The world’s first perfume archive and Dutch car-free Sundays in the global oil crisis

About this episode

This episode features interviews about the world's first perfume archive, press freedom, the oil crisis, and more.

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. This week, we hear from a perfumer who in 1990 helped create the world’s first perfume archive in Versailles France. Our guest is Dr William Tullett, a Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York and author of Sniff, History of Smells. Then, we hear how in 1991 African journalists created the Windhoek declaration - a set of free press principles. It led to World Press Freedom Day marked annually on 3 May. Next, the global oil crisis of 1973. A former Dutch politician tells us how the Netherlands became the first country in Europe to introduce car-free Sundays. Plus, the philosopher on how his 1972 essay on the Drowning Child thought experiment inspired the Effective Altruism movement. And President Obama’s speech writer on how secret negotiations in 2014 improved relations between the US and Cuba. Finally, a Sporting Witness on the Juventus match-fixing scandal in 2006. Contributors: Jean Claude Ellena - perfumer Dr Will Tullett - Senior Lecturer in History at the University of York and author of Sniff, History of Smells Wim Meijer - State Secretary for Culture…

People in this episode

Host: Max Pearson

Guests: Jean Claude Ellena, Dr Will Tullett, Wim Meijer, Peter Singer, Ben Rhodes, Paddy Agnew

Topics covered

• perfume archive
• press freedom
• oil crisis
• car-free Sundays
• Effective Altruism
• match-fixing scandal

Keywords

• perfume
• press freedom
• oil crisis
• car-free Sundays
• Effective Altruism
• match-fixing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC World Service, University of York

Places: Netherlands, Versailles France

More episodes of The History Hour

• Opening the archives: A cellist, a playwright and a king · June 13, 2026 · 1h 1m
• The creation of Inspector Montalbano and Australia's first Big Thing · June 6, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Mexican history: A love song and a gas explosion · May 30, 2026 · 1h 0m
• The first reality game show and a joik performance on Eurovision · May 16, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest and a WW2 sabotage mission in Norway · May 9, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Cleaning up Chernobyl and Canada’s war in the woods · April 25, 2026 · 1h 1m