The Story of Max, South Africa's Famous, Crim...

Queen Marie Antoinette's reputation was already tarnished by gossip in 1784, but was completely ruined by the implication that she defrauded the crown jewelers, conning them out of a dazzling, expensive diamond necklace. That's the short summary -- but the story itself is a start ...  Show more

Vikings! Even centuries after their heyday, these seafaring Scandinavian raiders are the subject of countless works of fiction and film -- and some of the stories about them are true. And, legend has it, there was one sort of Viking even other Viking feared: the Berserker. If you ...  Show more

Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We’re going wild for animals this week. We find out how the Ibadan Zoo became one of Nigeria’s biggest tourist attractions during the 1970s. Our guest Harriet Ritvo, professor of ...  Show more

The story of Hugh Masekela’s life is intertwined with the history of South Africa itself. Born into a relatively privileged family in a mining town east of Johannesburg, Masekela was aware from an early age of the separatist and exploitative legacy of colonialism. As he grew up a ...  Show more

The assassination of Chris Hani was a pivotal moment in the dismantling of South African apartheid. On the 10th of April, 1993, he was shot dead as he returned to his home in a quiet suburb of Johannesburg. Negotiations between Nelson Mandela's party and the ruling apartheid g ...

It was undeniable, that Eudy Simelane was born to play soccer. From an early age, she gravitated to the sport and by the time she was an adult, was being recognized as one of South Africa's star players.But while Eudy proudly represented her country with her gifted athletic abili ...  Show more