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The History Hour
The discovery of the Terra Nova shipwreck and Echo the elephant
The History Hour
Apr 4, 2026

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Dr Sarah Ward, a maritime archaeologist from the Australian National University.

We start with the discovery of the sunken Terra Nova, Scott of the Antartic's ship.

We hear from the Danish food entrepeneur Claus Meyer - a driving force behind New Nordic Cuisine.

Then, the long journey that finally took Picasso's Guernica to Spain.

Plus, the Chinese pharmacist who invented the e-cigarette.

And, the life of Echo the elephant - the star of the world's longest-running study of wild elephants in Kenya.

Finally, "fan man" James Miller and boxing's most bizarre night.

Contributors:

Leighton Rolley - oceanographer.

Dr Sarah Ward - maritime archaeologist from the Australian National University.

Claus Meyer - Danish food entrepeneur.

Ambassador Rafael Fernandez-Quintanilla - Spanish diplomat (from BBC archive).

Hon Lik - inventor of the e-cigarette.

Dr Cynthia Moss - founder of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project.

Marc Ratner - former representative of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

(Photo: The Terra Nova held up in the pack, Antarctica, 1910. Credit: Herbert Ponting/Royal Geographical Society 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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The discovery of the Terra Nova shipwreck and Echo the elephant

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