A papal visit and German reunification
The History Hour
BBC
4.4 • 913 Ratings
🗓️ 28 March 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Paulina Guzik, International editor with the Catholic wire service, OSV News.
We start in 1986 when Pope John Paul II visited New Zealand.
Then, we hear about the reunification of Germany in 1989 from a key political advisor.
How one Maasai community overcame a devastating drought in 2013.
The recollections of one of the first people to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China in 1984.
Next, the first official penalty shootout in 1970 that changed football forever.
Finally, we look at an essay published in 1999 that was an unfiltered look into restaurant kitchen culture.
Contributors:
Michael Jarka - a man who met Pope John Paul II.
Paulina Guzik - OSV News.
Joachim Bitterlich - a key advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Dalmas Tiampati - founder of Ildalalekutuk Maasai Action for Development.
Yaohui Dong - one of the first to walk the entire length of the Great Wall of China.
Frankie Banks - former Hull City player.
Martyn Kelly - a football fan.
Philip Lajaunie - Anthony Bourdain's former boss at Les Halles restaurant, New York.
(Photo: Pope John Paul II blesses the crowd during Mass at Auckland Domain. Credit: Reuters/Luciano Mellace)
Transcript
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| 0:11.9 | What a line-up. |
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| 0:16.1 | The crowd is loving this. |
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| 0:20.2 | From morning chaos to match day commentary. |
| 0:23.6 | And everything in between. |
| 0:25.0 | BBC sounds packed with personality. |
| 0:28.9 | We did something that no one else had ever done. |
| 0:31.7 | There was such a excitement and energy about this moment. |
| 0:36.2 | It opened the door for everything that rapidly followed. |
| 0:38.9 | Witness history. |
| 0:40.0 | History as told by the people who were there. |
| 0:42.8 | I was walking in space. |
| 0:44.7 | The first man ever to do so. |
| 0:47.0 | I felt almost insignificant, like a tiny ant compared to the immensity of the universe. |
| 0:53.5 | Witness history from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:56.2 | Listen now. Search for Witness History, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. |
| 1:06.3 | Hello and welcome to The History Hour, this week's stories and characters, as featured on witness history here on the BBC World Service, with me, Max Pearson. |
| 1:15.7 | Coming up, the extraordinary events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. |
... |
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