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Witness History

The start of Scouting

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the early 1900s, while serving in the British Army, Lord Robert Baden-Powell laid the foundations for what would become one of the largest international youth movements, Scouting.

His vision was to create an organisation that would build friendships, experiences, and skills for life.

Gill Kearsley used archive to trace the origins of the movement through Baden-Powell’s own words.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Lord Baden-Powell addressing cubs and scouts in 1933. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:07.3

Right, you feeling ready? I'm feeling ready.

0:10.8

I'm Amal Rajin. Join me on my new podcast for in-depth conversations with pioneers and

0:16.0

innovators, talking about the trends and ideas that could help shape and change our future.

0:21.4

We are going to be digital citizens of this AI world, whether we like it or not.

0:26.2

From declining birth rates to disinformation online, can they solve the world's biggest challenges?

0:32.0

What I would love to do is go to the Chancellor and say radically cut the taxes of those with children.

0:37.3

Radical with me, I'm all Rajin.

0:39.3

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:45.0

Hello and welcome to witness history from the BBC World Service.

0:49.9

I'm Jill Kursley.

0:51.7

We're the show that takes you back to the biggest moments in global history

0:54.9

and you hear from the people who were there.

0:57.9

We release a new episode every weekday,

1:00.2

so follow us and turn on your notifications,

1:02.8

then you'll never miss a show.

1:04.8

Now today, I'm taking you back to the early 1900s

1:08.3

and the start of scouting.

1:10.6

The aims of the movement are to build friendships,

1:13.7

experiences and skills for life. It's become one of the largest international youth movements.

1:21.3

Tent City, Japan. On the foothills of Fujianna, the 13th World Scouting Jamboree is well underway.

1:28.3

Queen Willamina and Lord Baden Pearl are lustily greeted by 28,000 scouts when they attend the parade at the Boy Scout Jamboree in Holland.

...

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