Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Hello and thanks for downloading the Witness Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Claire Bose.

And today we've got the oldest recorded memories

in the BBC Archive. We hear from a man who witnessed the funeral of the Duke of

Wellington, the British general who prevented Napoleon Bonaparte from establishing a European

empire in 1815.

The funeral held over 170 years ago brought London to a standstill.

I remember my father coming home one evening and saying the Duke is dead.

This is Frederick Mead, speaking to the BBC in 1940.

At the time he was 93 years old.

He was casting his mind back to when he was just five years old

during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Upon the death of Wellington, Queen Victoria proclaimed

that he was the greatest man the country ever produced.

The Duke of Wellington was honored with a state

funeral, something usually reserved for royalty. He lay in state for four days at

Chelsea Hospital in London and tens of thousands of people came daily to view his body.

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