The ‘Battle of the Surfaces’ and becoming a r...

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Paulina Guzik, International editor with the Catholic wire service, OSV News.We start in 1986 when Pope John Paul II visited New Zealand.Then, we hear about the reu ...  Show more

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We hear from a Cypriot lawyer, imprisoned by the British for almost two years during the "Cyprus Emergency” of 1955-1959. Our guest, Professor Rebecca Bryant, explains how this ...  Show more

In 1945, a fight broke out between two groups of teenage boys during a parade in the Spanish town of Buñol in Valencia. The boys ended up throwing tomatoes at each other. They decided to repeat the deed every year on the anniversary of the first fight, defying disapproving looks ...  Show more

In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king.Constantine had come to the throne in 1964, but he’d inherited a divided country. Political divisions, between the left and right, ran deep. In 196 ...  Show more

On 26 December 2004, an earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia sparking a tsunami which swept away entire communities around the Indian Ocean. In India, Choodamani and Karibeeran Paramesvaran’s children Rakshanya, 12, Karuyna, nine, and Kirubasan, five, were killed. A beref ...  Show more

In 1993, a new combat sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship – UFC.It pitted all forms of mixed martial arts against each other with little to no rules and all contained in an octagon-shaped cage.The first contest between a Samoan sumo wrestler ...  Show more