The History Hour

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.
Our guest is Dr Elisabeth Fondren, Associate Professor of Journalism at St John's University in New York, USA.
We start by hearing some groundbreaking frontline reporting from the Battle of Mandalay in World War Two.
Then, we hear how in 1950s Canada, a controversial government scheme saw the relocation of nearly 30 thousand people.
Next, a pioneering scientist on his role in the fight against a flesh-eating parasite, the New World screwworm in the 1950s.
Plus, the extraordinary life and times of India's "Queen of Melody", Asha Bhosle.
Then, the formation of the English Premier League in 1992.
Finally, how, an Australian recipe book brought novelty birthday cakes to the masses in 1980.
Contributors:
Dr Elisabeth Fondren - Associate Professor of Journalism at St John's University in New York, USA.
Douglas Cleverdon - BBC radio producer (Archive).
Don White - one of thousands relocated under a Canadian government scheme (Archive).
Edward Knipling - entomologist known for his development of the Sterile Insect Technique (Archive).
Asha Bhosle - celebrated Indian playback singer (Archive).
David Dein, co-founder, English Premier League.
Agnes Lee - former home economist at The Australian Women's Weekly.
(Photo: British and Indian Troops of the 14th Army in Burma, March 1945. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes focussing on Kenya.
We hear about Muthoni Kirima, one of the last Mau Mau fighters to come out of hiding and lay down her arms.
Caroline Elkins, Professor of History at Harvard University, discusses the brutality of the conflict between Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army, the British and Kenyan loyalists.
Next, when Princess Elizabeth became queen while staying at the Treetops Hotel, a lodge in the Aberdare National Park.
In 1997, scientists travelled to Kenya, in search of a cave believed to have been the den of the man-eating lions that terrorised railway workers in 1898.
Plus, we hear how Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga signed an unprecedented power-sharing deal to end a wave of violence that left more than 1,200 people dead.
And the heartwarming story of the friendship between a baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise.
Finally for our Sporting Witness story, we head to the first Ultimate Frisbee World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1983.
Contributors:
Caroline Elkins - Professor of History at Harvard University, and author of Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya.
Muthoni Kirima - Field Marshall in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army.
Frank Gillard - BBC correspondent.
Thomas Gnoske - Scientist.
Alan Patterson - British Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson's grandson.
Maina Kiai - Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights in 2008.
Maini Schildt - Swedish Ultimate Frisbee player.
(Photo: Mau Mau suspects are rounded up by police outside the camp in Manyani, Kenya, 1955. Credit: Getty Images/Authenticated News)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.
This week, we hear about the end of decades-long martial law in Taiwan and discuss its impact on the country's literature with Ti-han Chang, the Deputy Director of Centre of Taiwan Studies at SOAS University of London.
Next, the making of City of God, the film that showed the raw reality of children's gangs in Brazil's favelas.
Plus, we remember Ashley Kriel, the young activist who became an anti-apartheid icon on the Cape Flats.
We also hear about the first carbon offset scheme that planted millions of trees in Guatemala.
We go back 50 years to the first time women played basketball in the Olympic Games.
And the birth of Club Med, the resort that pioneered the all-inclusive holiday.
Contributors:
Fred Chin - former Malaysian student imprisoned during Taiwan's White Terror.
Katia Lund - co-director of City of God.
Adiel 'Gorie' November - former anti-apartheid activist.
Roberto Antonio Alvarado - planted the saplings that became some of the world’s first carbon offsets.
Pierre-Xavier Bécret - son of Club Med employees.
Juliene Brazinski Simpson - former US basketball player.
(Photo: Green Island former prison, Taiwan. Credit: James Wendlinger/South China Morning Post via Getty Images)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.
We hear how a comic book fan and his friends began the very first comic convention in New York in 1964.
Our guest is comic book expert Dr Barbara Postema, from the University Groningen in the Netherlands.
Next, we hear how Oasis 1995 hit Wonderwall was made with the man who was the sound engineer on the record.
Plus, the memories of the cellist of Auschwitz in World War Two and the final use of a barbaric execution method in Franco’s Spain.
Sporting Witness takes us back to Hearts of Midlothian’s heartbreaking season of 1986.
And finally, we learn how Sweden gave its workers some of the longest paid holidays in the world in 1970.
Contributors:
Bernie Bubnis – organiser of the first Comic Con
Dr Barbara Postema - lecturer in the English programme at the University of Groningen
Nick Brine – sound engineer on Oasis’ song Wonderwall
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch – the cellist of Auschwitz
Carme Puig Antich – brother of Salvador Puig Antich
Gary Mackay and striker John ‘Robbo’ Robertson – former Hearts players
Inga Persson - beneficiary of Sweden’s long summers
(Photo: Oasis performing in 1996. Credit: Bernd Mueller/ Redferns via Getty)

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.
This week, we hear about the first solar-powered flight around the world, and discuss other moments in the history of solar power with Prof Laura Herz, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, in the UK.
Plus, the start of the largest mountain carving in the world in honour of Native American warrior Crazy Horse, Mexico's 'little old lady killer' and the birth of the 'African Oscars', FESPACO.
Finally, when American football came to Europe and how a Peruvian instrument, the cajon, revolutionised flamenco.
Contributors:
Bertrand Piccard - one of the pilots of Solar Impulse 2.
Prof Laura Herz, Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford.
Monique Ziolkowski - daughter of the sculptor who started the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Dr Feggy Ostrosky - neuropsychologist who worked with Juana Barraza.
Alimata Salembéré - president of the first organising committee of the Pan African Film and Television Festival.
Oliver Luck - former president of NFL Europe.
Rubem Dantas - percussionist who helped introduce the cajon into flamenco.
(Photo: Solar Impulse 2 flies over the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco in 2016. Credit: Jean Revillard via Getty Images)