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The History Hour
Ice Bucket Challenge and Bulgaria's dancing bears
The History Hour
Aug 2, 2024

A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names and voices of people who have died.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.

We take a look at the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral fundraising sensation that took over the internet in 2014.

Our guest Professor Sander van der Linden breaks down the psychology behind virality and outlines the challenges facing those who conquered the algorithm.

Plus, how one man smuggled punk rock over the Berlin Wall.

Also, we meet the man who found a retirement home for Bulgaria's dancing bears.

We hear the remarkable story of Australia's Freedom Riders who campaigned against indigenous discrimination.

Finally, we relive the mountain top escape of the Yazidi's who were fleeing Islamic State Militants.

Contributors: Nancy Frates – Pete Frates mother. Sander van der Linden - Professor of Social Psychology at Cambridge University. Mark Reeder - smuggled punk rock over the Berlin Wall. Dr Amir Khalil – founded the sanctuary for dancing bears. Darce Cassidy and Gary Williams – involved in the Freedom Rides. Mirza Dinnayi - helped evacuate the Yazidi's.

(Photo: Ice Bucket Challenge. Credit:Getty Images)

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May 17, 2025
Sweden’s Vipeholm experiments and the Intervision Song Contest

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Elizabeth Abbott, writer, historian and author of the book, "Sugar: A Bittersweet History".

First, we confront the dark history of sugar.

We hear how a researcher in the 1990s uncovered the unethical aspects of Sweden’s Vipeholm experiments in the 1940 which led to new recommendations for children to eat sweets just once a week.

And, how Mexico, a country which had one of the highest rates of fizzy drink consumption in the world, approved a tax on sugary soft drinks in 2013.

Then an event which shaped the second half of the last century - On 14 May 1955, the leader of the Soviet Union and Heads of State from seven European countries met to sign the Warsaw Pact.

Plus, the story of how two rival electricity pioneers, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison brought electricity to the world.

Finally, we hear from Finnish singer Marion Rung on winning the 1980 Intervision Song Contest, the USSR’s answer to Eurovision.

Contributors:

Dr Elin Bommenel - academic Dr Simon Barquera - director of health and nutrition research at The Institute for Public Health of Mexico Dr Elizabeth Abbott - writer and historian Otto Grotewohl - German politician Mark Seifer - biographer of Nikola Tesla William Terbo - relative of Nikola Tesla Marion Rung - Finnish winner of Intervision song contest 1980

(Photo: sugar cubes and fizzy drinks, Credit: Anthony Devlin/Press Association)


51min 00sec

Ice Bucket Challenge and Bulgaria's dancing bears

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