The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, we hear about Boko Haram militants driving into Gwoza in north-east Nigeria in 2014, to begin an assault which left hundreds dead. Next, the Irish shopworkers who went on strike after refusing to handle South African goods.Then, it’s 25 years since Nato bombed the Serbian state TV station in Belgrade. Plus, Norway’s biggest industrial disaster.And, Brazil’s iconic egg-shaped telephone booth. Contributors: Ruoyah who lived through the Boko Haram massacre.Makena Micheni - Associate Lecturer at St Andrews University.Irish shopworker Mary Manning.TV technician Dragan Šuković.Harry Vike and his wife Greta. Chu Ming Silveira’s son Alan Chu. (Photo: A woman from Gwoza displaced by the violence. Credit: Reuters/Stringer)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, we hear how a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin Sweeney drew up a weather report that delayed the date of D-Day. Then, 99-year-old former field medic, Charles Norman Shay, shares his remarkable account of landing on the Normandy beach in France codenamed Omaha on D-Day. Next, we also talk to Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi who hurled his shoes at the President of the United States. Plus, we hear about China gifting Taiwan two giant pandas, in a practice known as ‘panda diplomacy’.Finally, it’s the 40th anniversary of the popular computer game Tetris being invented. Contributors: Edward Sweeney – Maureen Flavin Sweeney’s son. Charles Norman Shay – former field medic in the United States Army. Muntadhar al-Zaidi – Iraqi journalist. Eve Chen – curator of the Giant Panda House at Taipei Zoo. Alexey Pajitnov – Russian engineer. Henk Rogers – American businessman.(Photo: U.S Troops rushing to the Normandy beaches. Credit: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.First, the story of Brazil's most wanted, Carlos Lamarca. He was a captain who deserted the army in the 1960s and joined in the armed struggle against the military regime in the country.Then, Bill Booth - historian of twentieth century Latin America at University College London - joins Max to talk about other revolutionary figures from South America. Next, the story of Australia's first Aboriginal MP and how he fought for indigenous rights.Plus, the 90th anniversary of the first ever quintuplets, the 1984 Apple commercial that changed advertising and the 2014 Flint, Michigan water contamination crisis.Contributors: João Salgado Lopes - friend of Carlos Lamarca. Bill Booth - historian of twentieth century Latin America at University College London. Joanna Lindgren - great niece of Neville Bonner. Jeneyah McDonald - Flint, Michigan resident. Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha – a paediatrician and professor of public health, Michigan. Mike Murray - former Apple marketing manager.(Photo: Subcomandante Marcos pictured in 2001. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week’s programmes are all about the history of footwear.First we take a trip back to the 1960’s when Brazilians were introduced to a new type of footwear, which went on to become one of the country’s biggest exports. Plus the story of how a then rookie basketball player called Michael Jordan signed a deal with Nike that revolutionised sports marketing.We also hear about the thousands of shoes owned by the former first lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos.Then we learn how one family feud led to the creation of two massive sportswear companies, Adidas and Puma.Finally, we hear how a Czech company revolutionised shoe production and brought affordable footwear to the world.Contributors: Sergio Sanchez - Author and former employee of Havainas. Sonny Vaccaro - Former Nike executive. Dr Alex Sherlock – Lecturer in the school of Fashion and Textiles at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and founder of the Footwear Research Network. Sigi Dassler – Daughter of Adi Dassler the founder of Adidas. Mick Pinion – Former Bata engineer.(Photo: Air Jordan Original. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we hear how nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia.Plus, the story of how the FBI caught Ana Montes, the spy known as the ‘Queen of Cuba’.We also talk to Jewish and Palestinian people about the moment the state of Israel was proclaimed in 1948.Finally, we tell the unlikely story of how a heavy metal rock band emerged during the violent years of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.Contributors: Antony Géros - President of the Assembly of French Polynesia KDee Aimiti Ma'ia'i – doctoral candidate at University of Oxford Pete Lapp – former FBI agent Hasan Hammami Arieh Handler Zipporah Porath Firas Al-Lateef – bass player(Photo: Antony Géros. Credit: Getty Images)

This week, how more than one billion people living in India were given a unique digital ID during the world's largest biometric project. The Aadhaar scheme was launched in 2009 but it wasn't without controversy. Our guest, digital identity expert Dr Edgar Whitley, tells us about the history of ID schemes around the world.Plus, the Spanish doctor whose pioneering surgery helped millions of people to get rid of their glasses and see more clearly. And why East Germany's thirst for caffeine in the 1980s led to an unusual collaboration with Vietnam. Also, the story behind one of the most famous royal photographs ever taken – Princess Diana sitting alone on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal in 1992. The man who took the image tells us more.And finally, how a Ghanaian athlete, Alice Annum, earned the nickname ‘Baby Jet’ after her medal-winning success in the 1970 Commonwealth Games.Contributors: Nandan Nilekani - former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India Dr Edgar Whitley - digital identity expert at the London School of Economics Dr Carmen Barraquer Coll – daughter of ophthalmologist Jose Ignacio Barraquer Moner Siegfried Kaulfuß – East German official in charge of coffee production in Vietnam Anwar Hussein – royal photographer Alice Annum – retired Ghanaian athlete(Photo: Scanning fingerprints for Aadhaar registration. Credit: David Talukdar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. This week we hear the story of Rogelio Goiburu, who has dedicated his life to finding the victims of Alfredo Stroessner's dictatorship in Paraguay, including the remains of his own father. Our expert Dr Francesca Lessa talks about other enforced disappearances in South America.Plus, we hear about how, in February 2014, ordinary people got to see inside Mezhyhirya, the extraordinarily extravagant home of Ukraine's former president.Also, a shocking psychological experiment from the 1960s. Just to warn you, this includes original recordings of the experiments which listeners may find disturbing.The programme also includes the breakthrough moment when the Channel Tunnel was finally completed linking England and France beneath the sea and, finally, the story behind one of the world's most popular self-help books.Contributors: Rogelio Goiburu - dedicated to finding the victims of Stroessner's Paraguay Dr Francesca Lessa - Associate Professor in International Relations of the Americas at University College London (UCL) Denys Tarakhkotelyk - from the Mezhyhirya estate Graham Fagg - the Englishman who broke through the Channel Tunnel Donna Dale Carnegie - daughter of Dale Carnegie, author of How to Win Friends and Influence People (Photo: Alfredo Stroessner. Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

It’s been thirty years since the first fully democratic elections in South Africa, which saw the African National Congress take power in 1994.But two years before that historic moment, white South Africans had to vote in a referendum that would decide whether or not to usher in a multi-racial government. We hear from President FW de Klerk’s then communications officer about how they helped “close the book on apartheid.”Then we journey back to 1976 and hear about the Soweto Uprising, a student led protest against the enforced study of Afrikaans. Bongi Mkhabela who helped organise the peaceful march, tells us how it came to a bloody and tragic end.Plus we take a look at the pivotal role played by women and girls in the lead up to the 1994 elections. Journalist and researcher Shanthini Naidoo tells us why women’s work and activism in the ANC is so often overlooked.We hear from Oliver Tambo’s son about his father’s return to South Africa after 30 years in exile.We also hear about the long overdue return of Sarah Baartman’s remains to South Africa, after over 190 years being kept in Europe, where she suffered horrific abuse while she was alive. This programme contains discriminatory language. And finally, we learn about one of South Africa’s biggest popstars Brenda Fassie, from her friend, rival and admirer Yvonne Chaka Chaka.Contributors: David Stewards – President FW de Klerk’s former communications advisor Bongi Mkhabela- Student organiser of the Soweto uprising Shanthini Naidoo- Journalist and researcher on women during apartheid Dali Tambo- Son of Oliver Tambo Diana Ferrus – Poet who helped bring Sarah Baartman home Yvonne Chaka Chaka- South African popstar(Photo: Nelson Mandela after winning the election in 1994. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It’s 10 years since the world’s deadliest outbreak of Ebola started in West Africa. We hear from a survivor and discuss the legacy of the epidemic with the BBC's global health reporter Tulip Mazumdar. Plus, the first World War Two battalion to be led by an African-American woman. Major Charity Adams’ son tells her story. We hear about the group of men arrested in Egypt in 2001 at a gay nightclub who became known as the Cairo 52.We also hear about the avalanche on Mount Everest which killed 16 sherpas carrying supplies 10 years ago. Finally, the train service between India and Bangladesh that lay dormant for 43 years which rumbled back into life in 2008.Contributors: Yusuf Kabba – an Ebola survivor from Sierra Leone Tulip Mazumdar - the BBC's Global Heath reporter. Stanley Earley – son of Major Charity Adams Omer (a pseudonym) - arrested and imprisoned at a gay club in Cairo Lakpa Rita Sherpa - helped recover bodies after the avalanche on Mount Everest in 2014 Dr Azad Chowdhury – on the inaugural Friendship Express(Photo: Liberian Health Minister Burnice Dahn washes her hands at a holding centre for Ebola patients in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It's 30 years since Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, was stolen from the national gallery in Oslo, Norway. We hear from the man who helped to recover it.Our expert guest is historian and author, Susan Ronald, who explores the history of art heists in the 20th century.Plus, a first hand account from Kampala terror attacks in 2010 and the mystery of St Teresa of Avila's severed hand.Finally, we hear about the last World War II soldier to surrender. 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.Contributors: Kuddzu Isaac - DJ and Kampala terror attack survivor Charley Hill - Scotland Yard art detective and private investigator Susan Ronald - historian and author Sister Jenifer - the Mother Superior of the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, Ronda Hiroo Onoda - Japanese WWII soldier Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas - residents of Thessaly, Greece(Photo: The Scream. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.It has been 50 years since Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, so we're exploring Swedish history. Also in 1974, Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral. One father who took the leave tells us about this pioneering policy. We hear from one of the inventors of Bluetooth. The technology was named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king. Our expert guest is Eva Krutmeijer, Swedish science writer and co-author of the book ' Innovation, the Swedish Way’. Plus, the invention of the three-point safety belt for cars, that is estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world, and the story behind Sweden’s Cinnamon Bun Day. Finally, 1974 was just the beginning for the Swedish quartet, Abba, who shared their name with a herring company. By the end of the decade, they were one of most recognisable music acts of the 20th century. Contributors: Per Edlund - one of the first fathers in his town to take split paid parental leave Sven Mattison - one of the inventors of Bluetooth Eva Krutmeijer - Swedish science writer and co-author of the book 'Innovation, the Swedish Way' Gunnar Ornmark - stepson of Nils Bohlin who invented the three-point safety belt for cars Kaeth Gardestedt - who came up with the idea of Sweden's Cinnamon Bun Day Görel Hanser - manager of Abba (Photo: Abba in 1974. Credit: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

It's 75 years since the founding of Nato. In 1949, a group of 12 countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to block the expansion of the Soviet Union.Professor Sten Rynning, the author of Nato: From Cold War to Ukraine, talks about some of the most significant moments in Nato's history.It's 30 years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide. We hear from one of the survivors, Antoinette Mutabazi. This programme contains disturbing content.Plus, Riyaz Begum reflects on Britain's Mirpuri migration, Janet Heimlich, daughter of Dr Henry Heimlich talks about the origins of the Heimlich Manoeuvre and Adam Trimingham, Brighton based journalist and nudist David Johnson recall the arrival of Britain's first nudist beach.(Photo: British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic Treaty. Credit: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.To mark 50 years since the discovery of the Terracotta Army, we're exploring modern Chinese history.We hear from the man who helped to modernise the Chinese language by creating a new writing system. It's called Pinyin and it used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words.Our expert guest is the writer, Mark O'Neill, whose book 'The Man Who Made China a Literate Nation' forms the basis of a great discussion about historical language changes throughout history.Plus, a first hand experience of life in labour camps during Mao Zedong’s cultural revolution and the women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial army during the 1930s. This programme contains disturbing content.Contributors: Mark O'Neill - writer Zhou Youguang - linguist Jingyu Li - victim of Mao Zedong's labour camps Peng Zhuying - survivor of sexual slavery Yuan Zhongyi - archaeologist Dr Li Xiuzhen - archaeologist Simon Napier-Bell - manager of Wham(Photo: Terracotta Army. Credit: Getty Images)

First, we go back to 1992, when off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth.They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution, when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago.Dr Frankie Dunn, who is a senior researcher in palaeobiology at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in the UK, then dives into landmark discoveries in geological history. Plus, the story of Winifred Atwell, a classically-trained pianist from Trinidad who was admired by Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Elton John. She became one of the best-selling artists of the 1950s in the UK. Then, how the Guarani, an indigenous language of South America, was designated an official language in Paraguay’s new constitution, alongside Spanish.Also, the lesser known last eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1944.Finally, Indian badminton player Rajeev Bagga who has won 14 gold medals at the Deaflympics. In 2001, he was given the ‘Deaflympian of the Century’ award.Contributors: Iwan Stössel - Swiss Geologist. Dr Frankie Dunn - Senior Researcher in Palaeobiology at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in the UK. David Olivera - Paraguayan Linguist and Anthropologist. Angelina Formisano - Evacuated from the village of San Sebastiano during the 1944 eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Rajeev Bagga - Indian Badminton Player.(Picture: Illustration of a tetrapod from the Late Devonian period. Credit: Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We first hear about Uruguay’s tale of David v Goliath - when a tobacco giant took South America's second-smallest country to court over its anti-smoking laws.Uruguay’s former public health minister María Julia Muñoz describes the significance of the ban and its fallout.And we shed some light on the wider history of the use of tobacco, its long and controversial history, with Dr Sarah Inskip, a bio-archaeologist at the University of Leicester in the UK.Plus, the largest search operation in aviation history - ten years on, little is known of the fate of MH370 and the 239 people on board.Also, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe on how her sewing school in northern Uganda served as a place of rehabilitation for child soldiers escaping Joseph Kony’s Lord's Resistance Army. Then, the Carnation Revolution - how Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime was toppled in a day, with barely a drop of blood spilled.Finally, in August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris. Colette Martel, who was nine at the time, describes how a pair of clogs made her feel welcome. Contributors: María Julia Muñoz - Uruguay’s former public health minister. Dr Sarah Inskip - A bio-archaeologist at the University of Leicester in the UK. Ghyslain Wattrelos - Whose wife and two children were on flight MH370. Adelino Gomes - Witness of the 1974 Carnation Revolution. Colette Martel - Child evacuee in World War Two.(Photo: An anti-tobacco installation in Montevideo. Credit: Reuters/ Pablo La Rosa)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We first hear about a bloodless war between Denmark and Canada, that involved whisky. In 1984, the two nations were disputing the ownership of the tiny Hans Island, just off the coast of Greenland. It might be the friendliest territorial dispute ever. We hear from Tom Hoyem and Alan Kessel, politicians on either side. And we have historian Ditte Melitha Kristensen, from the National Museum and Archives of Greenland, to shed some light on the history of the country. Plus, how Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva discovered the richest tomb ever found in the America’s: the final resting place of the ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan. Also, we go back to the 1960s when 1,500 Torah scrolls appeared at a synagogue in London. And a Crimea double-bill. We go back to 2014 when Russia annexed the Ukranian peninsula, and then back to the 1980s, when it was used as a holiday camp for children across the Soviet Union. Contributors: Tom Hoyem— Minister for Greenland in Denmark. Alan Kessel— Assistant Deputy Minister for Legal Affairs in Canada. Ditte Melitha Kristensen — Greenland historian. Walter Alva— Archaeologist. Phillippa Bernard — Founder member of Westminster Synagogue. Maria Kim Espeland — One of the thousands of children who visited the Artek holiday camp. (Photo: Greenland. Credit: Thomas Traasdashi/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. We hear about the famous ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb. In 2003, the venue won its bid to host the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. Hugh Smythe, known as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Whistler, has been sharing his memories of the mountain. We also have former Winter Olympian and BBC presenter, Chemmy Alcott, to walk us through the long history of skiing. Plus, how the tiny island nation of American Samoa suffered the worst defeat ever in international football. Also, the shocking creation of a two-headed dog by a Soviet scientist. The murder of transgender woman in Honduras during a military coup in 2009. And, a long-running dispute over the final resting place of Christopher Columbus’ ashes. Contributors: Hugh Smythe — One of the ‘founding fathers’ of Whistler. Chemmy Alcott — Former Winter Olympian and TV presenter. Nicky Salapu—American Samoa goalkeeper. Igor Konstantinov — Consultant cardiothoracic surgeon. Claudia Spelman — LGBT activist. Angelita Baeyens — Human rights lawyer. Samuel Bisono — Tour guide and historian. (Photo: Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. Credit: James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about the Juliet Club in Verona, Italy. The club has been replying to mail addressed to Shakespeare’s tragic heroine, Juliet since the early 1990s.Professor Lisa Bitel talks about the traditions of Valentine’s Day. Plus, how the small Irish town of Gort became known as ‘Little Brazil’ because it's home to so many Brazilians. The World War Two escape line that fooled the Nazis and the stadium disaster that shocked Egypt. And the story of the food supplement used by soldiers during the Nigerian civil war that became a drink enjoyed in more than 70 countries around the world.Contributors: Giovanna Tamassia - daughter of Giulio Tamassia, one of the founders of the Juliet Club. Professor Lisa Bitel - Professor of History & Religion at the University of Southern California, USA. Lucimeire Trindade – resident of Gort, Ireland. Keith Janes – son of captured a British soldier. Christine Lepers – daughter of a French resistance fighter. Mahmoud Al-Khawaga – former footballer with Zamalek. Peter Rasmussen – creator of the drink Supermalt.(Photo: Giovanna Tamassia from the Juliet Club. Credit: Leonello Bertolucci/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service telling stories about inspirational black women. In 1973, the Battle of Versailles pit up-and-coming American designers using black models against the more traditional French. We hear from Bethann Hardison, one of those black models, about how the capital of couture, Paris, became the stage for this defining moment in the history of fashion. Professor Adrienne Jones, a fashion expert at the Pratt Insitute in New York, explains the cultural significance of the event, and what changed in the world of fashion afterwards. Plus, the story of the UK’s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters, which opened as recently as the 1980s. Charlotte Mensah, known as the ‘Queen of the ‘fro’, recalls what it was like to work there. Part of her story includes an account racial bullying. Also, archive interviews tell the story of how Rosa Parks defied racist segregation laws in the United States. It contains outdated and offensive language. We hear how a Nigerian lawyer took on the country’s Sharia courts to overturn a death sentence. And the tragic story of Lucha Reyes, one of Peru’s most beloved singers.Contributors: Bethann Hardison- a model who competed in the Battle of Versailles. Prof Adrienne Jones- from the Pratt Institute in New York. Hauwa Ibrahim- one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria. Polo Bances- saxophonist who played alongside Lucha Reyes. (Photo: Bethann Hardison and Armina Warsuma arriving in France. Credit: Photo by Michel Maurou/Reginald Gray/WWD/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about Cyberia - the first commercial internet café which opened in London in 1994. Director of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford, Professor Vicki Nash, talks us through other notable landmarks in the internet’s history. Plus how the Covid N95 mask was invented by a scientist from Taiwan in 1992.Also how Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff was punished for his writing on liberation theology. Staying with Brazil, we hear how poor rural workers occupied land owned by the rich, resulting in violent clashes in 1980.And the world's first global seed vault, buried deep inside a mountain on an Arctic island.Contributors: Eva Pascoe – a founder of Cyberia internet café Prof Vicki Nash – Director of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford Peter Tsai – inventor of N95 mask Leonardo Boff – Brazilian theologian Maria Salete Campigotto – Landless Workers Movement protestor Dr Cary Fowler – founder of Doomsday seed vault(Photo: People using Cyberia in 1994. Credit: Mathieu Polak/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service all about figures branded as traitors.In 1939 Wang Jingwei, once a national hero in China, signed an agreement with Japanese invaders which made his name synonymous with the word ‘Hanjian’, a traitor to China. But Pan Chia-sheng’s memories of living under Wang Jingwei’s government in Nanjing tell a very different story. Our guest Ian Crofton, author of Traitors and Turncoats, explains the nuances involved in our historic understanding of traitors.Also, the fascist Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling blamed for convincing the German dictator Adolf Hitler to invade Norway in 1940. Norwegian journalist Trude Lorentzen explains the story with an account she recorded from Quisling’s Jewish neighbour, Leif Grusd.And, the story of the former Broadway showgirl, known as Axis Sally, who broadcast antisemitic Nazi propaganda on German State Radio during World War Two, told through the archives.Plus, the Polish colonel, Ryszard Kuklinski, code-named 'Jack Strong', who passed Soviet military secrets to the CIA that changed the tide of the Cold War.And, the Hungarian Sándor Szűcs, famous for playing in the country’s star football team, who was executed in 1951 for trying to defect from the communist regime.Contributors: Pan Chia-sheng - on Wang Jingwei. Ian Crofton - author of Traitors and Turncoats. Trude Lorentzen - Norwegian journalist on Vidkun Quisling. Aris Papas - one of the agents who received intelligence from Ryszard Kuklinski.Erzsi Kovács’ story is told using an archive interview he gave in 2011 to Hungarian journalist Endre Kadarkai on the Arckép programme, on Zuglo TV.(Photo: Mildred Gillars, known as 'Axis Sally', on trial for treason in 1949. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We’re going wild for animals this week. We find out how the Ibadan Zoo became one of Nigeria’s biggest tourist attractions during the 1970s. Our guest Harriet Ritvo, professor of history at MIT, looks back across the centuries to reveal the fascination that humans have always had for animals. And more on the environmental campaigner who became known as Lady Tarzan for her fight against illegal logging in the forests of India.Plus, we hear from a journalist tortured in Iran's notorious Evin Prison in the wake of the 2009 protests against the Islamic regime. Also, why hundreds of thousands of Moroccans were ordered into the Spanish Sahara by their king. And finally, more on the Bolivian president who went on hunger strike to try to save his country.Contributors: Peaches Golding - wife of zoologist Bob Golding Professor Harriet Ritvo – professor of history at MIT Marcela Siles - daughter of former Bolivian president Hernán Siles Zuazo Seddik Maaninou - TV cameraman Francis Gillies – North Africa expert Maziar Bahari - journalist Jamuna Tudu – environmentalist nicknamed ‘Lady Tarzan’(Photo: Imade the gorilla at Ibadan Zoo. Credit: bobgolding.co.uk)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise gay marriage. Four couples were chosen to take part in a collective wedding at midnight which was broadcast on TV. Hélène Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus talk about the wedding they thought they'd never have.Our guest Lauren Moss, the LGBT & Identity Correspondent at BBC News tells us about the history of gay marriage. Also, the man who risked his life to make the audio recordings which blew open one of the biggest corruption scandals in Spain's recent history.Then we hear the story of the 1970s defection from the Soviet Union of a world-famous ballerina. Plus, the mystery surrounding the fate of the last king of France's son and the man who really does believe that laughter is the best medicine.Contributors: Hélène Faasen & Anne-Marie Thus - the first lesbian couple to get married legally. Lauren Moss - LGBT & Identity Correspondent at BBC News. José Luis Peñas - the man that made secret recordings that revealed the Gurtel scandal. Prof Jean Jacques Cassiman - Belgian geneticist. Deborah Cadbury - historian. Dr Madan Kataria – founder of World Laughter Day.(Photo: The couple arrive to be married at the Amsterdam City Hall. Credit: Marcel Antonisse/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Barbara Waibel, author of a book on the Hindenburg and Director of Archives at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. She tells us about the history of airships.We begin with some remarkable archive of the Hindenburg airship disaster in 1937. Then British scientist Jonathan Shanklin describes how he discovered the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.In the second half of the programme we hear from a NASA scientist who worked on the Voyager space probe which took the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photo of Earth. A physicist from Quebec remembers when a solar flare plunged the Canadian province into darkness. And we hear the exciting and dangerous story of the invention of the wingsuit.Contributors: Barbara Waibel - Author and Director of Archives at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Jonathan Shanklin - Scientist who discovered the hole in the ozone layer. Candice Hansen - NASA scientist. Aja Hruska - Physicist from Quebec. Jari Kuosma - Inventor of the commercial wingsuit.(Photo: Hindenburg airship. Credit: Corbis via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we look at the disputed history of pad Thai with food writer Chawadee Nualkhair.We also hear from former fruit exporter Don Turner on why his family changed the name of the Chinese gooseberry to the kiwi fruit.Our expert guest is food historian, Prof Katarzyna Cwiertka, who highlights other moments in history when food and politics combined.We also have an interview with Thomas Chatenier, the president of Nutella, about the origins of the chocolate hazelnut spread.Plus, we talk about the Flavr Savr tomato - the world's first genetically-engineered food.And finally we hear from Ken Hom, the chef who introduced Chinese cookery to TV audiences.Contributors: Chawadee Nualkhair – Thai food writer. Don Turner – former chief executive of kiwi exporter, Turners and Growers. Katarzyna Cwiertka - food historian and Professor of Modern Japan Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Thomas Chatenier - the president of Nutella. Roger Salquist – former CEO of the biotech company which was responsible for the Flavr Savr tomato. Ken Hom – Chinese-American chef and author.(Photo: Pad Thai. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.This week, we hear from Lumepa Hald who survived the devastating tsunami that hit Samoa in 2009 but suffered a tragic loss.Our expert guest, Prof Tiziana Rossetto, looks back at some of the worst tsunamis in history and how they have shaped our landscapes.Plus we talk to Caster Semenya, the gold medallist who faced questions over her gender at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.There’s also an interview with Peter Greste, one of three Al Jazeera journalists sentenced to seven years in jail in Egypt. We also look at the mystery surrounding the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda with his driver, Manuel Araya.And finally we talk to singer Dafydd Iwan, the “bad boy of Welsh politics”, who was arrested for defacing an English sign. He wanted official recognition for the Welsh language.Contributors: Lumepa Hald – survivor of the tsunami that hit Samoa in 2009. Tiziana Rossetto - Professor of Earthquake Engineering at University College London, UK. Caster Semenya – world champion runner who faced questions over her gender. Peter Greste – journalist sentenced to seven years in prison in Egypt. Manuel Araya – driver of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Dafydd Iwan – singer who campaigned for official recognition the Welsh language.(Photo: Devastation at a beach in Samoa after the 2009 tsunami. Credit: Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Ongama Mtimka, lecturer in South African politics at the Nelson Mandela University. He tells us about Mandela's life and legacy 10 years on from his death. We start with with Mandela's daughter, Makaziwe, describing her relationship with her father and planning his funeral. Then, the brother of Emanuela Orlandi describes his lifelong mission to unravel the mystery of her disappearance in Rome in 1983.The second half of the programme has a Russian flavour. A relative of Tsar Nicholas II describes the murder of the Romanov royal family in 1918. Then a Russian journalist describes attending the Romanov's controversial reburial 80 years later. We finish with one of Russia's greatest poets, Anna Akhmatova. Contributors: Dr Ongama Mtimka - Lecturer in South African politics at the Nelson Mandela University. Dr Phumla Makaziwe Mandela - Nelson Mandela's daughter. Pietro Orlandi - Emanuela Orlandi's brother. Olga Romanov - Great niece of Tsar Nicholas II. Lilia Dubovaya - Journalist who was at the reburial of the Romanovs. Era Korobova - Art historian and expert on Anna Akhmatova.(Photo: Nelson Mandela. Credit: Tom Stoddart Archive/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear about two of the most influential computer games of the 1990s with their creators. John Romero was one of the developers of Doom and talks about the concept of a martian military base populated by zombie soldiers. Coder Jan Tian describes how his devotion to working on the football game FIFA 94 landed him in hospital. Our guest, The Guardian newspaper's video games editor Keza MacDonald, looks back on games which had a global impact.Also how in 1945, 10,000 brains were collected from dead psychiatric patients in Denmark. It is now thought to be the world’s largest brain bank. We also find out how a group of right-wing army officers seized power in Greece in 1967 to stop the election of a social democratic government led by veteran politician George Papandreou.And 30 years on since the cult French film La Haine was released, its director Mathieu Kassovitz describes how it caught the attention of high profile politicians with its criticism of policing in France.Contributors: John Romero – Doom developer Jan Tian – FIFA 94 coder Keza MacDonald – video games editor, The Guardian Martin Wirenfeldt Nielsen – pathologist George Papandreou Jnr – former Greek Prime Minister Mathieu Kassovitz – film director(Photo: Brains stored in plastic buckets at the University of Southern Denmark. Credit: BBC)

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 talks about some of the most interesting attempts in modern history to save animals on the brink of extinction.Also this week, the world's first solar powered home, when Tanzania adopted Swahili and when the world went crazy for Cabbage Patch Kids.This programme has been updated since its original broadcast. It was edited on 6 December 2023. Contributors: Rafael Del Solar - son of conservationist Gustavo Del Solar Michelle Nijhuis - author and conservationist Meredith Ludwig - friend of Cabbage Patch Kids creator Martha Nelson Thomas Peter Baxter and George Kling - scientists Walter Bgoya - author in Tanzania Andrew Nemethy - lived in the world's first solar powered house(Photo: A whooping crane. Credit: Getty Images)

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 terrifying gun attacks in Mumbai talk about their experiences. And there’s a look back to 2003, when the worst heatwave in centuries caused thousands of deaths across Europe, and led to a health crisis in Paris.Plus, we hear extracts from the lost memoirs of Manchester United goalkeeper Les Sealey. He recorded them before his death and the tapes were discovered years later.And finally, the invention of bubble tea, a creation that would change the tea drinking world. The first cup was sold in a tea shop in Taiwan in 1987.Contributors:Mulenga Kapwepwe – daughter of Simon Kapwepwe, fighter for Zambia’s independence Dr Alfred Tembo – head of history, University of Zambia Devika Rotawan – survivor of gun attack in Mumbai Arun Jadhav – policeman and survivor of gun attack in Mumbai Dr Patrick Pelloux - emergency doctor at St Antoine Hospital in Paris Les Sealey – former Manchester United goalkeeper Liu Han-Chieh – tea leaf seller and shop owner Lin Xiuhu – developer of bubble tea(Photo: Celebrations after Zambian election, 1991. Credit: Walter Dhladhla/AFP via Getty Images)

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 Water War in 2000.In the second half of the programme, we hear how the EpiPen was invented by Sheldon Kaplan. Plus, how Rosalind Franklin’s research helped determine the structure of DNA. Finally, the discovery of the ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion, underwater off the coast of Egypt.Contributors: Sigrun Hreinsdottir - scientist who saw the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. Jenni Barclay - professor of volcanology at the University of East Anglia, UK. Oscar Olivera - union official who led Bolivian Water War protests and negotiations. Michael Kaplan - son of Sheldon Kaplan, inventor of the EpiPen. Michael Mesa - colleague of Sheldon Kaplan. Jenifer Glyn - sister of scientist Rosalind Franklin, who helped discover the structure of DNA. Franck Goddio - underwater archaeologist who discovered Thonis-Heracleion.(Photo: Eyjafjallajokull erupting in 2010. Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson)

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 success.Entertainment star Debbie McGee, who is best known for being the assistant and wife of British magician Paul Daniels talks about escaping from Iran at the start of the revolution in 1978.In 2004 a supermarket fire in Paraguay killed more than 300 people. It was the country’s biggest peacetime disaster. One of the survivors, Tatiana Gabaglio tells her story.Plus, how one of Bosnia's most famous landmarks, the historic bridge in Mostar, was destroyed by Croat guns during the Bosnian war in 1993Finally, the unlikely friendship of a hippo and a tortoise following the tsunami in 2004.Contributors: Zoheb Hassen – former popstar Raess Khan – BBC presenter and Pakistani pop fan Debbie McGee – British celebrity Tatiana Gabaglio – supermarket fire survivor in Paraguay Mirsad Behram – journalist Eldin Palata – cameraman Dr Paula Kahumbu – wildlife conservationist(Photo: Nazia and Zoheb Hassen in 1982. Credit: BBC)

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, the French scientist Francoise Barre-Sinoussi explains how HIV was discovered in 1983.In the second half of the programme, we hear how Australian scientist David Warren invented the black box flight recorder in 1962, which made flying safer. An Ecuadorian politician explains how she tried to save the country's Yasuní National Park. And the actress Jane Seymour recounts how she played the role of Freddie Mercury's bride at the Fashion Aid event in 1985.Contributors: Tony Kapcia - Emeritus Professor at the University of Nottingham's Centre for Research on Cuba. Dr Aleida Guevara - daughter of Che Guevara. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi - scientist who helped identify HIV. Jenny and Peter Warren - children of David Warren, inventor of the black box. Bill Schofield - former colleague of David Warren, inventor of the black box. Ivonne A-Baki - Ecuadorian politician tasked with saving the Yasuní National Park.(Photo: Aleida Guevara with her father, Che, and Fidel Castro in 1963. Credit: Imagno via Getty Images)

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. We also learn about the fighting in 1980 between the left and right-wing groups that led to Turkey’s military taking control of the country. Vice Admiral Isik Biren, who was an official in the defence ministry, and a former student activist, Murat Celikkan recount their different memories of the coup. We hear more about Turkey’s geographic connection from Harvey Binnie who was involved with the design of the first Bosphorus suspension bridge in 1973. And from Zimbabwe, economist Professor Gift Mugano, on how the country’s annual inflation rate was 89.7 sextillion percent in 2008. And finally the story of how a Nigerian Airways flight from Lagos to Abuja was hijacked by four teenagers calling themselves the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD). Obed Taseobi was a passenger on that flight in 1993.Contributors: Memet Ali Alabora – activist and actor Selin Girit – BBC World Service reporter Vice Admiral Isik Biren – former official in the Turkish defence ministry Murat Celikkan – former student activist Harvey Binnie – member of design team for the Bosphorus bridge Professor Gift Mugano – economist Obed Taseobi – Nigerian Airways passenger(Photo: Protesters clash with Turkish police near Gezi Park in Istanbul, June 2013. Credit: Getty Images)

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 put Nigerian design on the global map.Contributors: Donny Osmond. Josephine McDermott, BBC producer and presenter. Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan, organiser of Cambodia’s first peace walk. Parul Akhter, a sewing machinist who survived the Rana Plaza building collapse. Oscar Maynez, a forensic scientist who used to work in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez where hundreds of young women were kidnapped or killed. Paula Flores, the mother of one of the murdered girls. Omoyemi Akerele who organised the first Lagos Fashion Week.(Photo: Donny Osmond greets fans at Heathrow airport. Credit: George Stroud/Express/Hulton Archive via Getty Images)

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 changing purpose through history. We also learn about the moment in 1966 when Kwame Nkrumah, one of Africa's most famous leaders, was ousted from power in Ghana. Plus, how in 2013, India's Supreme Court made a landmark ruling aimed at transforming the lives of acid attack survivors. It followed a campaign led by Laxmi Agarwal who at the age of 15 was burned when acid was thrown at her.And the artist Yinka Shonibare discusses how ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’ exhibited in London’s Trafalgar Square was the world’s largest ship in a bottle.And finally, how Kimani Maruge became the oldest man to enroll at a primary school in Kenya.Contributors: Kwasi Okoh - son of Theodosia Okoh Tim Marshall - former diplomatic and foreign affairs editor for Sky News Chris Hesse - Ghanaian filmmaker Laxmi Agarwal - acid attack survivor Yinka Shonibare - creator of Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle Jane Obinchu - Kimani Maruge’s former teacher(Photo: Ghanaian football fans wave their national flag. Credit: Getty Images)

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, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, explains why oil became the lifeblood of industrial economies during the last two centuries. We also learn how Kazakhstan signed ‘the deal of the century’ to become a fossil fuel powerhouse thanks to the Tengiz Oil Field.Plus, why in 1956, not everyone welcomed the discovery of oil in the Nigerian village of Oloibiri. We find out more about the devastating impact of one of the world’s largest oil spills - when the Amoco Cadiz tanker ran aground off the coast of France in 1978. The wreck released more than 220,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea.And finally, how an indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon fought a court battle to protect their land from oil drilling – and won.Contributors: Dr Fadhil Chalabi – former deputy secretary general of Opec Professor Helen Thompson - Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University Bruce Pannier - Central Asia news correspondent Chief Sunday Inengite – chief of Oloibiri, Nigeria Marguerite Lamour – former secretary to Alphonse Arzel, the mayor of Ploudalmézeau in France Jose Gualing - former Sarayaku president Ena Santi - Sarayaku community leader(Photo: Oil rig. Credit: Fairfax Media via Getty Images via Getty Images)

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 opening of the world's first cat cafe in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1998.Contributors: Amnasager Araya who survived the Lampedusa tragedy after being rescued by Vito Fiorino. Annalisa Camilli, correspondent for Internazionale magazine. Wally Hendrickson who removed the fuel rods from the reactor in Vietnam. André Turcat, the French pilot of Concorde’s maiden flight. The star of the telenovela, Kassandra, Coraima Torres, and Tony Paez who distributed the show. Tracy Chang, founder of the first cat cafe in Taiwan. (Photo: A woman on a boat heading for Lampedusa. Credit: Getty Images)

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 was dubbed the “world’s most annoying instrument”.Contributors: Helga Gross who was sterilised in Germany as part of the Nazis’ eugenics order. This is an archive interview from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Dr Susanne Klausen, Julia Gregg Brill Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. Campaigner Emma Bonino who fought for legal abortion in Italy. Explorer George Kourounis who was the first person to descend into the Darvaza Crater, in Turkmenistan. Paramedic Daniel Ouma who helped people injured in the Westgate Mall terror attack, in Nairobi, in Kenya, in 2013. Freddie 'Saddam' Maake who claims to have invented the vuvuzela.(Photo: Adolf Hitler. Credit: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

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, and President Bill Clinton's failed attempt to end the conflict at Camp David. Plus, one of the most dramatic sieges of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that took place in a church. We also hear from a Palestinian and an Israeli who were there when rioting broke out in 2000, after the Israeli opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, made a visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. And finally a hope of peace with the orchestra, made up of young people from both sides of the conflict, which performed a concert in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.Contributors: Mona Juul – Norwegian diplomat who was part of the team that planned and orchestrated the meetings which resulted in the signing of the Oslo Accords. Yolande Knell - Middle East Correspondent for BBC News. Gamal Helal - American diplomatic interpreter and policy adviser. Khaled Zeghari - Palestinian cameraman. Zalman Shoval - former Israeli ambassador to Washington. Carolyn Cole - photojournalist. Father Amjad Sabbara - Franciscan friar. Tyme Khelefi - former violinist with the West-Eastern Divan orchestra. Daniel Cohen - former violinist with the West-Eastern Divan orchestra.(Photo: Israeli soldiers run towards the Church of the Nativity. Credit: Musa Al-Shaer/AFP via Getty Images)

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 at the University of Essex Business School in the UK. She tells us more about the aftermath of the Chilean coup, and its lasting impact.Eva Franchell speaks about her friend, the Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh who was murdered in 2003.In the second half of the programme, campaigner Frank Heweston shares his experience on Greenpeace’s Arctic voyage to disrupt drilling on a newly built oil rig and we hear from a friend and promoter of Zanzibar’s most famous musician, Bi Kidude. Contributors: Camila Vergara - historian and journalist from Chile, and senior lecturer at the University of Essex Business School. Hermógenes Pérez de Arce – Chilean politician. Joan Jara – widow of Victor Jara. Eva Franchell – Anna Lindh’s former press secretary and best friend. Maryam Hamdani - friend and promoter of Bi Kidude.(Photo: President Salvador Allende. Credit: Bettman/Getty Images)

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 between North and South Korea's leaders almost 50 years after the Korean War. We hear from Sameh Elbarky who was in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square on the day the army killed hundreds of protestors following a military coup. In the second half of the programme, British black activists recount how they protested against racism within the local bus company in Bristol in 1963. One of the first Chinese students to arrive in the US in the early 1980s following the Cultural Revolution shares her experience. Finally, how the Mexican island of Guadalupe was saved from being destroyed by hungry goats. Contributors: Jean H. Lee - American journalist and the co-host of the BBC's The Lazarus Heist podcast. Professor Chung-in Moon - South Korean special delegate. Sameh Elbarky - survivor of the Rabaa massacre. Paul Stephenson - spokesperson for the Bristol Bus Boycott. Roy Hackett - Bristol Bus Boycott protestor. Zha Jianying - Chinese American writer. Professor Exequiel Ezcurra - conservationist. (Photo: North and South Korean leaders meet at the summit in 2000. Credit: Reuters)

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 around the world. The Rose of Tralee is now one of Ireland’s oldest and largest festivals. Veteran RTE broadcaster and author, Joe Duffy, walks us through the significance of the Celtic Tiger. At Easter 1916, a small army of Irish rebels attempted to start a revolution against British rule. They held out for more than a week against a massive British military response, but the insurrection ultimately failed. Also, how electrification lit up rural Ireland for the first time, despite concerns about its potential dangers. And how a group of women fought against a sexist tradition, that prevented them from taking a dip in a popular swimming spot. Contributors: Michelle Burke - lived through the Celtic Tiger boom and bust. Alice O’Sullivan - first Rose of Tralee winner. Joe Duffy - broadcaster and author. Mary Dorcey - poet, writer and women’s rights activist.(Photo: Deserted 'ghost estate' in Ireland. Credit: Tim Graham/Getty Images)

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.And we head back to 2008, when a nine-year-old boy tripped over a fossil that would lead to one of the most important discoveries in the history of human evolution.Contributors:Author Gerald Clarke John Kelsch from the Judy Garland Museum Production assistant Rosalyn Wilder Retired police officer Tim Awoyemi Matt Berger who discovered the Australopithecus sediba fossil Hedayat Matine-Daftary, grandson of Mohammed Mossadeq(Photo: Judy Garland during a press conference in 1963. Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

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 Sarajevo in the early 1990s. The story of the gang of thieves, who held up a British Royal Mail train on its journey from Glasgow to London in August 1963. Plus Jean-Michel Basquiat, a young black graffiti artist in the 1980s took the New York art world by storm. His paintings were selling for huge sums of money, but he died before the end of the decade. And the rise and fall of self-made businesswoman Brownie Wise, who inspired an army of US housewives to sell Tupperware at parties. Contributors: Journalist Claude Angeli Journalist Pauline Bock Former vice president of the Jewish community Jakob Finci Author Bob Kealing Journalist Reginald Abbiss Patti Astor, friend of Jean-Michel Basquiat(Photo: French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Jean-Bédel Bokassa in Bangui, March 1975. Credit: Getty Images)

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-uncovered dinosaurs are named, and tells us which fossilised beast was the first to be christened.José Mujica recounts his journey from young revolutionary in the 1960s and 70s to becoming Uruguay's president in 2009. Plus, we learn more about the deaf children in Nicaragua who invented their own sign language. And find out why a treehouse built beside the Berlin Wall during the Cold War became a symbol of resistance.Contributors: Professor Ashok Sahni - palaeontologist Associate Professor Neil Gostling - palaeobiologist Dr Bolortsetseg Minjin - paleontologist José Mujica - former president of Uruguay Professor Judy Shepard-Kegl - linguist Mehmet Kahlin – son of Osman Kahlin(Photo: Tyrannosaurus Bataar skeleton, 2016. Credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

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, Haile Selassie, from his grandnephew.In the second half of the programme, a Jewish survivor tells us about the Nazi occupation of Greece from 1941-1944. Two witnesses tell us about Pope John Paul II's ill-fated visit to Nicaragua in 1983. And a Pakistani man recounts how he accidentally created the first personal computer virus in 1986. Contributors: Ozoz Sokoh - Nigerian food writer and author of the Kitchen Butterfly food blog. Emmanuel Osugo - Mr Bigg's employee. Dr Asfa-Wossen Asserate - grandnephew of Haile Selassie. Yeti Mitrani - Jewish survivor of Nazi occupation of Greece. Nancy Frazier O’Brien - Catholic News Service reporter. Carlos Pensque - Nicaraguan protestor. Amjad Farooq Alvi - software developer.(Photo: West African food. Credit: Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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.Also, the first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. It took Ruth Handler, who created it, years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.The plastic creation sold 350,000 in the first year and went on to take the world by storm selling millions. It’s now even been turned into a live action film starring Margot Robbie.Contributors: John Stanfield, signed surrender declaration documents on behalf of the British at the end of World War II James Holland, historian, writer, and broadcaster Ramona Reed on her father Dean Reed who became known as ‘Red Elvis’ Vents Krauklis, a demonstrator in the Latvian capital, Riga in 1991 Professor V. Craig Jordan, who helped bring the drug tamoxifen to the world’s attention Ruth and Elliot Handler from a BBC documentary broadcast in the 1990s(Photo: Barbie in her various incarnations. Credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

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 first emoji in 1999. Valerie Hunter Gordon, from England, invented disposable nappies in 1947 after the birth of her third child. We hear from Valerie’s son, Nigel Hunter Gordon. Hungarian journalist László Bíró was sick of smudging the ink from his fountain pen and so he invented the ballpoint pen in 1938.Finally, a Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik invented what's known as the Rubik's Cube.Contributors:Toshitada Doi on developing Aibo: The world's first robot dog Dr Ella Haig, Reader in Artificial Intelligence, in the School of Computing at the University of Portsmouth in the UK Japanese software developer Shigetaka Kurita, who created the first emoji Nigel Hunter Gordon, the son of Valerie Hunter Gordon, on disposable nappies Hungarian journalist László Bíró, the inventor of the ballpoint pen Hungarian architect Ernő Rubik, the inventor of the Rubik's Cube(Photo: The original Aibo. Credit: Jun Sato/WireImage via Getty Images)

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 for both the prosecution and defence of concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk, discuss his trial.The election in India, of what was to be the longest serving democratically elected government in the world.Finally, a night out to remember, with Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett.Contributors:Ahmed Naseem on bringing tourism to the Maldives Ploysri Porananond, head of the centre for tourism research at Chiang Mai University in Thailand Dr John Marks on the formation of the NHS in 1948 Lawyer Yoram Sheftel, who acted in defence of John Demjanjuk Lawyer Eli Gabay, who prosecuted John Demjanjuk Mohammad Salim, former Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Cleo Rocos, on her night out with Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett(Photo: Early tourists enjoy the Maldives in the 1970s Credit: Kurumba)