Witness History Episodes Episode guide
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"Spend, Spend, Spend" - The Miner's Wife Who Won Big
How Viv Nicholson became a celebrity in Britain after winning the football pools in 1961.
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The First Kwanzaa
The African-American winter holiday was invented in Los Angeles in 1966.
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Trivial Pursuit
The game has become a holiday tradition with families around the world.
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To Kill a Mockingbird
Louise Hidalgo speaks to Gregory Peck's son Carey about the film of Harper Lee's novel.
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BR Ambedkar
The Indian independence leader and campaigner for Dalit rights died in December 1956.
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The Exam That Changed China
The return of university entrance exams showed the Cultural Revolution had really ended.
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The Development of WiFi
Australian scientists were central to the development of wifi.
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Somalia's Islamic Courts Union
How the Islamic movement brought a brief moment of peace to Mogadishu after years of war
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The Disappearance of Harold Holt
The Australian Prime Minister went for a swim on December 17th 1967 - and never came back
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The Great London Smog
Thousands died as a thick polluted fog engulfed London in 1952
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The Unsung Hero of Heart Surgery
The African-American lab technician whose surgery helped save millions of babies..
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Otis Redding
The great soul singer who was killed in a plane crash in December 1967
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Hypnotising Saddam's Son
How an American hypnotist went to Iraq to treat Uday, the eldest son of Saddam Hussein.
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Art in Revolutionary Russia
Avant-garde art flourished in Russia after the 1917 revolution but was later suppressed
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The Discovery of Whale Song
Whales were being hunted to extinction until a biologist realised they could sing.
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Finland Wins Independence From Russia
In December 1917 Finland became an independent country for the first time.
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Britain's withdrawal from South Yemen
In 1967 Britain's departure from Aden leads to the creation of an independent South Yemen
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Mount Rushmore
Construction on one of America's most famous monuments started in 1927.
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Science City in Siberia
Thousands of scientists moved to deepest Siberia to dedicate their lives to research.
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The Poisoning of Litvinenko
Former colonel in the Russian secret service Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London.
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The Prestige Oil Disaster in Spain
How thousands of volunteers cleaned up after a huge environmental disaster in 2002
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The Audacious Plot to Kill a Colonel
How El Salvador's leftist rebels led a top army officer into a deadly trap
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The Case of Alger Hiss
The conviction of diplomat Alger Hiss was one of America's most notorious spy cases
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The Exile of Wolf Biermann
East Germany's most famous singer-songwriter was exiled to the West in November 1976.
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Toy Story - The First Digitally-Animated Feature Film
It was a box-office hit and a revolution in the world of animated films.
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The Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
The president of South Vietnam was overthrown and murdered in a coup in November 1963.
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The Man Who Prosecuted Charles Manson
Charles Manson's followers murdered 9 people on his orders. But how to prove his guilt?
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The Siege of Mecca
In 1979 Islamic militants took over the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam
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Botswana's Diamonds
Huge diamond deposits were first discovered in the Kalahari desert in Botswana in 1967
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The 'Disappeared' of Lebanon
Searching for the thousands who went missing during Lebanon's brutal civil war.