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Witness History Episodes

  1. Martha Gellhorn

    In February 1998, the great war correspondent and writer, Martha Gellhorn, died

  2. Aung San

    The Burmese independence leader was born on February 13th 1915

  3. The Bombing of Dresden

    On February 13th 1945 the Allies began a series of air raids against the German city.

  4. Minamata Mercury Poisoning

    In the late 1950s thousands of people in Japan were poisoned by industrial waste

  5. Finland’s Winter War

    Finland's desperate fight for survival against the might of the Soviet Union in 1940.

  6. Sophiatown Removals

    In 1955 apartheid South Africa evicted people from a multi-racial area of Johannesburg

  7. The Conflict is Over

    In 1993 a message arrived in London which kickstarted the Northern Ireland Peace Process.

  8. The Greensboro Sit-In

    Four young black men protested against racial segregation in North Carolina in Feb 1960.

  9. McDonald's in Moscow

    In January 1990 the global fast food giant opened its first restaurant in the USSR

  10. The Atomic Spy

    The first spy of the Cold War, Klaus Fuchs, gave the West's nuclear secrets to Moscow

  11. Bertrand Russell

    Memories of the English analytic philosopher and political activist using BBC archive.

  12. The Family Doctor Turned Murderer

    In January 2000, Harold Shipman was found guilty of killing 15 of his female patients

  13. Black Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

    The first major-party black candidate to make a bid for the US Presidency in 1972

  14. Greenland nuclear bomber crash

    In 1968 a US B52 plane with nuclear bombs on board crashed at Thule, Greenland.

  15. Auschwitz Train Escape

    How a handful of Belgian Jews escaped from a train heading to Auschwitz

  16. Fleeing the Spanish Civil War

    In January 1939 tens of thousands of people fled the advancing forces of General Franco

  17. Patrice Lumumba

    The African nationalist and Congo's first prime minister who was murdered in January 1961

  18. The Death of Al Capone

    Al Capone's grand niece talks about her memories of the famous Chicago mobster

  19. US Drone Operator

    Brandon Bryant speaks to Witness about working on the controversial US drone programme.

  20. The rise of England's football hooligans

    The rise of violence between English football fans in the 1970s

  21. Zeppelins Attack England

    In January 1915 huge German Zeppelin airships began the first bombing raids on England

  22. The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg

    The Swedish diplomat saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during World War Two

  23. The Life and Death of Agatha Christie

    The best-selling novelist in history, crime-writer Agatha Christie, died in January 1976

  24. India's First Call Centre

    In 1997 an Indian businessman saw a great opportunity to start a whole new industry

  25. India Bans Widow Burning

    In I988 India passed a law that made it a criminal offence to help anyone commit Sati

  26. Somalia's Rural Literacy Campaign

    The hugely ambitious campaign to teach rural people to read and write in 1970s Somalia

  27. The Opening of Guantanamo

    The first prisoners arrived at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002

  28. South Asia's top Hindi music show

    In 1952 India launched a music programme, Geetmala, which would broadcast for 42 years

  29. The Impeachment of Bill Clinton

    The Senate chamber was turned into a court to put the president on trial, 7 January 1999

  30. Evidence of the Big Bang

    The unexpected discovery which became the first proof of the Big Bang Theory

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