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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Ravi and George

    In 1967, Ravi Shankar taught the ‘quiet Beatle’ George Harrison how to play the sitar

  2. India goes to the UN

    Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit led India’s first delegation to the United Nations

  3. The Howard Hughes literary hoax

    In 1971 a conman fooled publishers with a fake autobiography of billionaire Howard Hughes

  4. Colombia's Salt Cathedral

    In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine

  5. Toy Story: the first digitally-animated feature film

    The box-office hit started a shift away from hand-drawn cartoons

  6. How the Bosnian war ended

    On 21 November 1995, the Dayton Peace accords were signed

  7. The death of Franco

    In 1975, General Francisco Franco died, ending 36 years of dictatorship over Spain

  8. Angela Merkel suspends EU asylum rules in 2015

    In August 2015, Germany suspended asylum rules amid a steep rise in migration to Europe

  9. Reagan and Gorbachev: The Geneva Summit

    In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan met Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Switzerland

  10. The Spanish king reclaims his throne

    In 1975 Juan Carlos reclaimed the Spanish throne after 36 years of Franco’s dictatorship

  11. When Maldives' ministers met underwater

    In 2009, ministers from the Maldives held the first underwater cabinet meeting

  12. Bataclan attack in Paris

    On 13 November 2015, 90 people were shot dead at the Bataclan theatre in France

  13. Prosecuting Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials

    Eighty years ago, in the aftermath of World War Two, a major war crimes trial took place

  14. Birth of the G7

    In November 1975, leaders of six nations met in France to solve an economic crisis

  15. Breaking the sound barrier

    In 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.

  16. Discovering the largest dinosaur ever

    In 2012, a shepherd uncovered a bone belonging to a new dinosaur in Argentina

  17. The ‘father of e-books’

    In 1971, there was a key moment in the digital revolution of e-books

  18. The creation of Miffy

    The children's book character Miffy was created by Dick Bruna in 1955

  19. President Clinton is impeached

    In 1999, US President Clinton was impeached over a relationship with a White House intern

  20. The brains behind Thunderbirds

    It's 60 years since Thunderbirds first blast onto TV screens

  21. Emerante de Pradines: Haiti’s musical trailblazer

    The singer, dancer and folklorist who became the first Haitian to sign a record deal

  22. Orson Welles broadcasts The War of the Worlds

    In 1938, Orson Welles terrified radio listeners with The War of the Worlds.

  23. Srebrenica massacre

    The worst atrocity Europe had seen since World War Two

  24. The invention of the balloon-expandable stent

    The story of how an Argentinian doctor created a new treatment for heart disease

  25. Death of a priest

    The 1977 murder of a leading champion for the poor in El Salvador

  26. The man who invented the scratch card

    In 1974 the chance to win instant cash went on sale for the first time

  27. GLP-1: A breakthrough for diabetes and obesity

    In the 1980s, a scientific breakthrough paved the way for new treatments

  28. The UK’s first black-owned music studio

    In 1961, record producer Sonny Roberts changed the history of British music

  29. Wangari Maathai: The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

    In 2004, Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize

  30. The British oil tanker sunk in Indonesia

    In 1958, the British oil tanker, SS San Flaviano was sunk, reportedly by a CIA pilot

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