The "Godfather of Gospel Music"
Thomas A Dorsey is credited with developing Gospel music into a global phenomenon. He started his own musical career in jazz clubs and blues bars, but personal tragedy led him back to church, and inspired hundreds of Gospel songs that transformed the genre. Rebecca Kesby has been listening to archive recordings of Thomas A Dorsey and his singing partner Willie Mae Ford Smith, and speaking to Professor Albert J Raboteau from Princeton University. (PHOTO: Thomas A. Dorsey - 1982. Courtesy of National Endowment For Arts/Humanities/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock. Credit REX)
29 Jan 20189min
The Invention of the Lego Brick
The Lego brick, one of the world's most popular toys, was invented in the small Danish town of Billund in 1958. Created by Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the plastic bricks can be combined in countless combinations and have sold in the billions. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the inventor's son, was ten at the time. He used to play in the company workshop and helped test early Lego models. Olga Smirnova spoke to Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen for Witness.(Image: Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen with a Lego ship. Credit: Kristiansen family archive)
26 Jan 20189min
The Vege-Burger
In 1982, American entrepreneur Gregory Sams launched a product that would help take vegetarianism into the mainstream in the UK. "Vege Burgers" were cheap, tasty and a deliberate attempt to provide a meat-free alternative to one of the mainstays of the fast food industry. Gregory Sams talks to Simon Watts.(Photo: The Vege Burger range, courtesy of Gregory Sams)
25 Jan 20188min
Salvador Dali
The great surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dali died in January 1989. Louise Hidalgo has been talking about his life and work with Christine Argillet, whose father was one of Dali's publishers and who, as a child, spent several summer holidays visiting Dali and his wife Gala in northeast Spain.Picture: the artist Salvador Dali (1904 -1989) in December 1964. (Credit:Terry Fincher/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
24 Jan 20189min
The Capture of the USS Pueblo
A US spy ship was caught by North Korean forces in the Sea of Japan on January 23rd 1968. Its crew were held prisoner for almost a year before being released. In 2012 Chloe Hadjimatheou spoke to Skip Schumacher, one of the young Americans on board.Photo: Members of the USS Pueblo's crew being taken into custody. Credit: Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service
23 Jan 20188min
Francis Bacon's Studio
In 1998 the influential painter's studio was moved in its entirety from a London house to a gallery in Ireland. Francis Bacon had worked in the chaotic room for 30 years up until his death. Every drip of paint and scrap of paper was carefully transported. Vincent Dowd has been speaking to Barbara Dawson of the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin about the project.Photo: Francis Bacon in his studio. Credit:BBC/IWC Media/Peter Stark
22 Jan 20189min
My 10-Year Battle to Adopt in Guatemala
In 2007 Guatemala overhauled its much-criticised adoption system. All future foreign adoptions were immediately suspended, while some 3,000 cases already underway were caught in legal limbo. Many of these cases have taken years to resolve. American Ruth Sheehan tells Mike Lanchin about her long struggle to secure the adoption of Luis, a young Guatemalan child she first met ten years ago.(Photo: Ruth Sheehan with Luis in Guatemala City, courtesy of Ruth Sheehan)
19 Jan 20189min
The Writer With Cerebral Palsy Who Made History
Irish writer Christopher Nolan became the first severely disabled person to win the prestigious British literary prize, the Whitbread Book of the Year in 1988. Nolan was physically disabled at birth by severe cerebral palsy, leaving him paralysed from the neck down. He won for his autobiographical book: Under the Eye of the Clock. Christy wrote by tapping a keyboard with a device strapped to his head. Farhana Haider has been listening to the BBC archives and speaking to the art critic Eileen Battersby about the remarkable writer.(Photo: The finalists for the Whitbread Book of the Year prize in London Christopher Nolan (seated) (L-R) Bernadette Nolan and fellow finalists Francis Wyndham, Geraldine McCaughrean, Joanna Mackle (representing Seamus Heaney) and Ian McEwan. Credit: PA)
18 Jan 20189min
