Witness History: Archive 2014

What does rock megastar Rod Stewart remember most about playing to 4 million people on Copacabana beach on New Year's Eve 1994? Well... it's not nice.Photo: Rod Stewart at the BBC.

In 2004, some of the most high-profile people in Portugual went on trial on charges of sexuallly abusing boys from a children's home called Casa Pia. Six defendants were eventually found guilty, including a famous televison presenter. Simon Watts talks to Pedro Namora, a lawyer who campaigned for the Casa Pia victims.Photo: Getty Images.

In 1964 a 'pirate' radio station began broadcasting from a ship off the coast of England, in defiance of British law. Keith Skues was one of the first DJs on Radio Caroline. He tells Witness about the difficulties, and the fun, they had on board. Photo: Radio Caroline's ship Mi Amigo at anchor off East Anglia, Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images

Julia Butterfly Hill lived in an ancient redwood tree in northern California for 738 days to protect it. Her bed was a tiny platform. She speaks to Witness about the challenges and the beauty she experienced during her remarkable solo protest.(Photo: Julia Butterfly Hill in the ancient redwood tree she called Luna. Credit: AP)

In December 1944, American bandleader Glenn Miller went missing over the English Channel. Witness speaks to trombonist Nat Peck, who played in Miller's band.Photo: Nat Peck (left) with other members of the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band

In December 1961, Goa became the last part of India to break free of colonial rule. The rest of India had become independent in 1947 when the British had left - but Goa had been a Portuguese colony, and Portugal did not want to give it up. Witness speaks to Libia Lobo Sardesai, who worked on the radio station Voice of Freedom, campaigning for Goan independence.

The premiere of one of the most successful films ever made, was held in Atlanta on 15 December, 1939. A sprawling romantic epic it was set during the American Civil War. Years later some of the cast and crew spoke to veteran Hollywood reporter Barbra Paskin.(Photo: Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, the stars of Gone With the Wind. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 11 December 1997, delegates from 160 countries worked through the night in Kyoto, Japan, to agree the first international treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Some countries present did not ratify it, notably the United States. But it was the first agreement of its kind. We talk to two people who helped make it possible - a young UN intern, Joanna Depledge, and her boss, the chair of the negotiations, Raul Estrada-Oyuela.(Photo: Delegates at the opening session of the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. Credit: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1995, a frantic search was under way for a crucial 'cancer gene' called BRCA2. Scientists knew it was linked to hereditary cases of breast cancer. Professor Sir Mike Stratton was one of those racing to identify the gene. Annmarie Blomfield was one of the first women to be tested for it.(Photo: A Scientist looks through a microscope: Credit: Science Photo Library)

During the Lebanese civil war the hotel district in Beirut was turned into a battlefield. Hear from two hotel workers who worked at the luxury Holiday Inn, and who lived through what came to be known as The Battle of the Hotels.Photo: The ruins of the Holiday Inn. Credit: Getty Images

In December 1919, the first woman took her seat in the British parliament. Her name was Lady Nancy Astor and she had been born in America. Witness History listens back through the BBC archives, and talks to her grandson David Astor about his memories of her.(Photo:American-born Nancy Witcher Langhorne, or Viscountess Astor, at the declaration of the poll in Plymouth which made her Britain's first woman member of parliament. Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

Throughout much of 1967 striking workers and students filled the streets of the colony. They were inspired by the Cultural Revolution in China and wanted an end to British rule. Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, now the president of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, was then an idealistic young student. Hear his story. (Photo: Left wing workers put up Anti British posters in Hong Kong outside Government House. Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

For decades, Australia's countryside was ravaged by billions of rabbits. So in the 1950s, the government released the disease myxomatosis to kill off the rabbit plague. We hear from farmer, Bill McDonald, who remembers Australia's battle against the bunnies.(Photo: Rabbits around a waterhole at the myxomatosis trial enclosure on Wardang Island in 1938. Credit: National Archives of Australia)