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The History Hour
Death of a language and the world’s longest kiss
The History Hour
Feb 22, 2025

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We hear about the death of one of the oldest languages in the world, when an 85 year old woman died and took it with her in 2010.

Our expert guest is Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur, who is the Head of the Endangered Languages Archive which endeavours to preserve languages that are disappearing at “an alarming rate.”

We also hear about the historian who helped bring a former Stasi officer to justice decades after he killed a man.

Also the moment Bolivia elected its first ever indigenous president in 2005.

The Thai couple that broke the world record for the longest kiss twice.

Plus, it’s 60 years since the controversial black activist, Malcolm X was assassinated. We hear from a man who was in the audience in New York when it happened.

This programme contains outdated and offensive language.

Contributors: Dr Anvita Abbi – linguist who documented one of the oldest languages before it died Dr Mandana Seyfeddinipur – Head of the Endangered Languages Archive Dr Filip Gańczak – the historian who helped convict a former Stasi officer of murder Herman Ferguson who was in the audience when Malcolm X was assassinated Álvaro García Linera – Vice President of Bolivia under Evo Morales for 14 years Ekkachai – one half of the couple who broke the record for the world’s longest kiss

(Photo: Boa Senior in Hospital. Credit: Anvita Abbi)

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


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May 9, 2026
Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest and a WW2 sabotage mission in Norway

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

We start with the broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough. To mark his 100th birthday, we go back to the mid 1950s and the television programme that launched his career. Our guest is Dr Paula Kahumbu, a Kenyan conservationist and head of the conservation organisation, Wildlife Direct.

Then, the story of a World War Two sabotage plot carried out by a team of Norwegian resistance fighters.

We hear about Africa's worst stadium disaster, at the Accra Sports Stadium in Ghana.

Plus, a Spanish nun reflects on the killing of two fellow sisters during the Algerian civil conflict in the 1990s.

We also hear how the world's most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex was found in South Dakota, USA, in 1990.

Finally, how the Nigerian 4 x 400m relay team were declared Olympic champions, 12 years after the race.

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Sir David Attenborough - naturalist and broadcaster (BBC archive)

Dr Paula Kahumbu, CEO of Kenyan conservation organisation, Wildlife Direct

Gunnar Deinboll Jenssen - nephew of the Norwegian resistance fighter Lieutenant Peter Deinboll

Herbert Mensah - former chair of the football club Asante Kotoko

Sister Lourdes Migueles - Spanish nun who chose to stay in Algeria during civil conflict

Peter Larson - American commercial fossil collector and researcher

Enefiok Udo-Obong - former Nigerian sprinter

(Photo: Sir David Attenborough, naturalist and broadcaster, with two ring-tailed lemurs. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)


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Death of a language and the world’s longest kiss

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