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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    My aunt created The Moomins

    Tove Jansson's book The Moomins and the Great Flood was published in 1945

  2. Helen Fielding: The creator of Bridget Jones

    In 1995, a single 30-something woman first appeared in a weekly newspaper column

  3. The trial of Soviet writers Daniel and Sinyavsky

    How the arrest of two writers sparked the Soviet dissident movement

  4. Jorge Luis Borges: 'Father' of Latin American fiction

    In 1961, the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges came to the world's attention

  5. Wallander and the rise of Nordic Noir

    First published in 1991, Henning Mankell's novels changed the world of crime fiction

  6. How BRICS got its name

    In 2001, economist Jim O’Neill wrote a report on countries set to shape the world economy

  7. Japan surrenders in Beijing

    A rare eyewitness account of Japan's surrender in Beijing in 1945

  8. The remote island that was evacuated to 10,000km away

    On 10 October 1961, the population of Tristan da Cunha was evacuated to the UK

  9. 'I designed the Indian rupee symbol'

    On 15 July 2010, India announced its official currency symbol

  10. The home video war

    In the 1970s and 80s VHS and Betamax went head-to-head over the home entertainment market

  11. The acquittal of OJ Simpson

    The American football star was found not guilty of double murder in 1995

  12. 'I took the famous photo of JFK and his son'

    On 2 October 1963, Stanley Tretick took a well-known picture of President John F Kennedy

  13. The strike that shook up India's tea industry

    In 2015, thousands of women tea pickers spent nine days protesting about low wages

  14. The birth of the Excel spreadsheet

    In September 1985, Excel, an electronic spreadsheet document was created

  15. The Cradock Four killings

    In June 1985, four anti-apartheid activists from Cradock in South Africa were murdered

  16. Guinea stadium massacre

    On 28 September 2009, troops opened fire on around 50,000 protesters

  17. The secretary who made millions from her typos

    In the 1950s, secretary Bette Graham invented correction fluid to cover up her errors.

  18. DDLJ: India’s longest-running film

    Bollywood romance Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge was released to critical acclaim in 1995

  19. The birth of Médecins Sans Frontières

    In 1971, the humanitarian group known as Doctors without Borders was founded in Paris

  20. The start of Scouting

    Scouting, now one of the largest international youth movements, began in the early 1900s

  21. When Stalin silenced Shostakovich

    In 1936, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was denounced.

  22. Omar Sharif stars in Lawrence of Arabia

    Egyptian film star Omar Sharif made his Hollywood debut in Lawrence of Arabia in 1962

  23. The Aswan High Dam

    In the 1960s, the construction of one of the world’s largest dams in Egypt took place

  24. Egypt criminalises sexual harassment

    In 2014, Egypt’s outgoing president issued a decree criminalising sexual harassment

  25. Reforming Egypt’s divorce laws

    In 1979, Egypt’s first lady Jehan Sadat campaigned to grant women new rights to divorce

  26. Mohamed Morsi: Egypt's first democratically elected president

    A political rival looks back on Morsi's victory in June 2012

  27. How the Philippines saved Jews during World War Two

    In 1935, after the Nuremberg Laws were passed, Manila opened its doors to Jewish families

  28. 9/11: The generosity of Gander

    The small Canadian town that helped diverted passengers after the 9/11 terror attacks.

  29. The story behind The Peter Principle book

    In 1969, a satirical book was published suggesting promotion led to incompetence

  30. The Enabling Act

    In 1933, the Enabling Act was passed, handing Adolf Hitler unchecked power

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