Dassler brothers' rift

Published: Oct. 1, 2022, 1:57 p.m.

A collection of this week's Witness History programmes, presented by Max Pearson. The guest is Nicholas Smith, author of "Kicks: The Great American Story of Sneakers" and Presenter of the BBC's "Sneakernomics" podcast. He explains how footwear revolutionised sport and became high-fashion.

In 1948, two brothers from a small German town called Rudi and Adi Dassler created the sportswear firms Puma and Adidas. Reena Stanton-Sharma hears from Adi Dassler\u2019s daughter, Sigi Dassler, who remembers her father's obsession with footwear and talks about her fondness for the rappers, Run-DMC, who paid tribute to her dad\u2019s shoes in a song.

We also hear about one man's mission to castrate Pablo Escobar's hippos, the unpredictable rule of Kenya's former President, Jomo Kenyatta, the 'Japanese Schindler', and the raising of the 400-year-old Mary Rose.

(Photo: Adi Dassler. Credit: Brauner/ullstein bild via Getty Images)