Witness History Episodes Episode guide

South Sudan celebrates independence

On 9 July 2011, people flooded the city of Juba as a new nation was born
Seveso Disaster

On 10 July 1976, there was an explosion at a chemical factory near Seveso, northern Italy
The immigrant workers who refused to pay rent in 1970s France

Thousands of workers protested against rent hikes and living conditions in French hostels
Jackie Kennedy renovates the White House

In 1962, first lady Jackie Kennedy took the cameras on a tour of the restored White House
Restoring the Statue of Liberty

In 1984, the Statue of Liberty was rejuvenated ahead of her 100th birthday
KCOR: The first Spanish-language radio station in the US

In 1946, Mexican-American Raoul Cortez launched a radio service in Spanish in Texas
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on the bus
The final journey of Chief Long Wolf

In 1997, the remains of a Lakota leader were returned from London to South Dakota
Hawaii becomes the 50th American state

In March 1959, the Hawaiian Admission Act was passed
Rata de dos patas: Mexico’s famous insult song

Composer Manuel Eduardo Toscano on the origins of Paquita la del Barrio's signature tune
WW1: The Battle of the Somme

BBC Archive recordings with veterans of the 1916 battle
How Aussies taught kids to stay safe in the sun

In 1981, Australia launched the Slip Slop Slap campaign with help from Sid the seagull
Brexit: Ireland watches the vote unfold

In 2016, the UK voted on whether to remain a member of, or leave, the European Union
China detains Hong Kong booksellers

In 2015 five booksellers were detained for selling material critical of China’s leaders
The discovery of Lyme disease

In 1975, a medical breakthrough led to the identification and naming of Lyme disease
The discovery of Mungo Man

On 26 February 1974, Dr Jim Bowler discovered a 42,000-year-old skeleton in Australia
Women Walk Home: Cyprus' forgotten peace march

In June 1987, hundreds of women took part in a peace march against the division of Cyprus
50 years since the Soweto Uprising

A former schoolgirl remembers the demonstration that sparked the Soweto Uprising in 1976
The Georgian exodus from Abkhazia

In 1993, separatist forces took Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia
Hussein of Jordan: The survivor king

In 1970 King Hussein of Jordan escaped unharmed after gunmen opened fire on his motorcade
The inspiration for Chekhov's Three Sisters

In 1897, Paul Shishkoff lived next door to the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov.
Picasso and the Surrealist summer

In 1937 some of the 20th Century's best known Surrealist artists are on holiday in France
Mstislav Rostropovich: Virtuoso cellist

In 1978, Rostropovich lost Soviet citizenship for “unpatriotic activity”
Nelson Mandela's incarceration at Robben Island

In 1964, Nelson Mandela was put in the maximum security prison on Robben Island
The creation of Inspector Montalbano

In March 1994, the first Inspector Montalbano mystery, The Shape of Water, was published
The protests that sparked the Tiananmen Square massacre

How mass student demonstrations in May 1989 led to bloodshed in Beijing
Australia's first Big Thing

In 1963, a giant sculpture of a Scotsman began one of the country's quirkiest phenomena
The first Irish language television channel

In 1996, Ireland launched its first television channel broadcasting exclusively in Irish
Recording the Eichmann interviews

In the 1950s, a journalist recorded hours of interview with the Nazi Adolf Eichmann
Filming Titanic in Mexico

In 1997, Titanic - one of the most successful films in movie history – was made in Mexico