In October 1981, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt was assassinated as he attended a military parade in Cairo. His widow Jehan, who was there, remembers that day; and tells Witness that she always knew he would be killed for being the first Arab leader to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

Photograph: President Anwar Sadat (right) and his then deputy, Hosni Mubarak, at the military parade where moments later Sadat was gunned down by four army officers. (Credit: AFP PHOTO/AFP/GettyImages)

In 1985 government scientists discovered anti-freeze in bottles of fine Austrian wine. No one died, or fell ill from drinking the poisoned wine, but the country's reputation as a wine-producing nation was seriously dented. We hear from Heidi Schroek, a young Austrian wine-maker at the time.

(Photo: Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

Between the 16th and 19th Centuries, hundreds of thousands of Europeans were captured by pirates known as the Barbary corsairs. Many spent the rest of their lives in slavery in North Africa. We hear the account of one English boy, Thomas Pellow, who was a slave of the Moroccan Sultan, Moulay Ismail, for 23 years.

(Photo: Corsairs attack a ship off the Barbary Coast of North Africa, circa 1700. A lithograph by Collette. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In October 1985 the Hollywood superstar became the most high profile celebrity to acknowledge he was suffering from Aids. Fellow actor Angie Dickinson remembers her friend.

(Photo: Rock Hudson at the BBC)

In the autumn of 2005 a Danish newspaper published 12 images of the Prophet Muhammad. The pictures shocked local muslims, and went on to cause outrage around the world. Hear from Danish journalist Flemming Rose who published them, and Imran Shah a spokesman for the Danish Islamic Society.

(Photo: Pakistani protestors burn a Danish flag in Multan, Pakistan. Credit: AP)

In 1996 a group of veteran musicians made an album that changed the image of Cuban music for ever. Some of the artists had come out of retirement for the occasion. Laoud-player, Barbarito Torres, remembers that ground-breaking recording session in Havana and his excitement at playing on the very first Buena Vista Social Club album, which went on to sell millions of copies around the world.

(Photo: Members of the Buena Vista Social Club outside Carnegie Hall, July 1998. Credit: Donata Wenders)

Daisuke Inoue was playing in a band in Kobe Japan in 1971 when he invented the Karaoke machine. He came up with the idea for a customer who wanted to impress business clients by singing along to his favourite songs.

(Photo: Heather from Eastenders sings karaoke)

The area which had housed Afghanistan's traditional musicians for generations was destroyed during factional fighting in 1992. Ustad Ghulam Hossain, master of the rubab instrument, had to flee the city with his family. Monica Whitlock has spoken to him about the music and the traditions which have been lost in the rubble. With thanks to Mirwaiss Sidiqi.

Photo: Ghulam Hossain with his rubab.

In the 1970s, the psychedelic Czech rock band played an unexpected role in the resistance to communist rule. Their imprisonment by the authorities prompted playwright, Václav Havel, to form the human rights group, Charter 77. The organisation was at the forefront of the Velvet Revolution which led to the downfall of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

(Photo: Vratislav Brabenec (centre) and the Plastic People of the Universe in the 1970s. Credit: Redferns)

In 1966 the Belgian singer-songwriter suddenly announced on stage that he was going to stop performing. At the time, he was world famous, having sold tens of millions of records around the globe. The song Ne Me Quitte Pas was among his many hits. We hear from his daughter, France Brel.

(Photo: Jacques Brel in Paris in October 1966. Credit: AFP)