The daily disposable contact lens
Witness History13 Aug 2019

The daily disposable contact lens

The contact lens was once a precious and expensive piece of eyewear which had to be looked after and carefully cleaned every night. But that all changed in the 1990s. Ron Hamilton was involved in developing lenses and packaging which could be made so cheaply they could be worn just once and then thrown away. He has been speaking to Ashley Byrne.

Photo: Ron Hamilton (l) with his business partner Bill Seden (r) and their wives with their original contact lens machine. Courtesy of Ron Hamilton.

Episoder(2000)

The paedophile identified by his hands

The paedophile identified by his hands

In 2009 a paedophile was convicted with the help of a new form of identification - hand analysis. Dame Sue Black of Lancaster University explains how her team developed this tool and how criminal courts in Britain first responded to the evidence. She says vein patterns as well as scars and skin creases suggest hands may eventually be found to be as identifiable as fingerprints. Photo: Courtesy of Lancaster University

30 Aug 20199min

Nina Simone moves to Liberia

Nina Simone moves to Liberia

The great African-American jazz singer Nina Simone moved to the Liberian capital Monrovia in September 1974. Simone was famous for her vocal support for the civil rights movement in the USA as well as for songs like I'm Feeling Good, Mississippi Goddam and I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free, and she was invited to the West African republic by her friend the singer Miriam Makeba.Lucy Burns speaks to Nina Simone's friend James C Dennis Sr.Picture: Nina Simone performs on stage at Newport Jazz Festival on July 4th 1968 in Newport, Rhode Island (David Redfern/Redferns)

29 Aug 201910min

The Kindertransport children who fled the Nazis

The Kindertransport children who fled the Nazis

In the months leading up to outbreak of World War Two in September 1939, some 10,000 unaccompanied children were sent by their parents out of Germany and Austria, to safety in the UK. Many of them never saw their families again. Dame Stephanie Shirley was just five years old when she and her older sister were put on a train by their mother in Vienna. She has been telling Mike Lanchin about arriving in a foreign land as a little girl.Photo:Getty Images

28 Aug 20199min

Mexico's murdered women

Mexico's murdered women

In 1993 young women began disappearing in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez. Since then hundreds are reported to have been kidnapped and killed. Mike Lanchin has spoken to a forensic scientist who used to work in the city; and to the mother of one of the murdered girls. This programme was first broadcast in 2013.Photo: Jorge Uzon. AFP/Getty Images

27 Aug 201910min

The murder of black teenager Emmett Till

The murder of black teenager Emmett Till

Emmett Till, a black teenager from Chicago, was brutally murdered in Mississippi, in the USA.His death was one of the key events that energized the American civil rights movement. An all-white jury acquitted the two white suspects. Farhana Haider has been listening through interviews with some of Emmett's family, to tell the story of the young boy who became an icon in the struggle against racism in America.(Photo: Emmett Till lying on his bed in Chicago, in 1955. Credit: Getty Images)

26 Aug 20199min

The death of Brazil's Getulio Vargas

The death of Brazil's Getulio Vargas

In August 1954 the President of Brazil took his own life rather than quit his post. Getulio Vargas had been one of Brazil’s most influential leaders. But by 1954 the country was saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars of overseas debt and inflation was high. Worse, Vargas had been accused of involvement in the attempted assassination of a political opponent. Julian Bedford spoke to his granddaughter Celina Vargas do Amaral Peixoto. This programme was first broadcast in 2012.Photo: Getulio Vargas, 1930 (Getty Images)

23 Aug 20199min

The return of the wolf

The return of the wolf

Wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1995. It was the start of one of the most famous and controversial wildlife restoration projects in the United States. Beginning in the late 19th century wolves had been subjected to a mass extermination programme as ranchers feared the wolf was a threat to their livestock. By the mid 20th century, wolves had effectively been wiped out across the country except for a few isolated pockets in the far north. But the loss of this key predator had a profound impact on the ecosystem. Alex Last has been speaking to Doug Smith, Senior Biologist at Yellowstone National Park, and Wolf Project Leader about the return of the wolf. Photo:.A Yellowstone wolf watches biologists after being tranquilized and fitted with a radio collar during wolf collaring operations in Yellowstone National Park (William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images)

22 Aug 201912min

I helped liberate Paris from the Nazis

I helped liberate Paris from the Nazis

On August 25 1944 General Charles De Gaulle, who had been in exile in London for the majority of World War 2, finally entered Paris at the head of the Free French forces. But the French capital was far from secure. Ashley Byrne hears from Charles Pegulu de Rovin, who as an 18-year-old student fought with other resistance fighters against the Nazis in the final battle for Paris.(Photo by Pierre Jahan/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)

21 Aug 20199min

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