The Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp

The Calais 'Jungle' migrant camp

In 2015, Europe was in the grip of a migrant crisis, as more than one million people fled regions including the Middle East. Many set their sights on a new life in the UK. But, in order to get there, they had to cross the English Channel.

One of the most common methods was to hide aboard vehicles destined for Britain at the French port city of Calais. This led to the creation of a squalid migrant camp outside Calais, known as the "Jungle". It was populated by seven to ten thousand people at its largest.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau was head of the Port of Calais during the crisis. He speaks to Ben Henderson.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

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(Photo: Chris Patten hands over flag during Honk Kong handover ceremony. Credit: Guillaume Pinon/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

The Execution of Adolf Eichmann

The Execution of Adolf Eichmann

Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was executed just after midnight on June 1st 1962 in a prison in central Israel. Holocaust survivor Michael Goldmann-Gilead witnessed his execution and was one of two people tasked afterwards with scattering Eichmann's ashes at sea. He had been part of the police investigation collecting evidence against Eichmann before his trial, and had lost his parents and sister in the Holocaust. He has been telling Louise Hidalgo his story.Picture: Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann preparing his defence in his cell at the Teggart Fortress ahead of his trial in Jerusalem in April 1961 for crimes against humanity (Credit: Getty Images)

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The Death of General Sani Abacha

The Death of General Sani Abacha

Nigeria's military ruler, General Sani Abacha, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack on 8 June 1998. In 2015 Alex Last spoke to the general's personal doctor, Professor Sadiq Suleiman Wali. Photo: General Abacha in 1997. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

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The 1968 Belgrade Student Revolt

The 1968 Belgrade Student Revolt

In June 1968, Belgrade University was occupied by students protesting against Yugoslavia's system of 'market socialism'. The occupation lasted seven days and was supported by students in other parts of the country. Dina Newman speaks to Sonja Licht who was one of the organisers. (Photo: Sonja Licht with her fellow protester and later her husband, Milan Nikolic, at the site of the protests. Credit: Nikolic family archive)

6 Jun 20188min

The Assassinaton Attempt that Sparked a Middle East War

The Assassinaton Attempt that Sparked a Middle East War

In June 1982, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov, was shot and critically injured by a Palestinian gunman outside the Dorchester Hotel in London. The attack was the trigger for the start of the devastating war in Lebanon just days later. Simon Watts talks to Shlomo Argov's son, Gideon Argov.(Photo: Shlomo Argov. Credit: Shutterstock)

5 Jun 20188min

Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

In 1996 a young TV producer in Boston came up with the idea of a running programme to help people exercise regularly. Couch to 5K running groups now exist all over the world and it has even been endorsed by Britain's National Health Service, the NHS. Elizabeth Davies hears from Josh Clark, who invented the programme.Photo credit: Science Photo Library

4 Jun 20189min

Lyuba the Baby Mammoth

Lyuba the Baby Mammoth

In May 2007 a nomadic reindeer herdsman discovered the perfectly preserved body of a 42,000-year-old baby mammoth in Siberia. The creature, which was later named Lyuba, was 130 cm tall and weighed around 50 kilos. Anya Dorodeyko has been speaking to herdsman Yuri Khudi about his amazing find. Photo: Lyuba on display in Hong Kong in 2012. (credit: aaron tam/AFP/Getty Images)

1 Jun 20189min

Isaac Asimov and Science Fiction

Isaac Asimov and Science Fiction

In May 1942, the American Isaac Asimov published the first instalment of the Foundation series, which would go on to become one of the most popular works of science fiction ever written. Foundation asks big and hugely imaginative questions about the predictability of human behaviour in a space-age future. Simon Watts introduces excerpts from BBC archive interviews with Isaac Asimov and an early BBC dramatization of the Foundation series.PHOTO: Isaac Asimov in the 1970s (BBC)

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Free Health Care For All

Free Health Care For All

In 1948 the British government carried out an ambitious shake-up of post war society, establishing the foundations of a welfare state. A cornerstone of this new vision was the creation of the National Health Service, the NHS, providing free universal health care for everyone in the UK. Mike Lanchin has been hearing the memories of Olive Belfield, a former nurse and health visitor, and of Dr John Marks, one of the first doctors to qualify to work in the new NHS.Photo: Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, meeting a patient at Papworth Village Hospital, after the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 (Edward G Malindine/Getty Images)

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