Max Pearson introduces first-hand accounts of the rule of Ferdinand Marcos Senior in the 1970s and 80s; plus, Shanghai during World War Two, and the opening of the first McDonald's in the Soviet Union. The History Hour also hears how the murder of a young West Indian called Kelso Cochrane changed race relations in Britain in the late 1950s.
PHOTO: Imelda an ... Show More
May 2022
People Power in the Philippines
In 1986, four days of huge public protests brought down President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. Kate McGowan, in Manila, talks to the leading Filipino novelist, Jose Dalisay, about the demonstrations. This edition of Witness History was first broadcast in 2011.PHOTO: Filip ... Show More
9m 1s
Oct 2020
Doubled Rooks? The U.S.-Philippine Alliance in Historical Context
This week, Mike is joined by Chris Capozzola, Professor of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to discuss his new book on the history of U.S.-Philippines relations, Bound by War. The two discuss the importance of history for informing grand strategy, and what le ... Show More
30m 57s
Jun 2024
465. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Killer (Part 1)
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to one of the world’s greatest empires, in June 1914, set in motion a series of events that would culminate in the First World War, where more than 15 million people would lose their lives. Franz Ferdinand’s assassin, Gavrilo Pr ... Show More
1h 6m
May 2022
The murder of Kelso Cochrane
In May 1959, Kelso Cochrane, a carpenter who'd emigrated to Britain from Antigua, was knifed to death by a gang of white youths in West London. The unsolved murder came at a time of racial tension in the area and led to the first official inquiry into race relations in British hi ... Show More
8m 58s
May 2022
The first McDonald's in Moscow
Following the closure of McDonald’s in Russia, we’re going back to January 1990 when the global fast food giant opened its first restaurant in Moscow. In 2015, Mike Lanchin spoke to George Cohon, the man who brought the Big Mac to what was then the communist USSR, and to Sveta Po ... Show More
9m 2s
Jul 2024
466. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Conspiracy (Part 2)
Gavrilo Princip, having been sent to school in Sarajevo, has become mixed up with the wrong crowd, and is now entangled in a secret Serbian nationalist organisation, the Black Hand. Hoping to be more involved in the struggle for a greater Yugoslavia, he’s left for Belgrade, and a ... Show More
57m 1s
Aug 2021
Jonathan Haslam, "The Spectre of War: International Communism and the Origins of World War II" (Princeton UP, 2021)
The Spectre of War: International Communism and the Origins of World War II (Princeton UP, 2021), looks at a subject we thought we knew—the roots of the Second World War—and upends our assumptions with a new interpretation. Professor Jonathan Haslam, in the words of historian, Ge ... Show More
1h 5m