Silent Spring

The book that gave DDT - a synthetic pesticide - a bad name

• 10 mins

Nigerian Independence

It is exactly 50 years since Nigeria became independent

• 10 mins

Last Days of Nasser

A chauffeur recalls the dramatic final days of President Nasser of Egypt.

• 10 mins

The Battle of Cable Street

How ordinary Londoners turned the tide against British fascism in October 1936.

• 10 mins

The fall of Slobodan Milosevic

When protestors stormed the Yugoslav parliament - President Milosevic stepped down

• 10 mins

Thai student killings 1976

How a student protest 30 years ago, led to bloodshed in the Thai capital

• 10 mins

The death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko

When Steve Biko died in police custody, the South African government lied about his death

• 10 mins

Che Guevara

On the 9th of October 1967 Che Guevara was killed by armed forces in the Bolivian jungle.

• 10 mins

Asylums

A special edition of Witness looks at life inside psychiatric institutions of the past.

• 10 mins

Bali Bombs

Bomb attacks shatter the Indonesian island of Bali, eight years ago today.

• 10 mins

Brazil prison massacre

How the Brazilian police killed 111 prisoners during a riot in a Sao Paulo jail.

• 10 mins

Olympic protest 1968

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, two black American athletes staged a protest

• 10 mins

Land Speed Record

On October 15 1997, a British team set a land speed record which still hasn't been beaten.

• 10 mins

Pinochet Case

General Pinochet's surprise arrest at a London clinic in 1998

• 10 mins

Wall Street Crash of 1987

The biggest one-day crash in the history of the New York Stock Exchange

• 10 mins

Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator

In October 1940 Charlie Chaplin released an epic film mocking Adolf Hitler

• 10 mins

Kuwait oil fires 1991

A Texan firefighter recalls the battle in Kuwait against the world's biggest oil fire

• 10 mins

Hungarian Uprising

In the autumn of 1956 Hungarians shook off Soviet power for a few days at least.

• 10 mins

The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1854

Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.

• 10 mins

Storming the Winter Palace, 1917

The Russian Revolution gets underway in St Petersburg

• 10 mins

Mullah Omar

Talking to the leader of the Taliban

• 10 mins

Cuban Missile Crisis

Living through the Cuban Missile Crisis - in Cuba

• 10 mins

Death of the Dodo

Why did the Dodo - a flightless bird - become extinct?

• 10 mins

Rhine Pollution

An industrial accident on the banks of the Rhine in 1986, turned the river red

• 9 mins

Rhine Pollution

An industrial accident on the banks of the Rhine in 1986, turned the river red

• 9 mins

Election of JFK

Ted Sorensen, speechwriter to John F Kennedy, died at the weekend.

• 9 mins

The trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover 1960

Is it a book you would even wish your wives and servants to read?

• 9 mins

Rabin Assassination

It is exactly 15 years since the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.

• 9 mins

Burma Elections

What was it like to vote in Burma's last general election in 1990?

• 9 mins

Suez canal invasion 1956

In November 1956 Britain and France invaded Egypt - to regain control of the Suez canal

• 9 mins