World Service

In 1967, American lineman JD Thompson was working on overhead power lines in Jacksonville, Florida, when his colleague Randall Champion accidentally grasped a live cable. Seeing his friend dangling high above the ground, JD ran over and climbed the pole to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. At the same time, local photographer Rocco Morabito just happened to be driving past and captured the moment. The image made that evening’s edition of the Jacksonville Journal with the caption 'The Kiss of Life' and was soon syndicated around the world. The following year, Morabito was awarded the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. JD tells Patrick Kiteley how it felt to be involved in such a dramatic rescue. 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 explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space. (Photo: The Kiss of Life. Credit: Rocco Morabito - courtesy of the Florida Times-Union/Jacksonville.com)