Witness History

In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia. Up to two million people are thought to have died - many summarily executed, or starved to death in the communist regime. In 2013, Mike Lanchin spoke to Youk Chhang, who was just 14-years-old when the Khmer Rouge swept to power. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by t...

In 1993, a literal lightbulb moment led to the invention of the first white light emitting diode (LED). These LEDs are now used to light up everything from our streets to our homes to this screen you’re looking at. Along with two other Japanese engineers, Professor Shuji Nakamura, was behind this illuminating invention. But Shuji’s journey to this point is one of resilience and perseverance. In hi...

In April 2005, nine young Australians were caught trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin out of Indonesia. The Bali Nine, as they became known, faced a maximum sentence of death by firing squad under Indonesia's strict drug laws. Bishop Tim Harris, who formed a close relationship with one of the Bali Nine families, and visited members of the group in prison has been speaking to Dan Hardoon. Eye-witness...

In December 1989, Germany’s ‘Green Belt’ was born. For more than 40 years, the country had been split by a 1,400km border and, in the decades the so-called ‘death zone’ had existed, life flourished everywhere. In 1989, communism crumbled and, as soon as the borders opened, Kai Frobel knew he needed to act fast to stop farmers and developers. He called a meeting on 9 December, hoping a few people m...

On 19 April 1995, a huge truck bomb killed 168 people in a government building in Oklahoma City, US. There were 19 children among the dead and more than 500 people were injured. One of the perpetrators, Timothy McVeigh, was executed in 2001. Dr David Tuggle was a paediatric surgeon who helped find survivors. He spoke to Golnoosh Golshani in 2015.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Wit...

In December 2011, Leymah Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her role in helping to end the devastating civil war in Liberia. She had mobilised thousands of women to take part in daily, non-violent public protests calling for peace – which pressurised ruthless President Charles Taylor into meeting them. When he agreed to peace talks, a delegation from The Women of Liberia Mass Action for...

On 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin, which was home to the German Parliament, was burned down. This was a key event in the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship. Berlin-born journalist, Sefton Delmer, told his story to the BBC World Service in 1967.He grew up in the city so knew people involved with the Nazi party. This meant he was able to get close to the main people on the ni...

In 1991, a horrific civil war erupted between rival warlords in Somalia. A US-led United Nations mission tried to restore order and provide humanitarian aid. But, the mission ended in an embarrassing withdrawal in 1995 after US helicopters were shot down, as depicted in the film Black Hawk Down. Halima Ismail Ibrahim risked her life to work for the UN mission. She speaks to Ben Henderson. Eye-witn...

In 1960, Norwegian toymaker Åsmund Lærdal began selling his latest invention - a life-size training dummy designed to teach mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Resusci Anne is made of soft plastic and resembles an unconscious person. Åsmund wanted as many people as possible to be trained in this new method of life saving and he hoped that a female manikin would be less threatening to trainees. Anne's no...

United States President John F Kennedy gave a speech in Berlin at the height of the Cold War on 26 June 1963. It galvanised the world in support of West Berliners who had been isolated by the construction of the Berlin Wall. In 2023, Tom Wills spoke to Gisela Morel-Tiemann, who attended the speech as a student. A Whistledown production. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness Hist...

In 1976, Jenette Kahn took on one of the biggest roles in comic books - publisher of DC Comics, home to superheroes like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. She was only 28, and the first female boss. Her first mission was to change the company name. For decades it had been known as National Periodical Publications but, with sales stalling, Jenette reverted back to the original name: DC Comics. It...

In 1951, American chemist Dr Harry Coover was experimenting with a substance called cyanoacrylate but it was sticking to everything. He realised its potential as an adhesive and it went on sale in 1958 as Eastman 910, because it only took 10 seconds to set. But his product only became a commercial success after an appearance on a game show, I've Got a Secret, where Harry demonstrated his glue coul...

In the early 1900s, the first diamond was found in Kolmanskop, in the African country of Namibia. It led to a diamond rush and the town was created. Having become one of the wealthiest places, when the diamonds ran out it was abandoned. It meant this once vibrant place started being buried by the Namib Desert. Dieter Huyssen speaks to Megan Jones about his memories of visiting the town, which is w...

For more than 50 years, Mulatu Astatke has been performing at venues around the world, inspiring audiences with his original genre of music known as Ethio-jazz. He recorded the volumes of ‘Afro-Latin Soul’ with his band, The Ethiopian Quintet, in 1966. They were the first experiments of this new sound, fusing Ethiopian traditional notes with Afro Latin and jazz forms. Mulatu Astatke tells Vicky Ca...

Harold Riley was the only artist in the world granted a sitting to capture Nelson Mandela on canvas. The unique portrait was unveiled in 2005 and raised over $1m for South African children's charities at an auction held at the Rockefeller Centre in New York. Mandela sat for the English artist six times in Cape Town and Johannesburg over 18 months which Harold Riley described as "one of the greates...

As Yugoslavia began to break down, the Balkans conflict began - a series of brutal wars characterised by disputes over territory, identity, and ethnic divisions. In 1991, the Croatian War of Independence started – the first of the major wars. One of its defining moments came in October, when the Yugoslav People’s Army advanced on the south of the country leading to the Siege of Dubrovnik. One of t...

In 2015 Goodluck Jonathan became the first Nigerian president to concede election defeat. It allowed the transfer of power to the opposition party in Africa's biggest democracy - a country that had hitherto experienced vote-rigging and violence. His special adviser on media and publicity Dr Reuben Abati tells Josephine McDermott about the moment when the president phoned his opponent Muhammadu Bah...

When General David Galtier hovered above the French Alps in a helicopter on 24 March 2015 he could not see the 60-tonne plane he was looking for. Instead he saw thousands and thousands of little pieces of metal. “There was nothing,” he says. “Only these little stars shining in the mountains.”Ten years on, he recalls to Josephine McDermott how he led the police’s search operation, from the moment h...

In October 2012, the founding father of the European Space Agency was honoured when a spacecraft named after him was sent to the international space station. Within the probe – called the Edoardo Amaldi Automated Transfer Vehicle – was a letter which had been written by Edoardo in 1958 detailing his plans for an organisation which would bring together the continent’s greatest minds in space scienc...

In July 1975, former competitors the Soviet Union and the United States both launched rockets into the sky within hours of each other, as part of a joint project. They wanted two spacecraft, from two different countries, to achieve the first international docking in space. While millions watched on TV, the cosmonauts and astronauts opened the hatches between the two vehicles and shook hands, then...

“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.”These are the opening lines of the 'In Event of Moon Disaster' speech, written in 1969 in case the moon landing astronauts did not make it home. They were composed by President Richard Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire, who died in 2009, at the age of 79.The speech continued: “These...

On 18 March 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to spacewalk. He spent around 10 minutes floating above the Earth, tethered to the spaceship by a 5-metre “umbilical cord”.Recalling that moment, he said: “I felt almost insignificant, like a tiny ant compared to the immensity of the universe. At the same time, I felt enormously powerful.”But the mission didn’t go smoothly. The lack...

In 2003, 21 people died when a space rocket exploded at Brazil’s Alcantara Launch Centre, three days before its planned flight. It was the country’s third – and most serious - rocket failure in six years. But despite the setback, just 14 months later, Brazil revived its space ambitions by successfully launching its first rocket since the tragedy. Jacqueline Paine spoke to engineer Felix Palmerio,...

On 18 March 2015, 22 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Hamadi Ben Abdesslem, a tour guide who led tourists to safety, tells Anouk Millet what it was like that day. A Whistledown production. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that hav...

In 1997, Isatou Ceesay, who lives in The Gambia had an idea to make bags and purses out of old discarded plastic. Her idea to help the environment started with a group of five women and has grown to become a national project that supports women in the country to improve their skills and income. She is now recognised worldwide for her environmental work and has become known in Africa as the ‘"Queen...