Millions of people were sent to brutal labour camps in the Soviet Union during the communist rule of Joseph Stalin. Over a million prisoners died of disease, starvation, or exhaustion. Leonid Finkelstein was imprisoned in the Gulag camps for five-and-a-half years, but survived. He recounts the appalling conditions of Stalin's forced labour camps.

(Image: A watch tower and barbed wire perimeter of a Gulag. Credit: Igor Mikhalev FPG Getty Images)

In June 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed for the bombing of a federal government building.in Oklahoma City in 1995 which killed 168 people. It remains the deadliest domestic-based terrorist attack in American history. We speak to Dan Herbeck, co-author of American Terrorist, who interviewed McVeigh.

(Image: Timothy McVeigh)

It is twelve years since the Crown Prince of Nepal killed both his parents and other members of his family in a shooting at the royal palace. Lucy Burns spoke to his cousin, who survived the massacre.

(Image: Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, Crown Prince of Nepal. Credit: AP/Binod Joshi

In 1953, the young Queen Elizabeth the Second was crowned at Westminster Abbey. Two of her Maids of Honour share their memories of Coronation Day for Witness.

This programme was first broadcast in 2013.

PHOTO: Press Association.

Eighty years ago, new US president Franklin Roosevelt promised to spend his first 100 days in office rescuing America from the Great Depression with one of the biggest public spending projects in history - the New Deal.

Image Credit: AP

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay became the first men to conquer the world's highest mountain. Witness brings together archive recordings of members of the British-led expedition.

PHOTO: Tensing and Hillary at Everest Base Camp in 1953 (Associated Press)

In May 1913, the premiere of a new ballet by Igor Stravinsky caused a riot on its opening night in Paris.

With the help of the BBC's archives, George Arney tells the story of one of the most shocking productions in cultural history.

PHOTO: The Finnish National Ballet staging a reenactment of Stravinsky's original production. (AP)

The life of the flamboyant pianist and entertainer, Liberace, has just been immortalised in a new US TV movie starring Michael Douglas. For Witness, Vincent Dowd speaks to the film-maker, Tony Palmer, who knew Liberace well.

PHOTO: BBC

In 2000, Israel caught the world by surprise when virtually overnight it withdrew from the territory it controlled in southern Lebanon. A senior United Nations official recalls the chaotic last 24 hours of Israel's presence on land it had occupied for nearly two decades.

(Image: Lebanese celebrating Israel's withdrawal. Credit: Associated Press)

In May 1963, leaders of 32 newly-independent African nations came together for the first time in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. At stake was the dream of a united Africa.

(Image: African leaders in Africa Hall, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on May 25, 1963. Credit: AP)