Witness: Witness Archive 2017

The dissident poet was sentenced to 7 years in a Soviet Labour camp. She suffered from cold, malnutrition and harsh treatment, but she continued to write poems secretly. She was released on the eve of a nuclear summit between the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Irina Ratushinskaya died on July 5th 2017. She spoke to Louise Hidalgo for Witness in 2016.(Photo: Irina and her husband Igor, arriving in London in December 1986. Credit: Topfoto)

In 1993, academic Dr Alan Sked formed the UK Independence Party to campaign against Britain's membership of the European Union. The party played a vital part in the debate about Europe before and after the referendum which led to Brexit - Britain's exit from the Union.Photo: Dr Alan Sked during an early party political broadcast.

In July 1987 separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka attacked an army camp. It was the first of hundreds of suicide attacks carried by the group known as the "Black Tigers" against both military and civilian targets during the country's long running civil war. Farhana Haider hears from a former Tamil resident of Sri Lanka and from one of the only filmmakers to have spent any time with the Black Tigers.Photo: Captain Miller shrine at Nelliady, Jaffna, Sri Lanka on Black Tigers Day, 2004. Credit: Public Domain

In 2009, a metal detectorist found the largest ever hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver in a field in England. More than 3,000 pieces were recovered. Many appeared to be decorations taken from swords, as well as Christian artefacts. The hoard is believed to date back to the 7th Century when Anglo-Saxon kingdoms battled each other for supremacy in England. Alex Last has been speaking to Terry Herbert who found the treasure and archaeologist Dr Kevin Leahy who examined the hoard. Photo: Just some of the treasures from The Staffordshire Hoard (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

In the summer of 1986 in an effort to promote 'Glasnost' or openness, Soviet women were linked up with American women via satellite for a TV debate. But the dialogue would be remembered above all for the moment when a Russian woman stated "We have no sex in the USSR". Dina Newman has tracked down the woman who blurted that out, and Vladimir Posner the talk show host in the studio at the time.Photo: Soviet women in the Leningrad TV studio, with Vladimir Posner standing in the background. Courtesy of Ludmilla Ivanova.

In 2002 Steve Fossett succeeded in flying solo around the world in a hot air balloon. He touched down in Australia on the 4th of July. Ashley Byrne has been speaking to his chief engineer and project manager, Tim Cole, about the man and his record-breaking journey.Photo: Steve Fossett on an earlier balloon trip. Credit: BBC.

In July 1947 members of the US military reported finding unidentifiable debris in the desert of New Mexico. The only explanation seemed to be that it had come from outer space. Major Jesse Marcel was one of the men who came across the material. In 2010, his son, Jesse Marcel Junior talked to Ed Butler for Witness about the so-called 'Roswell Incident'.Photo: Major Jesse Marcel with some of the debris in July 1947. Credit: Alamy

In 1992 Disney opened its first theme park in Europe. But it had taken years of delicate negotiations and diplomacy get it off the ground. In 2013 Rebecca Kesby spoke to Robert Fitzpatrick who had the job of bringing the magic of Mickey Mouse to France.Photo: Celebrations during the 25th anniversary of Disneyland Paris at the park in Marne-la-Vallee in April 2017. Credit: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

A dispute between Israel and Egypt over a tiny strip of beach on the Red Sea soured relations between the two countries for years. Israel captured Taba on the Sinai Peninsula during the Six Day War, but refused to return it until 1989 when the Egyptians bought the luxury hotel and beach-hut village that Israeli developers had built on it. Louise Hidalgo talks to former US judge Abraham Sofaer who helped negotiate the deal.Picture: Egyptian soldiers present arms as Israel returns control of Taba to Egypt after 22 years; in the background is the five-star hotel that an Israeli developer built at the resort (Credit: Maggi Ayalon/GPO via Getty Images)

In July 1972 Tony and Maureen Wheeler set off on the holiday of a lifetime travelling from London to Sydney in Australia . The book they wrote when they returned was the first Lonely Planet travel guide. The series helped thousands of young travellers to make their way around the world on a budget. Farhana Haider has been talking to co-founder Tony Wheeler. (Photo: Maureen and Tony Wheeler. Credit: Lonely Planet)

In the 1960s and 70s, thousands of westerners travelled to India and Nepal by overland bus. They were searching for adventure, enlightenment and cheap hashish. Simon Watts talks to Richard Gregory, who did the Hippie Trail in 1974.PHOTO: Richard Gregory in Kabul in 1974 (Private Collection)

In 1955 a small Icelandic airline called Loftleioir Icelandic slashed the cost of flying across the Atlantic. For the first time thousands of young Americans were able to afford air travel to Europe on what became known as the 'Hippie Express.' Mike Lanchin speaks to Edda Helgason, whose father Sigurdur Helgason, launched the ambitious scheme, and to Hans Indridason, who ran the company's sales and marketing department at the time. Photo: An Icelandic Airlines advertisement from May 1973, in New York's Fifth Avenue (US National Archives)

In 1937 Italian forces occupying the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa began a three day campaign of killings which left thousands of Ethiopian civilians dead. Alex Last has been speaking to Ambassador Imru Zelleke, who witnessed the massacre as a child. The violence began after a grenade attack wounded Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, the man appointed by Mussolini to govern Ethiopia. Italian forces had invaded the country in 1935 as Mussolini tried to expand Italian colonial territories in East Africa. Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, then called Abyssinia, was forced into exile. Ethiopia was a member of the League of Nations, but despite appeals, Western powers refused to intervene to stop the Italian invasion. The massacre is known in Ethiopia by it's date in the Ethiopian calender,Yekatit 12. Photo: The arrival of an Italian official in Italian-occupied Addis Ababa. The slogan on the banner reads: 'To whom does the empire belong? Duce! Duce! To ourselves!' (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In June 1982 a young Chinese-American engineer was murdered with a baseball bat by two white men in the US city of Detroit. The lenient sentences the perpetrators received sparked an Asian-American activist movement with protests across the US. At the time America was going through an economic depression and many were blaming Japan which was perceived to be flooding the US with its cars. For Asian-Americans it was a time of fear. Farhana Haider has been speaking to Helen Zia, one of the activists leading the fight for justice.(Photo: Helen Zia addressing a 10th anniversary commemoration event New York City, 1992. Credit: Helen Zia)

In 1950, tens of thousands of Christians in South Korea were beaten, killed or forcibly taken to the north by the invading North Korean communist army. Dina Newman has been speaking to Peter Chang, who came from a family of Salvation Army officers in Seoul and had to flee the North Korean advance. Photo: Fifth US air force of the UN forces bomb a train bridge over the river Han south of Seoul during the Korean War on July 11, 1950. AFP/Getty Images

In 1995 Tokyo University staged the first public exhibition to feature human corpses that had been preserved through the process of plastination using silicone. The process was developed by the German anatomist, Gunther Von Hagens - but it was Professor Takeshi Yoro of Japan who first suggested they should be put on public display. He speaks to Rebecca Kesby for Witness. (Photo: Base-ball player at the Body Worlds exhibition of real human bodies, San Diego, California, 2009. Credit: Gabriel Bouys/AFP)

On 19th June 1982, the body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi was found hanging beneath a bridge in London. It was the latest twist in a drama that had gripped Italy for more than a year involving a mysterious masonic lodge, whose members included many of the most powerful men in Italy, and which stretched all the way to the mafia and to the Catholic church. Louise Hidalgo has been talking to retired magistrate Giuliano Turone who helped discover this secret state-within-a-state, and to journalist Leo Sisti who reported on it.Picture: Robert Calvi, head of Banco Ambrosiano, who was convicted of fraud but released on appeal shortly before his death (Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

On 17 June 1940, a packed British troopship was sunk off the coast of France by German bombers. The ship had just picked up thousands of British military personnel left behind in France after the evacuation of the army at Dunkirk. It's believed around 5,000 people lost their lives. It was one of the worst maritime disasters in British history and news of the sinking was initially supressed in Britain. Alex Last spoke to 99-year-old Ernest Beesley, a sapper in the Royal Engineers, who is among the last survivors of the Lancastria. Photo: The Lancastria after being hit by German bombers off the coast of France in 1940 (Lancastria Association of Scotland)

Hundreds of thousands of Algeria's indigenous people, the Berbers, marched to the capital Algiers in June 2001 for a massive demonstration demanding more rights. In particular, they wanted official recognition for the Berber language, Tamazight. Zeinab Dabaa has spoken to Berber activist Rasheed Alwash about the demonstration.Photo: Berber youths, who walked from their village in Kabylia region to take part in the rally in the capital Algiers. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

In June 1982 an attempt to amend the US constitution to guarantee equal rights for men and women was defeated. Despite two decades of women's liberation activism and a huge groundswell of political support, the amendment was prevented from going through. The defeat was in large part down to one woman, staunch Republican and leading conservative, Phyllis Schlafly. Claire Bowes has been listening to archive recordings of Mrs Schlafly, held by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential library.PHOTO: American political activist Phyllis Schlafly smiles from behind a pair of podium mounted microphones, 1982. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)