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The History Hour
BlackBerry phones and Spot the dog
The History Hour
Aug 23, 2025

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Jacquie McNish, author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal.

We start with the former co-CEO of BlackBerry, who recounts the company's remarkable boom and bust.

Then, the creation of the Spot the dog children's books in the 1970s.

We hear the testimony of a US soldier who defected to the Soviet Bloc in the 1950s.

An author recalls how her 2010 book challenged Norway's immigration policy.

The inside story of the creation of the Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991.

Finally, the 19th century battle that inspired the Geneva Conventions.

Contributors:

Jim Balsillie - former BlackBerry co-CEO. Jacquie McNish - Author and former Senior Correspondent at the Wall Street Journal. Chris Hill - son of Eric Hill, creator of Spot the dog. Victor Grossman - US soldier who defected to the Soviet Bloc. Maria Amelie - author of book on Norway's immigration system. Alice D Cooper - organiser of the first Women's Rugby World Cup. Henry Dunant - instigator of the Geneva Conventions, diary read by his descendant Gabriel Martinez.

(Photo: Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of BlackBerry. Credit: Visual China Group via 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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BlackBerry phones and Spot the dog

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