Aug 23

BlackBerry phones and Spot the dog

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Jacquie McNish, author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.We start with the former co-CEO of BlackBerry, who recounts the company's remarkab ... Show More

59m 7s

Aug 15

Indonesian history

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Dr Anne-Lot Hoek, a research fellow at the International Institution of Social History in Amsterdam.This week, we’re looking at key moments in Indonesian history, as ... Show More

50m 20s

Aug 9

Nagasaki bomb and Brazil’s biggest bank heist

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Simone Turchetti, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester in the UK. It's 80 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on ... Show More

50m 52s

Apr 2022

The War in Algeria: A French soldier's experience

In the late 1950s a young Frenchman, who now goes by the name Ted Morgan, was conscripted to fight for France against Algeria's independence fighters. He served as an intelligence officer during the Battle of Algiers, and over sixty years later he is still haunted by what he saw, ... Show More

9m 5s

Jul 2012

Algerian independence

It is 50 years since the end of French colonial rule in Algeria.It came after a bloody and brutal war for independence.Hear the story of one young woman who joined the fight against France and paid a high price for her beliefs.(Image: An Algerian flag. Credit: Reuters)

8m 53s

Apr 2022

The Algerians who fought for France

More than 200,000 Algerians fought for France during the war of independence, becoming known as Harkis. After Algeria's independence in 1962, the Harkis were treated badly by both the Algerians and the French. The FLN regarded the Harkis as traitors; while the French washed their ... Show More

9m 8s

Aug 2019

The mass exodus of Algeria's 'Pieds Noirs'

Hundreds of thousands of French people who'd been living in Algeria for generations fled for safety to France in the summer of 1962. It was in the last days of the war of independence in the North African nation. Known as the 'Pieds Noirs', the new arrivals were not generally wel ... Show More

9m 3s

Apr 2022

Algeria's rebel footballers

During Algeria's War of Independence, a group of Algerian players secretly left their clubs in France to form their own national team. Some had already been selected to play for France in the upcoming World Cup Finals in 1958. In 2014, Saint Etienne striker, Rashid Mekhloufi, spo ... Show More

9m 1s

Apr 2022

Algeria: The Massacre in Paris

During their country's War of Independence, Algerian fighters from the FLN also targeted the French mainland, killing police officers in Paris and other cities. In October 1961, French police turned against Algerian demonstrators in the capital who'd been called out onto the stre ... Show More

9m 3s

Apr 2022

Algeria’s Milk Bar Bomber

Zohra Drif was 21 years old when she planted a bomb that exploded at a busy ice-cream parlour in Algiers. The Algerian student targeted the venue in 1956 during her country’s war of independence with France, because she knew it would be frequented by European settlers. Dozens of ... Show More

9 m

Apr 2022

The shadow of Algiers

It is 60 years since the Algerian War of Independence. But it still casts a shadow over the present. As France goes to the polls to elect a new president, Edward Stourton presents stories from the country's colonial past which still affect day-to-day life. He tells the surprising ... Show More

50m 40s