Dickey Chapelle - War Reporter

The forced removal of families who weren't white from District Six, in Cape Town, by the South African apartheid regime and the man who jumped from space back to earth.Also, stories about a Soviet fashionista, the Nazi occupation of Jersey and the Mongolia Revolution. (Photo: District Six, circa 1969, in Cape Town. Credit: Getty Images)Contributors: Zahra Nordien - who was forced out of District Six in Cape Town in 1977 Chrischené Julius - the manager of Collections, Research and Documentation at the District Six Museum Jenny Lecoat - the great-niece of Louisa Gould, who hid a Russian man from Nazis in Jersey Ganbold Davaadorj - a pro-democracy protestor in Mongolia Slava Zaitsev - Russian fashion designer Felix Baumgartner - daredevil

17 Dec 202251min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.We go to Quebec in 1995 when voters went to the polls to decide whether the province should declare independence from Canada.Tim Marshall, the author of The Power of Geography and presenter of the World Service podcast, The Compass, explores other referendums which have taken place in recent history.Plus the creation of children's TV series Teletubbies in 1994. It became a global hit.(Photo: Voters gather in the streets of Barcelona. Credit: Marco Panzetti/NurPhoto Getty Images)Contributors: Jean-François Lisée and Stephane Dion - on the Quebec referendum Paul Kelly - Australian political correspondent Praveen Jain - Indian photojournalist Patricia da Silva - Jean Charles de Menezes' cousin Anne Wood- creator of Teletubbies

10 Dec 202251min

Max Pearson presents a compilation of this week's Witness History programmes from the BBC World Service.We hear from a man who was aged six when he was among the Japanese families expelled from his island home, as it was taken over by the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Our guest is Professor Haruko Satoh from Osaka University who analyses recent Japan-Russian relations and the impact of the invasion of Ukraine.Twenty years after the Mombasa hotel bombing, a survivor recounts her experience. Also, the virologist who smuggled live HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag so she could start testing people.Plus the flour protests at the 1970 Miss World contest and the history of a keep fit phenomenon.Contributors: Yuzo Matsumoto - taken from his home on Etorofu in 1947 Professor Haruko Satoh - Osaka University Sally Alexander - protester at Miss World 1970 Kelly Hartog - survivor of the Mombasa hotel bombing Professor Radka Argirova - virologist from Bulgaria Annie Thorisdottir - CrossFit world champion

3 Dec 202250min

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service. Malaysia's Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, recounts being put on trial for sodomy and corruption. Our guest is the BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, who tells us about Malaysian political history. Iran's first women's minister describes the challenges she had to overcome. We hear how the seat belt and cat's eyes were invented. And a Swedish man remembers the chaos when his country switched to driving on the right-hand-side of the road.Contributors: Anwar Ibrahim - Malaysian Prime Minister. Mahnaz Afkhami - Iran's first Minister of Women's Affairs. Gunnar Ornmark - step-son of the inventor of the modern seat belt. Glenda Shaw - great-niece of the inventor of cat's eyes. Bjorn Sylvern - on Sweden switching to driving on the right-hand-side.

26 Nov 202251min

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes, which focus on the Arabian Peninsula to mark the start of the football World Cup in Qatar. Our guest is Dr Wafa Alsayed, Lecturer in Political Science and History at the Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait.We hear about how the states across the peninsula won independence, and speak to the architect of the region's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.There's also the invention of the robot camel jockey, and a pioneering female Qatari author.On the World Cup theme, we end with the story of American popstar Diana Ross missing a penalty during the opening ceremony of the 1994 tournament.Contributors: Mohammed Al-Fahim on the formation of the UAE Adrian Smith, architect of the Burj Khalifa Kaltham Jaber, Qatari author Esan Maruff who developed robot camel jockeys Alan Rothenberg who organised the 1994 World Cup(Photo: Dubai skyline. Credit: Getty Images)

19 Nov 202254min

A collection of Witness History episodes, presented by Max Pearson. We look at how racism led to raids in the 1970s and protests in the 1980s in New Zealand, and the assassination of Pim Fortyn. In New Zealand in the 1970s, dawn raids targeted Polynesian migrants who had overstayed their work permits. In response, the community formed a resistance group, the Polynesian Panthers, in June 1971. Professor Niki Alsford of Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Central Lancashire in England, describes the importance of the apology by the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden was to Pacific Islanders in 2021. It’s been 20 years since one of the most controversial politicians in Europe was assassinated just days before a general election. We hear from a TV reporter who was one of the first people on the scene after Pim Fortuyn was shot. (Photo: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden at a service to apologise to Pacific Islanders. Credit: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

12 Nov 202251min

A collection of Witness History episodes, looking at how young men in Africa have been exploited through football and and sex-selective abortion in India. Presented by Max Pearson. For millions of gamers all over the world Tonton Zola Moukoko is a cult hero. The Swedish-Congolese footballer found fame as a brilliant player in the computer game series Championship Manager. But in the real world, things were very different. African football expert and journalist Oluwashina Okeleji reports on the historic treatment of young African footballers as they try to break into European professional leagues. And we hear from feminist activist Manisha Gupte in India, who has campaigned against sex-selective abortion, eventually raising enough awareness to bring about a national law in 1994 - the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.(Photo: Tonton in front of screenshot of Championship Manager. Credit: Tonton Zola Moukoko)

5 Nov 202251min

A collection of Witness History episodes, this week focusing on global events where women have taken a stand for equality from Sudan to Iran and Australia. In Iran in 1979, Islamic rules about how women dressed were just one of the issues women objected to during the Iranian revolution. The BBC's Rana Rahimpour discusses the protests currently taking place in Iran triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini with echoes of what happened in 1979. We also head to Sudan in 1991 when a law was introduced to control how women acted and dressed in public resulting in arrests, beatings and deaths. And we hear from a survivor of the 2002 Moscow siege when heavily armed Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage, with some disturbing scenes.(Photo: Women during the Iranian revolution in 1979. Credit: Alain Dejean/Sygma via Getty Images)

29 Okt 202251min