Max Pearson presents a collection of this week’s Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.
This week, the bird that defied extinction. In 1969, a Peruvian farmer Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century.
The American author and conservationist Michelle Nijhuis is this week's guest. She talks about some of the most interesting attempts in modern history to save animals on the brink of extinction.
Also this week, the world's first solar powered home, when Tanzania adopted Swahili and when the world went crazy for Cabbage Patch Kids.
Contributors: Rafael Del Solar - son of conservationist Gustavo Del Solar Michelle Nijhuis - author and conservationist Meredith Ludwig - friend of Cabbage Patch Kids creator Martha Nelson Thomas Peter Baxter and George Kling - scientists Walter Bgoya - author in Tanzania Andrew Nemethy - lived in the world's first solar powered house
(Photo: A whooping crane. Credit: Getty Images)
Tsunamis and Caster Semenya
Mandela's funeral and Tsar's reburial
Doom and Danish brains
Zambia celebrates independence and the invention of bubble tea
The Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in Iceland and EpiPen invention
Pakistani popstars, and the hippo and the tortoise
Che Guevara's daughter and marrying Freddie Mercury
Gezi Park protests and MAD hijack
Osmondmania! and the launch of Lagos Fashion Week
The creation of Ghana's flag and the oldest person at primary school
Marking 50 years since the 1973 global oil crisis
The Lampedusa disaster and cat cafes
Nazi eugenics and the year of the vuvuzela
Israeli and Palestinian history
The Chilean coup and Zanzibar’s most famous singer
Historic Korean summit and goat island
Ireland's 'ghost estates' and the first Rose of Tralee
Judy Garland's legacy and the Benin Bronzes
Presidential diamonds and Tupperware parties
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