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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The Georgian exodus from Abkhazia

    In 1993, separatist forces took Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia

  2. Hussein of Jordan: The survivor king

    In 1970 King Hussein of Jordan escaped unharmed after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade

  3. The inspiration for Chekhov's Three Sisters

    In 1897, Paul Shishkoff lived next door to the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov

  4. Picasso and the Surrealist summer

    In 1937 some of the 20th Century's best known Surrealist artists are on holiday in France

  5. Mstislav Rostropovich: Virtuoso cellist

    In 1978, Rostropovich lost Soviet citizenship for 'unpatriotic activity'

  6. Nelson Mandela's incarceration at Robben Island

    In 1964, Nelson Mandela was put in the maximum security prison on Robben Island

  7. The creation of Inspector Montalbano

    In March 1994, the first Inspector Montalbano mystery, The Shape of Water, was published

  8. The protests that sparked the Tiananmen Square massacre

    How mass student demonstrations in May 1989 led to bloodshed in Beijing

  9. Australia's first Big Thing

    In 1963, a giant sculpture of a Scotsman began one of the country's quirkiest phenomena.

  10. The first Irish language television channel

    In 1996, Ireland launched its first television channel broadcasting exclusively in Irish

  11. Recording the Eichmann interviews

    In the 1950s, a journalist recorded hours of interview with the Nazi Adolf Eichmann

  12. Filming Titanic in Mexico

    In 1997, Titanic - one of the most successful films in movie history - was made in Mexico

  13. I escaped Mexico's deadly gas explosion

    In 1984, one of the world's deadliest gas accidents occurred in San Juanico

  14. I fought for Mexico’s indigenous women to get political equality

    In October 2014, millions of indigenous women in Mexico won the right to vote

  15. Mexico: The election that ended one‑party rule

    In 2000, Vicente Fox won the Mexican presidency, ending 71 years of one‑party rule

  16. The Mexican song that captivated lovers during World War II

    In 1944, the love song Besame Mucho became one of the most recognisable tunes of the era

  17. Canada's worst E.coli outbreak

    In 2000, contaminated drinking water triggered one of Canada’s worst health disasters

  18. Montenegro votes for independence

    In 2006, Montenegro achieved independence from Serbia in the final break-up of Yugoslavia

  19. Witness History

    Personal account of history

  20. Exposing King Albert II's secret child

    In 1999, teenager Mario Danneels wrote a book which exposed a royal scandal in Belgium

  21. Poland’s underground newspaper

    In 1982, Polish dissidents set up Mazovia Weekly to share uncensored news with the public

  22. The Sami protest song that made Eurovision history

    In 1980, Norway’s Eurovision Song Contest entry included a traditional Sami joik song

  23. When Sweden invented the reality game show

    In 1997, Sweden launched the world's first reality-based competitive TV show

  24. Uncovering a lost burial ground in Rio

    In 1996, Merced dos Anjos unearthed the New Blacks Cemetery under her home in Brazil

  25. The fossil that revealed the first dinosaur feathers

    In 1996, a fossil in China showed the first real hint that some dinosaurs had feathers

  26. Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

    A 2015 report found 'cultural genocide' was committed against Canada's Indigenous people

  27. Sir David Attenborough's first Zoo Quest

    In 1954 a new television programme launched the career of the world-famous broadcaster

  28. Africa's worst stadium disaster

    In May 2001, 127 people died after a stampede at a football match in the Ghanaian capital

  29. Finding the world’s most complete T-rex fossil

    In August 1990, a team discovered the most complete T-rex fossil in the world

  30. Norway's WWII railway sabotage plot

    In 1942, Norwegian resistance fighters set out to blow up a railway used by the Nazis

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