Witness History: Archive 2012

The anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko, leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa, died in a police cell in 1977. The South African police claimed he'd gone on hunger strike and had starved himself to death, but he had only been in prison a matter of days. Helen Zille was the journalist who helped uncover the truth of his death - that he had in fact died of a brain hemorrhage due to head injuries. The report she published in the Rand Daily Mail showed that the govenment had lied. (Image: Members of the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) hold a candle light memorial ceremony to mark the death anniversary of the anti-apartheid activist and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement Steve Bantu Biko. Credit: RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/GettyImages)

John Howard Griffin, a white journalist, dyed his skin black to experience segregation in America's Deep South. John Howard Griffin wrote a book about his seven week experience. *** Listeners should be aware that some of the language in this programme reflects the historical context of the time. *** Photo: Griffin as a black man in 1959 (left). Courtesy of John Howard Griffin Estate.

In May 1992 the people of South Central Los Angeles took to the streets in fury at police brutality. They were angry that Los Angeles police department officers accused of beating a motorist called Rodney King, had been acquitted. Hear Rodney King's take on the beating, and the unrest and violence that followed it.

Debra Hocking was taken from her indigenous Australian family as a baby and was placed with a foster family. It was part of a government policy to try to assimilate Aboriginal children into white families. Photo: PM Kevin Rudd prepares to apologise to the Stolen Generation in Parliament on February 13 2008. (Getty Images)

During World War II, African soldiers were a vital part of the Allied forces. Many of them were sent to Burma as reinforcements for the British troops there. Hear just some of their memories - recorded by the BBC in the 1990s. Find out more about African troops in Burma in Another Man's War: The Story of a Burma Boy in Britain's Forgotten Army, a book by former BBC correspondent Barnaby Phillips, published June 2015. (Photo: East African soldiers in Burma fighting for Britain in WW2, unknown date. Credit: Topham Picturepoint)

It is 40 years since a video game was invented which would change the way we play. An on screen version of table tennis, to begin with Pong was only played in video arcades. But soon a home version was created which people could plug into their televisions. Photo credit: BBC.

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 television phenomenon. But for 22-year-old Bart Spring in't Veld, his victory proved to be a mixed blessing. Photo: Big Brother winner Bart Spring in't Veld (Endemol)

In December 1980, thousands were killed in the Nigerian city of Kano following an uprising by an Islamic sect. The sect was led by a radical preacher, Maitatsine. We hear from a witness who saw hundreds of suspects summarily executed as the Nigerian state tried to crush the uprising. Photo: Kano old city wall c. 1975

40 years ago the Americans launched their heaviest aerial bombardment of the Vietnam War. It was to become known as the Christmas bombing campaign. 20 thousand tonnes of explosives were dropped on or around the Northern city of Hanoi. Photo: A B52 flying over Vietnam. Credit: VT Freeze Frame.

Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu were executed by firing squad on 25 December 1989. It was the end of one of the most repressive regimes in former Communist eastern Europe. Petre Roman took part in the revolution that overthrew the Ceauşescus and became the country's first democratic prime minister. Photo: Elena and Nicolae Ceauşescu in the November before their execution, Credit: Getty Images

In 1964 the British popstar Dusty Springfield went on tour in apartheid South Africa. She said she would only play to racially mixed audiences but the authorities didn't approve. She was forced to leave the country before she had finished her tour. Photo: Dusty in 1964 - BBC.

In the 1990s it became clear that a brain disease could be passed from cows to humans. The British government introduced a ban on beef on the bone. But for some people it was too late, members of their families were already sick. Photo: BBC.

In December 2003 Colonel Gaddafi announced Libya was giving up trying to make weapons of mass destruction. United Nations weapons inspectors were immediately sent to Tripoli to check. One of them has been speaking to Witness. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

It is 40 years since the last moon mission returned to earth. One of the three astronauts on board was geologist Harrison Schmitt. He looks back on those moonwalks, and the discoveries they made. Photo credit: Harrison Schmitt/Science Photo Library.

In 1912, Britain's top paleontologists were tricked by one of the biggest hoaxes in scientific history - a skull thought to be the "missing link" in human evolution. The remains were discovered in a gravel pit in rural Sussex and became known as Piltdown Man. Witness tells the story of the hoax using contemporary accounts of what happened. The programme also hears from Dr Miles Russell of Bournemouth University, author of "Piltdown Man: Case Closed". PHOTO: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

How exiles from the Nazis helped British intelligence listen in on German prisoners-of-war. Ninety-three-year-old Fritz Lustig, a refugee from Nazi Germany, is one of the last surviving members of the secret "M Room". He helped glean vital information from German POWs about Hitler's war machine. Photo: Sgt Fritz Lustig, circa 1942 (courtesy of Lustig family)

Twenty years ago a former economist from France, Franck Goddio, began underwater excavations which unearthed a 2000 year old palace belonging to Cleopatra. PHOTO: A diver eye-to-eye with a sphinx. ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation. Photographer:Jérôme Delafosse

In the late 1960s a young black American woman rolled up in 'Swinging' London. Although Marsha Hunt says she couldn't sing, she ended up a star in a West End musical - Hair. And she had an affair, and a daughter, with Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. Photo: Associated Press

In 1992, a Paraguayan human rights activist called Martin Almada discovered a huge cache of documents in a run-down police station. The files showed the true extent of repression during the long military rule in Paraguay of General Alfredo Stroessner. And what became known as the "Archive of Terror" also proved that military dictators across South America had swapped prisoners and intelligence in an Operation codenamed Condor. Witness speaks to Martin Almada and the Paraguay expert, Andrew Nickson. PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images

The story of the 1992 film which launched Nigeria's hugely successful movie industry. It was called "Living in Bondage". We speak to one of the stars of the film, Kanayo O. Kanayo.

Twenty-five years ago, during the Cold War, a German teenager Mathias Rust, managed to evade Soviet air defences to land his single-engine plane in Moscow's Red Square. Photo Associated Press: Rust's plane in Red Square in 1987.

On 6 December 1989, a college shooting in Canada left 14 women dead. The killer sent all the men out of the classroom before opening fire on the women. One of the survivors, tells her story. Photo: Marc Lepine, the killer. Credit: Associated Press.

In 1952, the worst smog in living memory descended over London, reducing visibility so badly that people could barely see a metre in front of them. Public transport came to a standstill, cinemas and theatres closed, and the weekend's football matches were cancelled. The pollution also caused the early deaths of around 5,000 Londoners and finally forced the government to tackle pollution. Witness speaks to Rosemary Merritt, whose father died in the smog. PHOTO: Getty Images.

In 1932 a row between England and Australia over cricket became a diplomatic incident. The row erupted over controversial "Bodyline" tactics used by the English cricket team to win the Ashes. Photo: Australian captain W Woodfull ducks to avoid rising ball from Larwood. Getty Images

In December 1984 thousands of people in the Indian city of Bhopal were killed by leak from a chemical plant. The city was enveloped by a cloud of poisonous gas. Two survivors of the disaster have spoken to Witness. Photo:Waiting for treatment outside the hospital. Copyright: Bedi/AFP/Getty Images

It is 60 years since newspapers in the US announced the successful operation of Christine Jorgensen. Once a soldier called George, she transformed herself into a woman and a glamorous Hollywood star.

In November 1979 Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran taking everyone inside hostage. But six Americans escaped - they sought refuge in the Canadian embassy. Their story is told in the Hollywood movie Argo. Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor had to get them safely out of the country. Photo: Iranians climbing the gates of the US embassy at the beginning of the hostage crisis. Copyright: AFP/Getty Images.

He was one of the most prolific art forgers of the 20th Century. A talented painter in his own right he became disillusioned with the art world and enjoyed fooling the experts. His drawings found their way into many of the grandest galleries in the world. Image: Boy with a dog. Stefano della Bella, Imitator British, National Gallery of Canada. Photo ©NGC

In November 2005 doctors in France carried out the first ever face transplant. The patient, Isabelle Dinoire, had lost part of her face after being mauled by her pet dog. In a rare interview, Isabelle talks about how she has struggled coming to terms with her new appearance. Photo: Isabelle Dinoire at a press conference just months after her transplant operation. (AFP/Getty Images)

In November 1975, an incredible mutiny took place aboard a Soviet warship, the Storozhevoy, in the Baltic sea. The Kremlin ordered the Soviet military to sink the ship. We speak to Boris Gindin, one of the survivors of the mutiny. Photo: A Soviet frigate similar to the Storozhevoy.

Twenty years ago the world's first webcam was created - and it was pointed at a pot of coffee. A camera was set up because computer scientists wanted to be able to see if a coffee pot in a room at Cambridge University was was full and fresh - or empty - and thus not worth a journey to the room where the coffee pot was kept. Soon computer geeks around the world were checking it daily.

Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy in November 1963 had spent more than two years living in the USSR. He had defected there after serving as a US Marine. He got a job in Minsk, and got married but was then welcomed back to the USA. Photo: Associated Press, Lee Harvey Oswald in police custody.

In November 1969 the first President of Uganda, Edward Mutesa, died in exile in London. He had been forced to flee his homeland by Milton Obote. He died in a small flat in Bermondsey - and his friends still dispute the reasons for his death. Photo: The Kabaka Edward Mutesa II with Pope Pius XII in 1951. AFP/GettyImages

In November 1992, a fire devastated Windsor Castle - a symbol of the British monarchy and Queen Elizabeth's weekend home. Coming at the end of a year of family problems, the blaze upset the Queen deeply and led her to declare 1992 her "Annus Horribilis". Sir Hugh Roberts, one of the Queen's art experts, recalls the fire and the five-year project to restore Windsor Castle to its former glory. PHOTO: Press Association.

In November 1971 a young American artist decided to get a friend to take a shot at him. His name was Chris Burden and the shooting would go down in the history of performance art. He has been speaking to Witness about the ideas behind the event.

In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm-workers inspired Latinos across the US. The movement was led by Cesar Chavez - a man now regarded by his community as a civil rights hero. Witness speaks to Dolores Huerta, who worked closely with Chavez and coined the slogan "Yes We Can!"

In the 1970s the Filipino government annouced they had discovered a group of cave dwellers who were still living as people did in the stone age. But the tribe turned out to be a hoax that fooled the scientific community. Photo: Members of the Tasaday tribe photographed by Oswald Iten in the 1980s after they admitted the hoax.

A Chinese government think tank has recommended bringing an end to the one-child policy. It was launched in the late 1970s to tackle China's expanding population. Hear from one woman about her personal experience of the one-child programme. Photo: Reuters.

It's 27 years since more than 20,000 people died when a volcano erupted in western Colombia. The town of Armero disappeared under tonnes of mud, lava and water. Gilma Murillo was among the survivors. She spent 18 hours clinging onto a tree. Photo: Gilma Murillo today.

In 1984 doctors in California tried a revolutionary operation on a two-week-old baby girl. She had been born with a fatal heart condition - but there was no infant human donor available. Hear from the lead surgeon, and an intensive care nurse involved in the fight to save Baby Fae's life. Photo: Baby Fae listening to her mother's voice in the isolation unit. Courtesy of Loma Linda Hospital

The memories of a German Jew who grew up across the street from Adolf Hitler. As a young boy, Edgar Feuchtwanger watched the comings and goings at the Nazi leader's luxury flat. Edgar's family were forced to flee Germany after the Nazis attacked Jewish homes and properties on Kristallnacht in November 1938. Photo: Edgar aged 12, courtesy of Feuchtwanger family.

In 1789, one of the most famous naval mutinies of all time took place near Tahiti. Mutineers led by a young officer called Fletcher Christian took control of the British ship, casting its commander, William Bligh, adrift in the uncharted South Seas. Using contemporary eye-witness accounts, Witness pieces together what happened. Image: William Bligh is set adrift. Hulton Archive/Getty Images.