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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The V2 rocket

    How the Nazis secretly developed the first modern ballistic missile

  2. Fighting 'virginity tests' in the Indonesian police

    How an Indonesian policewoman campaigned to ban intrusive examinations of female recruits

  3. Derek Jarman

    The British experimental film-maker who spoke out about Aids in the 1980s.

  4. South Africa and Aids drugs

    How activists fought successfully for cheaper Aids treatment in South Africa.

  5. AZT: The breakthrough treatment for Aids

    How the first successful Aids drug was developed and approved in record time in 1987

  6. The early days of HIV/Aids

    The experience of a Ugandan-born woman diagnosed with HIV in the early days of the virus.

  7. The Aids 'patient zero' myth

    How Gaetan Dugas was mistakenly identified as the 'patient zero' of the Aids epidemic.

  8. The assassination of the Mirabal sisters

    Three sisters, all political activists, were murdered in 1960 in the Dominican Republic

  9. Estonia’s internet ‘Tiger Leap’

    Estonia started connecting all schools to the internet in 1996 ahead of other countries

  10. The doctor who helped her mother to die

    How a Dutch doctor’s euthanasia dilemma changed the world.

  11. Europe's last smallpox epidemic

    The virologist who helped tackle the last smallpox outbreak in Europe

  12. The Woman in Gold by Gustav Klimt

    The story behind one of Klimt's most famous paintings

  13. Russia’s Democracy pioneer

    Galina Starovoitova, the murdered politician who championed democracy in '90s Russia

  14. Sudan's October Revolution

    How Sudanese civilian protesters first brought down a military regime in 1964

  15. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

    How a particular form of psychotherapy became popular for treating anxiety and depression

  16. The capture of war criminal Radovan Karadzic

    How Serbia finally caught one of Europe's most wanted men in Belgrade in 2008.

  17. Shoot: A milestone in performance art

    In November 1971, Chris Burden asked a friend to shoot him in the name of art

  18. Kuwaiti oil fires of 1991

    As the first Gulf War ended, retreating Iraqi forces set light to oil wells in the desert

  19. The South African football star murdered for being a lesbian

    How the killing of a female footballer got South Africa talking about ‘corrective rape’.

  20. Spying in Berlin

    At the height of the Cold War Berlin was known as the spy capital of the world.

  21. Chanel No. 5

    One of the world's most famous perfumes was launched in 1921

  22. Britain's Black Schools

    The alternative schools for black British children set up to counter racist attitudes.

  23. When Eritrea silenced its critics

    How a journalist tried to escape Eritrea's historic crackdown on critics and the press

  24. The end of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising

    On November 4th 1956 Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest crushing the anti-Soviet uprising

  25. The enduring legend of Fu Manchu

    The evil criminal mastermind Fu Manchu was a recurring film character for decades

  26. Judgement at Nuremberg

    It is 75 years since verdicts were delivered on leading German Nazis at Nuremberg

  27. The miracle of walking

    The doctor who revolutionised the treatment of 'club foot' - rejecting invasive surgery

  28. Kilimanjaro: Africa’s disappearing glaciers

    In the past 100 years, 90% of the glacial ice at the top of Kilimanjaro has disappeared

  29. The child climate activist of the 1990s

    Severn Cullis-Suzuki was 12 when she spoke to world leaders at the UN Earth Summit in Rio

  30. How the world woke up to climate change

    A scientist delivered a direct message to US politicians about climate change in 1988

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