The Hungarian Revolution
In October 1956, students and workers took to the streets of Budapest to protest at Soviet rule in Hungary. The demonstrations turned violen...
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Witness
History as told by the people who were there.
Episodes
20 of 2,133 episodesKeith Haring’s Berlin Wall mural
American artist Keith Haring became extremely successful and popular in the 1980s for his mix of graffiti and pop art-style work. In 1986, h...
Malta’s divorce referendum
In 2011, Maltese voters were called to the polls to decide whether Malta should remain one of the few places in the world where divorce was...
How Ten Canoes made cinema history
In 2006, Ten Canoes made Australian cinema history. It became the first feature film performed entirely in Aboriginal languages and the firs...
Gerald Durrell's mission to save species from extinction
In 1959, British conservationist and author Gerald Durrell opened the gates to a zoo with one clear aim - to save endangered species from ex...
Manchester City’s inflatable banana craze
n the late 1980s and early 1990s, Manchester City supporters became famous for an unusual sight on the terraces: inflatable bananas. What be...
Declaring chimpanzees an endangered species
In 1990, after years of campaigning by activists, including Dr Jane Goodall, chimpanzees were declared endangered for the first time. The ap...
When Dian Fossey was murdered
In 1985, American gorilla expert Dian Fossey was murdered in her cabin at the research station she established in the mountains of Rwanda. L...
Washoe: The chimp who learnt to sign
In 1970, Washoe the chimpanzee was widely recognised as the first non-human to learn a human language. She was taught American sign language...
Harry Harlow's monkey attachment studies
In the late 1950s, psychologist Harry Harlow conducted a series of experiments on baby rhesus monkeys which would become some of the most co...
The first monkeys to survive space travel
On 28 May 1959, the USA sent two monkeys, Able and Baker, into space. They were the first living creatures to survive a space flight. It was...
The most successful Paralympian in history
Trischa Zorn-Hudson is the most decorated Paralympian in history. Competing across seven games, Trischa - who has been blind since birth - w...
The boy behind the creation of the Winnie-the-Pooh books
When the first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published in 1926, few could have imagined that the stories of a honey-loving bear would capture the...
How rats were trained to clear landmines
In 2004, the world's first team of mine-detecting rats passed accreditation tests, opening the way for them to be used in humanitarian demin...
The mirrors that lit up a dark Norwegian town
In October 2013, people in the small Norwegian town of Rjukan experienced winter sunshine for the first time in history. This was thanks to...
Egypt’s President Sadat is assassinated
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt was the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel, two years later he was assassinated. The president was k...
The Peruvian pilots who secretly delivered fighter jets during the Falklands War
In June 1982, 10 Peruvian pilots were tasked with a secret mission: deliver fighter jets to Argentina as it battled the UK over the Falkland...
The first Rubik's Cube world champion
On 5 June 1982, a teenage refugee from Vietnam became the first Rubik's Cube world champion. Representing the United States, 16-year-old Min...
Boer War: Siege of Ladysmith
The Siege of Ladysmith was a key moment in the Boer War, also known as the South African War. In 1899, British troops and civilians were tra...
The Dead Sea Scrolls
In 1947, a missing goat led to the chance discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls. These ancient Jewish manuscripts became one of the most i...