Witness History Episodes Available now

Jean Batten: New Zealand’s record breaking aviator
Jean Batten was nicknamed the Queen of the Skies for her pioneering flights of the 1930s

The creation of Greenwich Mean Time
Experiments by John Flamsteed in the 17th Century led to the time zone being created

My dad created Dungeons & Dragons
In 1974, Gary Gygax created the fantasy roleplay game.

Bonga Kwenda: Music banned in Angola and Portugal
Outspoken supporter of Angolan independence, Bonga Kwenda was forced into exile in 1972

Ethiopia's 1984 famine
In 1984, a news report on a famine in Ethiopia led to a global fundraising campaign

I found the first dinosaur remains in Antarctica
In 1986, Argentinian geologist Eduardo Olivero discovered a new kind of Ankylosaurus

The fight to stop skin lightening in India
In 2013, Kavitha Emmanuel began campaigning to stop skin lightening in India

Eight years trapped on the Suez Canal in Egypt
After the Six Day War in 1967, 14 ships were stuck on the Great Bitter Lake

Dyke and Dryden: Cosmetic kings
In 1969, Dyke and Dryden started one the most successful black British businesses

Fleeing Afghanistan alone as a child
Dr Waheed Arian escaped poverty and war in Afghanistan to begin a new life in the UK