Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Witness - BBC

I have taken up listening to a daily BBC podcast: Witness (feed). Every workday it delivers a short (9 minutes) program about a historic event that occurred around the same date. The event is briefly recounted and the elaboration is done by letting a witness talk about it. Hence the title.

Almost invariably the result is very impressive. The whole atmosphere of the episode is also greatly determined by the kind of event that is told. The issue about Hiroshima as a consequence is very austere and stylized, the issue about the Battle of Britain very narrative and so on. The partition of India was deemed to large to tackle in one program and last week saw one part and this week a second is expected. Part one was very impressive - a great recommendation.

Also recommended is the issue about the Kursk disaster. Obviously, no sailors from aboard the submarine could be interviewed, as there were no survivors. However, one of the British members of the rescue mission spoke and brought home the experience of the poor men trapped in the sunken ship as he had survived a similar fate several years previously.