Home  >  The History Hour  >  Opening the archives: A cellist, a playwright and a king
The History Hour
Opening the archives: A cellist, a playwright and a king
The History Hour
Jun 13, 2026

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. And today, we’re celebrating international archives week, set up to highlight the importance of protecting the world's historical records.

Our guest is BBC curator Joe Schultz who talks about some of the jewels in the BBC radio collections. We find out why cellist Mstislav Rostropovich was stripped of his Soviet citizenship in 1978.

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela reveals how he survived prison in South Africa. Plus, Pablo Picasso and his fellow artists enjoy a Surrealist summer in 1930s France. And more on the inspiration behind Anton Chekhov's most famous play, Three Sisters.

We hear about the Jordanian king who survived numerous assassination attempts to become one of the Middle East’s longest serving leaders. And finally, Pickles the dog: the four-legged hero who found the stolen Jules Rimet trophy ahead of the 1966 World Cup.

Contributors:

Joe Schultz – BBC curator.

Mstislav Rostropovich - virtuoso cellist.

Nelson Mandela – former president of South Africa.

Eileen Agar – Surrealist artist.

Paul Shishkoff – friend of playwright Anton Chekhov.

King Hussein of Jordan.

Jack Pizzey – TV documentary-maker.

Pickles the dog – hero of the 1966 World Cup.

David Corbett – Pickles' owner.

(Photo: Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, 1950. Credit: Michael Ward/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)


01hr 00min




Opening the archives: A cellist, a playwright and a king

--:--
--:--