{"podcast":{"title":"Witness History","slug":"witness-history-162365","podcast_index_feed_id":162365,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p004t1hd.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004t1hd","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0kt82ds.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":2000,"summary":"Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we revisit one moment that helped shape the world and hear it through the voice of someone who was there. Scientists, artists, campaigners, soldiers, leaders and everyday people tell their true stories. When you subscribe to Witness History, you’ll be taken inside turning points in world affairs, from West Africa’s fight back against Boko Haram in 2015, to the behind-closed-doors talks that led to the US-Cuba “thaw” and the surprise announcement of restored relations. You’ll discover what it was like to experience disasters and how people recovered from them, including the Tabasco floods in Mexico, Portugal's worst train disaster, and the huge clean-up after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. You’ll explore culture and ideas too: Sweden’s Expedition Robinson, often credited as the first modern reality TV game show; the friendship between The Beatles’ George Harrison and Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar; and the night a tiger attack brought Las Vegas superstars Siegfried and Roy’s show to a sudden…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-01T16:20:02.831337+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/witness-history-162365"},"episode":{"title":"Hawaii becomes the 50th American state","slug":"hawaii-becomes-the-50th-american-state","published_at":"2026-06-29T06:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/witness-history-162365/hawaii-becomes-the-50th-american-state","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/witness-history-162365","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8r3h","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0np1lnl.mp3","summary":"On 18 March 1959, Hawaii was brought into the United States of America as the 50th state with the passing of the Hawaiian Admission act. Five months later, on 21 August it was officially proclaimed the 50th state by President Eisenhower. Former governor of Hawaii, John Waihe'e, tells Jen Dale his memories of statehood and why Hawaii's history with America means it has become a divisive issue. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space. (Photo: President Eisenhower signs the proclamation admitting Hawaii as the 50th state. Credit: Getty/Bettmann)","meta_description":"On 18 March 1959, Hawaii was brought into the United States of America as the 50th state with the passing of the Hawaiian Admission act. Five months later…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":635,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/witness-history-162365/episodes/hawaii-becomes-the-50th-american-state/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/witness-history-162365/hawaii-becomes-the-50th-american-state.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}