Nigeria’s Festac’77 and Gander’s generosity during 9/11

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Lucy Durán, a Spanish ethnomusicologist, record producer and Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. We start with an African American artist who recounts exhibiting her work at Nigeria's largest ever festival of African arts and culture in 1977. Then, the testimony of a pilot stranded in airspace following the 9/11 terror attack. A 94-year-old Jewish refugee remembers how she was saved by the Philippines during World War Two. The first woman to complete the challenge of crossing straits of the world’s Seven Seas, reveals how she was inspired by a traditional Bengali folk tale. Finally, from a BBC archive interview in 1974, the story of how a satirical book, that was a parody of management theory, became an instant classic in 1969. Contributors: Lucy Durán - Spanish ethnomusicologist Viola Burley Leak - artist Beverley Bass - American Airlines pilot Lotte Hershfield - former Jewish refugee in the Philippines Bula Choudhury - Indian long-distance swimmer Archive interview with Dr Laurence J Peter - Canadian academic (Photo: The official emblem of festac'77. Credit: Alamy)