Witness History

Firefighter: Surviving the 9/11 North Tower collapse

On 11 September 2001, firefighter Jay Jonas and his crew were sent into New York's North Tower after a hijacked plane crashed into the World Trade Center. As they climbe

The weather report that changed the date of D-Day

In 1944, a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin drew up a weather report that helped change the course of World War Two. Maureen was working at a post office on the fa

Bayeux Tapestry: the lost Nazi archive

In 1994, documents from a Nazi study of the Bayeux Tapestry were rediscovered after more than 50 years. Former curator of the tapestry, Sylvette Lemagnen, tells Helen L

The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle

In 1985, reports of a moving statue of the Virgin Mary drew thousands of people to the village of Ballinspittle in County Cork, Ireland. Helen Ledwick speaks to Ita Dun

Surviving the Long March

In 1935, tens of thousands who had followed Mao Zedong on the Long March across China struggled to survive. They were fleeing Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces during

Star Trek: America's first interracial TV kiss

In 1968, American television boldly went where it had never gone before, broadcasting what's claimed to be the country's first interracial kiss in a TV programme. The m

The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

In 1982, audiences around the world fell in love with a gentle alien stranded on Earth and the young boy determined to help him get home. Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extr

‘Genius’ sci-fi writer Octavia E Butler

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but f

Making Turkish Star Wars

When the set fell apart for an ambitious cinematic space opera that was produced on a characteristically small Turkish budget, nationally famed director Çetin İnanç had t

How the Star Wars toys were created

In 1976, American toy designer Jim Swearingen was working at Kenner, a mid-sized company in the American Midwest. When a script for a new film called Star Wars landed on

The hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73

On the 5 September 1986, hijackers took over a Pan-American Airways flight during a stop-over at Karachi Airport in Pakistan. The armed Palestinian terrorists wanted to

Hurricane Luis hits Antigua

On 4 September 1995, Hurricane Luis hit the Caribbean island of Antigua. Two people were killed and three-quarters of homes were destroyed. Authorities said it set the

Peace People: The Northern Ireland campaign group born from tragedy

It is 50 years since a peace movement began in Northern Ireland spawned by the killing of three children. There had been seven years of sectarian violence. On 10 August

Auschwitz: An SS officer’s photo album

In 2007, an abandoned photo album revealed the chilling normality of life at the Nazis’ most notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz. The 116 black-and-white images had

Uruguay's water referendum

On 31st October 2004, Uruguayans voted to enshrine water as a human right in their constitution, the first country in the world to do so. The so-called water referendum

Defeating the screwworm

In the 1950s, scientist Edward Knipling began what would become one of the most successful eradication campaigns in history: the fight against the New World screwworm, a

'I created the duck cake from Bluey'

First published in 1980, the Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book brought novelty cakes to the masses. From the swimming pool filled with jelly, to t

Canada's controversial resettlement programme

In 1954, a massive government-run resettlement programme began in Canada. This saw the relocation of nearly 30,000 people from isolated ‘outport’ fishing communities in

The battle of Mandalay in WW2

In March 1945, the British Fourteenth Army were advancing on the city of Mandalay in central Burma, now known as Myanmar, which was held by the Japanese Army. The army

Asha Bhosle: The world's most recorded artist

In 2011 Asha Bhosle, India’s queen of melody, was officially named the most recorded artist in music history. The Guinness World Record recognised the astonishing scale o