I'm a journalist for BBC Radio. I produce the Fame under Fire podcast for @BBCSounds and present Witness History on @BBCWorldService

Joined February 2009
9 Photos and videos
Vicky Farncombe retweeted
👀 In 1978, artist Eric Hill noticed his toddler kept lifting the paper he was working on, to see what was underneath 🐶 He came up with a new format for a children's book 'lift-the-flap' & created Spot the dog 📻 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct74… 👦 Featuring Teddy's radio debut
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
🚂 In 1951, a train was hijacked from Communist Czechoslovakia diverted to freedom in West Germany 🇨🇿 Most of the passengers had no idea they were going to cross the Iron Curtain that day 📻 Karel Ruml guarded the brake with a gun: @bbcworldservice bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct74…
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Loved this Jo!
Great Scott! Back to the Future is 40 today! Watch co-writer Bob Gale explain how the DeLorean started out as a refrigerator @bbcworldservice youtube.com/watch?v=dCVGv-xM…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
This summer on Witness History we have the joy of making the origin stories of two classic 80s films with big birthdays. ⁦@MegannJ⁩ brings us Making Jaws and on 3 July it’s my turn with Back to the Future ⁦@bbcworldservicebbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct74…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
🇺🇸 In 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson River in New York, after both its engines failed shortly after take off ✈️ All 155 people on board survived 🛟 I spoke to @DaveSanderson2, the last passenger to be rescued, for @bbcworldservice youtube.com/watch?v=KuzS8Bzd…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
@Eurovision starts tomorrow. But with Russia banned, President Putin has revived the Intervision Song Contest - the USSR's answer to Eurovision. I interviewed Marion Rung, who twice achieved top 10 Eurovision finishes before winning Intervision in 1980. Read on for one of the stranger chapters of Cold War history.🧵 (Marion Rung, Intervision 1980)
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
Archaeologist Khalil Hariri risked everything - and was even shot at - when he rescued 400 artefacts from the clutches of the Islamic State group 10 years ago in Palmyra. Today’s Witness History on ⁦@bbcworldservicebbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct74…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
Absolutely chuffed that @jasonmohammad chose my episode about Exercise Tiger to feature on @BBCRadio4’s Pick of the Week - for the best programmes on BBC radio. Read on to find out about Exercise Tiger - the disastrous D-Day rehearsal. 🧵
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
In the event of a moon landing disaster, Richard Nixon had a contingency speech ready in case the astronauts never made it home. 🎧 Hear the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there bbc.in/41QvihC
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
First spacewalk - on 18 March 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to spacewalk. 🎧 Hear the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there bbc.in/3DQRGj9
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
A cracking Witness History today from ⁦@VickyFarncombe⁩ Richard Nixon’s contingency speech in case the moon landing astronauts never made it home in 1969. Written two days before Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon ⁦@bbcworldservicebbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5y…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
This week has been one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had producing Pick of the Week! 🎧 Tune in today at 6:15pm (UK) on @BBCRadio4 as John Wilson curates standout BBC audio—Manchester’s night bus, Trump & transgenic mice & lots more.Listen here 👉 bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpd…
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“I'm hoping we’ll meet some characters… you never quite know who's going to be on a night bus!” Loved making this prog with the brilliant @TalkingTurkeyWB🚍 Sound by @craigboardman, editing @ClarWest 🎧on @BBCSounds tinyurl.com/5e7uw2yb

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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
Huge thanks to Vicky and Clare for all their hard work on this. A proper eye-opener helping to make it, a y'know what, it turned out brill - 'Detectorists on a bus', apparently!
Here's our celebration of the new Manchester night bus, and the romanticism of bus travel. 28 mins of joy, thanks to @VickyFarncombe and @TalkingTurkeyWB bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028t…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
Here's our celebration of the new Manchester night bus, and the romanticism of bus travel. 28 mins of joy, thanks to @VickyFarncombe and @TalkingTurkeyWB bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0028t…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
🇺🇸 In 1937, American supermarket owner Sylvan Goldman changed the way we shop 🛒 He came up with a 'folding basket carrier', later known as a trolley 🛍️ They caught on & shoppers could finally buy more than they could carry 📻 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5y…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
When you’re the most famous foreigner in China… In 1981 English lessons were watched on TV by about 500 million people there. Kathy Flower tells me what that was like ⁦@bbcworldservicebbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct5y…
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Vicky Farncombe retweeted
Drinks with toxic ingredients have been linked to deaths and poisonings in countries like India, Laos and Turkey. It was announced over the weekend, Vietnam too. I made a programme recently for the @bbcworldservice "Is fake alcohol a global threat?" bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5xj…
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