BBC World Service - Witness History

Wine Shock: The Judgement of Paris

How California stunned the French wine world in the 1970s.

Shoah, Claude Lanzmann's epic nine-hour film on the Holocaust was released in spring 1985

How the followers of an Indian guru tried to poison their opponents in Oregon, USA.

On 23 May 1988 a group of lesbian activists invaded a BBC TV news studio as it was on air

How deaf students forced their American university to appoint a deaf president.

The launch of Ajoka, the group which pioneered theatre for social change in Pakistan.

In 1968 Chairman Mao sent thousands of young people into rural China to work as doctors.

On May 21st 1998 the president of Indonesia resigned after 31 years in power.

How Lt. Jack ReVelle disarmed two thermonuclear bombs which crashed in North Carolina.

The play Look Back in Anger changed British theatre when it was staged in 1956