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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The Killing of the Russian Tsar

    The Russian Tsar and his family were shot in a cellar in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918

  2. Italy's 'Ghost Shipwreck'

    How journalists located the wreck of a boat that capsized killing nearly 300 migrants

  3. The Spiegel Affair

    How a magazine article about West Germany's defence strategy led to a government crisis.

  4. Smiling Buddha: India's First Nuclear Test

    How India secretly developed and exploded its first atomic device in 1974

  5. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    Published in 1958 the Nigerian writer's first novel revolutionised African fiction.

  6. Robert Mapplethorpe - Photographer

    The artist known for his nude portraits was at the height of his fame in 1988.

  7. Kosovo: 'Madeleine's War'

    Ex-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on why she argued for Nato action in Kosovo

  8. Playgrounds Made of Junk

    Post-war Britain saw a rise in "adventure playgrounds" born out of bomb-sites

  9. The Toilet

    The controversial art installation which upset Russians but is now seen as a masterpiece

  10. Flight 655: When The US Shot Down An Airliner

    All 290 on board were killed when a US warship downed an Iranian passenger jet in 1988

  11. The Search For Deep Throat

    In July 2005, the most famous informant in American history Deep Throat revealed himself

  12. The President and the Gun Lobby

    Former President George Bush Senior's public row with the National Rifle Association.

  13. Whiskey On The Rocks

    The Cold War stand-off when a Soviet submarine was stranded on a Swedish rock.

  14. The SARS Emergency

    Early 2003 saw a medical emergency sweep across the world.

  15. Veronica Guerin - Dying for the Story

    The Irish journalist murdered for her work exposing drug barons in the 1990s

  16. The King of Lampedusa

    How 4,000 Italian troops surrendered to a young Jewish pilot from London, during WW2.

  17. How the World Woke Up to Global Warming

    James Hansen got US politicians to listen to his warnings about climate change in 1988.

  18. Demoted For Being Gay

    When the Israeli Army punished Colonel Uzi Even for being gay, he fought back.

  19. Wittenoom: An Australian Tragedy

    How a town built around an asbestos mine made its residents fatally ill.

  20. Bata the Shoemaker's Revolution

    Bata, a Czech company, pioneered assembly line shoemaking

  21. The Battered Child

    The American doctor who forced the medical profession to face up to child abuse.

  22. The Death of Kim Il-sung

    The founding father of communist North Korea died in July 1994.

  23. The Unified Korean Table Tennis Team

    How ping pong brought together athletes from bitter rivals North and South Korea.

  24. The GI Who Chose China

    After the Korean war ended a few American prisoners chose to try life under communism.

  25. The Beginning of the Korean War

    North Korean communist troops invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.

  26. Korea Divided

    The Korean peninsula was split between North and South at the end of World War Two.

  27. The Execution of Adolf Eichmann

    Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was executed in the early hours of June 1st 1962

  28. The Death of General Sani Abacha

    Nigeria's military ruler died suddenly in June 1998.

  29. The 1968 Belgrade Student Revolt

    In June 1968, students in Belgrade rebelled against Yugoslavia's 'market socialism'

  30. The Assassinaton Attempt that Sparked a Middle East War

    In 1982, a Palestinian gunman attacked the Israeli ambassador to London, Shlomo Argov

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