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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Eliza: When chatbots started

    1966 saw the invention of Eliza, which is said to be the first chatbot

  2. The longest plane hijacking in Latin America

    In 1973, two men pretending to be Colombian guerrillas hijacked a plane for 60 hours

  3. The speech that inspired the Law of the Sea

    In November 1967, the Maltese diplomat, Arvid Pardo, gave a historic speech at the UN

  4. South Africa’s nuclear weapons

    In 1989, South Africa became the first country to make and then dismantle nuclear weapons

  5. Cambodia war crimes

    Kerry Hamill mistakenly sailed into Cambodian waters and was killed by the Khmer Rouge

  6. Kristallnacht: The night of broken glass

    In 1938, the Nazis launched a violent anti-Jewish attack, known as Kristallnacht

  7. The Estonia ferry disaster

    In 1994 the Estonia ferry sank off Finland in one of Europe's biggest shipping tragedies

  8. South Africa’s first inter-racial marriage

    For almost 40 years, marriage between people from different ethnic backgrounds was banned

  9. Arrested for 'immorality' in South Africa

    Dr Zureena Desai was arrested in South Africa for breaking the Immorality Act

  10. Why Tupac was fired from Menace II Society

    In 1993, the Hughes brothers released their debut movie

  11. India's Mars Orbiter Mission

    India placed a satellite into orbit around Mars on its first attempt in 2014

  12. Designing the Google logo

    Brazilian artist and designer, Ruth Kedar’s story of designing the Google logo.

  13. The discovery of New Zealand’s first dinosaur

    The discovery of New Zealand's first dinosaur by Joan Wiffen

  14. India’s plague outbreak

    In 1994, hundreds of thousands of people fled the city of Surat

  15. Camouflaging Leningrad

    In 1941, landmarks were painted and covered in the Russian city during World War Two

  16. The invention of the CT scanner

    In 1971, the CT scanner was invented by Allan Cormack and Godfrey Hounsfield

  17. When Italy gave back Ethiopia’s stolen obelisk

    The Axum Obelisk was looted by Italian soldiers in 1937 on the orders of Benito Mussolini

  18. Abebech Gobena: Africa's 'Mother Teresa'

    In 1980, Abebech Gobena founded an orphanage in Ethiopia to save children from starvation

  19. Ardi: The oldest skeleton of a human ancestor

    In 1994, a college student discovered a 4.4 million-year-old skeleton in Ethiopia

  20. Emperor Haile Selassie in Bath

    In 1936, the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie was exiled in Bath in the UK

  21. Emperor Haile Selassie overthrown

    In September 1974, a military junta launched a coup against Ethiopia's monarchy

  22. Giant Gonzalez: from NBA star to WWE wrestler

    Jorge Gonzalez was the first Argentinian in an NBA draft. How did he end up wrestling?

  23. Apollo 13

    In 1970, a Moon mission almost ended in tragedy after an explosion on board the spaceship

  24. The end of the Irish marriage bar

    Until 1973, married women in Ireland were banned from working in state jobs.

  25. Ramesses II's 'mummy makeover'

    In 1976, the mummy of Ramesses II was flown from Egypt to Paris for a makeover

  26. I led the 'Umbrella' protests

    In September 2014, Nathan Law led Hong Kong's 'Umbrella' Protests

  27. The woman who spoke to the space station

    Maggie Iaquinto was the first amateur radio enthusiast to contact Russian cosmonauts

  28. Guatemala's disappeared

    Jeremias Tecu's two brothers are among the thousands who disappeared in Guatemala

  29. Waris Dirie

    In 1987, Waris Dirie had her first photo-shoot and became a supermodel sensation

  30. The writer of Mary Poppins

    It's 60 years since the Disney film was released, based on writer PL Travers's book

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