Witness: Archive 2011

We take you back to the early days of the European project when six countries established the European Economic Community.Photo: Keystone/Getty Images

In December 1981 hundreds of peasants were killed by the army in El Salvador.Men, women and children from the village of El Mozote were shot.Only one woman, Rufina Amaya, is known to have survived. Photo: Rufina Amaya at a funeral for the victims held in 2001. Credit AFP/Getty images

It is 10 years since the height of the financial crisis in Argentina.Bank accounts were frozen and tens of thousands of ordinary people took to the streets in protest.Photo: Demonstrators climb the gates of Government House in Buenos Aires. Credit: Associated Press.

It is 70 years since Japanese planes attacked the US Navy base in Hawaii.The action forced the USA into World War II.Jack Hammett, was a young naval medic who survived the carnage. Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

The story of the Bermuda Triangle began when five US Navy planes went missing in 1945.No trace of the bombers was ever found - and since then - other ships and planes have diappeared in the same area of the Atlantic Ocean.Witness hears from one man who took part in the original search for Flight 19.

"The idea that you could take a pill, that meant that you wouldn't get pregnant and you could enjoy sex. That had a magic feel to it."On 4 December 1961 the contraceptive pill became widely available for free in the UK, through the National Health Service. For married women this form of birth control meant reliable, convenient family planning - for unmarried women it meant sexual freedom.Hear from the writer Michelene Wandor was a student at Cambridge University at the time.Photo: The Pill, Credit: Getty Images

To mark World Aids Day Louise Hidalgo reports on the story of Ryan White.He was a haemophiliac who was banned from school after testing HIV positive. His death from Aids, changed attitudes towards the disease in the USA. PHOTO: Associated Press

In 1979 British public sector workers went on strike over pay.Among those taking industrial action were grave-diggers.But the media, politicians, and even their own families turned against them at the thought of bodies being left unburied.

In November 1999 police battled with anti-globalisation protestors for control of the streets of Seattle.The demonstrators were protesting against World Trade Organisation talks taking place in the US city.Norm Stamper was the Chief of Police in Seattle at the time.Photo: AP

In November 2001 a group of British tourists were arrested and put on trial for spying in Greece.They were not spies, but aircraft enthusiasts.Hear how their British hobby resulted in suspicion, and ultimately jail.Paul Coppin with Greek police. Photo AP News.

Fifty years ago, the sedative drug thalidomide was withdrawn from sale in Germany and the UK.It became clear that, if taken by women in early pregnancy, it can cause serious - in many cases, fatal - damage to the unborn child. Photo: Getty Images

Ned Kelly, the infamous Australian outlaw was captured in the remote settlement of Glenrowan in 1880.In a dramatic last stand, Kelly and his gang took hostages and tried to derail a police train.Kelly was hanged a few months after his capture. The rest of the gang were killed.Witness brings together eye-witness accounts of the last stand. The programme also hears from the Australian historian Professor Carl Bridge.PICTURE: Ned Kelly is shot and captured while wearing his armour (HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES).

Of the "Big Men" who ruled Africa after independence, few were as notorious as Mobutu Sese Seko.During his 32 years in power, Mobutu renamed Congo as Zaire and stole many millions of dollars.As the people of Congo prepare to vote for a new president, a former advisor to Mobutu remembers his years in power.Witness also hears from Michaela Wrong, author of "In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz".PHOTO: Mobutu shares a joke with a foreign visitor (HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES)

In November 2003 a popular uprising unseated the government of Georgia.Demonstrators waving roses burst into Parliament and Eduard Shevardnadze was forced to stand down.Hear from one of the people on the streets of Tbilisi that day.

In 1977, Anwar Sadat became the first Egyptian president to visit Israel and address the Israeli parliament, or Knesset.At the time, Egypt was still formally at war with Israel - a country which no Arab nation then recognised.Sadat's visit led to a formal peace treaty betweem the two countries.Louise Hidalgo talks to the Egyptian cameraman, Mohamed Gohar - a favourite of Sadat's.PHOTO: Sadat addressing the Knesset (AFP/Getty Images)

The diminutive weight-lifter, Precious McKenzie, was a prodigious talent, but apartheid prevented him from competing for South Africa.Precious had to move to Britain and work in a factory in Northampton. While doing so, he finally achieved international success at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.Precious went on to become a familiar figure on British TV in the 1970s.Emily Williams talks to him for Sporting Witness.PHOTO: Precious McKenzie shows off his medal collection (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).

He was one of the great pioneers of electrical power. In November 1915 the New York Times announced that he and his rival, Thomas Edison, would share the Nobel Prize for Physics.But the two men never received the prize.Image: A statue of Nikola Tesla in his home village of Smiljan. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.

How a Soviet agent managed to fool the British intelligence service for years.Even after he'd been identified as a spy by the Americans, Kim Philby was allowed to stay in Britain. Photo: Kim Philby (right) protesting his innocence to the media. Credit: Getty Images.

It is 45 years since a BBC TV drama changed British ideas about homelessness.The hardhitting film, directed by Ken Loach, told the story of a young woman who fell on hard times and lost her home, her husband and then her children.

On All Saints Day 1755, the Portuguese city of Lisbon was hit by a triple disaster - an earthquake, followed by a tsunami and a fire.One of the most splendid cities in Europe suffered massive damage and thousands of people were killed.The disaster also led to debate across Europe about whether earthquakes were a natural phenomenon or a message from God.Witness brings together accounts by British survivors of the earthquake, and hears from Edward Paice, author of Wrath of God - the Great Lisbon Earthquake.Image: Lisbon before the earthquake (Hulton Archive/Getty Images).