Witness History

I led the 'Umbrella' protests

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On the 26 September 2014 Nathan Law stood on a makeshift stage outside Hong Kong's central government complex and chanted ‘Democracy Now’ and ‘F...

The woman who spoke to the space station

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amateur radio enthusiast Maggie Iaquinto spent a year trying to make contact with Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station using special equipment....

Guatemala's disappeared

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More than 200,000 people were killed during Guatemala's 36-year civil war between the military and left-wing rebels which ended in 1996. Of these, an ...

Waris Dirie

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1987, an unknown 18 year-old Somalian model called Waris Dirie walked into the studio of renowned British photographer Terence Donovan.She had neve...

The writer of Mary Poppins

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1964, the Disney film 'Mary Poppins' was released. It was based on the character created by writer PL Travers.Travers disliked the Oscar-winning Di...

Canada’s first UFO landing pad

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1967, the small town of St Paul, Canada declared that they were a place that welcomed everyone, even the aliens. They did this by building a giant ...

Spain's La Tomatina

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1945, a fight broke out between two groups of teenage boys during a parade in the Spanish town of Buñol in Valencia. The boys ended up throwing to...

Argentina's five presidents in two weeks

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2001, Argentina suffered an economic catastrophe so severe the country went through five leaders in two weeks. On the streets police engaged in bat...

India’s first female bartender

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1996, an Indian government minister said that the work of women serving in bars "is not suited in our Indian culture”. There were protests and re...

Nazis in Egypt

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After World War Two, Egypt’s government recruited thousands of Nazis and their collaborators to bolster the country’s defence and security. This w...

The celebrity murder case that divided France

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2003, the French rock star Bertrand Cantat murdered his actress girlfriend, Marie Trintignant.The attack happened in Lithuania where Marie had been...

Saving lives after the 2002 Bali bombings

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Two bombs ripped through the Kuta area of the Indonesian island of Bali on 12 October 2002. 202 people were killed. 28 burns victims were taken to Ro...

How the CIA caught 'Carlos the Jackal'

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as ‘Carlos the Jackal’, carried out bombings, killings and kidnappings. Born in Venezuela, he was considered one of...

Sukarno: The founding father of Indonesian independence

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On the morning of 17 August 1945, the Indonesian nationalist leader, Sukarno, read out a statement declaring independence.It was broadcast to the coun...

The last ever Olympic art competition

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From 1912 until 1948, you could win medals in art at the Olympic Games, in categories such as architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture....

Clara Nunes: Queen of Samba

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Singer Clara Nunes is an icon of African Brazilian culture and known as the Queen of Samba.Her first samba song Ê Baiana was released in 1973.In 1974...

The first televised US presidential debate

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1956, the two largest US parties agreed to participate for the first time in a televised debate ahead of the presidential elections. But instead of...

President Richard Nixon resigns

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 8 August 1974, Richard Nixon became the first US president in history to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. This scandal began wi...

Ronald Reagan and the Moral Majority

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1979, the Moral Majority was launched and changed the course of US politics. It was set up to promote family values by religious conservatives from...

Bush v Gore: The election decided in the Supreme Court

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The US presidential election of 2000 was one of the closest and most contested in history. It was more than a month before the result was decided afte...

The Situation Room photograph

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Souza was Chief Official White House Photographer during Barack Obama's presidency. His photo from when Bin Laden was killed by US soldiers in 20...

Ice Bucket Challenge

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, the ice bucket challenge craze took over the internet.Millions of people including sports stars and celebrities filmed themselves being douse...

The 1965 Freedom Riders of Australia

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names of people who have died.Nearly 60 years ago, a group...

Finding a home for Bulgaria's dancing bears

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998, brown bears were declared a protected species in Bulgaria and the ancient tradition of forcing them to dance for people's entertainment becam...

Yazidi genocide: A rescue mission on Mount Sinjar

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Islamic State (IS) militants took control of Syria and Iraq in June 2014, the entire Yazidi population in Sinjar were immediately in grave danger...

The man who smuggled punk rock across the Berlin Wall

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1983, punk rock was strictly forbidden in East Berlin. However, that didn’t stop young music obsessive Mark Reeder, from Manchester in the UK, sm...

The first cold chain vaccination storage system

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1974, Ghana pioneered a new system which would help in the roll-out of the immunisation of serious diseases across Africa and the rest of the world...

Building the Moscow Metro

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

More than 10,000 Russian workers built the first line of the Moscow Metro which opened in 1935 to great fanfare. The spectacular stations were designe...

Olympics: Zamzam Farah at London 2012

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the London 2012 Olympics, the Somali sprinter Zamzam Farah became a crowd favourite after finishing last in her 400m heat by 27 seconds. Zamzam had...

The first Olympic ‘mascot’

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After being designed in one night, Shuss, the cartoon skier, debuted at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. Instead of ‘mascot’, the Olympi...

The 1924 Paris Olympics

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The last time Paris held the Olympic Games was 100 years ago in 1924.More than 3,000 athletes from 44 nations took part, of which only 135 were women,...

How Ayia Napa became a clubbing capital

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1990s, Ayia Napa, in Cyprus, went from quiet fishing village to party resort.The Kool Club was one of the first nightclubs to open in 1995.Rach...

The missing people of Cyprus

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1963 and 1974, more than 2,000 people in Cyprus went missing during clashes, a coup and the Turkish invasion. Only about half of them have bee...

Cyprus 2003: Crossing the ceasefire line

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In April 2003, the people of Cyprus were allowed to cross the ceasefire line for the first time in 29 years. Hundreds of people rushed to the check po...

Cyprus 1974: The Final Landing

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On the 20 July 1974, a young pilot was preparing to land passenger flight CY317 into Nicosia Airport in Cyprus, amidst the threat of an imminent Turki...

Cyprus 1974: The Greek coup

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 15 July 1974, the Greek military dictatorship in Athens sponsored a coup on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, aiming to overthrow its sel...

Arrested for playing football in Brazil

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like many young children growing up in Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s, Dilma Mendes had one dream: to play football for her country. There was just one...

Italy's 'poison ships'

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1988, protests broke out in Manfredonia, Italy, after the arrival of a large ship carrying toxic waste of Italian origin. The Deep Sea Ca...

The 1968 Mexico City massacre

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 2 October 1968, thousands of students protested in Mexico City, 10 days before the Olympics.The students wanted the government to free political pr...

The day Celia Cruz returned to Cuba

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In January 1990, Cuban singer Celia Cruz, known as ‘the Queen of Salsa’, went back to Cuba. Banned by Fidel Castro for opposing his regime, it was...

How the air fryer was invented

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2006, Dutch engineer Fred van der Weij invented a kitchen device that changed the way many of us cook today: the air fryer.Fred’s first prototype...

Conservative wipe-out in Canada

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Canada's 1993 election, the governing Progressive Conservative Party was routed, ending up with just two seats.In the 1980s, the party won the larg...

Fight the Power: The song that became an anthem of protest

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's 35 years since the release of one of the most provocative songs in music history.Fight the Power by hip-hop group, Public Enemy, was radical both...

Georgia’s political crisis

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the newly independent state Georgia found itself on the verge of a civil war. Rebel group...

Executed in Stalin’s Great Terror in Georgia

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1937 and 1938, Soviet leader Josef Stalin carried out his most severe purge in Georgia. Known as the Great Terror, thousands of political riva...

Subway Art: The graffiti bible

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, urban photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant came together to publish an era-defining book about the early graffiti movement.They had...

I designed Hello Kitty

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1974 an unknown Japanese artist put pen to paper and created a character that would go on to be worth more than $80 billion.The illustration was ti...

The first CIA-backed coup in Latin America

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In June 1954, the first CIA-backed coup took place in Guatemala, when President Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a operation organised by the US govern...

Dignitas: Founding an assisted dying society

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998, the assisted dying society, Dignitas was set up in Switzerland by lawyer Ludwig Minelli.It was the first end-of-life organisation in the worl...

Sagrada Familia: Completing Gaudi’s vision

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When visionary architect Antoni Gaudi died unexpectedly in 1926, his followers were left with incredible plaster of Paris models showing how to comple...

The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the end of World War Two, the Czechoslovak government expelled up to three million German speakers, known as the Sudeten Germans. They were accused...

Kawarau Bridge: The first bungee jumping site in New Zealand

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 12 November 1988, the world’s first commercial bungee jumping site was opened near Queenstown, New Zealand. AJ Hackett and Henry Van Asch started...

The first mega cruise ship

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 16 January 1988, the world’s largest passenger ship, Sovereign of the Seas, set sail on her maiden voyage around the Caribbean.She carried more t...

The beginning of Benidorm

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1950s, the transformation of the sleepy little town of Benidorm began when Pedro Zaragoza was appointed mayor. He started by getting pipes b...

How Cancún became a tourist destination

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1969, Antonio Enríquez Savignac was given the go-ahead to transform a secluded Mexican island into a world-beating tourist destination.The technoc...

The first budget transatlantic flights

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1955, a small Icelandic airline, Loftleioir Icelandic, slashed the cost of flying across the Atlantic.For the first time, thousands of young Americ...

Orelhão: Brazil's iconic egg-shaped telephone booth

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1971, an architect called Chu Ming Silveira created Brazil's iconic egg-shaped telephone booth, Orelhão. More than 50,000 of the booths were insta...

Kielland disaster

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1980, 123 men were killed when the Alexander L. Kielland platform capsized in the North Sea oil fields.It was Norway's biggest industrial disaster ...

The Irish shopworkers strike against apartheid

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, a 21-year-old Irish shopworker refused to serve a customer buying two South African grapefruits. Mary Manning was suspended from the Dunnes s...

Boko Haram massacre in Gwoza

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, Boko Haram militants drove into Gwoza in north-east Nigeria and began an assault that would leave hundreds of people dead.Ruoyah, who was jus...

Nato bombs Serbian state television headquarters

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In April 1999 Nato bombed the Serbian state TV station in Belgrade, killing 16 people. It was part of a military campaign to force Serbia to withdraw ...

The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at George Bush

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest at America's occupation of Iraq.George ...

Saving lives on D-Day

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Norman Shay was a field medic in the United States Army when he landed on the Normandy beach codenamed Omaha on D-Day.On June 6, 1944, the US ...

The woman whose weather report changed the date of D-Day

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1944, a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin drew up a weather report that helped change the course of World War Two. Maureen was working at a po...

Tetris: The birth of an all-time favourite

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, Russian engineer Alexey Pajitnov invented the popular computer game Tetris. But it was not until American businessman Henk Rogers joined him ...

‘Panda diplomacy’: China gifts pandas to Taiwan

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, panda-mania hit Taiwan when China gifted the country two giant pandas.This practice known as ‘panda diplomacy’ is thought to date back as...

The commercial that changed advertising: 1984

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Forty years ago, a Hollywood director, some tech revolutionaries and a group of London skinheads created a commercial that would rock the advertising ...

The Flint water crisis

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Flint was once one of the richest cities in the United States. But in the 1980s, it was badly affected by the downturn in car manufacturing and by 201...

The first Aboriginal MP

29 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.In 1971, Neville ...

The first ever quintuplets

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ninety years ago, the first surviving quintuplets were born in a small village in northern Canada.The Dionnes grew up in a specially-adapted nursery w...

Carlos Lamarca: From army captain to Brazil's 'most wanted'

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1964, João Goulart, the president of Brazil, was overthrown in a military coup. In the repression which followed, hundreds of people were disappea...

How Air Jordans were created

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1984, Nike signed rookie basketball player Michael Jordan and created a shoe in his name – the Air Jordan.The unprecedented deal would change spo...

Imelda Marcos's famous shoe collection

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2001, more than 700 pairs of Imelda Marcos’s shoes were put on display at the Marikina Shoe Museum in the Philippines. The wife of the dictator P...

Adi Dassler's sports shoe obsession

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How the Dassler brothers created two global sportswear firms.In 1948, Adi and Rudi Dassler who lived in a small German town fell out. They went on to ...

How a Brazilian flip-flop took over the world

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1962, a new brand of footwear launched that would become one of Brazil’s most successful and best-known exports: Havaianas. As the country’s fo...

Bata: Pioneering shoemakers

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bata was a Czech company which pioneered assembly line shoemaking and sold affordable footwear around the world. The factory near London was opened in...

When Cuban spy Ana Montes was caught

17 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2001, the American Ana Montes, who was working for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested for espionage.Although the FBI knew t...

Baghdad heavy metal

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1990s, a heavy metal band called Acrassicauda formed in Iraq, when the country was under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Over the next...

How nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's 20 years since elections in French Polynesia in 2004, where the independence movement stunned the France-aligned government of the day, propellin...

The creation of the state of Israel

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed.Tears and applause met the declaration, witnessed by 200 dignitaries, but fighting intensified in t...

The ‘Catastrophe’ for Palestinians

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes in the Middle East. The period after World War Two in the region wa...

Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1992, a photograph of Princess Diana alone on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal became one of the most famous photos in the world. Anwar Hussein w...

How a billion Indians got a digital ID

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009, the Indian government embarked on an ambitious task to register all of the country's billion-plus citizens with a unique digital ID. Aadhaar ...

The pioneering eye surgery that led to Lasik

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1963, Dr Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner performed the first surgery on a human eye aimed at correcting short-sightedness.The ophthalmologist had been...

East Germany's coffee from Vietnam

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980s, a thirst for caffeine caused an unusual global collaboration.Coffee-loving East Germans were left without after a crop failure in the wo...

Friends: The making of a smash hit

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a new show called Friends hit American TV screens in September 1994, it made household names of its cast.Over 10 series, it charted the lives of ...

The Channel Tunnel breakthrough

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Thirty years on from the opening of the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, we look at the moment the two halves of the tunnel were connected i...

Ukraine's 'museum of corruption'

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In February 2014, Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.His estate was abandoned by security guards, so for the first time ...

How to win friends and influence people

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1936, Dale Carnegie wrote one of the world’s most popular self help books - How to Win Friends and Influence People.The idea was suggested by a b...

How the Milgram 'obedience' experiment shocked the world

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1961, the American psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of controversial experiments on ‘obedience to authority’.His study aimed to show...

Finding the victims of Stroessner's Paraguay

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 70 years since General Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay in a military coup. Stroessner remained in power for almost 35 years, before...

Oliver Tambo returns to South Africa from exile

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 13 December 1990, the anti-apartheid politician Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa after 30 years in exile.As the president of the banned Africa...

Brenda Fassie: Madonna of the townships

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Brenda Fassie was one of South Africa's biggest pop stars in the late 1980s. The singer’s career nosedived in 1990, but her comeback saw her dubbed ...

Sarah Baartman's 200-year journey back home

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In August 2002, the remains of an indigenous South African woman called Sarah Baartman were returned to South Africa after almost 200 years away. Sara...

Soweto uprising: Children who marched against apartheid

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When South African schoolchildren marched in protest against having to study Afrikaans in 1976, they were gunned down by the police.The killings spark...

South Africa's referendum on apartheid

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 18 March 1992, white South Africans overwhelmingly backed a mandate for political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial ...

Major Charity Adams and the Six-Triple-Eight

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Major Charity Adams was the first African-American woman to lead a World War Two battalion. It was known as the Six-Triple-Eight (6888).The 6888 was a...

Deadly Everest avalanche

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On 18 April 2014, an avalanche on Mount Everest killed 16 men, who were carrying supplies for commercial expeditions to higher camps.The sherpas were ...

West Africa's Ebola virus epidemic

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The 2014 Ebola outbreak devastated West Africa, killing more than 11,000 people over a two year period. One country that suffered was Sierra Leone.The...

The friendship train: Connecting India and Bangladesh

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the train service between India and Bangladesh was suspended in 1965, following war between Pakistan and India, it lay dormant for 43 years.But i...