The weather report that delayed D-Day and panda-mania in Taiwan
The History Hour7 Kesä 2024

The weather report that delayed D-Day and panda-mania in Taiwan

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)

Jaksot(468)

May 1968 Paris Riots

May 1968 Paris Riots

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19 Touko 201851min

The Last King of Bulgaria

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12 Touko 201850min

When Margaret Thatcher Came to Power

When Margaret Thatcher Came to Power

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5 Touko 201849min

The Oslo Peace Talks

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28 Huhti 201849min

Earth Day

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The birth of the modern environmental movement, Germany's 1918 Spring Offensive, the discovery of the concentration camp horrors of Bergen-Belsen plus the rebuilding of the World Trade Centre site; and the last occupiers of Europe's most westerly lighthouse.Photo credit: Robert Sabo-Pool/Getty Images

21 Huhti 201850min

The Zimbabwe Massacres

The Zimbabwe Massacres

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14 Huhti 201850min

The Good Friday Agreement

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In 1998, the political parties in Northern Ireland reached a peace agreement that ended decades of war. We hear from Paul Murphy, the junior minister for Northern Ireland at the time. Plus, a cross-community choir in Bosnia and women pioneers from the worlds of finance and oceanography.PHOTO: Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (L) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (R) pose with the mediator

31 Maalis 201850min

The Battle of the Airwaves in Latin America

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17 Maalis 201850min

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