Witness History

The tallest building in the world opened in 2010. There was a glitzy firework display to celebrate the occasion. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is nearly three times the height of the Eiffel Tower. The statement building cemented the reputation of the city as a place for luxury tourism and high-end real estate. Alex Collins speaks to chief architect Adrian Smith about his creative...

A new country, the United Arab Emirates, was formed in 1971. It’s a federation of seven states that has grown from a quiet backwater to one of the Middle East’s most important economic centres. Laura Jones speaks to businessman Mohammed Al-Fahim about his country’s dramatic transformation. (Photo: Mohammed Al-Fahim as a child. Credit: Mohammed Al-Fahim)

The 1 September 1939 was Kitty Baxter’s ninth birthday, it was also the day her life and millions of other people’s changed with the beginning of World War Two. Kitty was among the hundreds of thousands of children taken out of UK cities and into the countryside, away from the risk of German bombs. She’s been speaking to Laura Jones. (Photo: Child evacuees leaving a London train station. Credit: G...

In 1981, the South African rugby tour of New Zealand was disrupted by Māori anti-racism campaigners who invaded pitches. They wanted to highlight the injustice of apartheid in South Africa and the discrimination Maoris were suffering in New Zealand. Ripeka Evans organised and took part in the protests. She tells Alex Collins about the direct action she took to sabotage high-profile matches. (Photo...

It has been 20 years since one of the most controversial politicians in Europe was assassinated just days before a general election. On 6 May 2002, Pim Fortuyn was shot dead by an animal rights activist because of his anti-Islamic views. It was the first time a Dutch politician had been murdered since the 17th century. TV journalist Dave Abspoel was one of the first people on the scene. He has bee...

1972 was a time of feminist action in the US. People were talking more openly about rape and sharing their experiences. It led to rape crisis centres being set up, which offered support for women. Activist Sue Lenaerts taught women self-defence and worked on the helpline at the first centre in the capital, Washington DC. She’s been speaking to Laura Jones. (Photo: Sue Lenaerts in the early 1970s....

In the early 1970s, New Zealand’s government cracked down on Polynesian migrants who had overstayed their work permits. They carried out what became known as the Dawn Raids, when police raided Polynesian households in the early hours of the morning looking for overstayers. The Polynesian community felt targeted and formed a resistance group, the Polynesian Panthers, in June 1971. Ben Henderson spo...

In 1975, President Juvénal Habyarimana introduced Umuganda in Rwanda, where citizens had to help with community projects like planting trees and building schools, every Saturday morning. Rachel Naylor speaks to former minister Jean Marie Ndagijimana, who loved taking part. (Photo: Residents of the village of Mbyo, in Rwanda's Eastern Province, taking part in Umuganda in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

Dame Carmen Callil, who died in October this year, founded feminist publisher Virago Press in 1972 to promote women’s writing. In this programme first broadcast in 2019, she tells Claire Bowes how she hoped to put women centre stage at a time when she and many others felt side-lined and ignored at work and at home. Music: Jam Today by Jam Today courtesy of the Women’s Liberation Music Archive. (Ph...

Over the last 50 years an estimated 46 million girls have been aborted in India. The cultural preference for boys and the development of pre-natal sex determination tests like ultrasound in the 1980s, meant an increase in the number of girls being aborted. Activist Manisha Gupte describes how she campaigned, as part of the feminist movement, against sex-selective abortion - including the use of si...

In the 1970s, Albania’s Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, launched a new series of purges against government ministers and officials, following numerous purges in previous decades. Those accused of being ‘enemies’ of the ruling Party of Labour were executed or received lengthy prison sentences. Their families were punished too. Many were sent into internal exile and forced to work in the fields. Rob...

In 1985, Carol Taylor wrote a survival guide for young black men in the Unites Stated who were stopped by the police. Her son, Laurence Legall, tells Ashley Byrne the story of the small and important book created by his mum to help young black men stay safe on the streets of New York. It all began when Laurence went shopping and was robbed but the police didn’t take his complaint seriously. A Made...

In October 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard made an impromptu speech in the Australian parliament setting out the misogyny she endured for years as a prominent female politician. Ten years on, she discusses with Alex Collins her career defining-speech which has been viewed online by millions of people. (Photo: Julia Gillard giving her misogyny speech. Credit: PA)

In 1991, a law was introduced in Sudan which was used to control how women acted and dressed in public. It resulted in arrests, beatings and even deaths during the 30 years it was in place. Amiera Osman Hamed was arrested and fined for wearing trousers in 2002. She’s been speaking to Laura Jones. (Photo: Amiera Osman Hamed. Credit: Amiera Osman Hamed)

It is 20 years since heavily-armed Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage. They threatened to kill them all if the Russian government didn't call off the war in Chechnya. When Russian special forces stormed the theatre they let off gas to stun the Chechens - it killed many of the hostages as well. In this programme first broadcast in 2012 Dina Newman speaks to one of the surv...

Many women supported Iran’s 1979 revolution against the monarchy but some later became disillusioned. Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the things that women objected to. Sharan Tabari spoke to Lucy Burns in 2014 about her experiences during, and after, the Iranian Revolution. (Photo: Iranian women at the 1 May 1979 protest. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1998 President Suharto of Indonesia resigned after more than thirty years of military rule. It meant people from indigenous communities were finally free to speak out after years of being ignored. Tribal leaders seized their chance to gather together at the first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago in Jakarta in 1999. Laura Jones has been speaking to Rukka Sombolinggi. (Photo:...

We go back to 1959 when Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer Alicia Alonso turned her back on a successful career on the world stage and returned home to form Cuba’s National Ballet Company. She spoke to Mike Lanchin in 2015. (Photo: Alicia Alonso. Credit: Alicia Alonso)

Earlier this year, Cuba lifted a 60-year ban on professional boxing, which Fidel Castro imposed in 1962. Before then, amateur boxers who wanted to turn pro, had to risk everything in order to defect. Rachel Naylor speaks to Mike ‘The Rebel’ Perez, who escaped in 2007 with the assistance of Mexican gangsters, a fishing boat and an Irish promoter. (Photo: Mike Perez (right) and Bryant Jennings durin...

In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a nationwide campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba. An ‘army’ of volunteers known as brigadistas equipped with books and pencils travelled across the country to teach people how to read and write. Alex Collins spoke to Rosa Hernandez Acosta who taught many adults even though she was a 10-year-old schoolgirl herself. (Photo: Rosa Hernandez Acosta. Credit: Kia...

Jo Fidgen hears what was happening in the Pentagon and the Kremlin in the final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev finally offered to withdraw the missiles as the crisis came to a head. In 2012, his son Sergei remembered those fraught few days. (Photo: Nikita and Sergei Khrushchev. Credit: Sergei Khrushchev)

In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Jo Fidgen spoke to American Intelligence officer Dino Brugioni who played a crucial role as the crisis unfolded. Dino was a CIA expert whose job was to interpret the photographs of missiles in Cuba. This programme was first broadcast in 2012. (Photo: Dino Brugioni. Credit: The Washington Post/Getty Images)

In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm workers inspired Latinos across the US. The movement was led by Cesar Chavez - a man now regarded by his community as a civil rights hero. Dolores Huerta, who coined the slogan “yes we can!”, worked closely with Chavez. She spoke to Simon Watts in this programme first broadcast in 2012. (Photo: Cesar Chavez pointing in fr...

Park Heongjun takes us back to May 1980, when a strike in the city of Gwangju became one of the most divisive moments in South Korea’s history and led to the imprisonment of activist Bae Ok Byoung. She worked in a factory making wigs and along with other female employees, went on strike to demand better working conditions. In this programme first broadcast in 2021, Bae recalls the brutal crackdown...

Walt Disney cartoonists went on strike for nine weeks in 1941. They were led by Art Babbitt, Disney’s top animator who created Goofy. The picket line was remarkable for its colourful artwork and support from Hollywood actors. The confrontation was rooted in the paranoia of the day – the infiltration of communism into American life, as Art Babbitt explains in BBC archive recordings presented by Jos...