Witness

In 1918, more than fifty million people died in an outbreak of flu, which spread all over the world in the wake of the first World War. We hear eye-witness accounts of the worst pandemic of the twentieth century.PICTURE: An American policeman wearing a mask to protect himself from the outbreak of Spanish flu. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

On 9 October 1986 the dissident poet was released from a prison camp on the eve of a US-Soviet nuclear summit between Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. Irina Ratushinskaya has been speaking to Louise Hidalgo about her imprisonment, her poetry, and the day she was set free.(Photo: Irina and her husband Igor, arriving in London in December 1986. Credit: Topfoto)

In October 1966, California pop group the Beach Boys released their "pocket symphony" Good Vibrations. It's regularly named as one of the best pop songs ever written - but it came at a turning point for the band. Singer Mike Love tells Witness about recording the song.PICTURE: The Beach Boys in 1964. From left to right, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson (1944 - 1983) and Carl Wilson (1946 - 1998). (Fox Photos/Getty Images)

In 1994, a TV programme broadcast in Northern Ireland lifted the lid on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Rape help lines in Belfast and in the Republic of Ireland were inundated with calls as other victims came forward. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Chris Moore who made the programme for "Counterpoint" on UTV, "Suffer Little Children". Further investigations by Chris and his team uncovered hundreds of other cases, exposing the extent of child abuse around the world. (Photo: An Irish churchgoer holds a cross and rosary beads 2010. AFP/Getty Images)

On October 6th 1976 Thai security forces opened fire on student demonstrators in Bangkok. Dozens of students were killed and thousands were arrested. The killings heralded a new era of military rule in Thailand.Photo: Police stand guard over Thai students on a soccer field at Thammasat University, in Bangkok, Thailand. (Credit: AP Photo/Gary Mangkorn.)

In October 1982 seven people in the US died after taking, Tylenol, a painkiller which had been deliberately contaminated with cyanide. Claire Bowes has been speaking to David E Collins, the drug company executive who dealt with the aftermath of the tragedy.(Photo: Mrs. Helen Tarasiewicz, mother of Tylenol cyanide victim Theresa Tarasiewicz Janus, weeps over the casket containing her daughter"s body during graveside services at Maryhill Cemetery in Chicago Tuesday, 6 Oct 1982. Theresa, her husband Stanley Janus and Stanley"s brother Adam Janus all poisoned by cyanide from the same Tylenol bottle. Credit: Charles Knoblock/AP Photo)

In 1946, Roland Berrill and Lancelot Ware were travelling on a train when they sparked up a conversation about intelligence testing. That chance encounter sparked the high IQ club, Mensa. Rachael Gillman speaks to the society's archivist Ian Fergus about those early days.(Photo: A computer generated image of the human head and brain. Credit: Getty Images)

In 1926 Stanley Spencer, one of the most admired British painters of the twentieth century, began work on an ambitious project in the village of Burghclere near London. He'd been commissioned to fill a new chapel with images of his experiences in the First World War, at home and abroad. Vincent Dowd speaks to Spencer's daughters, Shirin and Unity Spencer, about their father and his work.Photo: Stanley Spencer in 1958.(AP)

On September 29th 1957 there was a major accident at a secret nuclear facility in the Soviet Union. Dozens of workers died and a huge cloud of radioactivity spread across the surrounding countryside. But news of the disaster was only made public decades later. Dina Newman has spoken to Zhores Medvedev, the first scientist to disclose what happened to the international community.Photo: The Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in 2010. Credit: European Pressphoto Agency.

In 1971 inmates at Attica maximum security facility in New York State rioted and seized control of the jail, taking guards hostage. When negotiations failed, the authorities stormed the prison, dropping tear gas from helicopters and firing hundreds of live rounds. At least 39 people were killed, including nine of the hostages. Former prisoner, Carlos Roche, spoke to Rebecca Kesby and described the chaos. This programme was first broadcast in 2013.(Photo: Rioting Inmates at the Attica maximum security facility, New York State Credit: AP)

In the dying years of the Apartheid regime, the white minority government in South Africa was desperate to keep control as people took to the streets demanding change. A state of emergency was declared allowing the police and security forces sweeping new powers, which some individuals executed with extreme brutality. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Rev Dr Allan Boesak who was a political activist and church leader - he was one of those calling for an end to the unfair Apartheid system. (Photo: A young South African boy in Duduza township, Jul 1985 (Gideon Mendel, AFP)

During WWII some Germans and Austrians classed as 'enemy aliens' by the British were sent halfway across the world to be interned in prison camps in the Australian outback. Bern Brent was a 17 year old refugee from Berlin, who'd fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport - but he was taken away from his life in London and put on a troop ship heading for Melbourne. Hear his story.Photo: 'Enemy aliens' being rounded up in Britain. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

In September 1726, a Surrey woman called Mary Toft claimed to be giving birth to rabbits. The case became a sensation which gripped Georgian England - but the real story may have been much darker. Witness hears eye-witness accounts from the time, and historian Karen Harvey puts the story into context.IMAGE: "Cunicularii or the wise men of Godliman in consultation", etching by William Hogarth illustrating the Mary Toft story, 1726. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

On September 22nd 1996, an Australian doctor called Phillip Nitschke, helped cancer sufferer Bob Dent, to die. He had connected a computer to a syringe full of lethal drugs - allowing Bob Dent to choose the time of his death. It was all done under a new law which had just been brought in to Australia's Northern Territory. But soon afterwards, politicians began working to overturn that law. Kevin Andrews MP, led the campaign to outlaw assisted suicide in Australia. Both he, and Dr Nitschke have been speaking to Ashley Byrne about the case.Photo: Dr Nitschke with his computer and automated syringe. Copyright: Philip Nitschke.

In September 2006 ground-breaking legislation came into effect in Brazil that for the first time recognised different forms of domestic violence. The "Maria da Penha" law was named after a women's rights activist who was left paraplegic by her abusive husband. Mike Lanchin has been hearing her chilling story.Photo: Maria da Penha now.

Just three days after the 9/11 attacks on America, Congress gave the President the power to order military action against any person, organisation or country suspected of involvement in the attacks - without needing Congressional approval.Witness speaks to Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the only member of the legislature to oppose the new powers.Photo: Barbara Lee in 2002. Credit: Getty Images News.

On 17 September 1892 gold was discovered in Coolgardie in Western Australia. It was not the first find but it was the biggest, and the one which began a gold rush that changed the fortunes of the colony which had just become independent from Britain. Claire Bowes presents an archive interview with Frank Gerald, who as a young man, witnessed the discovery. His account was recorded in 1937.(Photo: Gold prospectors in Australia panning water and silt in search of small nuggets. Credit: Three Lions/Getty Images)

In September 1992 security forces in Peru tracked down and arrested the leader of the Maoist rebels, Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. Abimael Guzman was found hiding in a safe house in the capital, Lima, which fronted as a ballet school. Mike Lanchin hears from two police officers who caught the elusive Guzman.Photo: Abimael Guzman behind the bars of a cage during his presentation to the press by Peruvian authorities, Sept. 1992 (HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images)

Tanks were first used in warfare on 15 September 1916 by British soldiers fighting against German troops during the Battle of the Somme in World War One. Alex Last presents interviews with some of those soldiers from the BBC archive.A British tank in France during World War I. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

One week after the 9/11 attacks, a series of letters were sent to journalists and politicians in the USA. They contained the deadly biological agent Anthrax. The United States was gripped with fear as postal workers fell ill. The FBI launched one of the biggest and most expensive investigations in its history. In 2013 Rebecca Kesby spoke to Special Agent Scott Stanley about the case. (Photo: Workers washing out rubbish bins. Credit: AP/Steve Mitchell)