Witness History

Since the 19th Century, Germans have been bathing nude at the beach.

The naturist movement, known as the FKK, was banned under the Nazis.

People also faced official disapproval during the early years …

In 2013, a six-year-old from Argentina became one of the youngest people in the world to legally have their gender changed on official documents through self-declaration.

It followed the introduction…

In November 1989, mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill saved 65 miners from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India.

The miners, who had been trapped for three days after a flood, were winched out one by one us…

In 1974, Greece held a referendum to decide the future of the country’s monarchy, and whether Constantine II would remain their king.

Constantine had come to the throne in 1964, but he’d inherited a d…

In 2013, 11 people were shot dead in base camp of the Nanga Parbat mountain in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.

The gunmen were associated with the Pakistani Taliban and the group were set up…

In June 1948, the ‘Baby’ was invented. It was the first stored-program computer, meaning it was the first machine to work like the ones we have today.

It was developed in England at the University o…

Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War Two.

Irena, a Catholic, was able to enter the ghetto because of her …

In 1971, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, celebrated 2,500 years of the Persian Empire by throwing a huge three-day party.

Trees were planted, birds imported, and a runway built in the middle…

On 16 January 1979, the Shah of Iran and his wife, Farah Pahlavi, left Iran for the last time. There had been increasingly violent protests against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's regime.

Ayatollah Khomeini …

One of the most dramatic moments from the Iranian revolution took place in November 1979. Young insurgents stormed the US embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran, taking 52 Americans captive. Barry Ros…

For nearly 40 years, the magicians Roy Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher wowed audiences in Las Vegas with their death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers.

But in 2003, their show at the Mira…

In 1996, Brazil introduced a pioneering electronic voting system, revolutionising its election process. Carlos Velozo, an electoral lawyer and judge, played a pivotal role in implementing this system…

In 2002, filmmaker Ken Burns received an intriguing proposition from Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. He wanted Burns’ signature filming style to be inserted into the video editing software of every Macintosh …

New Zealander Jean Batten was nicknamed the ‘Queen of the Skies’ for her record breaking flights of the 1930s.

After abandoning a career in music, Jean learnt to fly at the age of 21. She soon joined…

In 1676, Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed was looking to find a way to determine longitude at sea, so ships could know their position and hazards.

Feuds with Sir Isaac Newton, dirty rivers and a missin…

In 1970, father of five Gary Gygax was fired from his job as an insurance underwriter in Chicago, in the United States of America. It may sound like a mundane event to read about but, believe it or n…

Star athlete, Jose Adelino Barceló de Carvalho, abandoned his career in 1972 to follow his one true passion, music.

After growing up under Portuguese colonial rule, he became an outspoken supporter of…

In 1984, Ethiopia suffered one of its worst ever famines.

A BBC news report from the area shocked the world - and led to a huge global fundraising campaign.

In 2014, Lucy Burns spoke to Dawit Giorgis,…

Argentinian geologist Eduardo Olivero became the first scientist to find the remains of a dinosaur in Antarctica in 1986. But digging in frozen ground is not easy, so recovering them took several tri…

In 2013, Emami, an Indian beauty and wellness company, put out an advert for their skin lightening product 'Fair and Handsome'.

It features billionaire blockbuster actor Shah Rukh Khan telling a young…