Witness History

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...

In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers. But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied. Claire Bowes spoke to the gravediggers’ convener Ian Lowes in 2011. (Photo: Protestors during the 'Winter of Discontent'. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCH...

On 30 January 1959, the late Trinidadian activist Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party in St Pancras Town Hall in London, planting the seeds for the famous carnival. She wanted to bring Caribbeans across the UK's capital together for dancing, singing and steel bands. Rachel Naylor hears from her best friend, Corinne Skinner-Carter.(Photo: A woman having a good time at Claudia Jones' Caribbean carn...

In 1972, a low-budget Jamaican film and its legendary soundtrack helped popularise reggae music in the world. Ben Henderson speaks to one of the most famous reggae artists ever, Jimmy Cliff, who played the film's protagonist and wrote a number of the songs. Jimmy explains why the film was so popular and how it reflected his own life.'The Harder They Come' was produced by International Films Inc.(P...

On 5 October 2000, protests in the Yugoslav capital Belgrade spiralled into an attack on the parliament building. Hours later President Slobodan Milosevic stood down. Mark Lowen spoke to Srdja Popovic - one of the leaders of the student-led opposition movement - in 2010.(Photo: Demonstrators and police at the Belgrade parliament. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original...

On 18 October 2011, Israeli solider Gilad Shalit was freed after spending over five years in captivity in Gaza. His release was part of a controversial prisoner exchange which saw more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails. Alex Collins talks to Israeli spy, David Meidan, who was successful in negotiations where others had failed.(Photo: Gilad Shalit and David Meidan standing d...

In 1962, Nigerian man Phil Magbotiwan opened a brand new nightclub in Manchester, England. In part because of his own personal experiences of racism, Phil wanted to create somewhere where everyone would be welcome – Manchester’s first racially inclusive nightclub. The Reno was born. The nightclub became a particularly important space for Manchester's mixed heritage community, who felt unwelcome in...

In 1948, brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler who lived in a small German town fell out. They went on to create globally renowned sportswear firms Adidas and Puma. Adi Dassler played a crucial role in West Germany's victory in the 1954 World Cup with his game-changing footwear. Reena Stanton-Sharma hears from Adi Dassler’s daughter Sigi Dassler, who remembers her dad’s obsession with sports shoes and tal...

It’s 40 years since a wrecked English Tudor warship was brought back to the surface. On 11 October 1982, 60 million people worldwide watched the extraordinary feat live on television – the raising of the 400-year-old Mary Rose – from the seabed off the south coast of England. Susan Hulme spoke to Christopher Dobbs, one of the archaeologists who helped excavate the Mary Rose. This programme was fir...

When drug kingpin Pablo Escobar died in 1993 having built a billion dollar cocaine empire, he left behind a zoo. While his rhinos, giraffes, elephants and kangaroos were re-housed, the hippos were left in Escobar’s abandoned ranch in the Colombian countryside. In 2007 they started turning up 100 kilometres away, frightening fishermen. Vet Carlos Valderrama was called in to tackle the problem. He d...

In the 1970s, Sharad Rao was Kenya’s assistant director of public prosecutions, working closely with Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta who was seen as ruthless and unpredictable. Rao took the unusual step of defying Kenyatta’s orders by refusing to jail students after they rioted about chapatis in 1972. Rao also tells Alex Collins how he witnessed Kenyatta chasing a British diplomat with a stick.(Photo:...

In September 1971, Christians from all over the UK held the Nationwide Festival of Light to protest against what they saw, as increasingly liberal attitudes to sex and the change in traditional family values. Katie Edwards hears from three people who attended the event - organiser Peter Hill, Christian activist Celia Bowring and LGBT rights campaigner Peter Tatchell who protested against the event...

The Iran-Iraq war began on 22 September 1980. It lasted for eight years and became one of the bloodiest wars in recent history. Pooneh Ghoddoosi was just a child when it started - a teenager when it ended. She told her story to Alan Johnston in 2010. (Photo: Iranian artillery, tanks, arms and munitions. Credit: AFP via Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original photo gallery, une...

In the 1960s, popes rarely left the Vatican City. So it was a major event when Pope Paul VI accepted an invitation to visit Uganda in 1969. Hugh Costello talks to Mobina Jaffer, whose Ismaili Muslim family played an enthusiastic role in welcoming the Pope to the family’s hotel. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service. (Photo: Pope Paul VI meets President of Uganda Apollo Milton Obote. Credi...

In 1967, a major breakthrough was made in our understanding of the evolution of the world. A student discovered fossils at Mistaken Point in Newfoundland, Canada. The fossils give us a record of the oldest multi-cellular organisms to inhabit the earth. Catherine Harvey has been speaking to Dr Shiva Balak Misra about his ground-breaking find. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service.(P...

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: Ge...

Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. In this programme from 2010, Claire Bowes looks back on the monarch’s last days. She speaks to the author Tony Rennell and hears recollections from the BBC archive. (Photo: Queen Victoria. Credit: Press Association) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original photo gallery, unedited witness statements, and the private archive documents mentioned in this h...

Queen Elizabeth II first opened her London home to the paying public on 7 August 1993. Tourists were allowed to look round Buckingham Palace while the Royal family was staying elsewhere for the summer. In 2018, Ashley Byrne spoke to former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter. This is a Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Photo: Buckingham Palace. Credit: BBC) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE...

In November 1992, a fire devastated Windsor Castle - a symbol of the British monarchy and Queen Elizabeth II’s weekend home. Coming at the end of a year of family problems, the blaze upset the Queen deeply and led her to declare 1992 her ‘annus horribilis’. In 2012, Simon Watts spoke to Sir Hugh Roberts, one of Her Majesty’s art experts.(Photo: Windsor Castle on fire. Credit: Press Association) HI...

A few days after Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, she had her best chance of owning the winner of the Derby, but first the horse would have to beat the British public’s favourite jockey. Peter O’Sullevan talked to Julian Bedford in this programme first broadcast in 2012.(Photo: Champion jockey Sir Gordon Richards being led in after winning the Coronation Derby on 'Pinza'. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty I...

In June 1953, the young Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Two of her Maids of Honour, Lady Anne Glenconner and Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, share their memories of Coronation Day. This programme, presented by Claire Bowes, was first broadcast in 2013.(Photo: Queen Elizabeth II in a carriage during the Coronation. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The ori...

Since its launch in the 1950s, the Brazilian version of the VW Beetle has had a special place in the nation's heart. Cheap, charismatic and virtually indestructible, it was many Brazilians' first car and is affectionately known as the Fusca. The Fusca played a key role in the development of Brazil's economically and politically vital national car industry. In 2014, Candace Piette spoke to two Fusc...

In 1993, eight homeless children were murdered outside the Candelaria church in Rio De Janeiro. The murders caused international outrage and put a spotlight on corrupt policing in Brazil. Matt Pintus has been speaking to Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, a social worker and teacher who had worked with the Candelaria children for years before the massacre.(Photo: Yvonne Bezerra de Mello with the Candelaria...

In 1960, Brazil opened a new capital city in its remote central plains. The city was designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer and was supposed to symbolise Brazil's future ambitions. In 2014, Claire Bowes spoke to Osorio Machado, an engineer who worked on the city's construction.(Photo: The building of Brasilia. Credit: Getty Images) HISTORICAL ARCHIVE & EVIDENCE The original photo galle...