Witness History

The man who invented the scratch card

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1974, scratch cards went on sale for the first time in the US State of Massachusetts. Free giveaway and coupon games from stores had been comm...

GLP-1: A breakthrough for diabetes and obesity

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1980s, scientists made a discovery that would eventually lead to the development of drugs now used worldwide to treat diabetes and to help peop...

The UK’s first black-owned music studio

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sonny Roberts, a Jamaican carpenter, arrived in Britain in the 1950s. It was a time of racial disharmony, including the Notting Hill riots and the mur...

Wangari Maathai: The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2004, the Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movem...

The British oil tanker sunk in Indonesia

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1958, the British oil tanker, SS San Flaviano, was sunk in the harbour of Balikpapan, Indonesia, while a rebellion was underway against President A...

My aunt created The Moomins

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The first Moomins story about a family of nature-loving white round trolls was published in 1945 during World War Two. The Moomins and the Great Flood...

Helen Fielding: The creator of Bridget Jones

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1995, a single 30-something woman with big knickers and blue soup first appeared in a weekly column, published by British newspaper The Independent...

The trial of Soviet writers Daniel and Sinyavsky

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1965, two writers were accused of publishing anti-Soviet material abroad.The arrest of Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky was seen as symbolic of the...

Jorge Luis Borges: 'Father' of Latin American fiction

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1961, the Argentine poet and short story writer Jorge Luis Borges won the Formentor Prize for literature.Borges’ stories were characterised by mi...

Wallander and the rise of Nordic Noir

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Published in 1991, Faceless Killers was the first of Henning Mankell’s crime novels featuring police inspector Kurt Wallander. The series changed th...

How BRICS got its name

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big p...

Japan surrenders in Beijing

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Eighty years ago, in the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire.The one in China was held at the Forb...

The remote island that was evacuated to 10,000km away

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 10 October 1961, a volcanic eruption threatened the population of Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, and all 264...

'I designed the Indian rupee symbol'

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009, the Indian government launched a national competition to find a design for the Indian rupee.With more than 3,000 entries and five finalists, ...

The home video war

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before streaming and catch-up TV, owning a video recorder was one of the only ways to watch on-demand entertainment. In 1975 Sony launched Betamax wit...

The acquittal of OJ Simpson

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 30 years since American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. Ro...

'I took the famous photo of JFK and his son'

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 2 October 1963, American photographer Stanley Tretick took the best picture of his life – a photo of President John F Kennedy working at the Reso...

The strike that shook up India's tea industry

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In September 2015, thousands of women tea pickers went on strike at one of India’s biggest tea producers.They had picked more tea than ever that yea...

The birth of the Excel spreadsheet

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1985, Microsoft introduced Excel, an electronic spreadsheet program that revolutionised the way we organise and analyse data.With its gri...

The Cradock Four killings

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 27 June 1985, four anti-apartheid activists from the rural town of Cradock in South Africa’s Eastern Cape were abducted at a roadblock. Their bod...

Guinea stadium massacre

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 28 September 2009, around 50,000 people took part in a rally to protest reported plans by military leader Moussa Dadis Camara to stand in the presi...

The secretary who made millions from her typos

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the 1950s, secretary Bette Graham from Texas was struggling to cope with her new electric typewriter.“My fingers would hang heavy on the sensitiv...

DDLJ: India’s longest-running film

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the ultimate Bollywood romance was released to critical acclaim in October 1995, becoming the longest-running movie in In...

The birth of Médecins Sans Frontières

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1971, 13 men sat down in a Paris office to launch what would become one of the world’s best known humanitarian organisations: Médecins Sans Fron...

The start of Scouting

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1900s, while serving in the British Army, Lord Robert Baden-Powell laid the foundations for what would become one of the largest internat...

Omar Sharif stars in Lawrence of Arabia

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1962, Egyptian actor Omar Sharif made his Hollywood debut in Lawrence of Arabia, a sweeping epic that would become one of cinema’s most popular f...

The Aswan High Dam

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1960s, Unesco appealed for scientists to go to Egypt to save antiquities that were threatened by the construction of one of the largest d...

Egypt criminalises sexual harassment

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, Egypt’s outgoing president, Adly Mansour, issued a decree which categorised sexual harassment as a crime punishable by a minimum six-month ...

Reforming Egypt’s divorce laws

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1979, Egypt’s former first lady Jehan Sadat helped lead a campaign to grant women new rights to divorce their husbands and retain custody of thei...

Mohamed Morsi: Egypt's first democratically elected president

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June 2012, Mohamed Morsi, representing the Muslim Brotherhood, became Egypt's first democratically elected president.In 2022, Ben Henderson spoke t...

How the Philippines saved Jews during World War Two

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were introduced in Nazi Germany.In 1938, seven-year-old Lotte Hershfield and her family left their home in Bresl...

9/11: The generosity of Gander

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 11 September, 2001, a small Canadian town called Gander became a haven for thousands of airline passengers and crew stranded after the 9/11 terror ...

The story behind The Peter Principle book

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1969, a satirical book, The Peter Principle, suggested promotion led to incompetence.It was written by a Canadian Professor of Education, Dr Lauren...

The Enabling Act

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act was passed in Germany, handing Adolf Hitler unchecked power. It became the legal foundation of his dictatorship.But...

Festac ’77: Nigeria’s largest festival of African arts and culture

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1977, Nigeria hosted the largest festival of African arts and culture there had ever been. About half a million visitors attended, as well as 16,00...

‘How I sold my clothes and created a $5 billion Vinted empire’

05 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, Lithuanian student Milda Mitkutė realised she had too many clothes when she was moving out.She told her friend Justas Janauskas and together...

World's first womb transplant baby

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In September 2014, the world's first baby was born to a mother with a transplanted womb, making headlines around the globe.Malin Stenberg had the pion...

The Chindits

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

During World War Two, an unconventional special force was formed. Known as the Chindits, they fought behind enemy lines in Burma, now Myanmar during 1...

The founding of USAID

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 3 November 1961, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was founded, bringing all existing aid work under one single agency...

Discovering the Titanic

01 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In September 1985, the wreck of the Titanic was discovered around 400 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, during a joint American-Fr...

John Lennon's final headline concerts

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1972, after leaving The Beatles, John Lennon and Yoko Ono performed in the United States at the One to One benefit concerts at Madison Square Garde...

The making of the Third Man: A film noir classic

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1948, filming began on a post-war thriller that would become one of the greatest British movies of all time.Directed by Sir Carol Reed, the film ca...

Washington DC’s Mount Pleasant riot

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In May 1991, a female police officer shot and wounded a young immigrant from El Salvador in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood in Washington DC in the U...

Creating CAPTCHA

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2000, as the internet expanded, websites faced a growing challenge to stop spam bots from flooding their systems.To separate humans from machines, ...

The creation of the International Criminal Court

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1998, at a conference organised by the United Nations, a blueprint was devised for what would be the world's first permanent International Criminal...

Geneva Conventions

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers an...

The rise and fall of BlackBerry

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.Sam Gru...

The book that changed Norway’s view of immigrants

20 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2010, a book came out in Norway that transformed the way people looked at paperless immigrants. The author, a 25-year-old Russian woman, fled North...

One man’s escape from McCarthyism

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1951, at the height of the McCarthy era, a time when the US government pursued suspected communists, Victor Grossman was drafted into the army. A c...

Spot the Dog

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1978, British artist Eric Hill designed an interactive book about a yellow puppy for his two-year-old son, Chris.Eric had noticed Chris kept liftin...

Pramoedya Ananta Toer: The banned author of Indonesia

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1969, Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer was imprisoned without trial in the notorious labour camp on Buru Island. He spent 10 years there.He ...

Jakarta’s ban on dancing monkeys

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2013, Jakarta's governor moved to outlaw the use of dancing monkeys on the city’s streets.The Indonesian tradition saw macaques made to perform f...

Discovery of the 'Hobbit'

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2003, archaeologists on the island of Flores, in Indonesia, discovered the skeleton of a new species of human - Homo floresiensis.It was nicknamed ...

Borobudur Temple

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1983, Borobudur Temple in Indonesia reopened. The worlds’ largest Buddhist monument is in the shadows of an active volcano and was once lost to t...

The Santa Cruz Massacre

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 12 November 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on independence activists in East Timor's capital, Dili.During a protest march to the Santa Cruz ce...

1965 Singaporean independence

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 9 August 1965 Singapore announced it had left the Federation of Malaysia and become an independent sovereign state. Explaining the separation at a ...

Brazil’s biggest bank heist

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In August 2005, a gang of theives tunnelled their way into a Brazilian bank vault in a heist straight out of the movies.Three months before, the thiev...

The Assam-Tibet earthquake

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 15 August 1950, an 8.6 magnitude earthquake shook the Himalaya mountains – wiping out whole villages in Tibet and north-east India.The death toll...

When Stalin silenced Shostakovich

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. But in 1936, Joseph Stalin attended a performance of Shost...

Nagasaki bomb

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 9 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing at least 74,000 people. It led to the end of World War Two in A...

Trailer. 13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The epic space story of a sci-fi dream that changed spaceflight forever. Told by the Nasa astronauts and team who made it happen. Our multi-award-win...

Japan's record-breaking rollercoaster

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 August 2000, a new rollercoaster opened to the public at a theme park in Japan.Named Steel Dragon 2000, it's located at the Nagashima Spa Land am...

Chuquicamata: Chile's abandoned mining town

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

By 2007, the 25,000 residents of a Chilean mining town had moved out of their homes due to concerns about pollution levels from one of the largest cop...

Cleveland Balloonfest '86

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1986, a world record attempt was launched by the city of Cleveland, in the US.One and a half million balloons were blown up by volunteers ready to ...

Eta’s assassination of Juan Mari Jáuregui

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 29 July 2000, retired Spanish politician Juan Mari Jáuregui was assassinated by Basque separatists Eta. Deemed a terrorist organisation by the Eur...

The Russian revolutionaries nearly stranded in London

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1907, the men who would go on to lead the Russian Revolution met in London for a crucial congress.But the revolutionaries – including Vladimir Le...

A Chorus Line

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's 50 years since theatre history was made - the premiere of A Chorus Line. It was seen as a seminal moment, turning the spotlight on the people who...

The invention of Kevlar

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1965, a new fibre was discovered by Polish American scientist Stephanie Kwolek. It was called Kevlar and it was found to be five times stronger tha...

President Clinton plays the sax in Prague

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In January 1994, two presidents enjoyed a memorable night in the Czech Republic – ending with an impromptu jazz performance.Five years after the fal...

The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 22 July 2005, an unarmed Brazilian man was shot dead by anti-terrorism police at Stockwell Tube station, in London.Jean Charles de Menezes was shot...

Irawati Karve: India’s groundbreaking anthropologist

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Irawati Karve became India’s first female anthropologist - studying tribes that nobody had investigated, and taking her children on expeditions deep...

Italo disco

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the late 1970s, disco died in America and a new wave of Italian producers took advantage of the advances in electronic instruments to craft their o...

The 'Turbot War'

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1995, an international row broke out between Canada and Spain over fishing quotas. It started with gunfire and ended with a deal.The dispute began ...

Greece’s debt crisis

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was a week that brought the future of Greece and the Eurozone to the brink. Ten years ago, on 6 July the Greek people voted against the terms of a ...

The Iran nuclear deal

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 14 July 2015, Iran agreed to temporarily limit its nuclear programme. The deal was signed in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Officially known as th...

The start of Voice of America

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In March 2025, radio frequencies worldwide stopped carrying Voice of America broadcasts for the first time in 83 years. President Donald Trump’s adm...

The man who said ‘no’ to Disney

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature...

Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence agai...

Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. ...

The mystery of Evita’s corpse

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed. Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a ...

Argentina’s 'trial of the juntas'

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1985, Argentina’s former military leaders were put on trial accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering thousands of their own people. The ‘...

Dancing in the Street: David Bowie and Mick Jagger

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In July 1985, music legends Mick Jagger and David Bowie were asked to perform a duet with a twist at Live Aid, the biggest concert in pop history.Util...

Back to the Future

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 3 July 1985 Back to the Future was released. The film tells the story of Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, played by Michael J Fox, w...

Drill, baby, drill!

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Judging by how often US President Donald Trump has repeated the slogan “Drill, baby, drill”, you might think he coined it. But the phrase actually...

Cecil the lion

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 July 2015, a much-loved lion was killed in Zimbabwe by an American trophy hunter.Black-maned Cecil was one of the star attractions at Hwange Nati...

Ai Weiwei: Imprisoned for art

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2008, an earthquake in China’s Sichuan province killed almost 90,000 people. Many were crushed when school buildings collapsed, exposing their po...

Italian happiness trains

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Between 1945 and 1952, ‘happiness trains’ transported 70,000 children from southern to northern Italy to live with wealthier families.It was a sch...

The opening of the Medellin Metro

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When the Medellin Metro opened in 1995, the Colombian city had recently been called the “murder capital of the world” due to the high homicide rat...

The funeral train for Robert Kennedy

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy was killed during his campaign for the American presidency.There was nationwide mourning with huge crowds lining ...

The Czech Freedom Train

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 11 September 1951, the 9.55am train from Prague to Aš, in Communist Czechoslovakia was hijacked and driven to freedom in West Germany.One hundred ...

The Gratitude Train: France thanks America

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1949, the Gratitude Train arrived in the United States, made up of 49 wagons filled with thousands of gifts from France.The convoy was a thank-you ...

Making Jaws

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 50 years since the original Jaws film was released in cinemas across America. The movie premiered on 20 June 1975. Directed by a young Steven S...

The signing of the Treaty of Versailles

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 28 June 1919, in the Palace of Versailles in Paris the signing of the Treaty of Versailles took place. It was a peace agreement that marked the en...

Civil rights swim-in

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 18 June 1964, black and white protesters jumped into a ‘whites only’ swimming pool at a motel in St Augustine, in Florida.Photos of the Monson ...

Charleston church shooting

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 17 June 2015, white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a bible group at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in ...

'Tripperburgen' the sexual health clinics that detained women

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After the Second World War, in what was then East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), tens of thousands of women and girls were forcibly...

The Schengen Agreement

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On 14 June 1985, five politicians met on a boat in the town of Schengen, in Luxembourg, to sign an agreement to get rid of border checks between their...

Ronald Reagan’s ‘Tear down this wall’ speech

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1987 Uunied States President Ronald Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall. In his speech he called on the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev t...

Lonesome George: The celebrity tortoise

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2012, Lonesome George, the last tortoise of his species died.George, from Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, was a global symbol o...

The woman born in a prisoner of war camp

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After the Sino-Indian war in 1962, around 3,000 men, women and children were incarcerated in a disused World War Two prisoner of war camp. Indians of ...