Witness History Episodes Episode guide
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Discovering Cleopatra's Palace
Twenty years ago underwater excavations began which unearthed a 2000 year old palace.
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Marsha Hunt and the 1960s
In the late 1960s a young black American woman rolled up in 'Swinging' London.
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Archive of Terror
How a huge cache of papers showed the true extent of torture across 1970s South America.
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Operation Restore Hope
In December 1992 US Marines landed on the beaches of Somalia.
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The Origin of Nollywood
The story of the 1992 film which launched Nigeria's hugely successful movie industry
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Landing in Red Square
A German teenager managed to evade Soviet defences to land in Moscow's Red Square.
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The Montreal massacre
On 6 December 1989, a college shooting in Canada left 14 women dead.
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Great London Smog of 1952
How the worst smog in living memory lasted five days and killed thousands of Londoners.
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Witness: The Bodyline Tour
In 1932 a row between England and Australia over cricket became a diplomatic incident.
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The Bhopal gas disaster
In December 1984 thousands of people in the Indian city were killed by a chemical leak.
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First Successful Sex Change
The story of Christine Jorgensen who had surgery to change her sex from a man to a woman.
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Iran Hostage Crisis - The Canadian Story
In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran.
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Eric Hebborn - Forger Extraordinary
The story of one of the most prolific art forgers of the 20th Century.
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Isabelle Dinoire: The World's First Face Transplant
In November 2005, doctors in France carried out the first ever face transplant.
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The Secret Soviet Naval Mutiny
In November 1975, an incredible mutiny took place aboard a Soviet warship in the Baltic.
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The Trojan Room Coffee Pot
20 years ago the world's first webcam was set up - and it was pointed at a pot of coffee.
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Lee Harvey Oswald and the USSR
Lee Harvey Oswald had spent two years living in the USSR after serving there as a Marine
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The death of the Kabaka of Buganda
In 1969 the first President of Uganda, Edward Mutesa, died in exile in London.
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Windsor Castle Fire
How a fire devastated Queen Elizabeth's weekend home in 1992.
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Shoot
In November 1971 a young American artist decided to get a friend to take a shot at him.
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Cesar Chavez - Yes we can!
How the Mexican-American trade union leader Cesar Chavez inspired Latinos in the 1960s.
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The Lost Tribe Hoax
The Filipino stone-age cave dwellers who fooled the scientific community.
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China's one-child policy
Created to tackle China's expanding population, but how was the one-child policy enforced?
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Colombia mudslide
It's 27 years since over 20,000 people died when a volcano erupted in western Colombia.
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Baby Fae and the Baboon Heart Transplant
In 1984 doctors in California tried a revolutionary operation on a two-week-old baby girl.
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Edgar Feuchtwanger: Adolf Hitler's Neighbour
The memories of a German Jew who grew up across the street from Adolf Hitler.
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Mutiny on the Bounty
The original story of betrayal at sea - from contemporary eyewitness testimonies.
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John Howard Griffin: Black Like Me
Over 50 years ago a white journalist tried living as a black man in America's Deep South.
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The death of Leonid Brezhnev
One of the longest-serving leaders of the Soviet Union died on the 10 of November 1982.
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The Crate Escape
An incredible plot to kidnap, drug and repatriate Nigerian exile Umaru Dikko in 80s London
