Witness History

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 decade, the pioneering band found themselves on a collision course with the dictatorship militants and the west. The band was able to get inspiration from various bootleg tapes of heavy metal's greatest acts. Acrassicauda performed under Saddam's re...

It's 20 years since elections in French Polynesia in 2004, where the independence movement stunned the France-aligned government of the day, propelling pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru to the presidency. It was a landmark in the country's politics, where protests against French rule had increased due to the practice of using Polynesian islands for nuclear tests. Antony Geros, who helped lead t...

On 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed. Tears and applause met the declaration, witnessed by 200 dignitaries, but fighting intensified in the days that followed. In 2010, Arieh Handler and Zipporah Porath spoke to Lucy Williamson about that day and its fallout. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the event...

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 was tense, at times violent and politically complex. For Israeli Jews it was a chance to build their own nation after the genocide of the Holocaust. But for Arab Palestinian Muslims and Christians it was a time of loss. Many were intimidated by the vio...

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 was a photographer who documented the lives of the British royal family. His first visit to the Taj Mahal was to photograph Prince Charles in 1980. He tells Gill Kearsley about his relationship with the royal family and about taking the iconic photogra...

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 - which means foundation in many Indian languages - became the world's largest ever biometrics project. It allowed millions of people to open bank accounts or access a mobile connection for the very first time. But the project also attracted consider...

In 1963, Dr Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner performed the first surgery on a human eye aimed at correcting short-sightedness. The ophthalmologist had been developing his technique for years, believing that there was a better solution for blurry vision than wearing glasses. But he had to move from Spain to Colombia to begin his experimental surgery which involved dry ice, a watchmaker’s lathe and rabb...

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 world’s biggest exporter of the drink, Brazil. So the East Germans hatched a scheme, linking up with fellow communist state Vietnam to create a mass of coffee plantations. The man behind the plan, Siegfried Kaulfuß, tells Michael Rossi about the scale...

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 six young New Yorkers, through marriages, divorces, births and deaths. The final episode was broadcast on 6 May 2004. In 2014, executive producer Kevin Bright told Farhana Haider how the show was born - and how it became one of the biggest comedies...

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 in 1990. Graham Fagg was the man who made the breakthrough, and the first person to cross by land between the two countries in 8,000 years. In 2010, he told Lucy Williamson about the festivities of that day. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by arc...

In February 2014, Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych fled the country. His estate was abandoned by security guards, so for the first time ordinary people got to see inside Mezhyhirya, the extraordinarily extravagant home of the former president. Denys Tarakhkotelyk was one of those early visitors, and went on to take charge of the estate. He tells Gill Kearsley his remarkable story, and...

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 book editor who had attended one of Dale’s public speaking courses in New York. The result was a mix of psychology, philosophy and good old-fashioned common sense. Dale offered advice like: Smile. Give praise. Be a good listener. And remember people’s...

In 1961, the American psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of controversial experiments on ‘obedience to authority’. His study aimed to show how ordinary people could be capable of committing evil acts, if ordered to do so. He wanted to understand the psychology behind genocide, telling the BBC: “How is it possible that ordinary people who were courteous and decent in everyday life, can act...

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 being toppled in 1989. More than 450 people were murdered under Stroessner's rule, with the fate of thousands more unknown. They are remembered as 'the disappeared' of Paraguay. One man has dedicated his life to finding the victims of Stroessner's dic...

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 African National Congress (ANC), he had lived in Zambia building the liberation movement while other key ANC members including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu were political prisoners. By lobbying around the world and attracting talented South African ex...

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 the 'Madonna of the townships' by Time magazine. Yvonne Chaka Chaka, born a year after Brenda, was perhaps the only South African pop star who could rival her popularity. Twenty years ago, in 2004, Brenda died. Yvonne celebrates Brenda's life with Ben...

In August 2002, the remains of an indigenous South African woman called Sarah Baartman were returned to South Africa after almost 200 years away. Sarah died in Paris in 1815 after being forced to perform in European 'freak shows' where people considered to be biological rarities were paraded for entertainment. She had been subjected to racist and degrading treatment and her remains were exhibited...

When South African schoolchildren marched in protest against having to study Afrikaans in 1976, they were gunned down by the police. The killings sparked a cycle of protests across the country against the racist apartheid regime. In 2010, march organiser Bongi Mkhabela told Alan Johnston about her memories of the Soweto uprising. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is...

On 18 March 1992, white South Africans overwhelmingly backed a mandate for political reforms to end apartheid and create a power-sharing multi-racial government. It was a high-stakes referendum coming on the back of three by-elections where the ruling National Party had lost to the right wing Conservative party. In a speech after the polling victory, President FW de Klerk said: “Today we have clos...

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 majority African-American women’s unit, the women sorted through mountains of post across Europe, using the motto: 'No Mail, Low Morale'. Charity went on to become lieutenant colonel, the highest possible rank for women in her unit. She died in 200...

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 on the Khumbu Icefall, just above Base Camp in Nepal, when the avalanche happened. It resulted in the climbing season being cancelled and sherpas demanding better working conditions on the mountain. Lakpa Rita Sherpa helped dig bodies of his dead co...

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...