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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The death of Captain Cook

    In February 1779 the British seafarer Captain Cook was beaten to death in Hawaii

  2. Fall of Singapore

    The British colony of Singapore fell to Japanese forces on this day in 1942

  3. Assassination of Rafik Hariri

    On February 14 2005, Lebanese politician Rafik Hariri was assassinated

  4. The death of Pushkin

    In February 1837 the great Russian poet - Alexander Pushkin died

  5. A communist in the US

    On 9 February 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy began his hunt for communists in the US

  6. The Docklands bomb

    On 9 February 1996, a bomb exploded in London bringing an IRA ceasefire to an end

  7. Shot down in Iraq

    It is 20 years since international forces united to drive Iraq out of Kuwait

  8. Duvalier flees Haiti

    Twenty-five years ago today, the President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country

  9. Sarajevo marketplace massacre

    On February 5 1994 there was an attack on a marketplace in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo

  10. Revolution in Iran

    The first week of February 1979 saw a revolution unfolding in Iran

  11. Death of Sid Vicious

    The last days of punk icon, Sid Vicious, in New York in 1979

  12. Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-ins

    A simple non-violent action to protest against racial segregation in restaurants and shops

  13. The North Sea Flood

    On the last day of January 1953 high tides and storms brought a huge flood to Holland.

  14. The siege of Leningrad

    Hundreds of thousands of civilians died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad.

  15. Siege of Sidney Street

    The bloody battle between British police and a group of revolutionaries in London in 1911

  16. Conflict in Somalia

    In January 1991 the government of Siad Barre in Somalia, collapsed

  17. Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

    One of the worst maritime disasters in history - the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

  18. Funeral of Winston Churchill

    Sir Winston Churchill, the British wartime leader, died on 24 January, 1965

  19. Execution of Louis XVI

    On 21 January 1793 the French king, Louis XVI was executed in Paris

  20. Ben Ali Comes to Power in Tunisia

    The story of how Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali came to power in Tunisia

  21. Palomares nuclear accident

    How a B-52 bomber crashed on the Spanish coast while carrying four nuclear weapons.

  22. Crossing Antarctica

    In January 1997 Borge Ousland became the first person to cross the Antarctic alone

  23. Kindertransport - Oliver's story

    The story of a boy who escaped Nazi Germany on a kindertransport train heading for Britain

  24. Football wages

    We take you back to 1961 when the cap on football wages was abolished in England

  25. Wikipedia - 10 years on

    It is 10 years since the Wikipedia online encyclopedia was launched

  26. Cryonic freezing

    In 1967 a group of enthusiasts first tried to cryonically freeze a human being.

  27. Crossing the Rubicon

    When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river 2,000 years ago he changed history

  28. Bojinka Airline Plot

    The Manila-based plot to blow up a dozen airliners over the Pacific Ocean

  29. Clinton impeachment

    On January 7 1999 the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton began in the US Senate

  30. Sudan's civil war

    In 1983 a civil war broke out in Sudan which would last for more than 20 years.

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