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The History Hour
The history of photography
The History Hour
May 24, 2025

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

The expert guest is Dr Mirjam Brusius, a research fellow in colonial and global history at the German Historical Institute.

First, we hear about Martín Chambi - Peru's pioneering documentary photographer.

Then Amaize Ojeikere talks about his father, JD 'Okhai’ Ojeikere, who created an iconic collection revealing the elaborate ways African women styled their hair.

Plus, the story of Magnum Photos – the picture agency started up by World War Two photographers.

And, Vivian Maier, the nanny who - since her death - has been hailed as one of the best street photographers of the 20th century.

Finally, the mystery behind Lunch Atop a Skyscraper – the famous photograph showing 11 ironworkers eating lunch nearly 70 storeys high.

Contributors:

Roberto Chambi – grandson of photographer Martín Chambi Dr Mirjam Brusius - research fellow in colonial and global history at the German Historical Institute Amaize Ojeikere – son of photographer JD 'Okhai’ Ojeikere Christine Roussel – Rockefeller Center archivist Jinx Rodger - widow of George Rodger, one of the founders of Magnum Photos Inge Bondi - Magnum Photos employee

This programme has been updated since the original broadcast.

(Photo: Two books of photographs in the exhibition 'Martin Chambi and his contemporaries’. Credit: Getty Images)

More Episodes

Aug 15, 2026
The Mau Mau uprising and man-eating lions

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

We hear about Muthoni Kirima, one of the last Mau Mau fighters to come out of hiding and lay down her arms.

Caroline Elkins, Professor of History at Harvard University, discusses the brutality of the conflict between Kenya’s Land and Freedom Army, the British and Kenyan loyalists.

Next, when Princess Elizabeth became queen while staying at the Treetops Hotel, a lodge in the Aberdare National Park.

In 1997, scientists travelled to Kenya, in search of a cave believed to have been the den of the man-eating lions that terrorised railway workers in 1898.

Plus, we hear how Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his rival Raila Odinga signed an unprecedented power-sharing deal to end a wave of violence that left more than 1,200 people dead.

And the heartwarming story of the friendship between a baby hippo and a 130-year-old giant tortoise.

Finally for our Sporting Witness story, we head to the first Ultimate Frisbee World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1983.

Contributors: Caroline Elkins - Professor of History at Harvard University, and author of Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya. Muthoni Kirima - Field Marshall in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army. Frank Gillard - BBC correspondent. Thomas Gnoske - Scientist. Alan Patterson - British Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson's grandson. Maina Kiai - Chair of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights in 2008. Maini Schildt - Swedish Ultimate Frisbee player.

(Photo: Mau Mau suspects are rounded up by police outside the camp in Manyani, Kenya, 1955. Credit: Getty Images/Authenticated News)


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The history of photography

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