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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The man who smuggled punk rock across the Berlin Wall

    How punk rock band Die Toten Hosen secretly played a concert in East Berlin.

  2. The first cold chain vaccination storage system

    In 1974, Ghana pioneered a new system, to help immunise against serious diseases

  3. Building the Moscow Metro

    How the Moscow Metro was built using more than 10,000 Russian workers.

  4. Olympics: Zamzam Farah at London 2012

    Somali sprinter Zamzam Farah at the London 2012 Olympics

  5. The first Olympic ‘mascot’

    The creation of Shuss for the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France

  6. The 1924 Paris Olympics

    The last time Paris held the Olympic Games was 100 years ago in 1924

  7. How Ayia Napa became a clubbing capital

    In the 1990s, Ayia Napa, in Cyprus, went from quiet fishing village to party resort

  8. The missing people of Cyprus

    Between 1963 and 1974, more than 2,000 people in Cyprus went missing

  9. Cyprus 2003: Crossing the ceasefire line

    In April 2003, people in Cyprus crossed the ceasefire line for the first time in 29 years

  10. Cyprus 1974: The Final Landing

    In July 1974, Captain Adamos Marneros landed the last flight at Nicosia Airport in Cyprus

  11. Cyprus 1974: The Greek coup

    How a coup in Cyprus led to the division of the island’s communities

  12. Arrested for playing football in Brazil

    For nearly 40 years, women in Brazil were banned from playing football

  13. Italy's 'poison ships'

    In 1988, a ship carrying toxic waste arrived in Manfredonia, Italy

  14. The 1968 Mexico City massacre

    The massacre in Mexico City in October 1968, 10 days before the Olympics

  15. The day Celia Cruz returned to Cuba

    Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz's only return to the island in 43 years of exile.

  16. How the air fryer was invented

    In 2006, Dutch inventor Fred van der Weij cooked up an idea for a new kitchen device

  17. Conservative wipe-out in Canada

    In Canada's 1993 election, the governing party was routed, ending up with just two seats

  18. Fight the Power: The song that became an anthem of protest

    In 1989, Public Enemy provided the soundtrack for Spike Lee's movie, Do The Right Thing

  19. Georgia’s political crisis

    In 1991, the newly independent country found itself on the verge of a civil war

  20. Executed in Stalin’s Great Terror in Georgia

    In the 1930s, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin executed hundreds of thousands without trial

  21. Subway Art: The graffiti bible

    In 1984, Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper released an iconic photography book

  22. I designed Hello Kitty

    In 1974, a Japanese artist created a character who is now worth more than $80 billion

  23. The first CIA-backed coup in Latin America

    President Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala was overthrown in a revolt sponsored by the US

  24. Dignitas: Founding an assisted dying society

    In 1998, Swiss lawyer Ludwig Minelli set up the controversial organisation Dignitas

  25. Sagrada Familia: Completing Gaudi’s vision

    How architects carried on building Barcelona's basilica after the death of designer Gaudi

  26. The expulsion of the Sudeten Germans

    Sudeten Germans were expelled by the Czechoslovak government after World War Two

  27. Japan’s last WWII soldier to surrender

    Hiroo Onoda spent 30 years fighting in the jungle, believing the war was still going on.

  28. Kawarau Bridge: The first bungee jumping site in New Zealand

    In 1988, AJ Hackett brought bungee jumping to paying customers.

  29. The first mega cruise ship

    In 1988, the world’s largest passenger ship set sail on her maiden voyage from the USA

  30. The beginning of Benidorm

    How one man grew a sleepy Spanish town into one of the world’s biggest holiday resorts

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