The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, the bird that defied extinction. In 1969, a Peruvian farmer Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century. The American author and conservationist Michelle Nijhuis is this week's guest. She...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week, we’re looking at the birth of a new African nation – Zambia - in 1964, and find out how the country got its name. We also learn more about life after independence with our guest Dr Alfred Tembo, head of history of the University of Zambia. Elsewhere, two survivors of a series of terrify...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Jenni Barclay from the University of East Anglia in the UK. She tells us about some of the most significant volcanic eruptions in history. We start with the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010, which caused air travel to stop across Europe. Then, memories of the Bolivian Wa...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Zoheb Hassen, one half of a sibling duo from Pakistan who topped the charts in countries all over the world with their dancefloor filler, Disco Deewane. Our guest is BBC radio presenter and Pakistani music fan Raess Khan. He talks about how Pakistani pop music evolved from Zoheb’s suc...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Tony Kapcia, Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research on Cuba. He tells us about the history of Cuban foreign policy. We start with Aleida Guevara's memories of being sent from Cuba to provide medical aid in the Angolan Civil War during the 1980s. Then,...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from activist and actor Memet Ali Alabora on how his social media post contributed to the civil unrest following the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013. Our guest, Selin Girit who covers Turkey for BBC World Service, talks to us about Turkey's important position between Europe and Asia....

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about Osmondmania! The moment in 1973 when teenage fans of American heartthrobs, The Osmonds, caused a balcony at Heathrow to collapse. Also, we find out about the first peace walk in Cambodia and how it united a country torn apart by war. Plus, the birth of Lagos Fashion Week and how it p...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Kwasi Okoh about how his mother Theodosia Okoh designed Ghana’s flag after it became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. Our guest, former diplomatic and foreign affairs editor, Tim Marshall, explains the importance of flags for national identity and their ch...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. To mark 50 years since the global oil crisis, we’re focusing on oil - from discovery to disaster. We hear from Dr Fadhil Chalabi, then the deputy secretary general of Opec (Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) about what happened during the 1973 crisis. Our guest Helen Thompson, Prof...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the sinking of a migrant boat off Lampedusa in 2013 which was one of the Mediterranean’s worst shipwrecks. Also, we find out about Wally Hendrickson, the US physicist who volunteered to be dropped into the front line of the Vietnam War to remove fuel rods from a reactor. Plus, the op...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the people with disabilities who were sterilised in Germany following an order in 1933, passed by the then Chancellor Adolf Hitler. Also, we find out about the first man to descend into the “Gates of Hell”, the Darvaza Crater, in Turkmenistan. Plus the story behind the vuvuzela which...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. It's thirty years since the Oslo Accords were signed. This agreement in 1993 aimed to bring about peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. So this week, we're bringing you stories from Israeli and Palestinian history. We hear about attempts at peace - the secret talks behind the Oslo Accords,...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear from Chilean politician Hermógenes Pérez de Arce, who helped oust President Allende in 1973. We also hear from the widow of folk singer Victor Jara, who was killed during the military coup. Our guest is Dr Camila Vergara, who is a historian and journalist from Chile, and a senior lecturer...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Jean H. Lee, an American journalist who has covered both North and South Korea extensively. Jean is also the co-host of the BBC World Service podcast, The Lazarus Heist. She tells us more about the relationship between the two countries. The programme begins with the historic meeting...

Max Pearson presents a collection of Witness History stories from the BBC World Service, this week we are focusing on Irish history. In 2006, Ireland’s economic boom, known as the Celtic Tiger, ended. It meant thousands of people, like Michelle Burke, were left devastated as house construction stopped. In 1959, Tralee, in Ireland, hosted a festival to promote the town and build Irish connections a...

A compilation of this week's Witness History episodes. Gerald Clarke, the author of Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, speaks to Max Pearson about the legacy of the stage and screen actress who died in 1969. We also look at how a chance encounter led to the return of two of the looted Benin Bronzes, ancient artworks which were among thousands stolen from Benin City by the British Army in 1897. A...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History stories from the BBC World Service. Journalist Claude Angeli discovered French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing received diamonds from a depraved African emperor, which contributed to him losing the presidential election in 1981. How Bosnia’s small Jewish community helped people from all sides of the conflict, during the siege of S...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about a prehistoric discovery in India - a nest full of dinosaur eggs found in 1982. Plus, why a Mongolian dinosaur skeleton became the centre of a 2012 court battle in a case known as United States V One Tyrannosaurus Bataar. Our guest, palaeobiologist Neil Gostling reveals how newly-unco...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Ozoz Sokoh, Nigerian food writer and author of the Kitchen Butterfly food blog, who tells us about the history of West African food. The programme begins with the story of Mr Bigg's, Nigeria's answer to McDonald's. Then, we hear about the 1960 coup against the Emperor of Ethiopia, Hai...

Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories from this week’s Witness History episodes. In the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese generals handed over their swords in China's Forbidden City in Beijing. Historian James Holland, talks about the ritual and significance of a surrender. Als...

Max Pearson presents a selection of this week’s Witness History stories. In 1999, Aibo: the world's first robot dog, hit the shops in Japan and sold out in just 20 minutes. We hear from Toshitada Doi who spent six years on the project when he worked at Sony. Plus we hear from Dr Ella Haig about the development of artificial intelligence. Japanese software developer Shigetaka Kurita created the fir...

Max Pearson presents a selection of this week’s Witness History stories. In 1972, tourists arrived in the Maldives for the first time. We hear from one of the people who made it happen, plus analysis of the growth of tourism around South East Asia with Ploysri Porananond. Also, on the 75th anniversary of the National Health Service in the UK, one of the first doctors shares his experience. Lawyers...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History stories. In 1995, the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in the South Korean capital, Seoul, killed and injured hundreds of people. Explaining the impact it had on urban planning is Dr Youngmi Kim, senior lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Also, the speech President John F Kennedy made at the height of...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History stories. Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, a fighter pilot in the Somali air force defied orders to bomb civilians in 1988. Explaining more about the Somali civil war and its legacy is BBC Monitoring's regional analyst Beverly Ochieng. Also, the demonstrations in East Germany that triggered martial rule in 1953. From the archive, Sam King recall...

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History stories. We focus on some of the world’s best known photographs - and the photographers who took them. We find out why Lee Miller was in Hitler’s bath in the dying days of World War Two; and historian Dr Pippa Oldfield discusses the women who were the pioneers of war photography. Also, Sir Don McCullin tells the story behind one of h...