Witness History Podcast
History as told by the people who were there.
Episodes to download
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The Warsaw ghetto
Tue 17 Jan 2012
On 18 January 1943 German soldiers began a final drive to empty the Polish capital of Jews
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The Great Brinks Robbery
Mon 16 Jan 2012
In 1950 a Boston gang stole over $2.5m and they almost got away with it.
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Vietnam draft pardon
Sun 15 Jan 2012
In January 1977 President Jimmy Carter said draft dodgers could come home.
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Folsom Prison Blues
Thu 12 Jan 2012
In January 1968 the country legend Johnny Cash recorded a concert in a high-security jail.
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Perez de Cuellar goes to Baghdad
Wed 11 Jan 2012
In January 1991 the UN Secretary General tried to avert the first Gulf War.
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Zola and the Dreyfus affair
Tue 10 Jan 2012
In 1898 the novelist Emile Zola took up the cause of a Jewish prisoner - Alfred Dreyfus.
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The death of Emperor Hirohito
Mon 9 Jan 2012
When the Japanese Emperor died in 1989 it marked the end of an era.
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Crossing the Rubicon
Sun 8 Jan 2012
Over 2000 years ago Julius Caesar made a decision which changed European history.
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Charter 77
Thu 5 Jan 2012
Taking you back 35 years when an opposition movement began in Czechoslovakia.
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Project Stormfury
Wed 4 Jan 2012
Fifty years ago the USA launched an ambitious attempt to control the weather.
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The Hollywood blacklist
Tue 3 Jan 2012
A list of radicals in the US entertainment industry was published more than 60 years ago.
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The capture of the USS Pueblo
Mon 2 Jan 2012
In January 1968 an American spy ship was captured by North Korean forces.
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Birth of the Euro
New Year's Day 2012
How millions of Europeans celebrated the launch of the euro in 2002.
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US troops in Iraq
Thu 29 Dec 2011
All US troops have now left Iraq. We take you back to when they first invaded in 2003.
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The Creation of Tetris
Wed 28 Dec 2011
One of the most popular computer games ever was invented in Moscow in 1984
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Enid Blyton and the 大象传媒
Tue 27 Dec 2011
The difficult relationship between the 大象传媒 and the children's writer, Enid Blyton.
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The release of Sakharov
Boxing Day 2011
In December 1986 the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov was allowed to return to Moscow.
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The sinking of the Scharnhorst
Christmas Day 2011
She was one of Germany's greatest battleships during World War II.
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The Christmas Truce
Thu 22 Dec 2011
On Christmas Eve 1914, during World War I, British and German soldiers stopped fighting.
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Concert for Bangladesh
Tue 20 Dec 2011
In 1971 the first big rock benefit gig was organised by former Beatle, George Harrison.
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The British Miners' strike
Mon 19 Dec 2011
Christmas 1984 - a time of hardship for the protesters against the closure of coal mines
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Spice Girls
Sun 18 Dec 2011
Christmas 1996 and the Spice Girls are number one. 'Girl Power' is taking over the world.
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Bangladesh wins independence
Thu 15 Dec 2011
An inside account of the moment Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971.
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ANC Bomb
Tue 13 Dec 2011
The ANC party took its first violent action in 1961, a bomb at municipal offices in Durban
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Manuel Noriega
Mon 12 Dec 2011
Twenty years ago the leader of Panama Manuel Noriega, was removed from power by the USA.
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The Mozote massacre
Thu 8 Dec 2011
In December 1981 hundreds of peasants were killed by the army in El Salvador.
