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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco

    In 1966 the great French fashion designer went to Morocco for the first time

  2. Shakespeare's Jubilee

    How actor David Garrick organised the first national celebration of Shakespeare in 1769

  3. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

    An industrial disaster in New York in 1911 led to huge social reforms.

  4. Fighting for Castro at the Bay of Pigs

    A member of Cuba's communist militia recalls battling US-backed invaders in April 1961

  5. The Harrier in the Falklands War

    A Harrier pilot remembers the air battle over the Falklands in 1982

  6. Haile Selassie In Jamaica

    On 21 April 1966 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia arrived in Jamaica

  7. The Spanish Republic

    How writers and artists campaigned to bring culture to every corner of 1930s Spain

  8. Executed for Being Too Capitalist

    In 1961, in Soviet Central Asia, 21 managers were executed for using capitalist methods.

  9. The Amritsar Massacre of 1919

    On 13 April 1919, the British Indian Army fired on an unarmed crowd, killing hundreds

  10. The First Starbucks

    In 1971 the first Starbucks coffee shop opened in Seattle.

  11. Angela Merkel

    On April 10 2000, Angela Merkel became the first woman to lead a German political party.

  12. A Japanese Royal Wedding

    In a change to tradition Japan's Crown Prince Akihito married a non-royal, in April 1959.

  13. The Ogaden War

    In 1977 Somalia invaded Ethiopia in an attempt to take control of disputed territory.

  14. Mallory on Everest

    In 1999 the body of legendary British mountaineer, George Mallory, was found on Everest.

  15. Romania's Orphans

    In 1989 news began to emerge of terrible conditions in Romania's orphanages.

  16. The Execution of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

    On April 4th 1979 Pakistan's first democratically elected Prime Minister was hanged.

  17. Nigeria's War on Indiscipline

    In 1984, General Buhari's military regime launched an unusual campaign to clean up Nigeria

  18. The Yodogo Hijacking

    In March 1970, Japanese left-wing extremists hijacked a plane with samurai swords.

  19. Siege of Sarajevo

    The siege of Sarajevo lasted for almost four years. Witness Vedrana Seksan tells her story

  20. Pakistan Ban on Alcohol

    In the spring of 1977 the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced a ban on alcohol

  21. Harrer in Tibet

    In 1944, Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer fled into the forbidden land of Tibet.

  22. The Attempt on Ronald Reagan's Life

    On March 30th 1981 a man tried to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan.

  23. The Back to Africa Movement

    In the late 1800s, African Americans from Arkansas began moving to Liberia in West Africa.

  24. The Harold Wilson Plot

    In March 1976, the British prime minister Harold Wilson unexpectedly resigned. Why?

  25. Romania's Orphans

    In 1990 the terrible conditions inside Romania's orphanages first came to light.

  26. Virginia Woolf

    On March 28th 1941 the British novelist Virginia Woolf took her own life.

  27. The Easter Rising

    How Irish rebels tried to start a revolution against British rule at Easter 1916.

  28. Battle of Tora Bora

    After the Taliban fell in Afghanistan, the hunt for Osama bin Laden began in earnest.

  29. Iraqi Shia Uprising - 1991

    At the end of the First Gulf War thousands of Iraqis rose up against Saddam Hussein

  30. The Death of Jan Palach

    In 1969, a student set himself alight in protest at the crushing of the Prague Spring.

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