Kultur & Gesellschaft
Witness History Folgen
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about 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 how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken.We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia.You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space.
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Folge vom 15.05.2020Sweden's fishy submarine scareThe story of a scientist who helped solve a Cold War mystery involving flatulent fish and Soviet submarines. During the Cold War, foreign submarines infiltrated neutral Sweden's territorial waters. In response, the Swedish navy built up a secret database of tell-tale signs to detect the presence of lurking subs and conducted high profile submarine hunts. But the country's submarine scare continued even after the end of the Cold War. So in 1995, the Swedish government launched an investigation. Alex Last spoke to Swedish biologist, Dr Håkan Westerberg, who discovered that one of Sweden's key indicators for submarines, was not what it seemed. Photo: Herring shoal (Science Photo Library)
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Folge vom 14.05.2020Confessions of a PrinceOver a period of four years before his death in December 2004, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the consort and husband of former Queen Juliana, gave a series of secret interviews to two Dutch journalists, on condition that nothing was published until after his funeral. In his conversations with the reporters, the German-born Prince sought to justify a string of extra-marital affairs and a million dollar bribe he had received in the 1970s from the American aircraft manufacturer Lockheed. Prince Bernhard also revealed for the first time the existence of an illegitimate daughter born as a result of an affair in the United States. The publication of the Prince's confessions by De Volkskrantran newspaper shocked the Dutch public, but were met with silence by the Palace. Mike Lanchin spoke to Jan Tromp, one of the journalists who spent hours interviewing the controversial Dutch royalty. Photo: Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard on the day of their wedding, January 1937 (Getty Images)
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Folge vom 13.05.2020Fighting for the pill in JapanAfter decades of campaigning in Japan, the pill was finally legalised in 1999. In contrast the male impotency drug Viagra was approved for use in just six months, and legalised before the contraceptive pill for women. Politician Yoriko Madoka pushed hard for the right to take the pill and told Rebecca Kesby that sexism and male dominance in Parliament is why it took so long.(Photo: A collection of contraceptive pills. Getty Images)
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Folge vom 12.05.2020The first 24-hour children's helplineHow a group of broadcasters and social workers in the UK set up the world’s first 24-hour telephone counselling service for children. It revealed just how widespread child abuse was in Britain. Esther Rantzen was the TV presenter behind Childline, and she has been speaking to Laura FitzPatrick about how it got started.Photo: Esther Rantzen on the day Childline was launched in 1986. Credit: Childline.