John Gotti was a mafia boss who had escaped jail for years. Read more
now playing
The Gotti trial
John Gotti was a mafia boss who had escaped jail for years.
The death of Kurt Cobain
Thirty years ago, the lead singer of the rock band Nirvana was found dead in his home
The Rwandan genocide
A plane crash on 6 April 1994, set off a wave of killing in Rwanda which lasted 100 days
Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams
The African chief who gave up his throne for love.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player
Yuri Gagarin
The first man in space became a hero and a poster boy for Soviet achievement
Windscale - Britain's worst nuclear accident
In 1957 a nuclear reactor in the north of England caught fire
The Hama massacre 1982
In 1982 people in the Syrian city of Hama rose up against the Assad regime
Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier
She was a Hollywood superstar - he was Prince of a tiny European state
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Cuban exiles, backed by the US government, tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro
Waco siege
How a man from northern England lost his entire family in the siege of Waco in 1993
Gandhi's Salt March protest
How Gandhi's Salt March in 1930 showed the power of peaceful protest in India
Romanian family history
One family's extraordinary story kept hidden for decades by the communist secret police
Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
Witness takes you back to the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer
The Hitler diaries hoax
In 1983 a German magazine believed it had found Hitler's wartime diary.
The bombing of Guernica
It was one of the worst atrocities of the Spanish Civil War.
Rock against Racism 1978
How an anti-racism concert in London in 1978 influenced a generation
Dennis Tito - The first space tourist
Ten years ago an American businessman called Dennis Tito became the first space tourist
Ukraine Famine
How famine devastated Ukraine in the 1930s
Fall of Berlin
The experiences of one German woman after Berlin fell to the Red Army in 1945
Al-Qaeda 1998 Embassy Bombings in Africa
Following Osama Bin Laden's death, we recall al-Qaeda's attacks in Africa in 1998
Festival of Britain
It is 60 years since the opening of the Festival of Britain
Four minute mile
In 1954 a record was broken when a young British athlete ran a mile in under four minutes
Victory in Europe Day
On May 8 1945, Winston Churchill announced the end of the war in Europe.
Ulrike Meinhof
In May 1976 the German left-wing extremist Ulrike Meinhof killed herself in prison
Italian Bombing of Libya - 1911
The letters of an Italian pilot reveal how he carried out the first air raid in history
The death of President Tito
President Tito of Yugoslavia was one of the great characters of post-war Europe
Peter the Wild Boy
Nearly 300 years ago a feral child was brought to the court of King George I in London.
Easter Rising in Ireland
Eye-witness accounts of the Irish rebellion against British rule at Easter 1916.
The fall of Berlin
The Red Army took control of the German capital Berlin, in May 1945
The Irish pirate Queen
Over 400 years ago an Irish woman pirate met Queen Elizabeth I