Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Wartime surrenders and the birth of Barbie
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Wartime surrenders and the birth of Barbie
Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories from this week’s Witness History episodes.
In the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese generals handed over their swords in China's Forbidden City in Beijing.
Historian James Holland, talks about the ritual and significance of a surrender.
Also, the first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. It took Ruth Handler, who created it, years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.
The plastic creation sold 350,000 in the first year and went on to take the world by storm selling millions. It’s now even been turned into a live action film starring Margot Robbie.
Contributors: John Stanfield, signed surrender declaration documents on behalf of the British at the end of World War II
James Holland, historian, writer, and broadcaster
Ramona Reed on her father Dean Reed who became known as ‘Red Elvis’
Vents Krauklis, a demonstrator in the Latvian capital, Riga in 1991
Professor V. Craig Jordan, who helped bring the drug tamoxifen to the world’s attention
Ruth and Elliot Handler from a BBC documentary broadcast in the 1990s
(Photo: Barbie in her various incarnations. Credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)
View all episodes
By BBC World Service
4.3
550550 ratings
Max Pearson presents a compilation of stories from this week’s Witness History episodes.
In the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire. Thousands of people watched the incredible moment Japanese generals handed over their swords in China's Forbidden City in Beijing.
Historian James Holland, talks about the ritual and significance of a surrender.
Also, the first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. It took Ruth Handler, who created it, years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.
The plastic creation sold 350,000 in the first year and went on to take the world by storm selling millions. It’s now even been turned into a live action film starring Margot Robbie.
Contributors: John Stanfield, signed surrender declaration documents on behalf of the British at the end of World War II
James Holland, historian, writer, and broadcaster
Ramona Reed on her father Dean Reed who became known as ‘Red Elvis’
Vents Krauklis, a demonstrator in the Latvian capital, Riga in 1991
Professor V. Craig Jordan, who helped bring the drug tamoxifen to the world’s attention
Ruth and Elliot Handler from a BBC documentary broadcast in the 1990s
(Photo: Barbie in her various incarnations. Credit: Ian Waldie/Getty Images)
More shows like The History Hour
View all
In Our Time
5,405 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
369 Listeners
The Documentary Podcast
1,802 Listeners
Global News Podcast
7,654 Listeners
History Extra podcast
3,182 Listeners
Great Lives
481 Listeners
6 Minute English
1,752 Listeners
Learning English Conversations
1,085 Listeners
Discovery
972 Listeners
The Forum
274 Listeners
Lives Less Ordinary
587 Listeners
Witness History
963 Listeners
The Infinite Monkey Cage
2,088 Listeners
Newshour
1,036 Listeners
In Our Time: History
1,869 Listeners
The Interview
366 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
840 Listeners
The Inquiry
760 Listeners
Dan Snow's History Hit
4,638 Listeners
13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle
4,175 Listeners
Americast
706 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
2,947 Listeners
The Explanation
25 Listeners