Witness History Episodes Episode guide

Washoe: The chimp who learnt to sign

By 1970 Washoe the chimp was thought to be the first non-human to learn a human language
Harry Harlow's monkey attachment studies

Harry Harlow's controversial monkey tests in the 1950s transformed ideas on attachment
The first monkeys to survive space travel

On 28 May 1959, the USA sent two monkeys into space and brought them back alive.
The boy behind the creation of the Winnie-the-Pooh books

In 1926, the first Winnie-the-Pooh book was published, inspired by a young boy's toys
How rats were trained to clear landmines

In 2004, the world's first team of rats were cleared to be used in demining operations
The mirrors that lit up a dark Norwegian town

In 2013, Rjukan saw winter sunshine for the first time – thanks to an unusual invention
Egypt’s President Sadat is assassinated

In October 1981, President Anwar Sadat was assassinated at a military parade
The Peruvian pilots who secretly delivered fighter jets during the Falklands War

In June 1982, Peru sent fighter jets to help Argentina combat the UK
Boer War: Siege of Ladysmith

In 1899, British troops faced a four-month siege in South Africa
The Dead Sea Scrolls

In 1947, a missing goat led to a remarkable archaeological discovery
The contraceptive pill gets legalised in Japan

In 1999, after decades of campaigning, the oral contraceptive was legalised in Japan
Sulawesi's cave art and the origins of storytelling

In 2012, cave art found in Indonesia challenged the idea that storytelling began in Europe
The birth of Jodrell Bank

In 1957, building finished on what was then the largest radio telescope in the world
Harold Riley: Painting Nelson Mandela

In 2005, Harold Riley's painting of Nelson Mandela was unveiled
Kinder Scout mass trespass

Walkers trespassed on Kinder Scout to demand access to the countryside in 1932
The gathering that helped shape decolonisation

In 1945, Manchester's Pan-African Congress helped shape the struggle against colonialism
‘Baby’ computer is invented

In 1948, the ‘Baby’ paved the way for today’s computers
The nightclub that changed Manchester

In 1962, the Reno became Manchester's first racially inclusive nightclub
The discovery of the San José shipwreck

In 2015, the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks was found off the coast of Colombia
The birth of India's call centre industry

Pramod Bhasin set up India’s first call centre in 1997
Stardust: Ireland's deadly nightclub fire

In 1981, a fire in a Dublin nightclub killed 48 people
Connecting homes to the internet using cable TV

In 1991, Rouzbeh Yassini created technology enabling millions of homes to access the web
Norway’s teacher resistance in World War Two

During the Nazi occupation of Norway, the country’s teachers resisted teaching propaganda
Firefighter: Surviving the 9/11 North Tower collapse

On 11 September 2001, firefighter Jay Jonas was inside the North Tower when it collapsed
The weather report that changed the date of D-Day

In 1944, a weather report predicted a storm that changed the course of WW2 history
Bayeux Tapestry: the lost Nazi archive

In 1994, a French curator helped recover documents thought lost since World War Two
The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle

In 1985, reports of a moving Virgin Mary statue drew thousands to a small Irish village
Surviving the Long March

In 1935, thousands who had followed Mao Zedong on the Long March struggled to survive
Star Trek: America's first interracial TV kiss

In 1968, American television broadcast what's claimed to be the first interracial kiss
The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Peter Coyote reflects on the making of the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial