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Witness History Episodes

  1.

    The Day Sweden Turned Right

    In September 1967 Swedish traffic changed to driving on the right-hand side of the road.

  2. The Mexican American War

    Testimonies from the conflict that changed US-Mexican relations forever

  3. The Last Case of Smallpox in the UK

    Alasdair Geddes on finding smallpox in Janet Parker in 1978 and the events that followed

  4. The Fall of Bukhara

    In 1920, the Central Asian Muslim kingdom of Bukhara was taken over by Communists.

  5. Burning Man

    It's thirty years since the birth of the counter-culture festival Burning Man.

  6. Fania All Stars - Legends of Salsa

    How a Latin music supergroup helped spread salsa music from New York to the world.

  7. Helmand Convoy

    An audacious military mission to bring electricity to southern Afghanistan.

  8. The Dance Theatre of Harlem

    In August 1969, the first classical ballet company to focus on black dancers was formed

  9. The Stockholm Syndrome

    The hostage who trusted her kidnapper more than the police

  10. The "Don't Die of Ignorance" Aids Campaign

    In 1986 the British government launched the first ever public health campaign on Hiv Aids

  11. John Muir and America's Wild Places

    The Scottish-born naturalist considered the father of the National Parks in the USA.

  12. Conflict over a Tree in the DMZ

    In August 1976, two US soldiers were killed in the zone between North and South Korea.

  13. Studio Ghibli - Japanese Animation

    In August 1986 the first Studio Ghibli film hit Japanese cinema screens.

  14. Bibles in US Schools

    In 1963 a third of schools in the US had to change their rules on Bible reading.

  15. The murder of Federico Garcia Lorca

    How the great poet and dramatist was murdered at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

  16. The Kray Gang

    Maureen Flanagan on her relationship with London's gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

  17. Fleeing Deportation to the USSR

    After WW2, many Soviet citizens who had ended up outside the USSR, refused to go home.

  18. The Nairobi Embassy Bombing

    In 1998, al-Qaeda killed more than 200 people in attacks on US embassies in East Africa.

  19. The Excavation of Masada

    Nearly two thousand years ago, Masada in Israel was the site of a mass suicide.

  20. The Twin Towers High-Wire Walk

    Philippe Petit recalls his daring feat high above the New York streets in August 1974

  21. American Air Traffic Controllers' Strike

    In August 1981 over 11,000 air traffic controllers were fired after two days on strike.

  22. Lebanon's Baalbek Festival

    The Middle East's oldest arts festival, in Baalbek in Lebanon, started 60 years ago

  23. The Reclusive JD Salinger

    It's 65 years since JD Salinger's classic novel The Catcher in the Rye was published

  24. Jacqueline Du Pre

    Jacqueline Du Pre makes one of the most famous classical recordings of the 20th Century

  25. The University of Texas Shooting

    In August 1966 14 people were shot dead in America's first mass shooting at a university

  26. Spying for America in Russia

    The story of Russian spy Alexandr Ogorodnik and his CIA handler, Marti Peterson.

  27. The Tangshan Earthquake

    In 1976, one of the deadliest earthquakes in history hit the city of Tangshan in China

  28. Meeting Picasso

    In the summer of 1951 art historian John Richardson met Pablo Picasso for the first time.

  29. The First CIA Coup in Latin America

    In 1954 CIA-backed officers overthrew Guatemala's elected government.

  30. Race Riots in Liverpool

    In 1981 police used CS gas for the first time in mainland Britain to control race riots

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