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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Castro's Cuban revolution attempt

    In 1953, Fidel Castro attempted to revolutionise Cuba by attacking military barracks

  2. India’s 1998 nuclear tests

    Nalini Malani made an artwork protesting against India's nuclear tests

  3. Julia Gillard speaks out on sexism

    In 2012, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a landmark speech on misogyny

  4. The ‘Three Marias’

    In 1974, a judge decided if three Portuguese women should be jailed for writing a book

  5. The discovery that led to Covid vaccines

    In 2005, Dr Katalin Karikó published research that eventually won her the Nobel Prize

  6. Gloria Steinem: The start of Ms. Magazine

    In 1972, Gloria Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine in the United States

  7. The end of the US HIV travel ban

    In 2010, a travel and immigration ban stopping people with HIV entering the US was lifted

  8. The deepest man-made hole in the world

    In the 1970s and 1980s, scientists in Russia managed to dig a 12,000-metre deep hole

  9. Thich Quang Duc: Buddhist monk who set himself on fire

    In June 1963, Thich Quang Duc set himself alight in protest against the government

  10. The Iran-Contra Affair

    In 1986, Oliver North was accused of orchestrating the illegal sale of weapons to Iran

  11. Strictly Come Dancing

    Television extravaganza Strictly Come Dancing debuted in 2004 in the UK

  12. Creation of the UFC

    In 1993, a new sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship

  13. Lord of the Flies

    It’s 70 years since William Golding’s acclaimed novel was published

  14. Handover of Macau

    In 1999, Macau was handed back to China after more than 400 years as a Portuguese colony

  15. The Siege of Yarmouk

    How the Syrian army turned one neighbourhood near Damascus into a bombed-out wasteland

  16. Iran's secret Christian 'house churches'

    Between 2002 and 2005, Naghmeh Panahi set up a network of 'house churches' in Iran

  17. German naturists

    The naturist movement began in Germany at the end of the 19th Century

  18. Luana Mansilla: Changing gender aged six

    In 2013, the gender of a six-year-old from Argentina was legally changed

  19. India's capsule coal mine rescue

    In November 1989, 65 miners were rescued from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India

  20. How Greece got rid of their king

    In a 1974 referendum, the Greek people voted two to one in favour of becoming a republic

  21. The Pakistan mountain massacre

    In 2013, 11 people were killed by members of a militant group at Nanga Parbat base camp

  22. The invention of the ‘Baby’ computer

    In 1948, the first stored-program computer the ‘Baby’ was invented

  23. The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto

    Polish aid worker Irena Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto in WW2

  24. The Shah of Iran's party

    In 1971, the Shah of Iran, celebrated 2,500 years of the Persian Empire

  25. In exile from Iran

    Former empress Farah Pahlavi and social scientist Rouhi Shafi speak about leaving Iran

  26. Iran hostage crisis

    In 1979, Barry Rosen was held hostage after the US embassy in Tehran was stormed

  27. Siegfried and Roy tiger attack

    In 2003, illusionist Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger live on stage.

  28. Brazil’s electronic voting

    In 1996, an electronic voting system in Brazil was used for the first time

  29. The Ken Burns Effect

    In 2002, the 'Ken Burns effect' was created.

  30. Jean Batten: New Zealand’s record breaking aviator

    Jean Batten was nicknamed the Queen of the Skies for her pioneering flights of the 1930s

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