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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    Cecil the lion

    On 1 July 2015, Cecil, a popular lion, was shot in Zimbabwe by an American trophy hunter

  2. Italian happiness trains

    Between 1945 and 1952, ‘happiness trains’ transported 70,000 children from southern Italy

  3. The opening of the Medellin Metro

    How a train system helped transform the “murder capital of the world” in 2015

  4. The funeral train for Robert Kennedy

    In June 1968, Robert Kennedy was killed during his campaign for the presidency

  5. The Czech Freedom Train

    On 11 September 1951, a Czech train was hijacked and driven into West Germany

  6. The Gratitude Train: France thanks America

    In 1949, the Gratitude Train arrived in the US, 49 wagons of thank you gifts from France

  7. Making Jaws

    On 20 June 1975 the film premiered, launching summer blockbusters and scaring beachgoers

  8. The signing of the Treaty of Versailles

    The signing of a peace agreement that marked the end of World War One took place in 1919

  9. Civil rights swim-in

    In 1964, a civil rights swimming protest ended when acid was poured into the pool

  10. 'Tripperburgen' the sexual health clinics that detained women

    In 1977, in the former East Germany, tens of thousands of women and girls were abused

  11. Charleston church shooting

    Polly Sheppard, a survivor of the 2015 Charleston shooting, describes how it unfolded

  12. The Schengen Agreement

    In 1985, five European politicians agreed to scrap border checks between their countries

  13. Ronald Reagan’s ‘Tear down this wall’ speech

    In 1987 the US President called on the Soviet Union leader to take down the Berlin Wall

  14. Lonesome George: The celebrity tortoise

    In 2012, Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species died

  15. The woman born in a prisoner of war camp

    The Sino-Indian war in 1962, left a lasting legacy on Indian families of Chinese descent

  16. World War Two’s Rome escape line

    How an Irish priest saved thousands of allied prisoners of war and Jews in Rome in WW2

  17. Usonia: Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘utopian’ town

    1948 saw the start of a “utopian” town of houses designed by America’s greatest architect

  18. The discovery of the first exoplanets

    In 1992, astronomer Alex Wolszczan discovered the first planets outside our solar system

  19. Favela life: The diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

    In 1960, the diary of a poor Brazilian mum became an international bestseller.

  20. The world’s largest model train set

    In 2000, twins Frederik and Gerrit started building Miniatur Wunderland

  21. Dolly Rathebe: South Africa’s first international film star

    Jim Comes to Jo’burg, also known as African Jim, launched Dolly Rathebe’s career in 1949

  22. The Battle of the Beanfield

    In 1985, police and hippies clashed at the ancient stone circle of Stonehenge, in England

  23. The legacy of The Pirate Bay

    In 2006 police raided the popular but controversial file-sharing website The Pirate Bay

  24. Chinua Achebe’s revolutionary book Things Fall Apart

    Achebe's English language novel from 1958 about life in Nigeria before colonialism

  25. The Tragically Hip's final gig

    In 2015 Canadian rockstar Gord Downie was given months to live, he went on one last tour

  26. 'I wrote the Champions League anthem'

    The story of how one of the most iconic tunes in sport was created in 1992

  27. Vivian Maier: Secret street photographer

    The secret street photography of a US nanny in the 1950s and 1960s

  28. The founding of Magnum Photos

    On 22 April 1947, a group of famous war photographers founded the agency.

  29. Martín Chambi: Peru's pioneering documentary photographer

    Chambi's dramatic black and white photographs showed indigenous people in a new light.

  30. Nigerian photographer’s iconic 'Hairstyles' series

    J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, known as Nigeria’s top photographer gained international acclaim

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