In the 1950s, the quintessentially English singer, actor and playwright, Noel Coward, was invited to do a show in Las Vegas, which was then controlled by the Mob. At the time, Coward's career was on the decline. But against the odds, his Las Vegas show turned out to be a huge success.

Ghanaian musician E.T Mensah took Africa by storm in the 1950s with a new style of dance band Highlife music. For many, it was the soundtrack to a new, independent Africa.

The fall and rise of Maryam Mursal, who was one of the superstars of Somali music in the 1970s. Musicians were employed by Siad Barre's socialist state and were seen as crucial to nation-building. But many fell foul of the regime, and Maryam was one of them.

Photo: Maryam Mursal

Russia's first radio DJ, Seva Novgorodsev, went on air on the BBC Russian Service in 1977, at the height of the Cold War. Over the years, his pop music shows gained millions of fans throughout the Soviet Union. As Dina Newman reports, for many Russians, his name became synonymous with the BBC.

(Photo: Seva in 1990, courtesy of Seva Novgorodsev)

In 1943, the cellist, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. She expected to be killed in the gas chambers, but survived because she was recruited to play in an orchestra set up by the women prisoners. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch talks to Witness about her experience and the power of music in the darkest moments in history.

PICTURE: Anita Lasker-Wallfisch in 1938 (Private Collection).

In August 2005 a massive hurricane hit the city of New Orleans in the USA. It flooded the area resulting in widespread death and destruction. Dave Cohen was one of the few local journalists who continued to broadcast live throughout the storm.

(Photo: Rescue workers take residents to a ramp on Interstate 10 after a tidal surge from Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed a levee Monday, August 29th 2005. Credit: Douglas R. Clifford/AP)

It's sixty years since the first edition of one of the world's best-selling books was published. Compiled by the McWhirter brothers, the idea for the book arose after an argument at a shooting party in Ireland.

(Image: Norris and Ross McWhirter. Credit: Guinness World Records)

In August 1970, tens of thousands of Mexican-Americans took part in a march against the Vietnam War known as the Chicano Moratorium. The protest in Los Angeles ended in chaos as police and demonstrators fought running street battles, resulting in three deaths. Rosalio Munoz was the organiser of the Chicano Moratorium.

PHOTO: The poster for the Chicano Moratorium (Courtesy: Rosalio Munoz).

On August 21 1983, the opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, was shot dead in the Philippines.

He was killed at Manila airport, minutes after returning from exile in the US.

We hear from his brother-in-law, Ken Kashiwahara, who was with him that day.

Photo: Benigno Aquino on the plane home (courtesy of K. Kashiwahara)

In the summer of 1988 thousands of political prisoners were suddenly executed in Iran. The killings, ordered by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, were kept secret at the time. Witness hears from Chowra Makaremi, whose mother was among those put to death.

(Photo: Chowra's mother, Fatemeh, executed in 1988.Courtesy of the family)