Ming Smith makes history at MoMA

Forty years ago, in November 1985, two of the world’s most powerful leaders met for the first time. With Cold War tensions running high and the nuclear arms race dominating global politics, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came together for the first time at the Geneva Summit. Using archive recordings, Megan Jones explores what happened during this landmark meeting.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan at the Geneva Summit 1985. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)

17 Marras 202510min

On 17 October 2009, the Maldives’ top government officials donned their scuba gear for the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting. Fish floated around while ministers communicated with hand gestures, white boards and special underwater pencils. Meanwhile on the surface, journalists jostled to see what was happening. The watery meeting was filmed and photographed and subsequently broadcast across the world. The President at the time, Mohamed Nasheed, wanted to show the world the impact climate change would have on his country if carbon dioxide emissions weren’t curbed. Graihagh Jackson speaks to him to find out if the stunt worked.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed presiding over an underwater cabinet meeting. Credit:EPA/Maldives Presidency).

14 Marras 202510min

On 13 November 2015, 90 people were shot dead by gunmen at the Bataclan theatre in France during an Eagles of Death Metal concert. A further 40 people were killed in co-ordinated terror attacks by jihadists across the city on the same night. Rachel Naylor speaks to British couple Justine Merton-Scott and Tony Scott, who managed to escape the venue by climbing out of a skylight. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: A Parisian holds a flower towards the Bataclan on the anniversary of the attack in 2021. Credit: Kiran Ridley / Getty Images)

13 Marras 202510min

In November 1945, the first major war crimes trial in history opened in the German city of Nuremberg. Senior Nazis who had committed atrocities during World War Two were prosecuted by the victorious Allied powers of Britain, the USA, France and the Soviet Union. In 2014, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Benjamin Ferencz, who helped unearth evidence of mass murder by the Nazi mobile death squads and prosecuted them in Nuremberg. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: The defendants in the Nuremberg trials. Credit: US National Archives/via Reuters)

12 Marras 202511min

In November 1975, a summit took place at Rambouillet, France, where the heads of six of the world’s most industrialised nations and their finance ministers came together. The leaders of the US, France, Germany, Britain, Japan and Italy hoped to solve the ongoing economic crisis. The summit marked the birth of an institution now known as the G7. France’s former Finance Minister, Jean-Pierre Fourcade, was at the conference. He speaks to Ben Henderson. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: The closing session of the summit at Rambouillet Castle. Credit: AFP via Getty images)

11 Marras 202510min

On 14 October 1947, American Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound. Despite having two broken ribs, Chuck reached Mach 1.06 – a speed of more than 1,100km per hour.He flew an orange, single-seated, rocket-powered Bell X-1, 13,000m above the Mojave Desert in California. Produced and presented by Rachel Naylor, in collaboration with BBC Archives. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: Captain Chuck Yeager standing next to the Bell X-1 at Muroc Army Air Force Base, California, in 1947. Credit: Underwood Archives/Getty Images)

10 Marras 202510min

In 2012, a shepherd uncovered a bone belonging to a new species of dinosaur on a ranch in Patagonia, in Argentina.A team from the Museum of Paleontology Egidio Feruglio found more than 150 bones, belonging to six skeletons.The Patagotitan, a type of titanosaur, was 40 metres long, 20 metres tall and weighed 77 tonnes.Rachel Naylor spoke to Dr Diego Pol, a palaeontologist who led the dig. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: The skeleton of the Patagotitan on display in London in 2023. Credit: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

7 Marras 202510min

In 1971, an American historical document typed out on a university computer played a vital role in the digital revolution of electronic books. It became the foundation of Project Gutenberg.Michael Hart, the visionary behind the project, later became known as the ‘father of e-books’.His close friend, Greg Newby, who was Project Gutenberg’s CEO and director, tells Gill Kearsley how a bike ride to a shop became the unlikely catalyst for a global transformation in how we read and share literature. Greg died shortly after giving this interview.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.(Photo: Michael Hart. Credit: Benjamin Stone)

6 Marras 202510min