The hippo and the tortoise
Following the devastating tsunami of 2004, a baby hippo named Owen was rescued from the sea off the coast of Kenya.He was taken to Haller Park in Mombasa, home of a 130-year-old giant tortoise called Mzee.Owen and Mzee formed an unusual friendship and their story gained worldwide fame.Dr Paula Kahumbu tells their story to Gill Kearsley. 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 football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: Owen and Mzee. Credit: Peter Greste/AFP/Getty Images)
10 Nov 20239min
Destruction of Mostar Bridge
On 9 November 1993, one of Bosnia's most famous landmarks, the historic bridge in Mostar, was destroyed by Croat guns during the Bosnian war. Built by the Ottomans in the 16th Century, the bridge was a symbol of Bosnia's multicultural past. In 2014, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Eldin Palata, who filmed the destruction of the bridge, and Mirsad Behram, a local journalist.(Photo: A temporary bridge where Mostar's historic bridge previously stood. Credit: Robert Nickelsberg/Liaison via Getty Images)
9 Nov 20239min
The Pakistani teens who became disco superstars
In the 1980s, a brother and sister from Pakistan topped the charts in countries all over the world with their dancefloor filler, Disco Deewane.Nazia and Zoheb Hassan were the first teenagers ever to make a hit record in India.Zoheb tells Vicky Farncombe about their rise to fame.(Photo: Nazia and Zoheb Hassan. Credit: BBC)
8 Nov 202310min
Debbie McGee in Iran
In 1978, British showbusiness star, Debbie McGee was a dancer with the Iranian National Ballet Company.Debbie was living in the capital, Tehran, at the start of the Iranian revolution. She tells Gill Kearsley the story of how she dealt with the unrest and escaped the country.Debbie, who went on to marry British magician Paul Daniels, said: "I would never have met my late husband if that hadn't happened... so I've got the ayatollah to thank for that."(Photo: Debbie McGee in 2018. Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images for The Old Vic Theatre)
7 Nov 202310min
Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire
In August 2004, more than 300 people died when a supermarket caught fire in Paraguay's capital, Asunción.It is seen as the country's worst peacetime disaster.Tatiana Gabaglio escaped the fire. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Mourners gathering after the Ycuá Bolaños fire. Credit: Norberto Duarte/AFP via Getty Images)
6 Nov 20239min
Freddie Mercury 'marries' Jane Seymour
On 5 November, 1985 some of the world's top designers and music stars joined together in a special event at London’s Royal Albert Hall to raise money for drought-hit Ethiopia.The rock star Freddie Mercury and the actress Jane Seymour were chosen to model the bridal collection of David and Elizabeth Emanuel.Jane Seymour tells Josephine McDermott what it was like to play the role of Freddie Mercury's bride for a fashion spectacular.(Photo: Jane Seymour and Freddie Mercury at Fashion Aid. Credit: Getty Images)
3 Nov 202311min
Che Guevara’s daughter: A Cuban doctor in Angola
In 1986 Dr Aleida Guevara, the daughter of revolutionary icon Che Guevara, went to Angola to work as a paediatrician.Dr Aleida was one of a number of medics Fidel Castro’s Cuban government sent to their fellow communist country in southern Africa as it emerged from Portuguese colonialism into civil war.Marcia Veiga hears how Dr Aleida treated children with cholera in a hospital in the Angolan capital Luanda.Dr Aleida also reveals how, during downtime from working as Cuba’s minister of industries, her tired father played with her by carrying her on his back as if he were a horse.The music for this programme is from Dadifox and Receba.(Photo: Dr Aleida Guevara with a patient at Luanda’s Josina Machel Hospital. Credit: Dr Aleida Guevara)
2 Nov 20239min
Inventing the black box
On 23 March 1962, a prototype of the first cockpit flight recorder, the black box, was tested in Australia. In the early 1950s, fuel scientist David Warren, who worked in the Australian government’s aeronautical research laboratories, attended a talk about the reasons for a recent plane crash. David thought that if only he could speak to a survivor, he’d have a much better idea of what caused the crash and could prevent future ones. This led him to develop a recorder that would collect vital information of the last few hours before a plane goes down. Today the modern equivalent of the black box is compulsory equipment on passenger planes all over the world. In 2015, David’s children, Jenny and Peter Warren, and a former colleague, Bill Schofield, spoke with Catherine Davis about how his idea changed air travel forever. (Photo: The flight data recorder known as a black box used in aircraft. Credit: Getty Images)
1 Nov 202310min
