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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    Living through the Cuban Missile Crisis - in Cuba

  2. Mullah Omar

    Talking to the leader of the Taliban

  3. Storming the Winter Palace, 1917

    The Russian Revolution gets underway in St Petersburg

  4. The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854

    Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.

  5. Hungarian Uprising

    In the autumn of 1956 Hungarians shook off Soviet power for a few days at least.

  6. Kuwait oil fires 1991

    A Texan firefighter recalls the battle in Kuwait against the world's biggest oil fire

  7. Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator

    In October 1940 Charlie Chaplin released an epic film mocking Adolf Hitler

  8. Wall Street Crash of 1987

    The biggest one-day crash in the history of the New York Stock Exchange

  9. Pinochet Case

    General Pinochet's surprise arrest at a London clinic in 1998

  10. Land Speed Record

    On October 15 1997, a British team set a land speed record which still hasn't been beaten.

  11. Olympic protest 1968

    At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, two black American athletes staged a protest

  12. Brazil prison massacre

    How the Brazilian police killed 111 prisoners during a riot in a Sao Paulo jail.

  13. Bali Bombs

    Bomb attacks shatter the Indonesian island of Bali, eight years ago today.

  14. Asylums

    A special edition of Witness looks at life inside psychiatric institutions of the past.

  15. Che Guevara

    On the 9th of October 1967 Che Guevara was killed by armed forces in the Bolivian jungle.

  16. The death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko

    When Steve Biko died in police custody, the South African government lied about his death

  17. Thai student killings 1976

    How a student protest 30 years ago, led to bloodshed in the Thai capital

  18. The fall of Slobodan Milosevic

    When protestors stormed the Yugoslav parliament - President Milosevic stepped down

  19. The Battle of Cable Street

    How ordinary Londoners turned the tide against British fascism in October 1936.

  20. Last Days of Nasser

    A chauffeur recalls the dramatic final days of President Nasser of Egypt.

  21. Nigerian Independence

    It is exactly 50 years since Nigeria became independent

  22. Silent Spring

    The book that gave DDT - a synthetic pesticide - a bad name

  23. Hair - the musical

    In 1968 the rock musical Hair finally opened on the London stage

  24. The Taliban take Kabul - 1996

    On 27 September 1996 Taliban fighters took control of the Afghan capital Kabul

  25. The Cod Wars

    In the early 1970s Britain and Iceland were locked in a conflict - over fish.

  26. The Blitz

    It's 70 years since the beginning of the Blitz - the bombing of British towns and cities.

  27. Iran-Iraq War

    On September 22nd 1980 Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi troops into Iran.

  28. Women Machinists Strike at Ford's, Dagenham

    The strike at Ford's car factory Dagenham led to equal pay legislation in the UK

  29. Bokassa's Downfall

    In 1979 the Emperor of the Central African Republic, Jean Bedel Bokassa, was overthrown.

  30. Paralympics Games in Rome 1960

    It is 50 years since the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome

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