The Siege of Yarmouk

In 1982, human rights campaigner Rosario Ibarra became the first woman and first political outsider to stand for president in Mexico.Her presidential bid was a direct challenge to the country’s long-established male-dominated political system. Ibarra’s motivation to stand was both political and highly personal. She wanted to draw attention to the country’s “disappeared” political prisoners, among them her own son. Mike Lanchin has been hearing about Rosario Ibarra from her eldest daughter, Rosario Piedra. This is a CTVC production for BBC World Service.(Picture: Rosario Ibarra campaigning. Credit: The Rosario family)

7 Mars 20238min

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. She died aged 58 in 2006. Alex Collins speaks to her friend and fellow author Nisi Shawl.(Photo: Octavia E. Butler. Credit: Getty Images)

6 Mars 20238min

Zoran Djindjic, the prime minister of Serbia, was assassinated on 12 March 2003. He was murdered by an associate of former president, Slobodan Milosevic.Gordana Matkovic served in Djindjic's cabinet. Two decades on from the murder, she shares her memories of that time with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Zoran Djindjic poster held up during remembrance gathering. Credit: Getty Images)

3 Mars 202310min

In 1992, the late zoologist Nigel Bonner opened one of the world's most remote museums, the South Georgia Whaling Museum, on South Georgia, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. Despite its isolated location, 1,400km east of the Falkland Islands, it remains open today and gets around 15,000 visitors a year. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jan Cheek, a friend of the founder and former trustee of the museum.(Photo: South Georgia Museum. Credit: Richard Hall for SGHT)

2 Mars 20239min

In 2004 Jason deCaires Taylor started building the world's first underwater gallery.He wanted to attract divers away from fragile coral reefs, so he submerged life-sized, human cement models in the Caribbean Sea.Within a few days the art was covered in purple and blue sponges, orange fire coral and green algae... and was even home to a few octopuses.Nineteen years later, Jason tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his memories of building the park. Archive Credit: Grenada Broadcasting Network.(Photo: ‘Viscissitudes’ - A sculpture installed in Grenada. Credit: Jason deCaires Taylor)

1 Mars 20238min

In 2009, Rudolf Brazda, one of the last known survivors of the Pink Triangles, returned to the former site of Buchenwald concentration camp where he’d been imprisoned during World War Two, for being gay in Nazi Germany. In never previously broadcast recordings, taped by Jean-Luc Schwab, who wrote Rudolf’s biography, we hear Rudolf’s reaction to returning as a 95-year-old man. Jean-Luc Schwab who became friends with Rudolf in the last few years of his life, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma.This programme contains distressing details. (Photo: Rudolf Brazda. Credit: Frederick Florin/ Getty Images)

28 Feb 20238min

Fifty years ago, indigenous American activists staged a historic protest against the US authorities.A siege began which lasted for two months and resulted in the violent deaths of two tribal members and the injuring of a US marshal.In 2011 Russell Means, the former national director of the ‘American Indian Movement', spoke to the programme. (Photo: Russell Means in 1973. Credit: Getty Images)

27 Feb 20239min

How did an estimated 900 million people come to witness Her Majesty the Queen apparently parachuting from a helicopter with James Bond?Frank Cottrell-Boyce who wrote the scene for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games explains how it came about.Josephine McDermott hears how corgis, a clothes line and the Queen’s dresser all played important parts. 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: The moment the Queen and James Bond appeared to jump out of a helicopter above the Olympic Stadium in London. Credit: Getty Images)

24 Feb 202310min