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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Guinea stadium massacre

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

  2. The secretary who made millions from her typos

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

  3. DDLJ: India’s longest-running film

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

  4. The birth of Médecins Sans Frontières

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

  5. The start of Scouting

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

  6. When Stalin silenced Shostakovich

    In 1936, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was denounced.

  7. Omar Sharif stars in Lawrence of Arabia

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

  8. The Aswan High Dam

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

  9. Egypt criminalises sexual harassment

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

  10. Reforming Egypt’s divorce laws

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

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

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

  12. How the Philippines saved Jews during World War Two

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

  13. 9/11: The generosity of Gander

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

  14. The story behind The Peter Principle book

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

  15. The Enabling Act

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

  16. Festac ’77: Nigeria’s largest festival of African arts and culture

    The 1977 celebration of African culture that attracted half a million visitors

  17. ‘How I sold my clothes and created a $5 billion Vinted empire’

    In 2008, Lithuanian student Milda Mitkutė realised she had too many clothes

  18. World's first womb transplant baby

    In 2014, the world's first baby born to a mother with a transplanted womb was delivered

  19. The Chindits

    The Chindits, an unconventional special force was formed during World War Two

  20. The founding of USAID

    One woman’s influence on USAID during the 1960s 'Decade of Development’

  21. Discovering the Titanic

    In September 1985, the wreck of the lost ship was discovered during a joint expedition

  22. John Lennon's final headline concerts

    In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed at the One to One benefit concerts in the US

  23. The making of the Third Man: A film noir classic

    In 1948, filming began in Austria on one of the greatest British films of all time

  24. Washington DC’s Mount Pleasant riot

    In 1991, rioting broke out in the US capital after a police officer shot a Salvadoran man

  25. Creating CAPTCHA

    In 2000, the Completely Automated Public Turing test was introduced as a security tool

  26. The creation of the International Criminal Court

    The world's first permanent International Criminal Court was created in 1998

  27. Geneva Conventions

    In 1864, Henry Dunant came up with a treaty to protect those injured in wartime

  28. The rise and fall of BlackBerry

    In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world

  29. The book that changed Norway’s view of immigrants

    Maria Amelie's 2010 book triggered a change to Norway's immigration regulations

  30. One man’s escape from McCarthyism

    In 1951, a US soldier defected to the Soviet Union during the anti-communist crackdown

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