Witness History: Archive 2014

In 1947, passenger plane Star Dust vanished without trace over the Andes, after sending a cryptic final message via Morse code. Its disappearance sparked rumours of espionage and alien abduction, but the truth of its fate was finally revealed in 2000. Hear from the relatives of those on board.(Photo: A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian aircraft. Credit: BA Speedbird Heritage Centre)

***Some listeners may find parts of this programme disturbing.***In March 2000, hundreds of doomsday cult members burned to death in a fire in south western Uganda. Initially the authorities believed it was mass suicide, until a series of grisly discoveries convinced police they were dealing with mass murder.Photo: A soldier views the remains of the church in Kanungu which belonged to the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, Credit: AFP/Getty images

In 1987 the first successful drug treatment was developed for AIDS. AZT went from initial test to approval in just over two years, at the time it was fastest approval in US history.Picture: Dr Samuel Broder and President Ronald Reagan. Credit: Ronald Reagan Library

On 20 March 1974 Princess Anne escaped a kidnap attempt by a lone gunman close to Buckingham Palace.Her bodyguard, Jim Beaton, who was shot three times in the incident, shares his memories of that day.Photo: Princess Anne visits Jim Beaton in hospital in London (Getty Images)

In the 1960s hundreds of thousands of foreign workers were invited to Germany to power the country's economic regeneration. Most of them came from Turkey, or Southern Europe.Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

In March 1967 an oil tanker hit the rocks off the south-west coast of England. It was the biggest oil spill the world had ever seen.The air force tried to burn up the oil by dropping bombs on it.Photo: AFP/ Getty Images

In March 1989 fighting intensified in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The Christian leader, General Michel Aoun, had demanded that Syria withdraw all its troops from the country. Hear about the fighting from the point of view of a schoolgirl in East Beirut.Photo:Women running away from shelling in Christian East Beirut in 1989. (Credit: Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images)

In early 1947 Chinese nationalist troops under Chiang Kai-Shek killed 20,000 civilians in Taiwan. Local Taiwanese had been protesting about abuses by the newly installed Kuomintang government. We hear the story of one boy who witnessed the killings.(Photo: Activists form the numbers 228 at a Taipei square on 28 February, 2009, in memory of the thousands of islanders who were killed. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. The woman at Mattel who created it describes how it took years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.Picture: Ruth and Elliot Handler, creators of Barbie, courtesy of Mattel Inc

On 11 March 2004 bombs exploded on early-morning commuter trains in the Spanish capital, killing almost 200 people. Another 1,800 people were injured. Three days later, Spain held general elections, in which the ruling Popular Party suffered a surprising defeat. Witness hears from two Spanish politicians.(Photo: Wreckage of a Spanish train and emergency service teams. Credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images)

On March 10th 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson attacked a priceless painting in London's National Gallery with a meat cleaver. She was campaigning for women's right to vote in Britain. The painting, the Rokeby Venus, by Spanish 17th Century artist, Diego Velázquez, was later restored. Photo: Detail of The Rokeby Venus photographed shortly after the attack

In 1948 Ghana was rocked by riots following the killing of three Ghanaian WW2 veterans. They were shot by British colonial police during a protest march in Accra. They wanted compensation for their war service. It became a milestone in Ghana's struggle for independence.

In 1986, two Soviet space probes intercepted Halley's Comet during its first visit to Earth since 1910. But the mission had some covert American help. Hear from the man in charge, Russian physicist Roald Sagdeev.(Photo: Halley's Comet during its 1986 visit to the centre of the solar system. Credit: Science Photo Library)

In 1970 feminists stormed the stage at the Miss World pageant in London. They were protesting against the objectification of women. Sally Alexander was one of the young protesters who was arrested for her part in the demonstration. Hear her story.Photo: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In March 1984, coal miners across Britain went on strike over planned pit closures. One former miner recalls the clash between strikers and police in 'the Battle of Orgreave'.(Photo: Striking miners picketing Tilmanstone Colliery in Kent, March 1985. Credit: Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In the spring of 1959, Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi set off around the world to spread the teachings of Transcendental Meditation. Witness speaks to Theresa Olson, who was ten years old when the Maharishi came to stay in her parents’ house. Photo: BBC - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on 'Meeting Point', BBC1, Sunday 5th July 1964

Hugo Chavez led a group of left-leaning army officers in an unsuccessful coup in Venezuela in February, 1992.It took the government less than 24 hours to defeat the plotters, and arrest Hugo Chavez.Hear from two people on opposing sides of the coup.Photo: Hugo Chavez after his release from jail,1994. Credit: Bertrand Parres/AFP/Getty Images

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was forced out of power by a countrywide uprising in February 2004. He had lost the support of both domestic and international backers. Hear from his lawyer Ira Kurzban who lived through that time.(Photo: Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Credit: AP/Daniel Morel)

In the late 1950s the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced his predecessor, Stalin. Russians were able to buy tape recorders and listen to rock music. Witness hears from one man who benefitted from the period by becoming a musician himself.[Photo: Zinovy Zinik in 1975. Credit: Slava Tsukerman]

In February 1984 an outrageous satirical puppet show hit British television screens, lampooning politicians, the Royal Family and many other celebrities. Witness hears from one of its creators, Roger Law.(Photo: Roger Law with a Spitting Image puppet of Osama bin Laden, which never made it into the series. Credit: Roger Law)

In February 1944, nearly half a million Chechen and Ingush people were deported from the North Caucasus on the orders of Josef Stalin. They were herded into cattle trucks and sent thousands of miles across the Soviet Union to live in Kazakhstan - tens of thousands died on the way. Witness speaks to a survivor of the deportations, and a member of Stalin's secret police.(Photo: The monument to Chechnya's victims of Stalin's 1944 deportations stands in disarray in Grozny, 2008. Credit: Hasan Kaziyev/AFP/Getty Images)

In February 1952 thousands of people marched in Dhaka in defence of the Bengali language. Eight of the protesters were shot dead by police. It became known as Bangladesh's Language Movement Day. We hear from Abdul Gaffar Choudhury, one of the demonstrators, whose song about the protests became the anthem of the movement.(Photo: Student demonstrators gather by Dhaka University, February 1952. Courtesy of Prof Rafiqul Islam and Liberation War Museum).

In February 1991 protesters in Tirana pulled down the giant statue of Albania's former dictator. It was the end of the last communist regime in Europe. Edith Harxhi was among the anti-government protesters.(Photo: Protesters hold up anti-Communist placards. Credit: D. Deymov/AFP/Getty Images)

Deng Xiaoping's translator, Victor Gao shares his memories of the man who engineered China's economic reform and died on 19 February, 1997.(Photo: Deng Xiaoping. Credit: AP)

In February 1941, a ship carrying nearly 30,000 cases of whisky was wrecked off the Scottish island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. The islanders began to salvage the bottles from the wreck - and the incident later became the inspiration for the film "Whisky Galore".Photo: An assortment of bottled whisky is displayed at Glenkinchie distillery March 13, 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the early 1980s a young black graffiti artist took the New York art world by storm. Soon, his paintings were selling for huge sums but he would die before the decade was out. Hear from Patti Astor who knew him in his heyday.Photo: Jean-Michel Basquiat painting titled "Dustheads" sold at Christies in NY for over $48 million in 2013 (AP/Christie"s)

*This programme contains distressing accounts of graphic violence.*In the 1980s left-wing Sandinistas in Nicaragua were under attack from US-backed Contra rebels. We hear a unique personal account from one former member of the Sandinista special forces, an elite unit involved in the brutal fight for control of the Central American country. (Photo: AFP/GettyImages)

On 13 February 1974 the Russian dissident writer was sent into exile in the West. His most famous book, the Gulag Archipelago, had charted the abuses in the prison camps of Siberia. Listen to the memories of Solzhenitsyn's widow, Natalia. (Photo: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn on his arrival in Germany on 13 February 1974. Credit: Getty Images)

In February 1979, the Islamic Revolution changed Iranian women's lives forever. Their freedom was severely limited - including being forced to wear the Islamic veil by the "hijab police". Witness speaks to one woman about her memories of that time.Photo: Associated Press.

In early 2004, the White House began to realise that Saddam Hussein may not have had WMDs. The existence of chemical and biological agents in Iraq had been a key justification for the invasion in 2003. Hear from the man in charge of the search for the weapons, Iraq Survey Group head Dr David Kay.(Photo: Former US President George W. Bush. Credit: AP)

In 1939 tension was growing in Europe, over Nazi Germany's expansionist plans. One young British camerman headed to Danzig (now Gdansk) to film what happened next. His name was Douglas Slocombe and he is now 101 years old. Hear his story.(Photo: Hitler Youth marching over a bridge in Danzig in 1939. Copyright: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

On 7 February 1964, British pop group The Beatles were met by hysterical crowds when their plane landed in the USA. Judith Kristen was one of the thousands of teenage girls at the airport that day. Hear her memories of Beatlemania.Photo: AP

In February 1946 the first 'war brides' ship sailed from the UK to Canada reuniting women with the foreign husbands they'd married while serving in the UK during World War Two. Witness speaks to two women who sailed on the Mauretania.(Photo: Arnie and Grace Shewan's wedding day 1944. Courtesy of Grace Shewan)

In February 1944, the world's first electronic computer began attacking encrypted Nazi messages, from the secret British codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park. Hear from one of the engineers tasked with building and maintaining Colossus during World War Two.

In February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrants drowned while picking shellfish in Morecambe Bay, off the coast of north-west England. Witness speaks to two of the people who helped with the rescue operation.(Photo: A lone shoe and haul of cockles on the beach in Morecambe Bay where the Chinese cockle pickers lost their lives. Credit: Chris Furlong/Getty Images)

Later this week the Russian resort of Sochi will play host to the Winter Olympics. About 10 kilometres south of Sochi, along the Black Sea coast, is the disputed territory of Abkhazia. There, in the summer of 1992, war broke out as the region began to secede from Georgia. One Abkhaz woman, Ilona Gamisoniya, recalls how it changed lives forever.(Photo: An Abkhazian separatist leads a boy away from gunfire in Sukhumi. Credit: AP)

In 2002 the death of a former NFL star, Mike Webster, led to questions about the safety of American football. Hear from Mike's son, Garrett Webster and one of the doctors who treated him.Photo: Mike Webster. Getty Images Sport

In January 1961, the US closed down its embassy in Cuba and withdrew all diplomatic staff. Tension had been growing between Washington and Fidel Castro's revolutionary government. We speak to Wayne Smith, one of the last American diplomats to leave the island.(Photo: An advert on the Miami waterfront after Fidel Castro came to power. Credit: Graf/Getty Images)

In 2006, Russian activists broke the law to stage the first gay pride march in Moscow. Several dozen campaigners faced hundreds of right wing protesters and police. Witness speaks to Yuri Gavrikov, a gay rights activist who was there.Photo: FEDOR SAVINTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

In January 1952 hundreds of buildings were deliberately set ablaze in downtown Cairo following the killing of Egyptian policemen by British troops in the Suez Canal Zone. Tension between Britain and Egypt had been growing over British military control of the Suez Canal. The event became known as Black Saturday. Photo: Buildings destroyed in the Cairo Fire, January 1952 (BBC)

In 1943, Rome's Jewish citizens were promised that if they gave gold to the Nazis, they would escape deportation. Despite handing over 50kg of gold - more than 1,500 of the city's Jews were rounded up and sent to the death camps. Alan Johnston reports from Rome.Photo: Survivor Settimia Spizzichino (far right)

In January 1914, Britain merged two separate colonial territories in West Africa to form the modern state of Nigeria. It was called the Amalgamation of Nigeria. We hear rare archive recordings of witnesses to this defining period in Nigerian history, including the British colonial officer responsible for unification, Lord Frederick Lugard and the Nigerian nationalist, Ernest Ikoli.Photo: Amalgamation Day, Lagos, 1 January 1914

In January 1989, serial killer Ted Bundy was executed by electric chair in Florida. It is thought he had killed dozens of young women and girls. His defence lawyer recounts the events of that morning and his memories of a client who he found both smart and engaging.(Photo: Ted Bundy. Credit: AP)

In January 1944, during World War Two, the blockade of the Russian city of Leningrad finally ended. The city had been surrounded by German troops for almost 900 days. Millions of civilians and soldiers from both sides had died as a result of bombardment, starvation and cold.(Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The world's first ever nuclear-powered submarine was launched. The USS Nautilus was regarded as the first 'true' submarine as it could submerge for months. It soon shattered all underwater speed and distance records and played a crucial role in the cold war. We hear from one of the original crewmembers.PHOTO: Courtesy of the US Navy

During World War Two conscientious objectors could volunteer for medical experiments. Hear the story of one young American who had refused to fight, but was prepared to starve for his country. Marshall Sutton is now 95 - he took part in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment in 1944 in an attempt to help scientists understand how best to look after starving civilians in war-torn Europe.(Photo: Marshall Sutton today)

In January 1944 the allies launched a major offensive against the Germans in Italy. It would be one of the longest battles of the Second World War, lasting four months and causing over 100,000 casualties. We hear from two allied veterans, one British, one Polish.Photo: Abbey of Monte Cassino in ruins in ruins after it was bombed by allied forces (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In April 2004, US forces began battling insurgents based in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The first round of fighting lasted for almost a month. We speak to an Iraqi doctor who treated injured civilians during that time.(Photo: An Iraqi man in front of destroyed houses in the city of Fallujah 30 April 2004. Credit: Ramzi Haidar/AFP/Getty Images)

On 15 January 1966 a small group of Nigerian army officers launched a bloody coup against the civilian government. It marked the start of the military's involvement in Nigerian politics which would last for decades and set Nigeria on a path to civil war. We hear from one of the soldiers who took part, Colonel Ben Gbulie.(Photo: Nigerian troops on the streets of Lagos, 16 January 1966. Credit: AP)

In early 1967, the American guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, took London by storm. His flamboyant style and new ways of playing the electric guitar enthralled everyone from the Beatles to Eric Clapton. Hendrix's English girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham, recalls her relationship with a man who would become a musical legend. This programme was first broadcast in 2013.(Photo: Jimi Hendrix. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)