Witness History
2,048 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 853 ratingsHistory as told by the people who were there.
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Ming Smith makes history at MoMA
June 16, 2023 08:00 - 10 minutes - 4.59 MBIn 1979, The Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA) purchased photographs from an African-American woman for the first time in its history. Ming Smith was famous for capturing her subjects with slow shutter speeds and using oil paints to layer colour onto her black and white photos. She worked as a model in New York in the 1970s, while pursuing her passion for photography and was friends with Grace Jones. Ming took a powerful image of Grace performing at the iconic Studio 54 nightclub in 1978 afte...
Sir Don McCullin’s photo of a US marine
June 15, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.53 MBIn 1968, British photographer Sir Don McCullin travelled to Vietnam for his second ever war assignment. His graphic photographs of the fighting made his reputation and influenced public opinion in the West. Sir Don produced some of his most powerful work during the visit including 'Shell-Shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue'. The photograph shows an American soldier, gripping his rifle whilst the carnage of one of the war’s most intense battle surrounds him. Speaking to Louise Hidalgo ...
Malick Sidibé: Mali’s star photographer
June 14, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.1 MBThe Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, is one of Africa’s most celebrated artists. His most famous photographs show black and white scenes of young people partying in the capital Bamako in the joyful, confident era after Mali’s independence from France in 1960. In the 1990s, a chance encounter with a French curator brought Sidibé’s work international acclaim. The wider world had been used to seeing a narrow range of images from Africa, so when Sidibé’s work went on show in Western gal...
A Great Day in Harlem: The story behind the iconic jazz photo
June 13, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.69 MBIt's 65 years since aspiring photographer Art Kane persuaded 58 of the biggest names in jazz, including Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk to line up for a photo outside a townhouse in Harlem. The resulting photo officially called Harlem 58 became known as 'A Great Day in Harlem' and appeared in Esquire magazine's Golden Age of Jazz edition. But making it wasn't easy. Jonathan Kane, Art Kane's son, tells Vicky Farncombe the obstacles his late father had to overcome to create...
Lee Miller in Hitler's bath
June 12, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.56 MBVogue's war correspondent Lee Miller found herself in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment when the news broke that he was dead. Earlier that day, she and fellow photographer David Scherman had witnessed the harrowing scenes at the liberated Dachau concentration camp. Lee Miller's son and biographer, Antony Penrose, explains to Josephine McDermott the significance of the photograph taken in the final days of World War II in Europe. (Photo: Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub. Credit: David E. Sche...
1955 Le Mans disaster
June 09, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.14 MBOn 11 June 1955, more than 80 people were killed and 100 injured at the Le Mans 24-hour race. A car driven by Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd of around 300,000 causing the deaths. John Fitch was an American racing driver on the Mercedes team at the centre of the tragedy. After the crash, racing was banned in several countries. John Fitch spoke to Claire Bowes in 2010. (Photo: Crash at Le Mans. Credit: Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Last communist march before Hitler
June 08, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.08 MBOn 25 January 1933 the last legal communist march was held in Berlin. Just a few days later Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Soon the Communist Party was banned and the Nazi grip on power was complete. Eric Hobsbawm was a schoolboy communist at the time. He spoke to Andrew Whitehead in 2012. (Photo: Communist rally 1932. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Facial reconstruction: From mummy to murder
June 06, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.25 MBIn 1975, British forensic artist Richard Neave used a pile of modelling clay, two prosthetic eyes and a woman’s wig to reconstruct the face of an Egyptian mummy. It was to be the start of a 40-year career recreating the faces of the dead using the pioneering ‘Manchester technique’ that he invented. And as his reputation spread worldwide, the police came calling. They needed Richard’s skills to help catch a killer, as he told Jane Wilkinson. (Photo: Richard Neave in 2012. Credit: Bethany...
Inuit children taken from families
June 05, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.15 MBIn the early 1960s, the Canadian government launched an experimental programme to take academically promising Inuit children from their homes to be educated in Canada’s cities. The aim was to produce administrators who could spearhead development in the north of the country, but the project came at a great cost for the children and their families. Adamie Kalingo, born and raised in Nunavik, Northern Quebec, speaks to Maria Margaronis about being taken away at the age of 12 in 1964, his y...
The first Indian woman to conquer Everest
June 02, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.22 MBAs a child, Bachendri Pal never dreamt of conquering mountains but a chance meeting with a climber changed all that. She applied for a mountaineering course and was chosen to be part of India’s first mixed-gender team to climb Mount Everest. On the journey, she faced icy winds, freezing temperatures and an avalanche that destroyed the camp. But finally, on 23 May 1984, Bachendri became the first Indian woman to reach the summit of Everest. It was an achievement that changed her life, as ...
Tragedy on Everest
June 01, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.62 MBMichael Groom is one of the survivors of a tragic climbing expedition to Mount Everest in Nepal. In 2010, Jonny Hogg spoke to Michael Groom about the moments that went badly wrong when a storm struck the world's highest mountain on 10 May 1996. (Photo: Michael Groom on Everest in 1993. Credit: Guy Cotter)
Mallory’s body discovered on Everest
May 31, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.62 MBIn 1999 the body of the legendary British mountaineer, George Mallory, was found on Mount Everest. Mallory disappeared on the mountain in 1924 together with his fellow climber Andrew Irvine. In 2016, Farhana Haider spoke to Jochen Hemmleb, one of the original members of the team that discovered George Mallory's remains. (Photo: George Mallory in 1909. Credit: AFP via Getty Images)
Tenzing Norgay conquers Everest
May 30, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.72 MBSherpa Tenzing Norgay had tried to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, six times before his successful climb with Edmund Hillary in 1953. His son, Jamling Norgay, spoke to Louise Clarke about the spiritual importance of the mountain for his father, and how Tenzing Norgay saved Hillary’s life when he fell down a crevasse on the mountain. (Photo: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Credit: BBC)
Edmund Hillary conquers Everest
May 29, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.68 MBOn 29 May 1953 Edmund Hillary, climbing with sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first people to reach the summit of Everest. The two men instantly became famous all over the world. Edmund Hillary’s son, Peter Hillary, tells Louise Clarke about his father's heroic climb. (Photo: Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary. Credit: BBC)
The deadliest glacial avalanche in the world
May 26, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.66 MBOn 31 May 1970, the Huascarán avalanche, caused by the Ancash earthquake, destroyed the town of Yungay, in Peru. Only 400 people, out of a population of 18,000, survived. A clown, named Cucharita, saved approximately 300 children, who were at a circus performance, by leading them to higher ground. Rachel Naylor speaks to his son, Christian Peña. (Photo: Statue of Christ at the cemetery overlooking Yungay, after the avalanche. Credit: Science Photo Library)
Trying to unite Africa
May 25, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.11 MBOn 25 May 1963, leaders of 32 newly-independent African nations came together for the first time in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. At stake was the dream of a united Africa. In 2013, Alex Last spoke to Dr Bereket Habte Selassie who took part in that first gathering. (Photo: Haile Selassie, centre, and Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah, left, during the formation of the Organisation of African Unity. Credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)
Chasing the world’s biggest tornado
May 24, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.26 MBOn 31 May 2013, a huge tornado hit an area close to El Reno in the US state of Oklahoma. It was the widest tornado ever recorded and produced extreme winds of more than 400 kilometres an hour. Eight people were killed, including three storm chasers. One of the people tracking the storm was Emily Sutton, a meteorologist with KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. She’s a member of the station’s storm chasing team and was caught in the tornado. She tells Rob Walker about the impact that day had on h...
Fikret Alić
May 23, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.1 MBIn August 1992, a shocking photograph of a starving, emaciated man behind a barbed wire fence of a Bosnian concentration camp stunned the world. The picture, taken from an ITN TV report was of Bosniak Muslim Fikret Alić. Reporter Ed Vulliamy was there when the photograph was taken. Ed reunites with Fikret and hears how the picture, which was published around the world, eventually helped Fikret flee to safety. This programme contains descriptions of sexual violence. It was produced ...
The sergeants' coup in Suriname
May 22, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.1 MBIn 1980, a group of 16 army sergeants, led by Dési Bouterse, seized power in the small South American country of Suriname, overthrowing the government in a swift and violent coup d’état. The coup came just five years after the country was granted independence from the Netherlands. The country’s first president, Johan Ferrier, was forced to leave Suriname after the coup. Rosemarijn Hoefte, professor of the history of Suriname at the University of Amsterdam, and Johan Ferrier's daughter,...
Pippi Longstocking
May 19, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.13 MBIn Stockholm in 1941, Astrid Lindgren made up a story for her seven-year-old daughter, Karin, about a young girl who lived alone and had super-human strength. Karin named her Pippi Långstrump, or Pippi Longstocking in English. Four years later, Astrid submitted her story into a competition and it won. Her book, Pippi Långstrump, was published and became an overnight success. It’s now been translated into more than 70 languages, as well as being made into more than 40 TV series and fi...
Creating New Zealand's national walking trail
May 18, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.1 MBIn 2011 a 3,000 km long walking trail was opened in New Zealand. Geoff Chapple had spent years lobbying for the creation of Te Araroa. He’d written articles in newspapers and tested out routes in the country's rugged landscape. The process of exploring where it could go sometimes put him in danger as he tells Alex Collins. (Photo: Geoff wading in the Waipapa River in the far north of New Zealand while on the Te Araroa trail. Credit: Amos Chapple)
The Dambusters
May 17, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 4.79 MBIn the early hours of 17 May 1943 a bold World War II attack destroyed two dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany's industrial heartland, causing 1,600 casualties and catastrophic flooding which hampered the German war effort. The dams were highly protected but 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force had a new weapon – the bouncing bomb. Invented by Barnes Wallis, the weapon was designed to skip over the dams' defences and explode against the sides. The Dambusters mission was a huge propaganda ...
German child evacuees of World War Two
May 16, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.2 MBBeginning in 1940 thousands of German children were evacuated to camps in the countryside to avoid the bombs of World War Two. These camps were seen as safe places where they could continue their education but also where Nazi beliefs could be taught. Alex Collins has listened to archive recordings from "Haus der Geschichte der Bundersrepublik Deutschland" in Bonn one of Germany's national history museums and hears the stories of former camp residents Gunter Stoppa and Klaus Reimer. You m...
Singapore executes Filipina maid
May 15, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.54 MBIn 1995, the execution of Flor Contemplacion caused protests, a government resignation and a diplomatic crisis between the Philippines and Singapore. Flor, who worked in Singapore, was convicted of killing another domestic helper, Delia Maga, and the four-year-old boy Delia looked after, Nicholas Huang. While Singapore stood by the conviction, millions of Filipinos believed Flor was innocent and had been let down by their government as an overseas worker. Flor’s daughter Russel Contemplac...
World War II victory in North Africa
May 12, 2023 09:00 - 11 minutes - 5.28 MBPeter Royle, 103, endured a month of solid fighting in the hills outside of Tunis in 1943. Eventually the Allies prevailed and took more than 250,000 German and Italian prisoners of war. They declared victory in Tunisia on 13 May. Peter came close to dying many times. He recalls how he once hummed God Save the King to prevent himself being shot by friendly fire. He was under the command of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, fresh from victory in the North African desert, and recalls him bei...
Warsaw Ghetto uprising
May 11, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.23 MBIn May 1943, the uprising in the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw in Poland came to an end. The Germans had crushed the uprising and deported surviving ghetto residents to concentration camps. Simha "Kazik" Rotem was one of the Jewish fighters who survived to tell his story. He spoke to Louise Hidalgo in 2010. (Photo: Warsaw Ghetto. Credit: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The last commercial flight out of Kai Tak
May 10, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.13 MBIn 1998, one of Hong Kong’s best known landmarks, Kai Tak airport, closed after 73 years. Kai Tak, which was built between the mountains and the city, was world-famous for its unique landing approach that became known as 'the Kai Tak heart attack’. Captain Kim Sharman was the pilot of the last commercial flight out of Kai Tak. During his career he landed at the airport more than 1,000 times. Twenty-five years on he shares his memories with Gill Kearsley. (Photo: Boeing 747 landing ...
The sinking of the SS Tilawa: the ‘Indian Titanic’
May 09, 2023 07:00 - 9 minutes - 4.12 MBOn 23 November 1942, in the middle of the Second World War, a ship called the SS Tilawa was carrying more than 950 passengers and crew from India to East Africa when it was sunk by Japanese torpedoes. Two hundred and eighty people died. The ship became known as the 'Indian Titanic'. Ben Henderson speaks to the last two known survivors, Arvind Jani and Tej Prakash Mangat. (Photo: Arvind Jhani and Tej Prakash Mangat. Credit: their families)
United States bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
May 08, 2023 07:00 - 9 minutes - 4.2 MBIn 1999, NATO carried out a bombing campaign in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. On 7 May, five American bombs hit the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three people and damaging relations between China and the West. Ben Henderson speaks to Hong Shen, a Chinese businessman, who was one of the first on the scene. (Photo: Protesters hold pictures of Chinese journalists killed in the embassy bombing. Credit: Stephen Shaver/AFP via Getty Images)
The removal of Scotland's Stone of Destiny
May 05, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.14 MBOn Christmas Eve 1950, four young Scottish students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey in London. The symbolic stone had been taken from Scotland to England centuries earlier and had sat beneath the Coronation Chair in the abbey ever since. In 2018, Anya Dorodeyko spoke to the late Ian Hamilton who took part in the daring escapade in order to draw attention to demands for Scottish home rule. (Photo: Ian Hamilton. Credit: BBC)
Last King of Bulgaria
May 04, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.06 MBIn June 2001, more than half a century after being driven into exile by communists, Bulgaria’s former King Simeon II made a dramatic comeback by winning the country’s parliamentary election. In 2018, Farhana Haider spoke to Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha about his remarkable journey from child king to prime minister. (Photo: Former King Simeon II of Bulgaria. Credit: Luc Castel/Getty Images)
The 'execution' of Oliver Cromwell
May 03, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.06 MBIn 1661 in England, following the restoration of the monarchy, the body of Oliver Cromwell was dug up for ritual execution. Cromwell had overthrown King Charles I and ruled as Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 2014, Vincent Dowd spoke to civil war historian Charles Spencer. (Photo: The death mask of Oliver Cromwell. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Jean-Bédel Bokassa's coronation
May 02, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.05 MBJean-Bédel Bokassa crowned himself Emperor of the Central African Republic in a lavish ceremony on 4 December 1977. He'd already been president for several years since taking power in a military coup - but he wanted more. In 2018, Janet Ball spoke to his son Jean-Charles Bokassa. (Photo: Jean-Bédel Bokassa at his coronation. Credit: Pierre Guillaud / AFP via Getty Images)
The king under the car park
May 01, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.05 MBIn 2012, archaeologists from the University of Leicester discovered the lost grave of King Richard III under a car park in Leicester in the English East Midlands. Richard was the King of England more than 500 years ago and for centuries was portrayed as one of the great villains of English history. He was killed in 1485 leading his army in battle against a rival claimant to the throne, Henry Tudor. After the battle, King Richard III's corpse was stripped naked and paraded around before ...
The fight to televise the Queen's Coronation
April 28, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.15 MBQueen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953 was a watershed moment for television as millions watched the ceremony live. But it nearly never happened as the UK Government initially refused to allow TV cameras inside Westminster Abbey. The late Peter Dimmock, the BBC’s former head of outside broadcasts, looks back on the challenges the corporation faced. Former maid of honour Lady Jane Rayne Lacey also shares her memories of the day with Vicky Farncombe, including the part that felt “too sacre...
The Met Gala goes global
April 27, 2023 09:00 - 10 minutes - 5 MBThe Met Gala takes place annually on the first Monday in May. In 1995, Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour chaired the huge fashion celebration for the first time that takes place at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Anna changed the date of the celebrity bash from December to May and is the driving force that transformed the event from a society dinner to the star-studded affair labelled “fashion’s biggest night”. The shindig has been attended by stars including Rihanna, Beyoncé...
Guatemala's outspoken bishop
April 26, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.14 MBOn 26 April 1998 leading human rights campaigner, Bishop Juan Gerardi, was attacked and killed in his home, just two days after presenting the conclusions of a major investigation into abuses committed during Guatemala’s civil war. Bishop Gerardi’s report blamed the country’s military and paramilitary forces for the deaths of most of the 50,000 civilians killed during the conflict. Ronalth Ochaeta, who worked alongside Bishop Gerardi, tells Mike Lanchin about the murdered bishop’s life-...
Discovering the secrets of DNA
April 25, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.15 MBJames Watson and Francis Crick first published their discoveries about the structure of DNA on 25 April 1953. Their findings were to revolutionise our understanding of life. We hear archive recordings of their memories, 70 years on. This programme, presented by Louise Hidalgo, was first broadcast in 2010. (Photo: James Watson and Francis Crick. Credit: Getty Images)
Althea McNish: 'I designed fabrics for the Queen'
April 24, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 4.12 MBIn 1966, the artist Althea McNish designed fabrics for the Queen's tour of the West Indies when she visited Trinidad and Tobago. Althea, who was born in Trinidad and moved to England in 1950, had her vibrant designs turned into the Queen's dresses and they were even used for curtains and cushions for the royal residence. Rose Sinclair, a lecturer in textile design at Goldsmiths, University of London, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma. (Photo: Althea McNish. Credit: Evening Standard/Hulton Ar...
The Russian man who pretended to be a dog
April 21, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.43 MBIn 1994, Russian conceptual artist Oleg Kulik posed naked, pretending to be a guard dog, attacking passers by in Moscow. He was protesting conditions in post-Soviet Russia. He claimed Russians had lost their ability to relate to each other, and were reduced to living like animals. In this programme, first broadcast in 2014, Dina Newman speaks to Kulik about his protest performance, which made him famous around the world. (Photo: Oleg Kulik dressed as dog on car bonnet. Credit: Oleg Kulik)
Smoky the World War II dog hero
April 20, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 4.54 MBIn 1944, Bill Wynne who was serving with the U.S. Army during World War II, adopted a tiny Yorkshire terrier called Smoky. When Bill caught dengue fever and was sent to hospital, his friends brought Smoky to see him. Soon the nurses were taking Smoky to visit other patients who had been wounded in the Biak Island invasion. She had a powerful healing effect on the soldiers and is believed to be one of the world’s first therapy dogs. Reena Stanton-Sharma talks to Bill's friend Adrian B...
Roselle the 9/11 guide dog
April 19, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.41 MBAfter the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001, a New York guide dog called Roselle was hailed as a hero for helping her owner safely down 78 flights of stairs and away from the Twin Towers before they collapsed. In this programme, first broadcast in 2017, Simon Watts speaks to Roselle's owner, Michael Hingson. (Photo: Roselle and Michael Hingson, right, meeting a 9/11 rescue team. Credit: Getty Images)
The world's first labradoodle
April 18, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.46 MBIn 1989, Australian dog breeder Wally Conron was tasked with finding a suitable dog for a blind woman in Hawaii whose husband was allergic to pet hair. By breeding together a poodle and a Labrador, he inadvertently created the world’s first ever labradoodle. More than three decades on, Wally believes he created Frankenstein’s monster. He has been sharing his memories of Sultan the labradoodle with George Crafer. (Photo: Wally Conron with Sultan the first ever labradoodle. Credit: Gett...
The first dog in space
April 17, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.46 MBLaika the Russian stray was the first dog to orbit the Earth. She was sent into space on a flight in 1957 which had been timed to mark the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. She died after orbiting Earth four times. Professor Victor Yazdovsky's father was in charge of the dogs in the Russian space programme. In 2017, Professor Yazdovsky spoke to Olga Smirnova about playing with Laika, before her flight, when he was just nine-years-old. (Photo: Laika. Credit: Getty Images.)
Richard Dimbleby describes Belsen
April 14, 2023 09:00 - 21 minutes - 9.7 MBThe BBC’s Richard Dimbleby was the first reporter to enter the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. His report describing the unimaginable horror he found was for many listeners around the world the first time they had heard the truth of what it was like to have endured life and death under the Nazis. An estimated 70,000 people died in the camp. The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby reflects on the impact of the report on his father and why the BBC was reluctant to broadcast it at fir...
I led the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers
April 13, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.1 MBOn 15 April 2013, brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon and killed three people. After the attack they disappeared, only to resurface three days later in the quiet city of Watertown, Massachusetts. The local police force were dispatched to catch the terrorists. An eight-minute gun fight followed, and pressure cooker bombs were hurled down the street at officers. Watertown’s chief of police, Edward Deveau, was in charge of detaining the brothers. ...
Mass grave at Sernyky
April 12, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.12 MBIn 1990, archaeologist Richard Wright flew half way around the world to unearth a mass grave in Sernyky, Ukraine as part of an Australian Nazi war crimes investigation. The site contained more than 500 bodies of Jewish people who had been killed in a mass execution. Richard's findings were used in the war crimes trial of Ivan Polyukhovich. He had fled to Australia after World War Two. Decades later Richard recounts his experience to Alex Collins. This programme contains destressing d...
The universal recycling symbol
April 11, 2023 09:00 - 8 minutes - 4.11 MBIn 1970, American architecture student Gary Anderson won a competition, to mark the first Earth Day on 22 April, to design a logo for recycled paper products. His design of three arrows in a triangle shape remains in the public domain and is now used to mean recycling around the world. He spoke to Rachel Naylor. (Photo: Rubbish for recycling on a doorstep for collection. Credit: Getty Images)
Emperor Tewodros II
April 10, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 4.12 MBEmperor Tewodros II is one of the towering figures of modern Ethiopian history. He tried to unify and modernise Ethiopia but his reign was also marked by brutality. He faced a rising tide of rebellion inside the country and then in 1868 a British military expedition marched into the Ethiopian highlands. Its aim was to free British diplomatic envoys the Emperor had imprisoned. Tewodros II made a last stand at Magdala, his mountain top fortress. In 2016, Rob Walker spoke to historian Ph...
The Good Friday Agreement referendum
April 07, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 4.16 MBOn 22 May 1998, a referendum was held in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland asking voters if they supported the Good Friday Agreement. In both, the majority of the electorate voted in favour of adopting the peace deal. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jane Morrice, from the Yes campaign, and Lee Reynolds, from the No campaign. (Photo: A poster in Belfast ahead of the referendum. Credit: Gerry Penny via Getty Images)