar shipwrecks - the Terra Nova.The ship was famous for carrying Britain’s doomed...

Recommending: 13 Minutes Presents Artemis II

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are returning to the Moon - hear all about it on the BBC’s space podcast. 13 Minutes Presents: Artemis II is following Nasa’s mission to lo...

Echo and the elephants

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1972, the world’s longest-running study of wild elephants was first launched in Kenya, making a star of one of its subjects – Echo.For decades,...

Anthony Bourdain's Don't Eat Before Reading This

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In April 1999, Anthony Bourdain's essay Don't Eat Before Reading This was published. It was an unfiltered look into restaurant kitchen culture. It lau...

The first Great Wall of China trek

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In May1984, three friends starting trekking along the Great Wall of China. It took 508 days for them to complete and they became the first people to d...

How a Maasai community in Kenya overcame a deadly drought

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013, after losing most of their cattle, a Maasai community in Kajiado County formed an organisation to protect their land and culture.It's called ...

The only Pope to visit New Zealand

24 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In November 1986, Pope John Paul II visited New Zealand as part of his longest ever world tour.He gave an open-air mass at Auckland Domain in front of...

The reunification of Germany

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989, it marked a turning point in the Cold War in Europe and set in motion the process that led to the reunif...

Women's rights in independent Tunisia

20 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It's 70 years since Tunisian gained independence from France.In August 1956, it brought in a new equality law that revolutionised women's lives.Under ...

The 'Cyprus Emergency'

19 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1955 and 1959, a Greek-Cypriot paramilitary group called EOKA rebelled against British colonial rule in Cyprus. In response, the British autho...

Oslo's anti-racism demonstration

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 February 2001, at least 30,000 people rallied in Oslo after the murder of 15-year-old Benjamin Hermansen by neo-Nazis.It is thought to be Norway'...

The L'Amicale Four

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1999, a fire at the L’Amicale gambling house in Port Louis, Mauritius, killed seven people. The fire began during riots that followed a disputed ...

The nuclear mango deal

16 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 2 March 2006, the United States and India finalised a controversial nuclear deal, ending India's three decades of international isolation over its ...

Casablanca: Making one of Hollywood’s greatest movies

13 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When Warner Bros assigned twin brothers and screenwriters Julius Epstein and Philip Epstein to adapt a stage play for the big screen in 1942, no one c...

How Rang De Basanti inspired a generation

12 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Released on India’s Republic Day in January 2006, the Hindi film Rang De Basanti, exploded onto the cultural landscape. In its first week, it shatte...

I starred in Pan’s Labyrinth

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2006, Ivana Baquero starred in Guillermo del Toro’s Spanish-language film Pan’s Labyrinth. The film tells the story of an 11-year-old girl who...

My father directed Seven Samurai

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Akira Kurosawa's film, Seven Samurai, is an epic three-and-a-half hour long black and white film set in 16th century Japan.It was released in 1954 and...

Triumph of the Will: A Nazi propaganda film

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1934, one of the most controversial propaganda movies ever made - Triumph of the Will – was filmed at the Nazis’ Nuremberg rally. The two-hou...

The invention of the mobility scooter

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1967, American plumber Al Thieme promised his wife with multiple sclerosis that he would find her an alternative to a wheelchair. He came up with a...

India’s first nuclear test

05 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1974 India successfully detonated its first atomic device. It had been developed in secret with the codename Smiling Buddha. India called it a ...

Portugal’s worst train disaster

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 11 September 1985 in Mangualde, central Portugal, an express train collided head-on with a regional train killing an estimated 150 people.The impac...

Elvis visits Scotland

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1960, as he headed home from military service, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll made an unexpected stop at Prestwick Airport.It's believed to be the o...

The Origins of Ska Music

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jamaica’s musicians have had a profound impact on modern music. It’s best known for Reggae, but before that came Ska. Many of the early Ska stars ...

Sweden’s diplomatic freeze with the USA

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Outraged by the Christmas bombings of Hanoi in 1972 by the USA during the Vietnam War, the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme made a critical speech. ...

Syria's secret library

27 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A group of young men in the besieged town of Darayya came together to build a secret library during the Syrian civil war, which started in 2011 and en...

Charles Taylor and the blood diamond trial

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor, faced a courtroom in the Hague accused of war crimes.His trial would last more than three ye...

The Japanese invasion of Malaya

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 8 December 1941, Japanese troops landed in northern Malaya marking the start of the second world war in the Pacific.Invasion forces moved quickly d...

The Aga Khan meets Florence Nightingale

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1898, the British founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale, invited the Muslim leader Aga Khan III around to her London home for tea. They w...

The storming of Spain's parliament

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In February 1981, armed Civil Guards tried to take control of the Spanish parliament.A total of 350 politicians were held hostage for 18 hours in the ...

The playboy spy who inspired James Bond

20 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

During the 1940s, a playboy spy became one of wartime’s most successful double agents, as well as the reported inspiration behind James Bond. A gamb...

'I taught the Dalai Lama'

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1944, two Austrian mountaineers fled into the forbidden land of Tibet to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in India.Heinrich Harrer and his friend...

The photo which symbolised Argentina’s resistance

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Adriana Lestido, an Argentinian newspaper photographer, captured a mother and her young daughter raising their arms in protest in 1982. With clenched ...

Toxic shock syndrome and tampon safety

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1980, toxic shock syndrome (TSS) emerged as a public health crisis among women who used tampons. There were hundreds of cases, and The Centers for ...

World War Two’s Shetland Bus

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

During World War Two, whilst Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany, a group of Norwegian sailors set up a base on the Shetland Islands and began aiding ...

The flooding of Florence

13 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In November, 1966, Florence suffered one of the worst floods in its history after heavy rainfall caused the River Arno to burst.The Italian city was s...

The Mont Blanc Tunnel

12 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In July 1965, a 12km tunnel dug deep beneath the Alps was opened to traffic, making it the longest vehicular tunnel in the world. Linking France and I...

Gina Lollobrigida interviews Fidel Castro

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gina Lollobrigida was one of the biggest stars of European cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. Often described as "the most beautiful woman in the world", ...

When Pink Floyd played in Venice

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In July 1989, Pink Floyd played a free concert to 200,000 people in Venice, Italy. The British rock band took to a stage made of floating barges as cr...

The discovery of nerve growth factor

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

During World War Two, Italian scientist Dr Rita Levi-Montalcini was forced to do experiments in her bedroom after being banned from universities becau...

My dad created Mr Men and Little Miss

06 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1971, advertising writer Roger Hargreaves's eight-year-old son Adam asked him an unusual question: 'What does a tickle look like?'Inspired, Roger g...

Austria's wine scandal

05 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1985, government scientists discovered anti-freeze in bottles of fine Austrian wine. No one died or fell ill from drinking the poisoned wine, but t...

Jimmy Carter visits Cuba

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In May 2002, former US President Jimmy Carter paid a controversial visit to Cuba, which had been subject to a US trade embargo for more than 40 years....

Cuba's Mariel boatlift

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In April 1980, thousands of Cubans tried to escape the country by claiming asylum at the Peruvian embassy in Havana. In response, Cuban President Fide...

The 'Jugroom Fort' rescue mission

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2007, four British servicemen perched on the wings of an Apache helicopter in Afghanistan, in an audacious mission to rescue a fallen comrade. Lanc...

Ötzi: The Iceman of Bolzano

30 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1991, two German hikers found a dead body while walking through Europe’s Ötzal Alps. It turned out to be a perfectly preserved 5,000-y...

The Kaohsiung Incident

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 10 December 1979, pro-democracy activists clashed with police in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.The incident, which happened during Taiwan's martial law period,...

Chile's 'Penguin Revolution'

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2006, hundreds of thousands of school children in Chile took over their schools and marched in the streets, in a protest about inequality in educat...

The liberation of Auschwitz

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 27 January 1945, prisoners at the Nazis’ largest death camp were freed by the Soviet Union’s Red Army.General Vasily Petrenko commanded one of ...

John Logie Baird invents television

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 26 January 1926, John Logie Baird first demonstrated his 'televisor' in public. It was the prototype for television. Many people couldn't believe w...

Agatha Christie: best-selling novelist of all time

23 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 12 January 1976, author Agatha Christie died peacefully, aged 85.She created the detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.By the time of her death...

The Challenger space shuttle tragedy

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On 28 January 1986, a space shuttle launch went wrong.Six astronauts and a teacher, Christa McAuliffe, were killed.In 1984, US President Ronald Reagan...

Operation Mincemeat

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the early hours of 30 April, 1943, the most audacious hoax of World War Two has just got underway. Its code-name - Operation Mincemeat.The body of ...

The Irish priest who built an airport

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1986, a new airport opened in Knock in the west of Ireland. It was the dream of an Irish priest, Monsignor James Horan, who raised millions to ...

Exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran

19 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In February 1979, after the Shah left Iran, religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini flew back to Tehran from Paris.He had been in exile and was greeted by...

Weekend listening: The History Bureau

17 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft turns out to be flawed? The History Bureau revisits the defining stories of ou...

Afghan Star

16 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 2005, a new show was launched on television in Afghanistan to find new musical talent – it was called Afghan Star and was inspired by formats lik...

The deadly Vargas mudslides in Venezuela

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In December 1999, torrential rain in Venezuela led to floods and mudslides. Government estimates put the number killed at 3,000 but other reports sugg...

Creating Cluedo

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Air raids and blackouts during World War Two helped Anthony Pratt invent one of the most popular family board games: Cluedo.But the musician's real in...

The creation of the modern kitchen

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In 1926, Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky created the modern kitchen. It was called the Frankfurt Kitchen and was something she didn’t...