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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Diary of Life in a Favela

    The poor black single mother who stunned Brazil with a book about her life in 1960.

  2. When Stalin Rounded Up Soviet Doctors

    Hundreds of Soviet doctors were imprisoned or shot in the last year of Stalin's rule.

  3. Fidel Castro Takes Havana

    The end of the US-backed dictator and the start of communist rule in Cuba in January 1959

  4. The Doomsday Seed Vault

    In 2008, the first global seed vault was opened to safeguard the world's crops

  5. Vikings in North America

    The Canadian discovery that proved Vikings had crossed the Atlantic 1000 years ago

  6. Ceausescu's 'House of the People'

    The vast building that symbolised the excesses of Romania's brutal former dictator

  7. Barbara Cartland - Queen of Romance

    Exploring the life of bestselling writer Dame Barbara Cartland.

  8. Brazil's Marijuana Summer

    In 1987 thousands of tin cans full of marijuana washed up on the beaches in Rio.

  9. Rebels Rout The Army In El Salvador

    The storming of the El Paraiso base by Marxist rebels in December 1983.

  10. When Animals Go To War

    In December 1943, a British charity created gallantry medals for animals serving in war.

  11. Trautonium: A Revolution in Electronic Music

    Meet the trautonium, the early electronic instrument promoted by the Nazis.

  12. The Soviet Afghan War Begins

    The world held its breath in December 1979 as Soviet troops poured into Afghanistan

  13. UFO Sightings: The Rendlesham Forest Incident

    At Christmas 1980 strange objects and lights were seen over a military base in England.

  14. Scotland's Stone of Destiny

    On Christmas Eve 1950 four students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey

  15. Stopping The 'Shoe Bomber'

    How a passenger helped subdue shoe-bomber Richard Reid on an American Airlines flight.

  16. The Woman Who Wrote Mary Poppins

    Writer PL Travers created a children's classic when she invented a magical nanny.

  17. Hacking The First Computer Password

    Scientists at MIT in the 1960s had to share computer time - but some people wanted more.

  18. Theatre in the Sahara

    Theatre director Peter Brook led a troupe of actors across the Sahara desert in 1972

  19. The US Apologises for Wartime Internment

    Japanese Americans win an apology and compensation for World War II internment.

  20. China and Japan at War

    Japanese troops reached the Chinese city of Nanjing in December 1937.

  21. Englandspiel: The Deadly WW2 Spy Game

    How Britain sent dozens of Dutch agents to their deaths in Nazi-occupied Netherlands

  22. Apollo 8

    How the first mission to orbit the Moon captured the world's imagination in December 1968

  23. When China Joined the WTO

    China had to open up its strict communist system to join the World Trade Organisation

  24. Cicely Saunders And The Modern Hospice Movement

    The British woman who revolutionised the treatment of dying patients around the world.

  25. Angela Merkel's Rise to Power

    Angela Merkel rose to power in German politics after the fall of her mentor, Helmut Kohl.

  26. Adopted By The Man Who Killed My Family

    Ramiro Osorio Cristales was five when his family was massacred by the Guatemalan army.

  27. The Armenian Earthquake

    A catastrophic earthquake hit northern Armenia on December 7th 1988, hear from a survivor

  28. The Coronation of Jean-Bédel Bokassa

    On 4 December 1977 Jean-Bédel Bokassa was crowned Emperor of the Central African Republic

  29. Berlin's Rubble Women

    At the end of WW2 much of Germany's capital had been destroyed. Women helped clear it up.

  30. Norway's EU referendum

    In November 1994, Norwegians voted in a referendum not to join the European Union

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