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The History Hour
New Zealand’s first dinosaur and India’s plague outbreak
The History Hour
Sep 21, 2024

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

We start our programme looking at the discovery of New Zealand’s first dinosaur by Joan Wiffen.

Our expert guest is Professor Eugenia Gold, a paleontologist at Suffolk University, in Boston, United States, and the author of children’s book She Found Fossils.

Then, we hear how the CT scanner was invented.

Following that, we go to India in 1994 and an outbreak of the pneumonic plague.

Plus, the story of how a small group of mountaineers risked their lives to camouflage landmarks in Leningrad during World War Two.

Finally, we hear from designer Ruth Kedar about how she came to create one of the most famous logos in history.

Contributors:

Chris Wiffen – son of late fossil-hunter Joan Wiffen.

Professor Eugenia Gold – paleontologist at Suffolk University, Boston, United States.

Robert Cormack – son of late CT scanner inventor, Allan Cormack.

Doctor Vibha Marfatia – who escaped the pneumonic plague.

Mikhail Bobrov – late mountaineer who helped save Leningrad’s landmarks.

Ruth Kedar - designer of the Google logo.

(Photo: Theropod dinosaur. Credit: Science Photo Library)

More Episodes

Jun 6, 2026
The creation of Inspector Montalbano and Australia's first Big Thing

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Professor Giuliana Pieri, an expert in Italian noir from Royal Holloway, University of London.

We start with the author Andrea Camilleri on the creation of his fictional detective Inspector Montalbano in 1994, and his influence on Italian noir.

Then we explore the tapes recorded in the 1950s with Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

We hear about the Chinese protests in 1989 that led up to the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Plus, the launch of Ireland's first Irish language television channel in 1996.

Next, when Diana Ross missed a penalty at the World Cup in 1994.

Finally, we hear from the artist behind the first of Australia's 'Big Things', the giant novelty sculptures that became a national phenomenon.

Contributors:  

Professor Giuliana Pieri - an expert in Italian noir from Royal Holloway, University of London

Andrea Camilleri - Italian crime-writer (archive)

Saskia Sassen - daughter of Dutch journalist Willem Sassen, who recorded interviews with Adolf Eichmann

Wu'er Kaixi - Chinese student organiser of pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square

Sinéad Ní Ghuidhir - first live presenter to speak on Teilifís na Gaeilge: Ireland's first television channel broadcasting exclusively in the Irish language

Alan Rothenberg - former president of the US Soccer Federation

Paul Kelly - Australian artist behind both the Big Scotsman and the equally iconic Big Lobster

Christobel Kelly - daughter of Paul Kelly

(Photo: Italian writer Andrea Camilleri, Rome, Italy, 2011. Credit: Luciano Viti/Getty Images)


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New Zealand’s first dinosaur and India’s plague outbreak

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