In short
The episode is a “History Hour” compilation marking 80 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, plus three other historical stories: a 1950 Himalayan earthquake, Singapore’s 1965 separation from Malaysia, and Brazil’s 2005 central bank heist.
Guests and backgrounds
- Geoff Shering (British POW in Nagasaki; interviewed by BBC in 1980; died 1998). Eyewitness account from about 2 km from the Nagasaki blast.
- Simone Tuchetti (Professor of history of science and technology, University of Manchester; discusses nuclear weapons development and deterrence).
- Maxim Shostakovich (son of Dmitry Shostakovich; musician/conductor; interviewed via BBC; discusses Stalin-era persecution).
- Frank Kingdom Ward (Tibetan expedition plant scientist; eyewitness to the 15 Aug 1950 earthquake; story from archives).
- Manjit Kaur (Singaporean, age 15 in 1965; recalls independence day and family fears; interviewed in 2015).
- Antonio Seltzer de Santos / Antonio Celso dos Santos (Brazilian federal police chief/detective; led investigation into the Fortaleza heist; interviewed by BBC).
Key claims and notable examples
- Nagasaki: Shering describes a “welding flash,” severe destruction, clothing/birds igniting, and later radiation sickness; he recounts assembling corpses for cremation.
- Nuclear legacy: Tuchetti argues Hiroshima/Nagasaki accelerated nuclear arms dynamics, leading to mutually assured destruction; deterrence “worked” for 80 years but nuclear testing and warhead counts remain dangerous (e.g., Cuban Missile Crisis).
- Nagasaki bombing timing: Tuchetti says Nagasaki followed procedural/operational factors (cloud cover over Kokura), not a clear second-bomb order.
- Shostakovich: Maxim claims Stalin’s denunciation after the Pravda review (“Muddle Instead of Music”) led to blacklisting; he cites the “Big House” KGB interrogation and Symphony No. 5 as resistance.
- 1950 earthquake: Ward describes the quake’s “pie crust” terror, dust curtain, and five quick “explosions,” plus landslides blocking paths and trapping him in Rima.
- Singapore 1965: Kaur recalls Lee Kuan Yew crying at a news conference, fears of deportation to India, and Singapore’s survival without Malaysia.
- Brazil heist: Antonio describes an 80-m tunnel from a “synthetic grass” house, security cameras/sensors failing, and recovery of unregistered old bills; 34 directly involved, 150+ arrested, and a reported mastermind killed (Luis Fernandes Ribeiro).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VO80 Years Since the Atomic Bombs
0:00 to 0:42
Exploring events marking the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.”
80 Years Since the Atomic Bombs
1:45 to 2:15
Exploring events marking the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“After this, Japan surrendered to the Allies at the end of the Second World War.”
Geoff Shering's Account of Nagasaki
2:15 to 10:28
Geoff Shering shares his personal experience during the Nagasaki bombing.
“There was very, very little that you could call a bang.”
Impact of the Bombings on Nuclear Development
10:28 to 14:01
Simone Tuchetti discusses the bombings' impact on nuclear weapons development.
“reportedly from multiple tumours, the legacy of Nagasaki.”
The Bombing of Nagasaki: A Procedural Error
14:01 to 15:02
Explore the unclear orders and circumstances that led to the bombing of Nagasaki.
“Okay, this is something that historians keep debating, it's not clear.”
Shostakovich and the Threat of Stalin's Regime
15:02 to 18:08
Learn about Dmitry Shostakovich's struggles with Stalin's oppressive regime and the impact on his art.
“Next, we're going back to the early decades of the 20th century, when the authoritarian tendencies of the Soviet Union were becoming apparent.”
The Perils of Artistic Expression in the USSR
18:08 to 21:24
Discover the risks faced by artists like Shostakovich in Stalin's USSR as they navigated censorship and repression.
“He got up, bought a newspaper and read the article that completely destroyed his work.”
Symphony No. 5: A Comeback
21:24 to 23:36
Understand how Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 marked a significant comeback amidst oppression.
“At home, he worked on a comeback, Symphony No.”
The Enduring Power of Music
23:36 to 23:52
Reflect on how Shostakovich's music continues to resonate beyond the political turmoil of his time.
“I will continue to write my music and expose your hatred.”
Symphony No. 5: A Comeback
24:31 to 25:02
Understand how Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 marked a significant comeback amidst oppression.
Show all 19 chapters
The 1950 Himalayan Earthquake: A Personal Account
25:05 to 28:00
Experience a first-hand narrative of the terrifying 1950 Himalayan earthquake.
“Still to come, Singapore's tense and tearful 1965 separation from the Federation of Malaysia.”
Surviving the Earthquake in Tibet
28:00 to 34:12
Experience the harrowing tale of Frank and Jean during a devastating earthquake.
“The lantern fell over and went out immediately.”
Singapore's Separation from Malaysia
34:12 to 42:00
Explore the emotional and historical context of Singapore's independence.
“Vicky Farncom brought us that story from the archives.”
Reflections on Singapore's Success
42:00 to 42:32
Discussion about Singapore's achievements and independence from Malaysia.
“I'm not sure how other people feel, but we are amazed at our success.”
Introduction to the Brazilian Heist
42:32 to 44:40
Overview of the 2005 Brazilian bank heist and its audacious planning.
“In August 2005, thieves in Brazil pulled off one of the world's biggest bank robberies.”
The Discovery of the Tunnel
44:40 to 47:45
Details on how the thieves executed the heist using a tunnel.
“I asked, are there any rumours on the streets?”
The Investigation Unfolds
47:45 to 50:29
Insights into the police investigation and the criminals involved.
“Like any good detective, Antonio retraces his steps.”
The Cost of the Heist
50:29 to 50:58
Reflection on the consequences faced by the criminals after the heist.
“People watching movies have a fertile imagination.”
Conclusion of the Heist Story
50:58 to 51:29
Summary of the heist's aftermath and recovery by the police.
“It was the largest sum of money stolen in Brazil until that moment, and one of the largest in the world.”
Transcript
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0:55Hello and welcome to the History Hour from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson, the past brought to life by those who were there. This week, a dramatic account of the powerful 1950 earthquake that shook the Himalayan mountains. Then the ground beneath us seemed to sag. I felt as though we were lying on a pie crust against which a steam hammer was drumming. Also from 1965, the moment Singapore announced it had left the Federation of Malaysia and become an independent sovereign state. And the son of Dmitry Shostakovich on his father's famous confrontation with Stalin in the 1930s. His response to being denounced was to say, if they cut off my hands, I'll put the pen in my mouth and continue to write music.
1:42That's coming up later in the podcast. But first, events have been held this week to mark 80 years since atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After this, Japan surrendered to the Allies at the end of the Second World War. In total, it's estimated that 200 ,000 people were killed, some by the initial blasts, others by the effects of radiation sickness and burns. Rachel Naylor has been looking through the archives and the account of Geoff Shering, a British prisoner of war in Nagasaki. On 9th August 1945 at 11.02am, he was taking a break, as he told the BBC in 1980.
2:24I was pumping the water out of an air raid trench, which had filled with water the day before, and as soon as our soldiers' backs were turned, I went down into this trench with an Australian friend to have a quiet cigarette, and I believe that this saved the lives of both of us.
2:43we became aware of an aircraft overhead and Bernie the Australian said that he would crawl out and have a look for it but before he was able to do so we saw a tremendous flash of light into the manhole of the trench that we were in it was entirely opposite in direction from that of the sun and it was a great deal brighter and of a much sort of bluer welding flash color rather than just the yellow sunlight that we'd been seeing seconds before. There was very, very little that you could call a bang. It was the most enormous disturbance of the atmosphere, shaking everything, and the sound was mixed with the falling of debris and the breaking up of the buildings.
3:29Geoff got out of the trench to have a look. The place was still absolutely choked with dust and smoke, and it was quite some time before the wind, and a strong wind it was, blew all this away and we could see what surrounded us. The scene was one of complete destruction. All the buildings had been severely damaged in many ways. The building that we were in was a steel-framed one with brick filling. All the filling had been knocked out in huge lumps, and the steel frame was bent away from the direction of the explosion. We weren't able to see the harbour, but we saw a great deal of the town, because it was a flat valley bottom just there and since our camp fence had been blown down, we could see for a great deal further than we'd ever done before.
4:13Geoff wasn't aware of the atomic bomb dropped by the Americans three days before on Hiroshima, a Japanese city about 400 kilometres to the north-east which killed an estimated 140 ,000 people. It was the first time ever a nuclear weapon had been used in a war. Below the boiling mushroom of flame and pulverised earth, First pictures of Japan's atom-bombed cities. Revealed here at ground level is a trail of devastation such as the world has never known. A single bomber. One bomb exploding 1 ,500 feet above the target, leaving no crater. Half a million people lived in Hiroshima. Here and there, an isolated structure reminds the onlooker that here was once a city.
4:54There was a good deal of speculation about how it was that one bomb had been able to create such havoc. but it wasn't long before we realised that the liberation of atomic energy must have done it as no plane, no single plane, and we knew it was one, could have carried such a cargo of explosives. Our interpreter, Mr Yamamoto, said to us, this is a new kind of bomb. And of course by this time we were feeling very cocky about it all and so we said, ah yes Mr Yamamoto, but wait till we fetch a lot of these and that'll fix you fellas up. And he himself was in tears and he also had a broken leg. As Geoff had suspected, it was an atomic bomb that the USA had dropped on Nagasaki, and his camp was about two kilometres from the centre of the explosion.
5:38There were people whose burns were very, very severe indeed if they had bare skin, and many on that hot day were stripped to the waist. And those with clothing had it set alight, and this, of course, was the most unusual thing about it. We couldn't understand why people got their clothing set alight. But it wasn't just clothing. That sort of aerial flash also set on fire the birds that were passing overhead and they all fell down without their feathers on. I saw many birds actually walking about in the afternoon, unable to fly because all their feathers had been burnt off. About a third of the city was destroyed, including almost all the buildings in the industrial district.
6:20We found that if they hadn't actually been set on fire, they had been scorched, really scorched on the surface, rather like a dark-coloured toast. but the most serious damage was the fire that followed the bomb and it really didn't start until around four in the afternoon so that if you had seen Nagasaki after the bomb fell and before the fire burnt it completely out you wouldn't have seen quite the same type of damage that you saw later on. First record of the doom of Nagasaki, target for atom bomb number two is filmed from a super fortress many miles away. Beneath that sinister pall of smoke the world's most destructive force has been unleashed, with what results we know only too well.
7:01We were at large in the town for the rest of the afternoon. In the middle of the night, we went right through it from one side to the other, dodging the blazing buildings. The following morning, we assembled in the town again, and we never left it for the next ten days, sleeping there amongst the rubble. All the police and the army and people like that were just as stunned as the civilians were. But two train loads of assistants, police, army and people like that, came in during the following day. And they began to issue things like rice balls and food of various kinds. The food problem was the greatest.
7:37As far as fallout was concerned and radiation was concerned, we weren't aware of it and therefore didn't bother about it. The nuclear radiation released by both bombs caused thousands more people to die from radiation sickness, as well as complications such as cancer and leukaemia in the weeks, months and years that followed. We found this was happening to those of us who had been severely burned and we wondered why they were not recovering so well. Some of them were still alive by the time the Americans were able to drop medical supplies and we found they were temporarily helped at least by tremendous transfusions of blood plasma that was dropped to us.
8:14But even so, we lost quite a number of men. one of our four men at the foundry, he wasn't a particularly kindly chap and many of them weren't, lost his house and his children and his wife completely. They disappeared. And he went home to see if they were all right and he couldn't find his home. One of the duties that we had during the time that we lived in the city was assembling the dead and putting them on the bonfires for cremation. and this was done in enormous groups, great streets full of timber that we salvaged, were set alight all at one time with the corpses on the top. They were identified by a chalk name on the pavement and when we came to it the following morning, of course, we found their ashes amongst the ashes of the fire and these were then put in little boxes by the Japanese police.
9:05The bombings brought about an abrupt end to the war in Asia with Japan surrendering to the Allies six days later on the 15th of August 1945. 92 days after VE Day and here we go again. After four years of war with Britain and America, Japan cracked. Two atomic bombs were enough to seal the fate of Japan. Two explosions which heralded the birth of the atomic age. The new weapon and total victory elbow each other for headlines. The atomic bomb harnesses the power of the universe. Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the only times atomic bombs have been used in war. The fact that I'm here at all should give people hope that if in some way they're able to look after themselves, they may survive an atomic blast.
9:49Perhaps the megaton-type bombs that we have nowadays are going to kill more of us, but I still believe that quite a lot of us can and will survive. I think nowadays we've reached a kind of arm neutrality about it. Everybody's afraid of letting one off, and all those who, shall we say, matter in the way of world power have got one. More than anything, I suppose, Mr Sherry, you must look back to that day and think yourself very fortunate that you were undercover. Unbelievably fortunate. I feel that I've lost a lot of my nine lives and I'd lost a lot of them before I got to Japan in the first place.
10:23The words of Geoff Shering, who died in 1998, aged 76, reportedly from multiple tumours, the legacy of Nagasaki. He was speaking to the BBC's Ian Murray in 1980 and that was brought to us by Rachel Naylor. Simone Tuchetti is professor of the history of science and technology at the University of Manchester. Now, dropping the bombs was an awesome display of power, power that the Soviet Union was already trying to develop at the time. So what impact did Hiroshima and Nagasaki have on the development of nuclear weapons? So, expectedly, the atomic bombings had a decisive impact on the development of nuclear weapons since the dead-end instructions that they produced in Japan demonstrated an enormous power.
11:05But in that respect, the bombings can be thought of as a sort of dreadful experiment, seeking to demonstrate that future relations between states would depend on their availability. Pretty soon after 1945, we had the theory of mutually assured destruction, which formed the basis of what we now see as deterrence. And deterrence has worked for 80 years. No other nuclear weapons have been used. But the problem is, isn't it, that deterrence works right up until the moment when it doesn't. Okay, first of all, yes, deterrence works, but deterrence works in a regime where states also wish to acquire nuclear capability, also test nuclear weapons.
11:45These testings over the years have had enormous consequences across the whole world, from the Pacific region to the Nevada and Sahara deserts, leaving a number of people in those regions sharing with those of Japan the experience of surviving nuclear explosions. 2 ,000 nuclear tests have taken place since 1946. Meanwhile, obviously, the Soviet Union, as much as the United States, entered in the system of mutually destroyed destruction, introducing new dynamics of nuclear proliferation and starting what we call an arms race. And the consequences of this arms race are obviously remarkable because if you only think that up until the mid-1980s, we have something like 64 ,000 nuclear warheads available across the world.
12:37And this means that fundamentally humankind learned to live in the fear of an imminent nuclear attack, especially in moments of international crisis, such as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the 1983 NATO Ebolachia exercise, which the Soviets mistook for a real attack and ready to retaliate. And even if just one third of the global nuclear arsenal available at the time was being used, it would fundamentally have had devastating consequences for the whole planet. So to a large extent, the chief legacy of the Japanese bombing was to shape a new era of international confrontation marked by nuclear weapons.
13:22So we are in a world which appears or has appeared in the past to be moving towards fewer nuclear weapons in total, but we've still got way more than is required to destroy the planet several times over. Absolutely. Today we have around 12 ,000 nuclear warheads, of which about 9 ,400 for potential military use and 3 ,900 deployed operationally across the world. Going back to Japan 80 years ago, why the second bomb? Why did the Americans bomb Nagasaki after Hiroshima had clearly demonstrated the awesome power of an atomic bomb? Okay, this is something that historians keep debating, it's not clear.
14:06There is clarity that Truman had given full instructions for delivering the first bomb on Hiroshima. And actually, what we know is that there wasn't such a clear order for Nagasaki. In a sense, people in Nagasaki died just because of a kind of procedural process, which is obviously something particularly problematic. Further, we also know that Nagasaki happened because fundamentally there were clouds over the real target of that operation, which was the city of Kokura. So in that respect, the double, if you want, terrible consequence of the bombing of Nagasaki is that first, there was no clear order to bomb the city.
14:53And secondly, the city was bombed because fundamentally there were clouds on Kokura, whereas over Nagasaki, the skies were clear. That's Professor Simone Turchetti from the University of Manchester in the UK. Next, we're going back to the early decades of the 20th century, when the authoritarian tendencies of the Soviet Union were becoming apparent. Stalin had led the communist state since 1924. A decade later, cultural expression became dangerous with no room for opposition. Ben Henderson takes us back to January 1936 and to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Playing on stage is Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, an opera written by Dmitry Shostakovich, one of the most promising young composers in the world.
15:45The opera's previous showings had rave reviews. But tonight, a very special guest is in attendance.
15:57Stalin wanted to keep Shostakovich on a short leash, like a circus animal. He thought art could be trained, but he was wrong. Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union's supreme leader, takes a dislike to the opera, and Shostakovich is blacklisted from public life. but as you can hear from his son, Maxim Shostakovich, he wasn't one to go down without a fight. His response to being denounced was to say, if they cut off my hands, I'll put the pen in my mouth and continue to write music. What he did next is compose one of the most controversial pieces in music history.
16:44Dmitry Shostakovich was born in Russia in 1906. He was from a musical family. Swiftly he was recognised as a prodigy. Musicians would visit my father and rehearse with him. And even though I was very young, I would sit in a huge leather chair and listen to them until late into the night. I remember having a very strong connection to the music then. During the early 20th century, Russia enjoyed a fairly free cultural environment. But in the late 1920s, Stalin established his total control of political power, and with it, an iron grip on Soviet culture. At the time, only music that praised Stalin for his achievements was allowed.
17:30So art was made to order, and the music which was considered pessimistic was forbidden. Shostakovich was initially spared Stalin's wrath, but when it came, it was devastating. We're back at the Bolshoi Theatre on the 26th of January, 1936. Shostakovich's opera is being performed when, after the third act, Stalin walks out. When Shostakovich comes on stage at the end, those present say he's white as a sheet.
18:07Two days later, his world collapses. He got up, bought a newspaper and read the article that completely destroyed his work. It was a review in Pravda, the Communist Party's official newspaper, titled Muddle Instead of Music. It raged against the opera's experimentalism and failure to embody socialist values, which it called a game that may end very badly.
18:36In the Lady Macbeth opera, there were scenes based in a work camp, which Stalin might have interpreted as a reference to the gulags. There was also a policeman character that was often associated with Stalin, and he did not like that. There are many different interpretations, but remember, Stalin was a very endless person. Maybe the fact that my father had so much success all over the world made him jealous.
19:12Whatever the authorities' reasons, Shostakovich was in grave danger. The Soviet Union was in the midst of Stalin's great terror when anyone he saw as a threat was purged. Millions were sent to the Gulag work camps, with around 750 ,000 executed, including Marshal Tukhachevsky, one of Shostakovich's friends. When Tukhachevsky was arrested, Shostakovich was summoned to a place in St. Petersburg called The Big House, which was an office of the KGB, the security agency. An investigator questioned him, When you were with Tukhachevsky, did you discuss killing Stalin? No, we never discussed anything like that.
19:57Okay, the investigator said. We will let you go home, but think very carefully about what you two discussed. Because remember, we have information that says otherwise. Then come back here tomorrow at 10 in the morning. My father came home and my mother packed him a bag with a towel, a toothbrush and so on. In those days when someone was called, they knew they wouldn't be coming back. The next day he arrives at 10 a.m. as requested and sits waiting outside an office. One hour passes, then another hour and still there is no sign of the investigator. Then some other official who was walking down the corridor says, Comrade, why are you sitting here for so long?
20:50Who are you waiting for? When my father explained, the official says, You are wasting your time waiting for him. That gentleman has been executed by firing squad. Dad says, What should I do? And the official replies, You are in luck. Go home.
21:12If they hadn't shot the investigator, then my father would probably have been executed.
21:23Despite surviving that close shave, Shostakovich was still exiled from public life. His music had been silenced. But he didn't stop composing. At home, he worked on a comeback, Symphony No. 5. It would have to be pitch perfect, or it could be the last thing he ever wrote. The comeback performance took place in 1937. Shostakovich held his breath.
21:51It was a huge success. All the great writers praised it, and from then on, his music was played again in the Soviet Union. The triumphant ending of Symphony No. 5 went down a treat. Shostakovich's reputation was restored.
22:16Shostakovich went on to be regarded as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But for the rest of his life, there were constant accusations that he'd sacrificed his art to placate Stalin. It was not written to please those in power. My father was simply expressing himself. The music is tragic and a premonition of what was to come. Then, in 1979, a Russian author called Solomon Volkov published what he claimed to be Shostakovich's memoirs. In the book, the by-then-dead composer said that, rather than a submission to authority, Symphony No. 5 was a veiled act of dissent. Solomon Volkov was right.
22:58My father resisted. He fought, using the methods available to him. When it came out, people said Volkov's book was a lie, but over the years I've become more and more convinced of the truth of what he wrote. I hear the voice of my father in it. The debate over Shostakovich's true intention still rages to this day, but Maxim's mind is made up. The finale of the Fifth Symphony is the triumph of Shostakovich. He was saying, you won't be able to break me. I will continue to write my music and expose your hatred. Remember, all the people we have been talking about, Stalin and all the so-called servants of the people, they are all dust and ashes now.
23:52But the music lives on through the centuries. Dmitry Shostakovich died 50 years ago on the 9th of August. Ben Henderson was speaking to his son, Maxim Shostakovich, who is also a successful musician and conductor.
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25:10Still to come, Singapore's tense and tearful 1965 separation from the Federation of Malaysia. And, like something straight out of an action movie, the detectives who tracked down the gang responsible for Brazil's biggest bank heist. It was a matter of honour for us, the police. not just to identify and arrest all the people who were involved, but also to recover as much money as possible. But before that, we're facing the forces of nature. On the 15th of August 1950, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake shook the Himalayan mountains, wiping out whole villages in Tibet and northeast India. The death toll was estimated to be about 4 ,800.
Read the full transcript
25:52Vicky Fankham has been looking through the archives and has this account of one man who was there. We had finished our supper and intended to turn in soon after dark, as we hoped to make an early start next morning. Our Tibetan porters were standing by in the village to take us three days' climb up into the High Alps, where we would camp at 11 ,000 feet altitude and carry on our botanical exploration. Everything was packed, ready. It's the evening of the 15th of August, 1950, Indian Independence Day. Frank Kingdom Ward and his wife Jean are camping in Rima in the south-east of Tibet, close to Assam in India.
26:33Both plant scientists, they're preparing for their next seed-hunting expedition in the Himalayas. We would have a cup of tea at five o 'clock, fold up the tents and start about seven. By nightfall, we would be well inside the gorge of the torrent, on our way to the Alpine passes. We'd been waiting four months for this chance. They'd have to wait even longer. Located where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, the Himalayas are prone to earthquakes. Darkness had fallen now. I was sitting near the entrance to the tent, writing my diary. My wife was already in bed. Suddenly, there came a slight, an almost imperceptible jolt.
27:21Then, without further warning, a terrible din arose. Frightened, but also curious, I sprang up and looked out between the tent flaps and saw the outlines of the high mountains blurred against the starry sky, as though in rapid motion. Almost at the same moment, my wife shouted, Earthquake! and leapt out of bed. Although the couple had experienced many earthquakes during their time in the region, Jean would later write this was the first time she experienced the uttermost depths of human fear. Together we dashed outside, not forgetting to snatch up the lantern. We were flung to the ground. The lantern fell over and went out immediately.
28:06A few seconds later, our two Sherpa boys crawled over and joined us. We all lay flat on the bare sand, holding hands. The uproar was now indescribable.
28:22Then the ground beneath us seemed to sag. I felt as though we were lying on a pie crust, against which a steam hammer was drumming. In another minute, it must crack, crumple, and drop us into the shuddering interior of the earth. I can't convey to you a terror, bewilderment, sense of utter helplessness. the strange thing is that in the midst of this awful calamity with those solid looking mountains and the grip of a force which shook them as a terrier shakes a rat my wife and I spoke calmly to one another a few words of comfort and good cheer a vast curtain of dust arose slowly blotting out the stars gradually the air became thick with grit which filled our eyes and ears We breathed and swallowed dust.
29:16It grated on our skin. The major shock lasted five minutes, long enough for us to age a hundred years. Suddenly, clear and sharp above the rattle and roar of rock slides, came five quick but separate explosions. They seemed to come from high in the sky to the northwest of us and sounded exactly like akak shells bursting. They mark the end of the earthquake, the ceasefire, as it were. Cut off from all communication, the couple have no idea how close they are to the epicentre of the earthquake, which global newspapers the following morning likened to a gigantic bomb. Some jittery citizens thought it had been caused by an atomic explosion.
30:06One of the greatest earthquakes in history. A Turkish seismograph was broken by the shock. Dr. Ramachandra, Calcutta geologist, said the summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest peak, may have pushed several hundred feet higher as a result of the quake. The half-dozen villages in the Rima Basin had been badly knocked about. A small monastery lay on its side. It appeared to have been lifted bodily and thrown down carelessly. But the destruction in the valley was trivial compared with the terrible havoc wrought on the mountains themselves. From river level to the summits of the ranges, 15 ,000 feet above, the slopes had everywhere given way, carrying down billions of tons of rock and forest.
30:52This, of course, blocked the tributary streams, which presently broke through the dam, causing further ruin. From our point of view, the worst feature was the destruction of all paths, both up and down the valley. and of the rope bridge across the Lohid River. The only path to India was on the West Bank, and until we could cross, we were prisoners in Rima. Frank and Jean are stranded, with limited rations, but they're lucky to be alive. In other parts of Tibet, and across the border in Assam in India, whole villages have been wiped out by landslides and flooding. India's Prime Minister, Juar Halal Nehru, describes the devastation he's witnessed.
31:36His words here spoken by an actor. Paddy fields were destroyed, stalks of grains were washed away and some tea gardens also suffered great damage. He believes around a thousand people have been killed. Most of them died by being crushed by the landslides or swept away by the rivers in sudden flood. Some may have died or may be dying for lack of food. Back in Tibet, first attempts to get a new rope across the Lowit River are unsuccessful and Frank and Jean are still marooned Until the river fell, it seemed impossible and the villagers gave up the attempt and resigned themselves and us to isolation Two weeks after the earthquake, the couple are joined by a patrol of the Assam Rifles a paramilitary force responsible for maintaining law and order in northeastern India.
32:31They were almost out of food and we shared our rations with them. But now we were all short and it was necessary to get in touch with the outpost at Walong, 30 miles downriver, immediately. Further attempts were therefore made to get a rope over the river and by the 6th of September it was in position. On the 7th, three weeks after the earthquake, we crossed safely and began the journey down to the plains, nominally 15 days March. That same afternoon, we reached the first village below Rima. The couple are advised to stay where they are and not attempt the perilous journey to the outpost. However, having embarked on the journey, we determined to go through with it.
33:16Forewarned, we had no illusions about the risks we ran. Even in February, when there was a path, it had been rather nerve-wracking. Now there was no path at all. There were no handholds either. It was all balance. To the danger of death by misadventure, that is to say, becoming giddy and falling off the cliff, was added the danger of death by being hit with a blunt instrument, namely, a falling rock. We survived all these hazards, but it was a near thing. On the 11th of September, nearly four weeks after the earthquake, we all marched into Wallong and were welcomed by the garrison. It was like a triumphal homecoming, and we looked forward to a well-earned rest.
34:02Words of comfort and good cheer in the midst of a terrifying earthquake. Frank Kingdon Ward stoically describing his time during the 1950 tremor in the Himalayas. Vicky Farncom brought us that story from the archives. Next, we move forward in time and to the south. In 1965, Singapore announced it had left the Federation of Malaysia and become an independent sovereign state. Explaining the separation at a news conference, the Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, was overcome with emotion. In 2015, Catherine Davis spoke to Manjit Kaur, who was 15 years old when Singapore became independent.
34:43It's the 9th of August 1965 and in a television studio in Singapore the country's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew is about to explain why his country is no longer part of the Federation of Malaysia The atmosphere is charged I had belief in merger and the unity of these two territories You know, it's a people connected by geography, economics, and ties of kinship.
35:22Would you mind if we stop for a while? Visibly upset, Lee Kuan Yew pauses and wipes his eyes. Singapore is now an independent sovereign state, separated from its larger neighbour. The news conference is broadcast to the nation. We were all watching TV in one of the neighbours' houses when we saw Lee Kuan Yew cry. And we all look at each other and we wonder why. I think they were so shocked. Even I, when I saw him cry, was shocked myself because I was only a little kid. For Lee Kuan Yew, it was a moment of anguish. To steer Singapore out of the British Empire and into a political union with Malaya had long been his goal.
36:00Now his country was on its own. and Singaporeans too were anxious. As Manjeet Kaur recalls, We were all talking about it and they all seemed to be so fearful because I think they thought that Singapore was never going to make it without Malaysia. They didn't know how Singapore was going to fend for itself being a tiny country. And did your parents look anxious? My dad looked very anxious because my dad migrated from India when he was a young kid. I think he was only 15 years old. He was an immigrant and he makes Singapore his home. And he was fearful of what's going to happen to him and his family.
36:39And he was illiterate, so they didn't really know what's going to happen, what the future has in store for them. They were fearful of the unknown. They thought that they might be thrown back into India. So my dad was very sad and very quiet as well after the conversation with all the neighbours. For a century and a half, Singapore had been an outpost of the British Empire. The small tropical island, just south of the Malay Peninsula, flourished as a port, attracting migrants from across Asia.
37:12In September 1963, Singapore had officially joined the Federation of Malaysia, consisting of Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo. For Singapore, it marked the end, finally, of colonial rule. I, Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, do hereby proclaim and declare on behalf of the people of Singapore, that as from today, the 16th of September, 1963, Singapore shall forever be a part of the sovereign, democratic and independent state of Malaysia. At school we used to sing a song that used to say that Malaysia and Singapore are forever. Like, let's get together, sing a happy song, Malaysia forever, 10 million strong.
38:01Yes, that's the song. But fundamental differences between the ruling parties in Malaysia and Singapore were quick to surface. There were disagreements over economic issues, such as taxes, and unease between Malays and ethnic Chinese. In 1964, the tension erupted into violence on the streets of Singapore. Cars were smashed and set alight, businesses and homes burnt, a curfew was imposed. The worst race riots in the country's post-war history left more than 30 people dead. Here in Singapore, the Malaysian police and armed forces have pretty well restored order. And the real enemy now is fear. Fear of renewed outbreaks of violence.
38:46By July 1965, the writing was on the wall. The union had failed. On 6 August, Singapore's law minister E.W. Barker arrived in the federal capital with a draft separation agreement. Negotiations were conducted in utmost secrecy to avoid any possible leak. The Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, flew back to Singapore on August 8 to get the agreement signed by the rest of his cabinet. In the early hours of August 9, coded messages were dispatched to heads of government abroad explaining the situation. At 10 o 'clock that morning, a proclamation of Singapore's independence was read out on national radio.
39:30Manjeet Kaur was at school at the time. The school principal announced that there was dead silence, probably because the school children didn't know the impact. They were not aware, but the teachers were all looking very, very glum and sad. Singapore appeared to be in shock. Suddenly, the country's very survival seemed uncertain. I was in my office at about four o 'clock when the streets were deserted. It was the little boys who saved the day. They came out with their footballs and started kicking about, and that brought some normalcy around. Singapore had no natural resources of its own, not even enough water, no industries and few factories.
40:19And its economy had long been intertwined with that of Malaya. In the 1960s, the country was far from developed. There were no high-rise buildings, no electricity, no sanitation, no water supply. we used to use the well water to shower, to wash our clothes. And there used to be a common tab where all of us would bring our pails to carry water, fresh water from the tab. It was like a third world country, nothing that was very grand. In the days, weeks, months after the Declaration of Independence, how did Singapore change? I think Singapore flags were everywhere. What I think they did is they removed the Malaysian flag and left Singapore.
41:06And it was everywhere, in school as well. For a long time, people were worried. And I think our late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was also very worried. But he decided it's time to move on. So he started to reassure his people in Singapore that we will move on. And people trusted him, so we started to progress. And when my dad knew that he wasn't going to be deported back to India, he did his part too. He was the pioneer of Singapore. he worked hard, he sent his children to study, and we move on.
41:45Today, Singapore is one of the success stories of Southeast Asia, a thriving international hub known for its efficiency and controlled audiliness.
41:59I don't think people would have known that we are going to become so successful. I'm not sure how other people feel, but we are amazed at our success. We are happy with our success. We are so glad that we are Singaporeans and we make it. We did it on our own, without the support of any other country or Malaysia. Catherine Davis spoke to Manjeet Kaur in 2015, remembering the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965. Finally this week, we're going back 20 years for a great South American crime caper. In August 2005, thieves in Brazil pulled off one of the world's biggest bank robberies.
42:43It's a plot straight out of the movies, and it made international headlines. Jane Wilkinson has the story. Well, you've heard the expression, dig your way out of debt. These guys took it seriously. It was a big-time heist in Fortaleza, Brazil.
43:02Brazilian police are hunting a gang of thieves who pulled off one of the largest heists in history.
43:10This was a very organized criminal gang and a very dangerous one. So it was a matter of honor for us, the police, not just to identify and arrest all the people who were involved, but also to recover as much money as possible. Meet Antonio Seltzer de Santos, then a federal police chief, and one of the detectives on the trail of the robbers. But this isn't where our story begins. Let's go back even further to April 2005, because there's a new business in Fortaleza, a city in northeastern Brazil. Gramma Synthetica, or synthetic grass, is a landscaping company renting a house close to the central bank.
43:52Workers are going door to door, distributing flyers, trying to drum up business. They've even got a van with a company name on the side. And residents quickly get used to their new neighbours. If anybody was curious about the many bags of sand leaving the house, They did not suspect anything because it was a landscaping firm. They worked with synthetic grass. Skip forward three months to Monday the 8th of August and Antonio is on his way to work in Brasilia.
44:27It was the chief of police in Fortaleza. He said the city's central bank had been the victim of a great heist through a tunnel.
44:40Antonio phones around his colleagues. He knows there's no time to waste. I asked, are there any rumours on the streets? Because when there is a crime of this size, the criminal world starts talking, but no one had heard anything. A plane is put on standby to take Antonio to Forteleza. He's met at the airport by federal police and whisked off to the city's central bank. In the vault, it soon becomes obvious that these robbers are no amateurs. Altogether, the thieves took about 164 million reais. That's enough to fill three vans, about three tons of money. So immediately we knew this heist took many hours.
45:28And they only robbed the containers holding old bills that were not registered by the central bank. Bills that could not be tracked. But how did the gang manage to break into a vault with steel-reinforced concrete walls a metre thick and then escape with what in 2005 was the equivalent of$70 million? The security system was not working as it should. The cameras filmed, but they didn't record. And the sensors of the floor were not working either. And in the safe, there was a hole in the floor. It was not so big, about 40 to 50 centimeters in diameter, and below the hole, you could see a tunnel.
46:15So we climbed inside to check the conditions. It was around 60 or 70 centimeters in height, just big enough to fit an average-sized person, as long as you could crawl, but not even on your knees. And we saw there were some ropes tied to buckets, plastic buckets, and they formed a sort of train. and inside on the tunnel floor there were lots of coins, some 50 reais bills and many empty drink cans of Gatorade. The 80-metre-long tunnel is lined with wood and electric lights have been strung from the ceiling. Air is being circulated through a tube attached to an air conditioning unit. There's even a makeshift intercom.
46:59At the end of the tunnel, the police officers lift a trapdoor. carefully. It was a house. It was about 90 meters distant from the central bank and we could see a commercial sign saying synthetic grass. And inside, we found a lot of equipment for drilling and digging soil. Nothing automatic that made a noise. There were also clothes, food, and lots and lots of cans. And they had a kitchen. So we knew the gang stayed in this house for many months. The other three rooms were filled with bags of sand and soil that had been removed from the tunnel. After it was full, they sealed each room with a wall of bricks to hide everything.
47:45Like any good detective, Antonio retraces his steps. And in the entry of the tunnel, we discovered a card that was like a top-up for a mobile phone. The registration number had been partly scratched off, but we could recover the barcode from the lines that were left, so we could identify the number. It's a breakthrough. They track every number phoned from the mobile, from Friday when the bank closed to when it opened on Monday. But these mobile numbers didn't exist anymore, so we knew the phones had only been bought for the robbery. Once again, it showed these criminals knew the investigation methods that police would use.
48:29That inquiry might have been a dead end, but Antonio and his team have other leads. We had also sent some teams to the airport in Fortaleza to see if there was any movement of people leaving quickly. And we got information from an airline company. Some passengers paid for the tickets in cash and used old 50 reais bills. That was the same kind of money that was robbed from the central bank. So immediately we asked to check these documents, because although criminals are going to use false names, the photos of the documents had to be real because of the airline checks. So we investigated, and the pictures were of some well-known criminals.
49:12And they were the first ones to be identified. The detectives begin building up a list of those involved. Some of the gang even have nicknames. Skinny, Bald, the German. And Armadillo. He'd already committed a crime using a tunnel, so his specialty was to dig holes and tunnels. It's also becoming obvious how the tunnel was built. Teams of up to seven people working around the clock, using garden shovels to dig out the soil. 34 people were directly involved in the heist. And the investigation lasted five years because of the amount of criminals involved. And also because of the number of people who helped hide and launder the money.
49:55There were a lot. Altogether, more than 150 people were arrested, investigated, and charged. Some of them suffered at the hands of the other criminals. They, or their families, were kidnapped and robbed. Some were even killed. Among those murdered was Luis Fernandos Ribeiro, a suspected mastermind of the heist. In October 2005, he was found shot seven times. This isn't a Hollywood plot. People watching movies have a fertile imagination. But for us as police officers, we see it as another case. Except that the criminals had more time to plan, and much more experienced than other criminals. But you got them in the end?
50:47Yes, and this crime was not successful. Most of the robbers regretted it because they spent a long time in jail. So doing the heist, it was not worth it. I would say because of the amount of money, it was the biggest case of my career. It was the largest sum of money stolen in Brazil until that moment, and one of the largest in the world.
51:12Brazilian police later recovered the equivalent of around$9 million in today's money in cash and property. Antonio Celso dos Santos is now retired. He was speaking to Jane Wilkinson. And that story of how the long arm of the law caught up with those who pulled off a massive bank raid but didn't get away with it brings us to the end of this edition of The History Hour. For more stories, go to bbc.com forward slash witness history. but inspired by that bank raid we'll be tunnelling through events from the past to bring you more first-hand stories next week. So until then, this is Max Pearson. From all of us here, thanks for listening.
51:47Goodbye. From the brilliant and bizarre... It was really surreal. It was a surreal kind of atmosphere there. You couldn't really see anybody. To the shocking and unexpected... I'm just wondering, what are we going to do now? This was really my worst fear. He found 100 % horse meat that was labelled as beef. Witness the stories that have shaped our world Told by the people who were there When he went to the factory the poodle went in front of him So the work was on you, all of the bosses here Many people had many things to lose by our victory The future was not so bright Witness history We had a designer, he brought in a fully storyboarded idea About how the queen would arrive by jumping out of a helicopter and we all said, that's brilliant, but it's never going to happen.
52:35Witness History at bbcworldservice.com slash witnesshistory or wherever you get your podcasts.
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53:18Hello, Greg Jenner here. I'm the host of You're Dead to Me, the BBC comedy show that takes history seriously. Every episode, I pair up a top historian with a fantastic comedian, and we have a lovely, funny, fascinating chat about a different subject from world history. And in this new series, we're beginning with an epic voyage through the story of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. And that's with Kyle Smith-Bino joining us. And then we'll be learning about Francis Galton and the racist, discredited pseudoscience of eugenics with Desiree Birch. We'll meet many medieval saints in their bone boxes with Rachel Parrott.
53:51So if that sounds like your sort of thing, listen to You're Dead to Me wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. Bye.
From the publisher
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week’s Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Simone Turchetti, Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester in the UK.
It's 80 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender at the end of the Second World War. We hear from a British prisoner of war who was in Nagasaki at the time.
Then, the son of musician Dmitri Shostakovich tells of his famous father’s confrontation with Stalin in the 1930s.
Also, the story of a man who survived an 8.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the Himalayan mountains in 1950.
Plus, Singapore's tense and tearful 1965 separation from the Federation of Malaysia and the detective who tracked down the gang responsible for Brazil's biggest bank heist.
Contributors: Simone Turchetti - Professor of the History of Science and Technology, at The University of Manchester. Maxim Shostakovich – son of musician Dmitri Shostakovich Manjeet Kaur- remembering Singapore independence in 1965. Antonio Celso Dos Santos – detective in Brazil Plus, archive recording of Geoff Sherring, a British prisoner of war in Nagasaki and Frank Kingdon-Ward who survived an earthquake that shook the Himalayan mountains in 1950.
(Photo: Nuclear explosion over Nagasaki. Credit: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)