The origins of the all-inclusive holiday
Holidaymakers arrived at the first Club Med resort on the Spanish island of Majorca in the summer of 1950. Founded by the Belgian water polo...
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Witness
History as told by the people who were there.
Witness Podcast Guide
Listen to Witness, a Society & Culture podcast by BBC. Stream 2,075 episodes in English, follow new audio stories, and play episodes online on Radio and Podcast.
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Episodes
20 of 2,075 episodesWhen Taiwan’s ‘White Terror’ ended
In 1987, Taiwan finally lifted martial law after nearly four decades of authoritarian rule. The moment marked a profound shift for a society...
Ashley Kriel: South Africa's anti-apartheid 'Che Guevara'
In the 1980s, townships in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town became an unexpected hotbed of activity against South Africa's apartheid governm...
The first carbon offset
In 1988, as floods struck Bangladesh and a heat wave swept across the United States, climate change became a political issue. Governments an...
City of God: The film that reshaped global cinema
In 2001, filming began on City of God which would stun audiences with its unflinching honesty. It captured the brutal realities of child gan...
The cellist who survived Auschwitz-Birkenau
In 1943, the cellist, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. She expected to be killed in the gas cha...
'I organised the first Comic Con'
In 1964, a group of teenage boys organised a convention in New York – it became known as the first official Comic Con. The idea began after...
Sweden's summer shutdown
In the summer of 1978, many Swedish workers relished the chance to take longer, paid vacations than ever before. This was thanks to an updat...
The last execution by garrote: Salvador Puig Antich
In 1974, an execution method known as the garrote, a chair with a metal collar tightened by a screw to break the neck, was used for the last...
Creating Africa’s largest film festival
On 1 February 1969, the first African film festival of Ouagadougou opened in the Republic of Upper Volta, now known as Burkina Faso. In 1972...
The first solar-powered flight around the world
In 2016, a fragile-looking aircraft with the wingspan of a jumbo jet and the power of a scooter attempted something no-one had ever managed...
Unveiling the face of Crazy Horse
On 3 June 1998, a stone carving of Native American warrior Crazy Horse's face was unveiled in South Dakota. It is 27m tall and is part of a...
How a Peruvian instrument revolutionised flamenco
Before 1977, flamenco percussion relied solely on hand‑clapping and dancers' footwork. But that year, at a party in Lima, Peru, the cajon en...
Mexico’s ‘little old lady killer’
In March 2008, former female wrestler Juana Barraza was found guilty of murdering at least 11 elderly women in Mexico City. The murders took...
The British love of tea (from Here for The History)
How and when did tea arrive in the UK? Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson take a look at the mythological origins, the role of a Portuguese prin...
A child's return to Franco's Spain
During the Spanish Civil War, the fascist dictator Francisco Franco rose to power. Around half a million people fled the fighting, but some...
Birkin bag: Creating fashion’s iconic accessory
In 1985, one the world’s most recognisable fashion accessories was first launched – the Birkin handbag. Its origins have since become legend...
Turkey’s failed coup
On 15 July, over 300 people were killed and more than 2,100 injured when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters in a f...
Creating Canada’s largest territory
For generations, Inuit communities lived across the Arctic, travelling with the seasons and relying on the land. But in the mid-20th century...
The Kiss of Life photo that earned a Pulitzer Prize
In 1967, American lineman JD Thompson was working on overhead power lines in Jacksonville, Florida, when his colleague Randall Champion acci...