Witness History: Archive 2014

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Britain's Serial Murderers Jun 30, 2014

Show notes

**Warning: Some listeners might find parts of this programme disturbing** In 1994 Fred and Rosemary West were charged with a series of gruesome murders of young women and girls, committed over a twenty-year period in the south of England. Witness speaks to Leo Goatley, Rosemary West's defence lawyer.

(Photo: Composite image of victims of Fred and Rosemary West)

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Jun 27, 2014

Show notes

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was killed in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. He - and his wife Sophie - were shot by a young Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, while touring the Bosnian capital. His death was the trigger for the outbreak of World War One.

(Photo: The Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo)

The Start of Computer Dating Jun 26, 2014

Show notes

In 1965, a pioneering computer dating scheme, Operation Match, was launched in the USA.

Student Edward Reingold, one of thousands of young Americans who signed up, went on to find the love of his life.

Photo: Edward Reingold and Ruth Nothmann, who met via Operation Match, in their early days of courtship.

'Lidice Shall Die' Jun 25, 2014

Show notes

In June 1942 the village of Lidice in German-occupied Czechoslovakia was completely destroyed in retaliation for the assassination of a top ranking Nazi. Adolf Hitler was so outraged by the murder of Reinhard Heydrich that he ordered that all the men from the village be shot, the women sent to concentration camps and the children 'placed in suitable educational establishments'. In the end most of the children were gassed and the women sent to a concentration camp.

(Photo: The Skleničková family in 1931. Credit: Courtesy of Jaroslava Skleničková)

Albanian Illegal Immigrants Jun 24, 2014

Show notes

In the spring and summer of 1991 tens of thousands of Albanians commandeered cargo ships to take them to Italy. The immigrants were escaping a collapsing communist dictatorship. Robert Budina was one of the Albanians on board the Vlora, a cargo ship which had been carrying sugar from Cuba.

(Photo: Albanian immigrants on board the Vlora. Copyright: Associated Press)

1954 Burma Hijack Jun 23, 2014

Show notes

In June 1954 separatist Karen rebels in Burma hijacked a passenger plane. They wanted to use it to help arm fellow insurgents in the west of the country. Witness hears from Saw Kyaw Aye, who led the hijackers.

(Photo: Saw Kyaw Aye, now in his late 80s)

The River That Caught Fire Jun 20, 2014

Show notes

In 1969 the Cuyahoga River in the US caught fire. It became a national embarrassment and inspired new laws to protect the environment.

(Photo: Cuyahoga River. Credit: BBC)

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 Jun 19, 2014

Show notes

It has been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act passed through the United States Congress, guaranteeing new rights for African Americans and other minority communities. Paul Schuster speaks to former lobbyist Jane O'Grady, who was on Capitol Hill during the weeks of filibuster and debate.

(Photo: President Lyndon B. Johnson (right) talks to civil rights leaders in the White House. Credit: AP)

The Mysterious Life and Loves of a Russian Baroness Jun 18, 2014

Show notes

Among the mourners at the funeral of the great Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky, in 1936 was a mysterious baroness. Moura Budberg had been Gorky's lover and, before that, the lover of a British secret agent who'd been thrown into a Soviet jail. Her extraordinary life led some to call her the Russian Mata Hari. But was she really a spy?

(Photo: Baroness Moura Budberg. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Burying a Hungarian Hero Jun 17, 2014

Show notes

In 1989 the body of Imre Nagy, Prime Minister during the 1956 Hungarian uprising, was reburied in a public ceremony in Budapest. He had been executed on the orders of Moscow. It marked the beginning of the end of Communism in Hungary. Ivan Baba was master of ceremonies at the 1989 funeral.

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