Skip to content
Watch Live
British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Innovation
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
  • Documentaries
Watch Live
News imageWitness History, Witness History, The 'Spanish' flu

Witness History

Witness History

The 'Spanish' flu


Up next

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Ebola virus

The Ebola virus

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The polio vaccine

The polio vaccine

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The SARS epidemic

The SARS epidemic

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Marburg virus

Marburg virus

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The 'I Love You' computer virus

The 'I Love You' computer virus

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The fight to make sexual harassment a crime

The fight to make sexual harassment a crime

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Red Hollywood

Red Hollywood

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Chinese cure for malaria

The Chinese cure for malaria

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Sequencing the 1918 influenza virus

Sequencing the 1918 influenza virus

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Saudi bombardment of Yemen

The Saudi bombardment of Yemen

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Cheonan sinking

The Cheonan sinking

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The AIDS Memorial Quilt

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Britain's first woman judge

Britain's first woman judge

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The trembling giant

The trembling giant

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Avenging the Amritsar Massacre

Avenging the Amritsar Massacre

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Swedish warship restored after 300 years

The Swedish warship restored after 300 years

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Being a Chinese Muslim

Being a Chinese Muslim

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Homebrew computer club

The Homebrew computer club

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Trojan Room coffee pot

The Trojan Room coffee pot

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The first iPhone

The first iPhone

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The unlikely pioneers of online shopping

The unlikely pioneers of online shopping

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Nasa's female aquanauts

Nasa's female aquanauts

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The last men on the Moon

The last men on the Moon

News imageWitness History, Witness History, When Skylab fell to Earth

When Skylab fell to Earth

News imageWitness History, Witness History, A space crash

A space crash

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Deepwater Horizon disaster

The Deepwater Horizon disaster

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade

The last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade

News imageWitness History, Witness History, Edhi: Pakistan's 'Angel of Mercy'

Edhi: Pakistan's 'Angel of Mercy'

News imageWitness History, Witness History, The Brompton Manley Ventilator

The Brompton Manley Ventilator

9 March 2020

9 minutes

Available for over a year

In 1918, more than fifty million people died in an outbreak of flu, which spread all over the world in the wake of the first World War. We hear eye-witness accounts of the worst pandemic of the twentieth century.

(Photo: An American policeman wearing a mask to protect himself from the outbreak of Spanish flu. Credit:Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

See more episodes

Programme website


British Broadcasting Corporation
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Innovation
  • Health
  • Culture
  • Arts
  • Travel
  • Earth
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Live
  • Documentaries
  • Weather
  • BBC Shop
  • BritBox

The BBC is in multiple languages

Read the BBC In your own language

Oduu Afaan Oromootiin
Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ
Arabic عربي
Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN
Bangla বাংলা
Burmese မြန်မာ
Chinese 中文网
Dari دری
French AFRIQUE
Hausa HAUSA
Hindi हिन्दी
Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN
Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર
Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO
Indonesian INDONESIA
Japanese 日本語
Kinyarwanda GAHUZA
Kirundi KIRUNDI
Korean 한국어
Kyrgyz Кыргыз
Marathi मराठी
Nepali नेपाली
Noticias para hispanoparlantes
Pashto پښتو
Persian فارسی
Pidgin
Polish PO POLSKU
Portuguese BRASIL
Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ
Russian НА РУССКОМ
Serbian NA SRPSKOM
Sinhala සිංහල
Somali SOMALI
Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI
Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்
Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు
Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย
Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ
Turkish TÜRKÇE
Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA
Urdu اردو
Uzbek O'ZBEK
Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT
Welsh NEWYDDION
Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ
Follow BBC on:
  • Terms of Use
  • Subscription Terms
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Contact the BBC
  • Advertise with us
  • Do not share or sell my info
  • BBC.com Help & FAQs
  • Content Index

Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

You might also like:

news | sport | weather | worklife | travel | future | culture | world | business | technology