About this episode
The episode recounts the survival of King Hussein of Jordan through multiple assassination attempts and his experiences during a tumultuous period in history.
In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan survived after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade close to his summer palace. The king remained unharmed, but his driver was wounded. It wasn’t the king’s first near-miss. Before being crowned, Hussein survived another attempt when his grandfather, King Abdullah, was assassinated by a Palestinian gunman in 1951. Hussein was saved when a medal deflected a stray bullet. And there were other attempts. One would-be assassin used nose drops poisoned with acid. Another time, a cook was given poison to put in the king’s food. Many of the attempts were because of his pro-Western stance and his efforts to control Palestinian guerrillas. Jane Wilkinson has been through the BBC archives to find out more about the ‘survivor king’, who tells his story in his own words. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes…
People in this episode
Host: Jane Wilkinson
Topics covered
- Jordan
- King Hussein
- assassination attempts
- history
- Middle East
- politics
Keywords
- King Hussein
- Jordan
- assassination
- Middle East
- history
- BBC archives
- survivor king
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BBC, BBC World Service
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