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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The first bicycle-sharing scheme

    How a Dutch engineer invented a scheme to share bikes and cut pollution in the 1960s.

  2. The rise of Boko Haram

    How a small Nigerian Islamist group launched a brutal insurgency

  3. The first silicone breast implants

    How a Texas woman became the first in the world to have the popular cosmetic procedure.

  4. Costa Concordia

    The dramatic story of the cruise ship which sunk in the Mediterranean, killing 32 people.

  5. Malick Sidibé: Mali's superstar photographer

    How a Malian photographer's pictures of Mali's swinging '60s and '70s amazed the world.

  6. Kazakhstan's nuclear legacy

    The secret plan to clear a huge nuclear testing site after the fall of the Soviet Union.

  7. India's freedom fighter: Subhas Chandra Bose

    The man who campaigned against colonial rule, allying himself with Hitler during WW2

  8. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

    In January 1945, nearly 10,000 people died in the worst maritime disaster in history.

  9. Mozambique's Eduardo Mondlane: From professor to freedom fighter

    The leader of Mozambique's fight against colonial rule remembered by his daughter

  10. Marcel Proust

    The great French writer remembered by one of his friends and by his faithful maid.

  11. The end of Stalinist rule in Albania

    In 1990 Albania’s communist government agreed to allow independent political parties.

  12. The "Wild Lily" protests in Taiwan

    In 1990, Taiwan’s students took to the streets in their thousands to demand democracy.

  13. The secret history of Monopoly

    The true story of one of the world's most popular board games, Monopoly.

  14. Lego

    One of the world's most popular toys was invented in a small Danish town in 1958.

  15. Tetris

    In 1984 one of the most popular computer games ever was invented in Moscow.

  16. Grand Theft Auto: How the Scottish game outraged on release

    The controversial action-adventure gaming series developed in Scotland in the 1990s.

  17. Pong and the birth of computer games

    The pioneering table tennis simulator which started the video games industry.

  18. The home of Santa Claus

    How Rovaniemi, a small town in Lapland, became the centre of Christmas tourism.

  19. Bahrain's 2011 protests

    In 2011 thousands of protestors occupied Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain’s capital.

  20. The right to drive in Saudi Arabia

    The Saudi women who used social media to campaign against being banned from the roads.

  21. Rudolf Nureyev defects

    In 1961 the great ballet dancer stunned the world by defecting from the Soviet Union.

  22. Tanzania's first elected albino MP

    How Salum Barwany overcame discrimination and fear to make history in Africa

  23. Bangladesh wins independence

    An inside account of the moment Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971.

  24. On the front line in Bangladesh

    A Pakistani soldier's account of fighting in the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971.

  25. Rape as a weapon in Bangladesh

    How Bengali women suffered appalling sexual violence during the war of independence.

  26. The birth of Bangladesh

    How Pakistan's first elections sparked civil war and the creation of a new country

  27. The Bengali language movement

    How a march in defence of Bengali galvanised demands for an independent Bangladesh.

  28. The explosion heard by millions

    In 2005 people across southern England woke up when a huge fuel depot exploded.

  29. The Aldi kidnap

    The abduction of Theo Albrecht, co-founder of the discount supermarket chain ALDI.

  30. Spies or plane-spotters?

    Why a group of British aircraft enthusiasts were arrested for spying in Greece in 2001.

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