Witness: Witness Archive 2015

In 1967 the best-selling Latin American novel by the Colombian, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, was first published. It was immediately acclaimed as a literary masterpiece and went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide. We hear from Gerald Martin, the writer's biographer and friend for more than twenty years.Photo: Gabriel Garcia Marquez/ AFP/Getty Images 1982

In July 2009, a group of doctors in Sri Lanka said they had overestimated the number of dead and injured in the Tamil enclave in the final days of the war. Dr Thurairajah Varatharajah was working inside the Tamil area as government forces closed in. Hear his memories of the fighting, and the bizarre press conference he was required to take part in after the killing had stopped.Picture: Injured Tamils are treated outside a hospital during the final days of the war.

In July 1985, Oleg Gordievsky, a high-ranking Soviet spy defected to the UK. He had been acting as a double agent for years, but realising he was about to be unmasked, he had to flee Russia. Hear his story.(Photo: The former KGB headquarters in Moscow)

Nigeria's military ruler, General Sani Abacha, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack in 1998. We hear from his personal doctor, Professor Sadiq Suleiman Wali. Photo: Gen. Abacha in 1997 AFP/Getty Images

In the 1930s Hitler began to rebuild Germany's armed forces. When WW1 ended Germany had been banned from having an air force under the Treaty of Versailles. Hear from Eric 'Winkle' Brown who as a very young man was invited to see the new planes and helicopters that had been developed for the Luftwaffe. He later went on to become a flying ace in Britain's RAF. Photo: September 1938: Giant bombers of the Luftwaffe leave a smoke trail as they fly over a Nuremberg rally in a show of German military might. (Photo by Max Schirner/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

In June 1975 the legendary movie about a man-eating shark was released. It would go on to become a summer blockbuster - terrifying swimmers the world over. Carl Gottlieb co-wrote the screenplay for the movie, rewriting and reworking the script all through the difficult shoot.(Photo: A Great White shark. Credit: Science Photo Library)

In June 1944 the International Red Cross was allowed by the Nazis into the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The Nazis tried to use the visit to project a positive image of their treatment of the Jews. Hear from Ela Weissberger, who was an 11-year-old prisoner in the camp.(Audio archive courtesy of The National Centre for Jewish Film at Brandeis University)(Photo: Children in Theresienstadt, taken by International Red Cross delegates, June 1944; ICRC archives (ARR)/ Rossel, Maurice)

On 1 July 1989, a group of dancers set off down a Berlin shopping street on a demonstration for 'peace, love and pancakes'. It was the first Berlin Love Parade. The parade would become one of the biggest dance music events in the world - until it ended in tragedy in 2010. Witness speaks to founder DJ Dr Motte.(Photo: Revellers line the streets at the Berlin Love Parade)

On 27 June 1880, Helen Keller was born in Alabama, US. A childhood illness left her deaf and blind, but she still learned to speak - writing a number of books, graduating from college, and meeting 12 US presidents. She became an inspiration to millions of people around the world. Witness speaks to her great-niece, Adair Faust.(Photo: Helen Adams Keller (1880-1968). Credit: Hulton Archive)

On 27 June 1975 Greenpeace activists launched their first direct action against whalers. Hear from Rex Wayler, one of the activists who tried to stop the killing of sperm whales in the North Pacific by putting himself between the harpoon ships, and the whales.(Photo: A sperm whale breaching the water. Credit: Science Photo Library)

The acclaimed American author died on 19 June 2015 - aged 90. As a young man, before he became a writer, he was a jet fighter pilot during the Korean War. Hear his memories of fighting, and flying.(Photo: James Salter. Credit: Associated Press)

In June 1948 Marshal Tito turned his back on his former ally, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. It was a dramatic turn of events in post-war Europe. Witness hears from Dragica Srzentic, now 103 years old, who delivered a letter from Tito to Moscow sealing the split between the two countries. Photo Dragica Srzentic.

On 23 June1985 a passenger plane on its way from Canada to Delhi was blown out of the sky by Sikh extremists. There were 329 people killed in the attack. Among the dead, were the two sons of Babu and Padmini Turlapati.(Photo: Babu and Padmini Turlapati in the west of Ireland, close to where the plane came down in the Atlantic)

In 1987 Diane Abbott became the first black woman elected to the British Parliament. The daughter of first generation immigrants she was one of only four black MPs. Diane Abbott has been speaking to Farhana Haider about her election and making political history in the UK.(Photo: New black MPs Diana Abbott and Bernie Grant 1988. Credit: PA )

In June 1967, the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours led to mobs attacking Jewish property and houses in several Arab capitals, and many Jews fleeing what had been their homes for generations. In the second of two programmes about the effects of the Six Day War, Witness talks to Liliana Seror, whose family were forced into hiding by anti-Jewish riots in Tripoli and who joined an exodus of Libyan Jews, bringing to an end a community that had been in Libya for more than 2,000 years.(Photo: A Libyan Jewish family; today there are no Jews left in Libya. Credit: Pedazur Benattia/JIMENA)

In the spring and summer of 1980 the Islamic hardliners in Iran shut down all the universities to drive out secular and moderate groups. The universities remained closed for more than two years. When they reopened, many students and lecturers were not allowed to return.(Photo: Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Credit: AP)

In South Africa in June 1985, the ban on marriage between people of different ethnic backgrounds was finally lifted. Suzanne Le Clerc and Protas Madlala were the first couple to tie the knot under the new rules.(Photo: Suzanne and Protas, courtesy of the family)

In June 1970 a group of mainly Jewish dissidents, and two teenage children, hatched an audacious plan to take over a small 12-seater plane in the Soviet Union and fly to freedom. Witness hears from married couple, Eduard Kutznetzov and Sylva Zalmanson, who came up with the hijack plot.Photo: Sylva Zalmanson and Eduard Kutznetzov (right) in New York following Eduard's release in a prisoner swap with the US in 1979. Courtesy of Ilya Levkov).

In June 1967 Israel and its Arab neighbours embarked on a war that within six days had changed the shape of the Middle East and whose consequences are still felt today. In the first of two programmes about the Six Day War, Witness hears from two Palestinians, Samia Khoury and Nuri Akram Nuri, about their memories of that time. Photo: Palestinian refugees in June 1967 crossing the bombed Allenby bridge between the West Bank and Jordan (Credit:Terry Fincher/Getty Images)

In June 1980, the Guyanese opposition leader and academic, Dr Walter Rodney, was killed in a bomb explosion. He was one of the leaders of a movement trying to bridge the racial divide in Guyana’s politics. His supporters said he had been assassinated on the orders of the government. We hear from his widow, Patricia Rodney, and from Wazir Mohamed who was a young activist at the time. (Photo: Walter Rodney. Credit: the Walter Rodney Family)