Yesterday

How BRICS got its name

In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big players in the world economy. That’s when he came up with the name BRIC - short for Brazil, Russia, India and China. At first, nothin ... Show More

9m 55s

Oct 9

Japan surrenders in Beijing

Eighty years ago, in the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire.The one in China was held at the Forbidden City in Beijing bringing an end to eight years of occupation. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese gen ... Show More

10m 12s

Oct 8

The remote island that was evacuated to 10,000km away

On 10 October 1961, a volcanic eruption threatened the population of Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, and all 264 islanders were evacuated to the UK. Two years later, the majority voted to return. In an interview she gave to the BBC in 1961, M ... Show More

10m 43s

Feb 2021

Gay and lesbian support for the British miners' strike

In 1984 a group of lesbians and gay men organised a benefit concert to support striking coal-miners. They sent the money they raised to a mining village in Wales. The miners' strike was the biggest industrial dispute in British history. Hear from Mike Jackson, one of the gay men ... Show More

8m 58s

Nov 2023

Section 28: The Anti-Gay Law That Sparked A Movement

The 1980s have a lot to answer for - spandex, for one. It also saw the first new anti-gay law in Britain for over a century. Against the backdrop of the HIV epidemic, and increasing homophobia across the media and politics, the law Section 28 was passed in 1988, which stopped the ... Show More

38m 44s

Jul 2021

1977: Anita Bryant's War on Gay Rights

Miami, 1977: Pop singer and orange juice spokeswoman Anita Bryant takes a stand against a local ordinance—and becomes the leader of a national anti-gay movement. Her campaign against gay rights, and the gay community's fight against her, would change America. One Year is produced ... Show More

1h 4m

May 2024

Season 9 Trailer: Gays Against Briggs

In 1978, state senator John Briggs put a bold proposition on the California ballot. If it passed, the Briggs Initiative would ban gays and lesbians from working in public schools—and fuel a growing backlash against LGBTQ+ people in all corners of American life. In the ninth seas ... Show More

1m 56s

Oct 2021

The Greenham Common women's peace camp

The anti-nuclear weapons protest began in 1981 and lasted nineteen years. Also the first transgender priest in the Church of England, WW2 Polish refugees in Africa, plus why lesbian mothers caused such a stir in the 1970s and was the untimely death of Mozambique's President Samor ... Show More

50m 12s

Mar 2023

The Early Days of LGBTQ Rock

Once upon a time, it was illegal—criminal—to be another other than heterosexual...any hint that you may be something other than straight could get you into all sorts of trouble—and career suicide was the least of your worries...In 1895, the famous English playwright, Oscar Wilde, ... Show More

31m 7s

Jan 2024

The first lesbian couple to get married and World Laughter Day

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalise gay marriage. Four couples were chosen to take part in a collective wedding at midnight which was broadcast on TV. Hé ... Show More

51m 43s

Mar 2020

The fight against Poland’s ‘LGBT free zones’

New laws are being passed across Poland taking aim at the LGBT community. They’ve been called “LGBT free zones” as a shorthand. While they don’t necessarily mean that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are being thrown into prison, they are having a chilling effect on ... Show More

19m 38s

Jun 2022

LGBTQ Royals of the World

Happy Pride! In the history of the world there have been numerous royals and countless common people who preferred the romantic company of their own gender. Acceptance of this has varied by time period and by culture. Being gay was often made much easier if you were a person born ... Show More

32m 24s

Feb 2024

417. Britain in 1974: State of Emergency (Part 1)

“Who governs Britain?”Britain in the early 1970’s was a state in crisis, and by 1974, things had never seemed bleaker. Held hostage by the Trade Unions, British industry was flailing. England’s sporting record was atrocious, the economy was tanking and the prospect of a miners’ s ... Show More

59m 47s

Gay and lesbian support for the British ...