Writer PL Travers created a children's classic when she invented a magical nanny.

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Witness History
The Woman Who Wrote Mary Poppins
Writer PL Travers created a children's classic when she invented a magical nanny.
9 mins
Witness History
Stopping The 'Shoe Bomber'
How a passenger helped subdue shoe-bomber Richard Reid on an American Airlines flight.
9 mins
Witness History
Scotland's Stone of Destiny
On Christmas Eve 1950 four students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey
9 mins
Witness History
UFO Sightings: The Rendlesham Forest Incident
At Christmas 1980 strange objects and lights were seen over a military base in England.
9 mins
Witness History
The Soviet Afghan War Begins
The world held its breath in December 1979 as Soviet troops poured into Afghanistan
9 mins
Witness History
Trautonium: A Revolution in Electronic Music
Meet the trautonium, the early electronic instrument promoted by the Nazis.
9 mins
Witness History
When Animals Go To War
In December 1943, a British charity created gallantry medals for animals serving in war.
9 mins
Witness History
Rebels Rout The Army In El Salvador
The storming of the El Paraiso base by Marxist rebels in December 1983.
9 mins
Witness History
Brazil's Marijuana Summer
In 1987 thousands of tin cans full of marijuana washed up on the beaches in Rio.
9 mins
Witness History
Barbara Cartland - Queen of Romance
The romantic fiction writer is thought to have sold hundreds of millions of books
9 mins
Witness History
Ceausescu's 'House of the People'
The vast building that symbolised the excesses of Romania's brutal former dictator
9 mins
Witness History
Vikings in North America
The Canadian discovery that proved Vikings had crossed the Atlantic 1000 years ago
9 mins
Witness History
The Doomsday Seed Vault
In 2008, the first global seed vault was opened to safeguard the world's crops
9 mins
Witness History
Fidel Castro Takes Havana
The end of the US-backed dictator and the start of communist rule in Cuba in January 1959
9 mins
Witness History
When Stalin Rounded Up Soviet Doctors
Hundreds of Soviet doctors were imprisoned or shot in the last year of Stalin's rule.
9 mins
Witness History
Diary of Life in a Favela
The poor black single mother who stunned Brazil with a book about her life in 1960.
9 mins
Witness History
'Fat is a Feminist Issue'
Susie Orbach's book led people to rethink body-image from a feminist perspective
9 mins
Witness History
Judy Garland's Final Shows
The world famous singer's final performances were in London in January 1969
9 mins
Witness History
Mexico's Miracle Water
Thousands of people flocked to the village of Tlacote hoping to be cured by magical water
9 mins
Witness History
Strikers In Saris
South Asian women led a strike against poor working conditions in a British factory.
9 mins
Witness History
The Thames Whale
In January 2006, millions of Londoners were entranced by the appearance of a whale.
9 mins
Witness History
The Case of Dr Crippen
How one of the most notorious murderers in Edwardian London was captured
9 mins
Witness History
India's First Call Centre
In the late 1990s a businessman started a new industry in India
9 mins
Witness History
The Carry On Films
The British comic film franchise which found fans around the world
9 mins
Witness History
Women and the Iranian Revolution
In 1979, the Islamic Revolution changed Iranian women's lives forever.
9 mins
Witness History
The Execution of Habib Elghanian
The shooting of a prominent Jewish businessman in post-revolution Iran on 9 May 1979
9 mins
Witness History
Iran Hostage Crisis - The Canadian Story
In November 1979, Iranian revolutionaries stormed the US embassy in Tehran.
9 mins
Witness History
The Iran Hostage Rescue Mission
On 24 April 1980, the US launched a disastrous attempt to free its hostages in Iran
9 mins
Witness History
Iran's Cultural Revolution
How Iran's Islamic hardliners shut down universities to drive out secular groups
9 mins
Witness History
Anti-Shah Demonstrations in Iran
Millions of people took to the streets of Iran's main cities in December 1978.
9 mins
Witness History
Revolution in Iran
The first week of February 1979 saw a revolution unfolding in Iran
9 mins
Witness History
Musicians of the Iranian Revolution
In 1978, Iran's top musicians took a stand against the Monarchy
9 mins
Witness History
American citizens taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran
US citizen Barry Rosen was held hostage for 444 days at the US Embassy in Tehran.
9 mins
Witness History
Vatican II: Reforming the Catholic Church
Pope John XXIII wanted to modernise the Catholic Church, reforms took place in the 1960s.
9 mins
Witness History
The Beatles' Last Gig
In 1969, the Beatles played together in public for the last time, on a London rooftop.
9 mins
Witness History
The Publisher Who Tried to Change the World
Virago Press opened as a feminist publisher in 1972 to promote women's writing
9 mins
Witness History
Musicians of the Iranian Revolution
How Iran's state employed musicians started recording revolutionary songs.
9 mins
Witness History
Ayatollah Khomeini Returns From Exile
In February 1979 an Islamic revolution began when Iran's exiled religious leader returned
9 mins
Witness History
Iran Hostage Crisis
Barry Rosen was one of the Americans held hostage for 444 days in Tehran.
9 mins
Witness History
Iran Hostage Rescue Mission
The US sent special forces to try to rescue hostages from their Embassy in Tehran in 1980
9 mins
Witness History
Women and the Iranian Revolution
Many women supported Iran's 1979 Revolution but some later became disillusioned
9 mins
Witness History
The Death of Hitler
A first-hand account of Hitler from one of his secretaries who was there at the very end
9 mins
Witness History
The Capture of Che Guevara
How the Marxist revolutionary was captured and killed in Bolivia.
9 mins
Witness History
The Soweto Uprising
A former schoolgirl remembers the demonstration that sparked an uprising in South Africa.
9 mins
Witness History
Disney Goes to Europe
The first Disney theme park in Europe took years of negotiations to get off the ground.
9 mins
Witness History
The Bombardment of Baghdad
The people of Baghdad faced death when the US and its allies began their invasion of Iraq
9 mins
Witness History
Iceland Jails Its Bankers
The man who jailed 40 top bankers in Iceland after the 2008 global credit crunch
9 mins
Witness History
Women Airline Pilots
Two of the first female airline pilots in the US remember their struggle
9 mins
Witness History
British Cameroons' historic referendum
The 1961 vote lies at the heart of the violent conflict in Cameroon's Anglophone region
9 mins
Witness History
Confessions of a Soviet alcoholic
How a homeless Russian drunk wrote a secret classic
9 mins
Witness History
Maastricht: The birth of the European Union
In 1992 European ministers signed a treaty towards greater economic and political unity.
9 mins
Witness History
The true story of Roma
The student massacre in México portrayed in Alfonso Cuarón's award-winning movie.
9 mins
Radio 1's Screen Time
Reviewed: The Kid Who Would Be King & Instant Family
Ali and Ace chat about the latest movie news, reviews and extra behind-the-screens fun.
33 mins
Radio 1's Screen Time
Emily Blunt Interview Special: Movies That Made Me
Emily chats about her movies, from Edge of Tomorrow to The Girl On The Train.
24 mins
And the Academy Award Goes To...
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Bring on the Orcs! New Zealand would never be the same again.
28 mins
Frankly Speaking
Baroness Summerskill
The conservationist, ornithologist and painter answers the questions.
30 mins
Sound and Vision
Carol Morley
Miranda Sawyer interviews film director Carol Morley
60 mins

Witness History

The Woman Who Wrote Mary Poppins

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And the Academy Award Goes To...

Frankly Speaking

Sound and Vision