In 1984 Ethiopia suffered one of its worst ever famines. A BBC news report from the area shocked the world - and led to a huge global fundraising campaign. Witness speaks to Dawit Giorgis, who was in charge of Ethiopia's internal relief effort.

(Photo: BBC reporter Michael Buerk cradles a starving child in Ethiopia)

In October 1986, during military rule in Nigeria, the campaigning Nigerian journalist and editor, Dele Giwa, was assassinated in Lagos. He was the founder of the investigative magazine Newswatch. We hear from his friend and colleague, Kayode Soyinka, who was with him when he died.

In 1996 the play 'The Vagina Monologues' was performed for the first time. It has now played to audiences in 140 countries worldwide. We speak to playwright Eve Ensler.

Photo: Eve Ensler performing The Vagina Monologues (credit: Joan Marcus).

In 1889 a strike by London dock workers politicised the workforce in Britain and eventually led to the formation of one of the country's main political parties.

(Photo: British trade unionist John Burns addressing a group of London dockers on 7 September 1889. Credit: Rischgitz/Getty Images)

In October 1989, a series of huge demonstrations in East Germany's second city Leipzig shook the communist government to its foundations. It was the beginning of a process which would end in the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. Martin Jankowski was one of the protesters.

(Photo: Martin Jankowski, photographed by Andreas Schanze, 1990)

On 14 October 1964 Moscow announced that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was standing down. His retirement was unprecedented and although it was the result of a Kremlin coup, Khrushchev was allowed to live out the rest of his days in Moscow. His great-grandaughter, Nina Khrushcheva, tells us about her memories of the Cold War leader.

(Photo: Nikita Khrushchev with his his grandaughter, Julia, and great-grandaughter, Nina Khrushcheva (left), at Khrushchev's retirement dacha in 1971. Credit: Khrushchev family archive)

In October 1957 John Lennon and Paul McCartney performed together for the first time in The Quarrymen, which went on to become The Beatles. Rod Davis played banjo in The Quarrymen, and tells us about the origins of the most famous group in the world.

(Photo: The Quarrymen on the back of a lorry as part of a procession round Woolton Village in Liverpool, 6 July 1957. Rod Davis is far right, John Lennon is third from right. Credit: Rod Davis)

In the early 1980s talks began between Britain and China over the future of Hong Kong. The negotiations resulted in a promise of 'One country, two systems' when the territory changed hands in 1997. Hear from one of the British diplomats involved, Sir Anthony Galsworthy.

Photo: Margaret Thatcher and the Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang exchanging copies of the Hong Kong Handover agreement in 1984. Credit Associated Press.

In 1985, 89 leading scientists from around the world met in Villach, Austria, in what is seen as a turning point in the history of climate change. Their call for urgent action led to the formation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and put pressure on world leaders for a global treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

(Photo: smoke from industrial chimneys billows over St Petersburg. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

In October 1967 the Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara was captured and killed in Bolivia. Witness speaks to Felix Rodriguez, the CIA operative who helped track him down, and was one of the last people to speak to him.

(Photo: Felix Rodriguez (left) with the captured Che Guevara, shortly before his execution on 9 October 1967. Courtesy of Felix Rodriguez)