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Artwork for Witness History: Archive 2012

Society & Culture

Witness History: Archive 2012

BBC World Service

The story of our times told by the people who were there.

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20 episodes
Updated Oct 4, 2013

Episodes20

Oct 4, 2013 · 8 min
The Death of Steve Biko
The authorities said he'd starved himself to death, but he died from head injuries
Oct 3, 2013 · 9 min
John Howard Griffin: Black Like Me
Over 50 years ago a white journalist tried living as a black man in America's Deep South.
Oct 2, 2013 · 9 min
The Los Angeles Riots
The people of South Central Los Angeles took to the streets in fury at police brutality
Oct 1, 2013 · 8 min
The Stolen Generation
Debra Hocking was taken from her indigenous Australian family as a baby.
Oct 1, 2013 · 8 min
African Troops During WWII
During World War II, African soldiers were a vital part of the Allied forces in Burma
Dec 31, 2012 · 8 min
Pong and the birth of the computer game
It is 40 years since a video game was invented which would change the way we play.
Dec 28, 2012 · 8 min
Big Brother - the beginning of reality TV
In December 1999 a young Dutch man won the first ever Big Brother reality TV show.
Dec 27, 2012 · 9 min
Maitatsine
In 1980 thousands died in the Nigerian city of Kano in an uprising by an Islamic sect.
Dec 26, 2012 · 9 min
Vietnam War - Christmas bombing campaign
40 years ago the US launched its heaviest aerial bombardment of the Vietnam War.
Dec 25, 2012 · 9 min
The Execution of the Ceauşescus
On December 25th 1989, Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu were executed by firing squad.
Dec 24, 2012 · 9 min
Dusty Plays South Africa
The British popstar Dusty Springfield went on tour in apartheid South Africa in 1964
Dec 21, 2012 · 8 min
Mad cow disease - CJD
In the 1990s it became clear that a brain disease could be passed from cows to humans.
Dec 20, 2012 · 8 min
Libya and Weapons of Mass Destruction
In December 2003 Colonel Gaddafi announced Libya was giving up trying to make WMD
Dec 19, 2012 · 8 min
The last men on the moon
The story of the last US space mission to the moon 40 years ago
Dec 18, 2012 · 9 min
Piltdown Man
In 1912, Britain's top palaeontologists were hoaxed by a "missing link" in human evolution
Dec 17, 2012 · 8 min
The M Room
How exiles from the Nazis helped British intelligence listen in on German prisoners-of-war
Dec 14, 2012 · 8 min
Discovering Cleopatra's Palace
Twenty years ago underwater excavations began which unearthed a 2000 year old palace.
Dec 13, 2012 · 9 min
Marsha Hunt and the 1960s
In the late 1960s a young black American woman rolled up in 'Swinging' London.
Dec 12, 2012 · 9 min
Archive of Terror
How a huge cache of papers showed the true extent of torture across 1970s South America.
Dec 10, 2012 · 9 min
The Origin of Nollywood
The story of the 1992 film which launched Nigeria's hugely successful movie industry