Witness

In 1973, a fashion show was held in France which became known as the Battle of Versailles, a duel between designs from modern America and the capital of couture, Paris. Five American designers, including Oscar de la Renta and Halston, were invited to show their work alongside five of France’s biggest names, including Yves Saint Laurent and Hubert de Givenchy. The aim was to raise money to help restore Versailles, a 17th Century palace built by King Louis XIV, but the media billed it as a competition between the two countries.By the end, the Americans were declared the winners. The show also highlighted their industry’s racial diversity on an international stage, with 10 women of colour modelling work by US designers. Bethann Hardison, one of the models, talks to Jane Wilkinson about the lasting impact of the astonishing show.(Photo: Bethann Hardison at Versailles in 1973. Credit: Jean-Luce Hure/Bridgeman Images)

Rosa Parks was brought up in Alabama during the Jim Crow era, when state laws enforced segregation in practically all aspects of daily life.Public schools, water fountains, trains and buses all had to have separate facilities for white people and black people.As a passionate civil rights activist, Rosa was determined to change this.In December 1955, she was travelling home from the department store where she worked as a seamstress.When a white passenger boarded the bus, Rosa was told to give up her seat.Her refusal to do so and subsequent arrest sparked a bus boycott in the city of Montgomery, led by Dr Martin Luther King.Using BBC interviews with Rosa and Dr King, Vicky Farncombe tells how Rosa’s story changed civil rights history and led to the end of segregation.This programme includes outdated and offensive language.(Photo: Rosa Parks sitting on a bus. Credit: Getty Images)

Lucha Reyes was one of Peru’s greatest singers. She was born into poverty in 1936 and fought terrible health problems and racism throughout her life. But it didn’t stop her becoming a star of Peruvian Creole music - a fusion of waltzes, Andean and Afro-Peruvian styles. In the early 1970s she recorded hits including Regresa and Tu Voz. One of the few black Peruvian celebrities of her era, she was a trailblazer for black women in the country. Polo Bances played the saxophone in her band, accompanying her on many of her greatest records. He celebrates her life with Ben Henderson.(Photo: Lucha Reyes. Credit: Javier Ponce Gambirazio)

In March 2002, a young Nigerian Muslim woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and conceiving a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal’s case attracted huge international attention and highlighted divisions between the Christian and Muslim regions in the country. Hauwa Ibrahim, one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria, defended Amina and helped her secure an acquittal. The case would have very personal consequences for Hauwa who went on to adopt Amina’s daughter. She tells Vicky Farncombe how the ground-breaking case also changed attitudes in Nigeria towards defendants from poor, rural communities.(Photo: Hauwa Ibrahim (left) with Amina Lawal, Credit: Getty Images)

In May 1986, 16-year-old Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK’s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters.In London’s glamorous Mayfair, Splinters had earned a world-class reputation and hosted the likes of Diana Ross.Charlotte says it looked more like a five-star hotel than a salon and that its owner, Winston Isaacs expected no less than perfection from all his staff.Now a giant of the hair care industry in her own right, Charlotte has become known as the 'Queen of the 'fro'.She tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about her roots and how training at the legendary Splinters changed her life. This programme includes an account of racial bullying. (Photo: Young Charlotte in the salon. Credit: Charlotte Mensah)

The first commercial internet cafe opened in London on 1 September 1994. Eva Pascoe, from Poland, is one of the founders of Cyberia. She claims that Kylie Minogue was amongst the famous visitors and learnt how to use the internet at the cafe.Eva tells Gill Kearsley the story of how cakes, computers and Kylie came together to make this new venture a success.(Photo: Surfers at the Cyberia cafe. Credit: Mathieu Polak/Sygma via Getty Images)

In January 2008, seeds began arriving at the world's first global seed vault, buried deep in a mountain on an Arctic island, 1,000km north of the Norwegian coast.The vault was built to ensure the survival of the world's food supply and agricultural history in the event of a global catastrophe.In 2019, Louise Hidalgo spoke to the man whose idea it was, Dr Cary Fowler.(Photo: Journalists and cameramen outside the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2008. Credit: Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1980, poor rural workers set up camp on land owned by the rich at Encruzilhada Natalino in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Brazil's government sent in the army to evict them and violent clashes followed. It was a formative moment in the history of one of Latin America's biggest social movements, Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST). Maria Salete Campigotto was a teacher living in the camp with her husband and young son. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Brazil's Landless Workers Movement meeting. Credit: Patrick Siccoli/Getty Images)

In September 1984, the Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff was summoned to Rome, facing accusations that his writing and teachings were "dangerous to the faith".He is a leading proponent of liberation theology, which says the Church should push for social equality. Leonardo was called to appear before the Roman Catholic Church’s highest tribunal.A year later, he was banned from writing, teaching or speaking publicly. Now in his late 80s and no longer a priest, he tells Mike Lanchin about that turbulent time. A CTVC production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Leonardo Boff preaching outside a church to followers of Liberation Theology. Credit: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Getty Images)

During the 1970s, the US and Soviet Union were engaged in the Cold War. The US, along with other Western countries, was a member of Nato, while the Soviet Union joined forces with central and eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact. After becoming frustrated with the way the Soviets controlled his country, Ryszard Kukliński, a Polish colonel, wrote to the US Embassy in Bonn, West Germany. For the next 10 years, he would feed the CIA tens of thousands of pages of classified military secrets.Aris Pappas, a CIA agent who analysed Ryszard's intel, speaks to George Crafer about his memories of this forgotten hero. (Photo: Jack Strong aka Ryszard Kukliński. Credit: AP)

The Magnificent Magyars were Hungary’s golden football team of the 1950s.But behind their shine lay a dark secret.In 1951, defender Sándor Szűcs was executed for trying to defect from the communist regime.The married centre-back had wanted to leave Hungary with his lover, singer Erzsi Kovács, who was also married.The pair had been told to end their illicit relationship or face imprisonment.They were arrested near the border after being set up by a double agent.This programme has been made by Vicky Farncombe, using an interview Erzsi gave in 2011 to Hungarian journalist Endre Kadarkai on the Arckép programme, on Zuglo TV.(Photo: Sándor Szűcs. Credit: Arcanum/Nemzeti Sport)

In 1937, Japan invaded China committing atrocities including the Nanjing Massacre. Wang Jingwei was a Chinese national hero and second-in-command of China’s ruling Nationalist Party. He wanted to negotiate with Japan but his colleagues wouldn’t listen. So he defected, and in 1940 he agreed to lead a Japanese-controlled puppet government in Nanjing. Many Chinese have hated him ever since – his name is synonymous with the word ‘Hanjian’, a traitor to China. But Pan Chia-sheng’s memories of living under Wang Jingwei’s government tell a very different story. He speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Wang Jingwei. Credit: Wang Wenxing via Wang Jingwei Irrevocable Trust)

In 1949, Mildred Gillars – otherwise known as Axis Sally – became the first woman in American history to be convicted of treason.The former Broadway showgirl broadcast antisemitic Nazi propaganda on German State Radio during World War Two.Her weekly shows were heard by thousands of American servicemen who gave her the nickname Axis Sally. After her capture, she denied being a traitor, but a jury in Washington convicted her of treason, and she served 12 years in prison. Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the BBC archives to uncover her story.(Photo: Mildred Gillars. Credit: Bettmann, Getty Images)

In December 1939, fascist Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling travelled to Berlin from Oslo for a secret meeting with Adolf Hitler. Quisling suggested to Hitler that the British were planning to move into Norway for their own strategic needs. Norway hadn’t been a concern for the Nazis but the meeting alarmed Hitler and within months Germany started its invasion of Norway. From that moment, Quisling was consigned into history as a traitor. So much so that in the time since, his name has become a byword for traitor in numerous languages. Matt Pintus hears from Norwegian journalist, Trude Lorentzen, who decided to study Quisling’s life after stumbling across his suitcase in an online auction. As part of her voyage of discovery, Trude interviewed Quisling’s Jewish neighbour Leif Grusd who was forced to flee to Sweden when the Nazis took over Norway. Leif Grusd's interview was translated from the NRK podcast "Quislings koffert" - Quisling's suitcase - released in 2021. It was made by production company Svarttrost

In the early 2000s, a woman called Jamuna Tudu set out on a mission to protect her home state of Jharkhand's forests from India's so-called timber mafia. She inspired thousands of people to care for their natural environment and established an army of women to fight back against the illegal cutting down of trees.Her conservation efforts have led to the country's media dubbing her 'Lady Tarzan', and she is now known across India for her bravery.She speaks to George Crafer about her run-ins with the mafia and her hero status.(Photo: Jamuna Tudu amongst the trees she loves. Credit: Jamuna Tudu)

British zoologist Bob Golding turned the University of Ibadan's zoo into one of Nigeria's biggest tourist attractions in the 1970s.The zoo was famous for two gorillas he rescued from traffickers. And Bob's animal kingdom even had its own TV show.His wife, Peaches Golding, tells Ben Henderson how he did it. (Photo: Bob Golding. Credit: bobgolding.co.uk)

In June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest against what they considered a rigged presidential election.The hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62% of the vote. All three defeated candidates disputed the results.The protests gave rise to the 'Green Movement', named after its signature colour, which opposed Ahmadinejad.Journalist Maziar Bahari was accused of being a Western spy and spent 118 days being interrogated in Iran's Evin Prison. He tells Dan Hardoon about the torture he endured.(Photo: Maziar Bahari in 2015. Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

On 6 November 1975, tens of thousands of Moroccans poured into Spanish Sahara in a bid to claim it for their own.They danced, waved flags and played music as they faced off, unarmed, against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers.The so-called Green March led to a diplomatic victory for Morocco's King Hassan, but sparked a guerrilla war and decades of instability.In 2013, TV cameraman Seddik Maaninou and North Africa expert Francis Gillies told Simon Watts about that momentous protest.(Photo: Protestors on the Green March. Credit: Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma/Getty Images)

In Bolivia, on 25 October 1984, President Hernán Siles Zuazo announced he was going on hunger strike. He was trying to stop the booming cocaine industry in his country. It was the second time he had taken the job of president and he had been on hunger strike several times before. His daughter Marcela Siles, tells Laura Jones about her father.(Photo: President Zuazo. Credit: Getty Images)

For two years, José Luis Peñas risked his life making secret recordings that revealed one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals.It forced the ruling party from power and brought down Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018.José Luis Peñas speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Mariano Rajoy (right) moments after resigning. Credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Pool via Getty Images)