Witness

In June 1962 three prisoners escaped from the maximum security US jail on the island of Alcatraz. They achieved this using a homemade raft, papier-mâché and... spoons. In 2013, Ashley Byrne spoke to Jolene Babyak who was living on the island at the time. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Picture: Alcatraz. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1974, legendary Vietnamese actress Kieu Chinh found herself on a farm in Canada cleaning up after chicken. She had narrowly escaped the fall of Saigon and a jail sentence in Singapore but Kieu was determined to get back to doing what she loved... making movies. How would she do it? Well, it involved Hollywood stars Burt Reynolds, William Holden and Tippi Hedren! Kieu tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty of her cinematic survival. (Picture: Kieu Chinh and Tippi Hedren. Credit: Getty Images)

It has been 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. On 16 September 2007, private security guards employed by the American firm Blackwater opened fire on civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square. Seventeen Iraqis were killed, and another 20 injured. The Blackwater guards, who were escorting a convoy from the American embassy, claimed that they had come under attack from insurgents, but eye-witnesses and Iraqi officials quickly dismissed that version of events. Mohammed Kinani's nine year old son, Ali, was one of the victims. In this programme, first broadcast in 2020, Mohammed shares his story with Mike Lanchin. (Photo: An Iraqi looks at a burnt car on the site where Blackwater guards opened fire on civilians in Baghdad. Credit: Ali Yussef/AFP via Getty Images)

It has been 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. On 13 December 2003 the deposed president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was captured by US forces. Muwafaq al Rubaie was asked to help to identify the former dictator, face-to-face. In this programme, first broadcast in 2012, he shares his memories of that time with Louise Hidalgo. (Picture: Saddam Hussein shortly after being captured. Credit: Getty Images)

It has been 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. In April 2003, the US military unveiled a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government. The cards were first revealed to the world by Brigadier General Vincent K Brooks at a press conference on 11 April 2003. He has been sharing his memories of that time with Matt Pintus. (Picture: Vincent K Brooks holds up the 'most wanted' playing cards. Credit: Getty Images)

It has been 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. Millions of citizens attempted to flee the country after America and its allies invaded in March 2003. One of those people was Baghdad resident, Yasir Dhannoon. He has been sharing his story with Matt Pintus. (Photo: Refugees fleeing from the fighting zone around Baghdad in 2003. Credit: Getty Images)

It has been 20 years since the start of the Iraq War. In March 2003, the United States launched its invasion, dropping bombs on Iraq's capital Baghdad. For Iraqis it marked the beginning of three weeks of helplessness as the US and its allies overwhelmed Saddam Hussein's forces. In this programme, first broadcast in 2012, Robin Lustig speaks to Lubna Naji who was a schoolgirl in Baghdad when the war broke out. (Photo: Bombs fall on Baghdad. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2000, when Chanira Bajrycharya was just five years old, she was chosen to be a Kumari - a child goddess in Nepal. For the next 10 years, she remained inside her Kumari house, receiving worshippers and giving blessings. She tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about being a living deity, and how her life changed after losing her status as a goddess aged 15. Chanira now works for a mortgage broker in Kathmandu. (Picture: Chanira Bajrycharya whilst Kumari. Credit: Chanira Bajrycharya)

Monica McWilliams played one of the most pivotal roles in the Northern Ireland peace process. She spent two years at the negotiating table which finally resulted in the Good Friday Agreement on 10 April 1998. That made her a joint signatory to an international peace accord – something that very few women in the world manage to be. She speaks to Alys Harte about the representation of women in the historic retelling of Northern Ireland’s peace process and why women are so often written out of the history they make. (Picture: Monica McWilliams. Credit: Getty Images)

In 2007, the UN deployed its first all-female contingent of peacekeepers in Liberia in West Africa. The country was still recovering from its long civil war when the Indian policewomen arrived. In this programme first broadcast in 2019, Jill McGivering hears from Seema Dhundia of India’s Central Reserve Police Force who led the unit. (Photo: Seema Dhundia. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1982, human rights campaigner Rosario Ibarra became the first woman and first political outsider to stand for president in Mexico. Her presidential bid was a direct challenge to the country’s long-established male-dominated political system. Ibarra’s motivation to stand was both political and highly personal. She wanted to draw attention to the country’s “disappeared” political prisoners, among them her own son. Mike Lanchin has been hearing about Rosario Ibarra from her eldest daughter, Rosario Piedra. This is a CTVC production for BBC World Service. (Picture: Rosario Ibarra campaigning. Credit: The Rosario family)

In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing. From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including poverty, sexism and racism in the publishing industry. She died aged 58 in 2006. Alex Collins speaks to her friend and fellow author Nisi Shawl. (Photo: Octavia E. Butler. Credit: Getty Images)

Zoran Djindjic, the prime minister of Serbia, was assassinated on 12 March 2003. He was murdered by an associate of former president, Slobodan Milosevic. Gordana Matkovic served in Djindjic's cabinet. Two decades on from the murder, she shares her memories of that time with Matt Pintus. (Photo: Zoran Djindjic poster held up during remembrance gathering. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1992, the late zoologist Nigel Bonner opened one of the world's most remote museums, the South Georgia Whaling Museum, on South Georgia, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic. Despite its isolated location, 1,400km east of the Falkland Islands, it remains open today and gets around 15,000 visitors a year. Rachel Naylor speaks to Jan Cheek, a friend of the founder and former trustee of the museum. (Photo: South Georgia Museum. Credit: Richard Hall for SGHT)

In 2004 Jason deCaires Taylor started building the world's first underwater gallery. He wanted to attract divers away from fragile coral reefs, so he submerged life-sized, human cement models in the Caribbean Sea. Within a few days the art was covered in purple and blue sponges, orange fire coral and green algae... and was even home to a few octopuses. Nineteen years later, Jason tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his memories of building the park. Archive Credit: Grenada Broadcasting Network. (Photo: ‘Viscissitudes’ - A sculpture installed in Grenada. Credit: Jason deCaires Taylor)

In 2009, Rudolf Brazda, one of the last known survivors of the Pink Triangles, returned to the former site of Buchenwald concentration camp where he’d been imprisoned during World War Two, for being gay in Nazi Germany. In never previously broadcast recordings, taped by Jean-Luc Schwab, who wrote Rudolf’s biography, we hear Rudolf’s reaction to returning as a 95-year-old man. Jean-Luc Schwab who became friends with Rudolf in the last few years of his life, speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma. This programme contains distressing details. (Photo: Rudolf Brazda. Credit: Frederick Florin/ Getty Images)

Fifty years ago, indigenous American activists staged a historic protest against the US authorities. A siege began which lasted for two months and resulted in the violent deaths of two tribal members and the injuring of a US marshal. In 2011 Russell Means, the former national director of the ‘American Indian Movement', spoke to the programme. (Photo: Russell Means in 1973. Credit: Getty Images)

How did an estimated 900 million people come to witness Her Majesty the Queen apparently parachuting from a helicopter with James Bond? Frank Cottrell-Boyce who wrote the scene for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games explains how it came about. Josephine McDermott hears how corgis, a clothes line and the Queen’s dresser all played important parts. (Photo: The moment the Queen and James Bond appeared to jump out of a helicopter above the Olympic Stadium in London. Credit: Getty Images)

Despite facing malnutrition, starvation and disease, Christopher John Huckstep's father set up a school in the Japanese internment camp where his family was sent in 1943. Herbert Huckstep ensured the 350 children of Lunghwa Civilian Assembly Centre were taught a wide range of subjects using brown paper bags to write on. The school was called Lunghwa Academy and it had its own badge, motto and certificates. A syllabus was followed, exams were taken and there were even evening classes for adults. The Japanese set up more than 20 internment camps in China and Hong Kong holding an estimated 14,000 people, but it is not believed that such a sophisticated schooling system was established elsewhere. In spite of the many hardships, educational standards were kept so high that qualifications taken in the camp were later recognised by the Cambridge exam board when the exam scripts were taken to England after the war. Christopher John Huckstep shares his memories with Josephine McDermott. (Photo: Christopher Jo

In 1958, Stanislav Brebera invented Semtex. It was a malleable, odourless and stable plastic explosive which became the choice weapon for those seeking to spread terror. In 2018, Maria Jestafjeva spoke to Mirisov Brebera, the brother of the chemist who created it. (Photo: Semtex. Credit: Getty Images)