logo
episode-header-image
Today
59m 36s

The first Comic Con and making Oasis’ Wo...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

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)

Up next
Jul 25
Solar-powered flight and the Crazy Horse Memorial
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 th ... Show More
1 h
Jul 18
The Spanish Civil War and the Birkin bag
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.This week, we mark 90 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War. Our guest is historian Professor Sir Paul Preston, who explains how the conflict transformed Spain and pave ... Show More
1 h
Jul 11
Buildings of power and the Dada art movement
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Mateja Kurir, associate professor at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and the editor of the book, On Power in Architecture.We start with Jackie Kennedy's 1962 ... Show More
1h 1m
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2011
What Happens Next: Part 2
The accidental tourist who turned out to be a full blooded revolutionary. The family tale of Queen Alexandra attempting suicide. And finding the POW father who returned to Germany after the war. Sally and Nick discover new information and lasting repercussions as they revisit thr ... Show More
28m 6s
May 2020
The End of the Women's War
Robert, Jake and Khabat interview ISIS brides and their victims in an attempt to understand how Rojava's utopian dreams can co-exist with the brutal realities of terrorism and justice.Music: "Bella Ciao" by Astronautalis (feat. Subp Yao & Rickolus) Learn more about your ad-choice ... Show More
1h 9m
Oct 2023
History in the Making
This week, Colin Jones explores the streets of Paris as the French Revolution grew pace; and an extract from a very special event at the British Library in celebration of Hilary Mantel.'The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1748-1789', by Robert Darnton'A Memoir of My Former Self: A L ... Show More
54m 38s
Jan 2021
Introducing: 'Behind the Insurrections'
In the wake of the January 6th insurrection in D.C., Robert Evans and co-host Propaganda take a look at fascist insurrections throughout history. They also unpack the evolution, successes, and failures of antifascists in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Learn more about your ad-choices ... Show More
1m 22s
Jan 2021
Introducing: 'Behind the Insurrections'
In the wake of the January 6th insurrection in D.C., Robert Evans and co-host Propaganda take a look at fascist insurrections throughout history. They also unpack the evolution, successes, and failures of antifascists in Italy, Germany, and Spain. Learn more about your ad-choices ... Show More
1m 22s
Jan 2025
The Kingdom Behind Glass
Who owns stolen art? Today on the show, the bloody journey of a Benin Bronze from West Africa to the halls of one of England's most elite universities — a tale of imperialism, betrayal, and the making of the modern world.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection an ... Show More
48m 24s
Jul 2023
Acting Out
Malcolm talks with Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, host of The Last Archive, about the forgotten origins of a major social science, the missing chapter in Ella Fitzgerald’s life, and what it all has to do with the prison just down the street from Malcolm’s office. Listen, and check out the b ... Show More
36m 34s