03/02/2018 Witness

lead to a rise in anti-Semitic

incidents. At half-past midnight

here on BBC News, it is time for

Witness.

Hello, welcome to Witness. I am here

at the British library to guide you

through another five extraordinary

moments from the recent passed. We

will meet the man who discovered

whales on and the daughter of one of

the most prolific land and sea

record breakers of the 20th century,

and the chemist who went to live in

the city built the sciences. But

first, in January 1958, Godtfred

Kirk Christiansen patented the Lego

brick which took the world by storm.

Lego was special at the bricks were

designed in such a way that they

could be stacked linked with each

other in countless combinations.

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen's then

ten-year-old son regularly helped

his father to test out the new toys

in the family workshop.

The village

carpenter invented them after

turning his hand to toy when they

was not enough work for him. It

developed into a huge Danish export.

My grandfather was a very happy

person. He made a lot of different

kinds of wooden toys. To him, it was

really making quality toys that were

good for children, that was why he

came up with the name, Lego. Lego

means play well in Danish. After the

Second World War, where so many

houses had been torn down and so on,

there was this feeling for people to

build up. I think the idea of the

bricks was for people to build

houses. My father and my grandfather

were both quite fascinated in the

opportunities of making something

out of plastic. It was more

considered are as a novel idea. You

had abilities to build many other

things that you could not do with

wood. In 1958, I was ten years old

and that was the year when my father

patented the Lego brick. The

original bricks were just hollow and

they could stay together if you put

them on top of each other, but they

could not... In many ways. By having

the two, now you could put them

together like this. They were so

proud of having created the system.

When I came home from school, I

often went to a workshop. We had a

few designers already from the early

60s. I think I, in a positive way, I

will be criticised quite a lot what

they did, and tried to suggest other

things for them to build. I never

practised lessons for the school,

basically. So I probably spent

three, four hours a day at least,

and I was used very much as a model

for the boxes. The local

photographer came and took pictures

of me and my sisters for the boxes.

A little plastic world is finished

and open to the public, they call at

Legoland.

My father thought that

probably if he was optimistic the

about 250,000 guest a year. We are

having about 1.9 million guest to

the Legoland every year. The idea

was to create a smaller figure that

could fit into cars and houses and

so on. The first mini figure was

just a static figure with no arms

and no lag, and I pushed for that it

has to be a figure that is more

likely also. And always with the

yellow, happy face will.

Was always

always very sensible, then it did

not conflict with any colours of

races and so on.

-- yellow was. The

concept, the Lego brick is timeless,

physical play is always something

that will be there, and I think

especially play where it stimulates

the child's imagination. Children

have this natural urge to learn and

to try out new things. If something

works, it is fine. If it doesn't

work, they will try again. There are

some skill sets we actually think

should be carried on into lifelong.

I mean, we are growing older all the

time but we don't need to grow up.

We can still be childish inside and

decide when to be serious and went

to have fun. -- when.

The man whose

father invented and patented the

Lego brick. In January 1970 two, 13

people were shot dead by British

troops during the a civil rights

march in Northern Ireland. The

events that they marked the turning

point in the conflict between

Catholic nationalist and Protestant

unionist and changed many people's

lies forever. This woman's father

was among the many people killed.

--

man. Those few hours of shooting and

killing a marked my life in a very

particular way. Normally, I don't

speak about it, I don't think about

it, because it is very, very

painful. Events of that day became

known as... My father was Patrick

Joseph Dougherty, he was 31 years of

age and he was shot dead. I was nine

years old at the time.

The marchers

numbered between 15 and 20,000, it

was a massive display of solidarity,

expressing the almost total

alienation of the people of this

part of Derry.

Our family was from

the Catholic nationalist community.

My parents went to the match on the

day of Bloody Sunday because many

young men from our community had

been imprisoned without trial. Our

preference was to be part of a

united Ireland without any rule for

Britain in the affairs of Ireland.

The unionist or problem Protestant

community in the North of Ireland

wished to remain part of the United

Kingdom. -- Protestant community.

The protests came about because

Catholics or nationalist were

second-class Evans -- citizens.

It was when the protestors came to

the top of the street, that violence

erupted. Finally, members of the

first Battalion regiment went

pouring into...

My memories of the

day was playing in the street and a

boy who would have been a friend of

mine came up and started paying with

us and after a while, he just

happened to say that your father has

been shot. Within about 20 minutes,

there were 13 people dead. I think

my father was trying to get to a

place of safety behind a wall, and

as he was heading towards the wall,

he was shot in the back. And he died

right away. He was totally Imam is,

and when he was killed, he was

posing no threat to anyone. --

unarmed. I remember being told that

your father has been shot dead by

the British Army, and I will always

remember her... Her being very

brave. In the aftermath of Bloody

Sunday, I think a whole generation

of people were politicised. So at

16, joined the in Derry, an illegal

organisation which was heavily armed

and which was established to

overthrow British Northern Ireland.

-- IRA. Me joining up was an act of

revenge. In 1981, I took part in a

bombing raid in a premises in Derry

city centre and shortly afterwards,

I was arrested and imprisoned. It

was not until almost 40 years later

that the British government finally

accepted their responsibility for

what happened on bloody Sunday.

There is no doubt, there is nothing

equivocal, there are no ambiguities,

what happened on bloody Sunday was

both unjustified and unjustifiable.

It was wrong.

For us, that was an

absolutely outstanding achievement

because we had heard the whole of

the role of Bloody Sunday at on its

head, and we had rewritten history

of.

He still lives close to where

the events of Bloody Sunday took

place. In January 1967, the

record-breaking driver Donald

Campbell died in a fatal speedboat

crash on Coniston water in the north

of England. He crashed trying to

beat his own water speed record. Our

next Witness is Donald Campbell's

daughter, Global Regina.

-- Gina.

The sake of my dad was Donald

Campbell and in the 40s, 50s and

60s, my father and my grandfather

were both the most prolific land and

water speed record breakers of the

euro. They were pie and ears. When

you had thought that a car could

then do maximum 50 miles an hour,

suddenly someone pushes that the

over 100 and then to 200, then to

300. I think it is a rollercoaster,

you break a record and everyone

comes gushing up and said fantastic,

you have broken the record. What is

your going be? It is like the mouse

in the wheel, you keep wanting to

move forward. It was my dad's job,

it is what he did. So, I was not

really aware of the magnitude of his

achievements and the dangers. I only

knew him in a child's eye. I wish I

had known him obviously a little bit

longer because I think he was a

fascinating with tremendous drive

and personality. So, I was working

in a hotel, I was summoned to a

phone call early in the morning in

January, the fourth of January,

1967. You know that feeling in your

stomach disappears somewhere down to

your knees or your feet, I knew with

some providing that this was not

good news.

Donald Campbell, the man

nearly the speed, is dead. On the

cold still waters of Lake Coniston,

45-year-old Donald Campbell was

making a record. No one can fail to

mourn the loss of this brave man.

That iconic foot each of the

Bluebird, just very gracefully

taking off from the lake and going

several 100 feet up in the air

before doing this enormous backward

slip. -- flip. And so nearly threw

360, but then crashing into the

depths of Lake Coniston and my

father obviously being killed

instantly. I remember going to

Geneva airport the following day and

sitting in the departure lounge on

my own, and I could see the

newsstand over there, that had

British newspapers, and there was

pictures of Bluebird sort of up in

the air like this and Campbell dead,

and you look at them. But it seemed

so real, I could not associate those

pictures and that moment with my

father. He got his wish, he died a

hero. He somehow, in those few

moments, immortalised himself. In

talking on his comms all the way

through what was going on. And, I am

going, I am going, I am going. I am

gone.

going, I am going, I am going. I am

gone.

Gina Campbell, remembering the

legendary father, Donald. Remember,

you can watch Witness every month on

the BBC News Channel, or you can

catch up on all of our films, along

with over a thousand radio

programmes on our online archive.

Just go to the BBC website. In 1967,

an American biologist began

listening to sounds from the ocean

that he found both spectacular and

beautiful. They were the sounds of

Wales. He released an album called

Songs of the Humpback Whale in 1970.

Roger Payne spoke to us about the

sounds that spark the imagination of

the world.

The first time I ever

went swimming with a whale that was

singing, it was an incredible

experience. It is completely

shattering. It feels like when you

get close to one that something has

put a Tens on your chest and is

shaking you until your teeth rattle.

I was wondering if I could stand it.

I wondered if it might kill me

somehow.

NEWSREEL: Where she goes.

The harpoon grenade is fired.

Back

in the 1950s and 60s, nobody, as far

as I could tell, you much of

anything about whales. There was no

whale watching industry, no safe the

Wales movement.

Usually the first

shop means death to the whale. In

the older Moby Dick days harpoons

were hand-held. The modern way is

far more humane.

A few people knew

that whales were being over hunted

and frankly whales were going

extinct. It was just a big

moneymaking proposition.

The entire

whaling industry is worth £100

million a year. Russia and Japan are

the two big whaling nations and some

of it goes to those countries for

food.

It was back in 1967 about but

I met a film who became a great

friend and he played a sounds to me

of humpback whales. It was the most

beautiful thing I had ever heard

from nature.

You might get a sound for example

that goes... MIMMICKS WHALE SOUNDS.

I was out in San Diego one-time

visiting a friend of mine and I

played him whale sounds and he was

fascinated by them and I said, I've

always wanted to make a record of

these and he said, we will make it!

And so we sat down and made a record

and we then wrote a booklet that

went with it and talked all about

whales and their plight and what was

going on and so forth.

I think it

remains the most successful natural

history recording ever made. Then,

whole bunches of people in several

countries began making organisations

to save the whales and to save the

Wales movement was born and in many

ways that was sort of the beginning

of the conservation movement. The

whales gave the whole idea of

conservation wonderful exposure.

Dr

Roger Payne is founder and president

of a whale conservation

organisation. Finally, in 1957 a

huge signs the city was built in the

middle of the Siberian forest.

Dozens of research institutes were

built and top scientists were

enticed to come and work in the

region. Victor Barron was one of the

first research chemists to move the

academic city.

A town of 25,000

inhabitants. A town where nearly

everyone is a scientist or hoping to

become one. A new town called

Academic City.

TRANSLATION: My first impression was

that of the world and, to be honest.

Every thing was different here. The

houses were right in the middle of

the forest. It was so quiet and the

air seemed so fresh.

What used to be

thought of as a wasteland has turned

out to be the Soviet Union's

greatest treasure house, a land

unbelievably rich in minerals.

Geologists thought there was no ore

here. Now the whole place seems to

be floating on it. Fields which

could be as rich as the South

African ones and gold and platinum

too.

I worked in academic city since

1962. I was a research chemist at

the institute of inorganic chemistry

and from 1963 I taught my beloved

subject, analytical chemistry at the

university. Since the times of the

tzar, people were exiled to Siberia.

That was the image of Siberia, that

wolves eight people there. Our

salary was only 10% more than the

others, the so-called Siberian

supplement. But they did give us

apartments. Separate apartments. At

that time, in the USSR, there was an

acute shortage of housing. They

didn't attract us with money, they

attracted us with available

accommodation and interesting work.

No other research laboratories are

so equipped and no where else are

the students are carefully selected

all ruthlessly examined. This is

what's called a colliding beam

accelerator, the only one of its

kind in the world, designed to hurl

particles of matter and particles of

antimatter.

Our institute of nuclear

physics is a globally recognised

research centre. Scientists have

collaborated on the construction of

a large facility in Switzerland, but

many of the inventions and

breakthroughs happened in secret

research projects for the minister

of defence. Excellent sports

facilities were created. It had a

great theatre and concert venue.

Of course the creation of Academic

City was a great achievement. The --

a new generation of scientist had

been nurtured. Most workers here are

graduates of university and what

does Russia live on today? Gas and

oil. And who found those resources?

Our Siberian scientists.

Victor

Varand, who still lives in Academic

City. And that's all from this

edition of Witness, here at the

British library. We will be back

next month to bring you more

extraordinary moments of history and

the remarkable people who witnessed

them. For now, from me and the rest

of the Witness team, goodbye.