The History Hour - The Chindits and USAID
Download The Chindits and USAID
Max Pearson presents a collection of this week's episodes of Witness History.
The formation of an unconventional special force during the Second World War sparks a discussion about three others around the world with military historian Lucy Betteridge-Dyson.
Plus, the founding of the United States Agency for International Development, the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic 40 years ago and the first baby born after a womb transplant.
Finally, Mexican-American boxer Oscar De La Hoya's toughest test - a clash with Ghana's Ike 'Bazooka' Quartey and how the online marketplace started at a house party in Lithuania in the noughties.
The first item contains outdated and offensive language.
Contributors:
Major General Orde Wingate - leader of the Chindits.
Baroness Jackson - economist who influenced the founding of USAID.
Cathy Offinger and Jean Louis Michel - explorers who helped find the wreck of the Titanic.
Prof Pernilla Dahm-Kähler - gynaecologist who helped deliver the first baby after a womb transplant.
Oscar De La Hoya - boxer nicknamed 'the Golden Boy of Boxing'.
Milda Mitkutė - co-founder of Vinted.
This programme has been updated since the original broadcast to add additional context.
(Photo: Members of the Chindits in the jungle in Burma, now Myanmar. Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
Published on Saturday, 6th September 2025.
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