Witness History: Archive 2012

In 1989, nine passengers were sucked out a plane when a cargo door opened over the Pacific.United Airlines Flight 811 wa... Read more

It's 84 years since Alexander Fleming discovered the life-saving substance penicillin. But it took a team of scientists ... Read more

In 1972, the world was transfixed by a Chess match. At the height of the Cold War, volatile American Bobby Fischer took ... Read more

How Oxford academic JRR Tolkien came up with The Hobbit, a story that charmed children for generations.Hear excerpts fro... Read more

In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm-workers inspired Latinos across the US.The ... Read more

40 years ago the Americans launched their heaviest aerial bombardment of the Vietnam War. It was to become known as the... Read more

It is 25 years since the poet was imprisoned without trial in Malawi.He was held for over 3 and a half years in one of H... Read more

The great Egyptian singer was buried 37 years ago.Millions attended her funeral in Cairo.Her stepson has been talking to... Read more

In 1789, one of the most famous naval mutinies of all time took place near Tahiti. Mutineers led by a young officer call... Read more

On February 6th 1952, King George VI died after a long illness.Britain came to a standstill to mourn the monarch who had... Read more

It is 40 years since 13 civil rights marchers were killed in Northern Ireland.British paratroopers had opened fire with ... Read more

Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy in November 1963 had spent more than two years li... Read more

It is 40 years since a video game was invented which would change the way we play. An on screen version of table tennis,... Read more

In December 1999 a young Dutch man won the first ever Big Brother reality TV show.It was to be the start of a global tel... Read more

It is 30 years since thousands of Syrians were killed by their own army.The soldiers had been ordered to end the anti-go... Read more

In November 1975, an incredible mutiny took place aboard a Soviet warship, the Storozhevoy, in the Baltic sea. The Kreml... Read more

In the late 1960s a young black American woman rolled up in 'Swinging' London. Although Marsha Hunt says she couldn't si... Read more

In 1956 a Hungarian Cardinal sought refuge in the US Embassy in Budapest.Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty had been imprisoned ... Read more

In 1992, a Paraguayan human rights activist called Martin Almada discovered a huge cache of documents in a run-down poli... Read more

In June 1948 Soviet troops cut supply lines around West Berlin in Germany.America and its West European allies decided t... Read more