Witness History

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 disease started in Guinea, but quickly spread to neighbouring countries. Before May 2014, there had never been an outbreak of Ebola in Sierra Leone. By autumn that year, burial teams were struggling to keep up with the number of corpses that needed...

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 in a day of celebration in 2008, the Maitree (or Friendship) Express rumbled into life and connected the two countries once more. In 2020, Farhana Haider spoke to Dr Azad Chowdhury who was on the inaugural train journey. (Photo: Crowds line the track...

A group of men known as the ‘Cairo 52’ were arrested in Egypt in May 2001. They were on board the Queen Boat, a floating gay nightclub on the River Nile. Omer, not his real name, was arrested and imprisoned for habitual debauchery. There is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt and Omer was released early following the orders of US president at the time, George W Bush. Omer speaks to Dan...

Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who spent nearly 30 years in the Philippine jungle, believing World War Two was still going on. Using his training in guerilla warfare, he attacked and killed people living on Lubang Island, mistakenly believing them to be enemy soldiers. He was finally persuaded to surrender in 1974 when his former commander, Yoshimi Taniguchi, found...

After winning the Spanish Civil War in 1939, Franco's dictatorship began. During the war, he acquired St Teresa of Avila's severed hand and kept it for spiritual guidance, it was returned when he died in 1975.The hand was initially stolen by General Franco's opposition from a convent in Ronda, but Franco’s nationalist soldiers took it for themselves when they won the Battle of Malaga. Sister Jenni...

When Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream was stolen in 1994, an undercover operation was launched to get it back. Thirty years on from its recovery, hear from the art detective at the centre of the story. In 2013, Charley Hill told Lucy Burns how his task saw him take on a fake identity, rub shoulders with criminals and encounter the Thai kickboxing champion of Scandinavia.(Photo: The Scream on dis...

Lake Karla supported hundreds of families in Thessaly, providing fish for all of the region and beyond. Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas grew up on the shores of the wetland and have mixed memories of the lake. They too lived off its fish, but they were also victims of its floods. The lake was drained by the Greek Government in 1962, destroying a vital ecosystem. In 2023, when torrential rain poured o...

In July 2010, two bombs went off at a rugby club in Uganda's capital Kampala. It was where hundreds had gathered to watch the football World Cup final. The attack killed 74 people and injured 85 others. The militant Islamist group al-Shabab staged the attack, as revenge for Uganda's efforts to fight it in Somalia. Kuddzu Isaac, who witnessed the explosions, tells George Crafer the graphic details...

A bonus episode from the Amazing Sport Stories podcast – The Black 14. Sport, racism and protests are about to change the lives of “the Black 14” American footballers. It’s 1969 in the United States. They’ve arrived on scholarships at the University of Wyoming to play for its Cowboys American football team. It was a predominantly white college. The team is treated like a second religion. Then, the...

Sweden’s most beloved pastry is the cinnamon bun and every year on 4 October, locals celebrate the sweet, spiced snacks. The country’s first official Cinnamon Bun Day (or Kanelbullens dag in Swedish) took place in 1999.The woman behind the idea, Kaeth Gardestedt, tells Maddy Savage how the Swedish public embraced the event and turned it into a huge annual tradition. A PodLit production for BBC Wor...

In the 1990s, Bluetooth was invented in a lab in Lund, Sweden. The technology is used today to wirelessly connect accessories such as mice, keyboards, speakers and headphones to desktops, laptops and mobile phones. It’s named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king who was said to have blue teeth. Sven Mattisson, one of the brains behind the technology, tells Gill Kearsley how the name Bluetooth cam...

Fifty years ago Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. The state granted mothers and fathers 180 days that they could divide between them however they saw fit. The pioneering policy was designed to promote gender equality, but it wasn’t an instant success. Later governments decided to increase the number of leave days available and ring-f...

In 1958, the late Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars. It's estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world. In 2022, Nils's stepson Gunnar Ornmark told Rachel Naylor about the inventor’s legacy.(Photo: Nils Bohlin modelling his invention. Credit: Volvo Cars Group) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original photo gallery, unedited wit...

It's 50 years since Swedish pop group Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. The victory provided a platform for the band to become one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time. Abba's current manager, Görel Hanser, has been with them every step of the way. In a rare interview, she speaks to Matt Pintus about the band's meteoric rise to stardom. She also talks about Abba's...

April 1994 was the start of the Rwandan genocide, 100 days of slaughter, rape and atrocities. As part of the Tutsi ethnic group, Antoinette Mutabazi’s family were a target for the killings. So her father told her to run, leaving her family behind. She was just 11 years old. As a survivor of the genocide, she speaks publicly about reconciliation and forgiveness. She tells Rosie Blunt her story.(Pho...

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France. Its aim was to block expansion by the then Soviet Union - a group of states which included Russia. The UK’s foreign secretary at the time, Ernest Bevin, played a key role in persuading the US to join the alliance. This programme, produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, te...

In 1980, the seaside town of Brighton opened a very unusual attraction. It was the first British beach dedicated to nudists. The opening followed a passionate battle between two local politicians and caused controversy among some locals. In 2011, Madeleine Morris spoke to nudist enthusiasts and those who preferred to keep their clothes firmly on.(Photo: Deckchairs on Brighton beach. Credit: Then a...

Since its adoption as a first aid method, the Heimlich Manoeuvre has saved untold numbers of lives around the world. Developed by American physician Dr Henry Heimlich as a way to save choking victims from dying, his manoeuvre would become famous just weeks after it was written about in a medical journal. But as well as his namesake manoeuvre, Heimlich was responsible for several other medical inno...

In 1967, a dam was built in Mirpur, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, that would spur a huge global migration. Water diverted by the dam forced around 100,000 people to leave their homes. Thousands migrated to the UK and today between 60% and 70% of Britain’s Pakistani community descend from Mirpur, approximately one million people. Riyaz Begum was one of those who left Mirpur for London. She speaks...

In 1985, the British band Wham! became the first Western pop act to play in China. Around 12,000 fans packed into the Worker’s Gymnasium in Beijing to hear such hits as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Freedom. Wham!’s manager Simon Napier-Bell tells Vicky Farncombe how the strangeness of the event affected singer George Michael’s nerves.(Photo: Wham! perform in China. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORI...

It's 50 years since a chance find by Chinese farmers led to an astonishing archaeological discovery. Thousands of clay soldiers were uncovered in the province of Shaanxi after being buried for more than 2,000 years. They were guarding the tomb of the ancient ruler Qin Shi Huang, who ruled the Qin Dynasty. In 2013, archaeologists Yuan Zhongyi and Xiuzhen Li told Rebecca Kesby about the magnitude of...

Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women and girls across Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army. Referred to as "comfort women", they were taken from countries including Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia to be raped by Japanese soldiers. Today, the issue remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, with continuing campaig...

In 1968, Jingyu Li and her parents were among hundreds of thousands of Chinese people sent to labour camps during Mao Zedong’s so-called cultural revolution. The aim was to re-educate those not thought to be committed to Chairman’s Mao drive to preserve and purify communism in China. Jingyu’s parents – both college professors - were put to work among the rice and cattle fields, and made to study t...

In 1958, a brand new writing system was introduced in China called Pinyin. It used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. The mastermind behind Pinyin was a professor called Zhou Youguang who'd previously worked in the United States as a banker. Pinyin helped to rapidly increase literacy levels in China. When it was introduced, 80% of the population couldn't read or wri...

The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944.It was World War Two, and families in southern Italy had already lived through a German invasion, air bombardment, and surrender to the Allies. And then at 16:30 on 18 March, Vesuvius erupted. The sky filled with violent explosions of rock and ash, and bu...