25/11/2017 Witness

Now on BBC News it's

time for Witness.

Hello and welcome to Witness with

me, Tania Beckett. I'm here at the

British Library to guide you through

another five extraordinary moments

from the recent past. We'll meet the

government official tasked with

solving one of Ethiopia's worst ever

famines. The widow of a former

Russian spy assassinated by the KGB.

And one of the showgirls from

London's Windmill Theatre. But first

we go back to the Soviet Union in

1957 and a stray dog called Lyka who

was the first animal ever to orbit

the Earth. We speak to the medical

officer's an who looked after Lyka.

The Russians sent sputnik the second

into orbit around the world with

Lyka as passenger. Months of

training, sometimes with a

companion, prepared Lyka for her

lonely journey.

TRANSLATION:

She was a very patient

dog, very affectionate, she was very

easy to train. She was considered

very clever, she had very

expressive, dark eyes. My father

wanted to take her away from the

official environment of the lab and

brought her home to run around with

us and play. In 1957, was nine and

my father was in charge of the

Soviet medical programme to send

animals into space. I remember that

very often a car would arrive from

my father's lab, it would signal,

beep, beep, a door would open and a

crowd of dogs would tumble out of

it. They were full of life. They

would run to us, start licking us.

And then a command was given. They

were well trained. They went back to

the car and were driven back to the

labs.

All dogs that were launched into

space had to wait not more than six

or seven kilograms -- had to wait.

They were all stray dogs. They had

stamina and were demanding. They

were naturally selected by their

life from the streets. In order to

study Laika's blood pressure and

monitor her pulse during the flight,

my father pulled her main artery

close to the surface of her skin. A

transmitter was then attached to the

artery. More transmitters were

attached to her ribs and neck.

Laika's elliptical orbit varies from

100 to 1000 miles above the earth's

surface where they wait for coded

radio signals which tell radio

scientists how Laika is standing up

to her lonely journey. Without

knowing it, Laika is telling man

weather in the years to come it will

be safe for him to follow her.

TRANSLATION:

It was the 40th

anniversary of the revolution in

1957 and they needed to make a push

before the festive it is. That's why

not everything could be thought

through in this white preparation.

Khrushchev was the Soviet Communist

Party leader then and he needed to

show Americans who was first.

Everyone was very concerned for like

Laika. They knew she would not

return from her journey. Scientists

then did not know how to return

living creatures from all bit back

to Earth. After ten hours, she died

because of the very high temperature

in her capsule. The system of Thermo

insulation of her capsule had not

been properly developed. In memory

of this remarkable flight, special

stamps and envelopes were produced

with Laika's image. There were also

special cigarettes and matches in

the USSR called Laika. The monument

was unveiled in Moscow in 2008.

Laika's flight show that you could

survive weightlessness and the door

was opened for man's travel into

space.

Professor Victor there talking to

Witness in Moscow. Next, in the

autumn of 1984, Ethiopia was hit by

one of the worst famines in its

history. This was the government

officer in charge of the relief

effort.

Famine was not just in Ethiopia, for

centuries people had been facing

recurring problems of famine but the

1984 famine was different because of

the magnitude of the problem. It

covered almost one third of the

population and it was complicated by

the politics of the times. The world

in the 1970s and the 1980s was a

world divided into two ideologies,

the capitalist world and the world

of the communists, headed by the

Soviet Union. What we now know of

the Cold War, Ethiopia at that time

was in the Communist camp. I was

assigned to be the chief relief and

rehabilitation commission. Everyday

there was a funeral, everyday

hundreds of people were dying. These

were my own people, I could have

been one of them. I felt the pain,

their pain. The government was

celebrating the 10th anniversary of

the revolution and our own

government wasn't even willing to

acknowledge that there was famine in

Ethiopia. They did not want to

report anything negative, ten years

of absolute success. The turning

point with this kind of tragedy

first was the footage by the BBC. My

office invited them. They claim of

course without the knowledge of the

government.

Dawn, and as the sun breaks through

the piercing chill of night on the

plane outside Korum, it lights up a

biblical famine, now in the 20th

century. This place, say workers

here, is the closest thing to hell

on Earth. 15,000 children here now

suffering, confused, lost.

They took this kind of footage to

mobilise the conscience of the

world. It did work miracles. In

London, the Minister of overseas

that the told the Prime Minister,

Margaret Thatcher, and said the

Royal air forces willing to send

aircraft full of goods but that was

a very difficult question for me

because in a country ruled by a

Marxist government, how can we allow

the Royal Air Force to come to

Ethiopia? I started talking to my

government, the government said no,

that pricked my conscience, I said

how can we be seen to be refusing

assistance when people are dying in

Ethiopia? I said go ahead, you can

take the royal air force. It was the

first Western air force that arrived

in Ethiopia. It was difficult, but

the aid came.

The Ethiopia totaliser is absolutely

staggering.

It really is marvellous

news and we can't say a big enough

thank you.

That experience has strengthened my

faith in humanity. People who just

were moved by what they saw on the

screen could respond so generously.

Band Aid became one of the most

successful fundraising campaigns in

history. He now lives in Namibia.

Now, in November, 2006, in what

seemed like a story straight from

the pages of a Cold War thriller, a

former colonel in the Russian secret

Service was murdered in London.

Alexander Litvinenko had been

poisoned with the highly radioactive

substance polonium 210. His wife,

Marina, told Witness why she thinks

her husband was targeted.

Scotland Yard is investigating the

suspected poisoning of a Russian

dissident living in Britain.

Alexander Litvinenko am once a

colonel in the Russian security

service, now he's fighting for his

life.

When I met him first time I didn't

think it's my future husband. He was

very shy, he was absolutely

different to what you usually think

about officer of security service. I

feel very safe with him. I feel

loved. Sasha's life belongs to

serving for the country. He went to

the Army when he was just 17 years

old. He joined the headquarters

exactly at the time when the Soviet

Union collapsed and his job was more

against organised crime.

The growth in crime also affects

those who have done well out of

change. A bullet-proof car with a

team of bodyguards take this top

banker to work.

It was a crazy time. People tried to

earn money in any different way.

When organised crime, people from

security service, people from

government started to co-operate

together, and this is not for better

future of this country, it's not

better for the people, it's just for

themselves.

Mr Litvinenko spent the last decade

taking on the Kremlin. He first

broke ranks with his old bosses in

1998 when he claimed he'd been

ordered to murder the Russian tycoon

or as Perez of ski.

When he told me they were going to

this press conference I was already

very very nervous and I said, are

you sure you have to do this? Sasha

said, I have no choice, we need to

be very noisy to say what we know

about this crime.

He said, Marina, you need to travel

abroad. I said why, why do I need to

go? He said you have to. The doll

might we decided to go to London.

We

asked for political asylum.

On the first of Movember he had

lunch with an Italian contact in a

Japanese restaurant in central

London. On the same day he met to

Russian contacts in a London hotel.

Hours later he began to feel ill.

He

could hardly walk. In hospital they

said can you check me for poisoning.

They looked at us like we are crazy

people, why do we need to do this?

Sasha explained, I'm a former

officer from Russia and I have very

powerful enemies.

And then I saw all his hair on his

shoulder, on his pillow, and then I

just grabbed his head and I saw all

hair in my gloves. I wash shocked.

He looked like after chemotherapy.

For somebody to have this level of

radiation, they would have to have

either eaten it, in hailed it or

taken it in through a wound. Which

of those it was we don't know.

When Sasha opened his eyes he was

looking very upset. I said don't

worry, Sasha, I'll be back tomorrow.

Suddenly he said, Marina, I love you

so much.

The system what was built in Russia

killed not only my husband, so many

people were killed, because

everything what happened in Russia

now, it's about money. He believed

his job, it's for people. Probably

why I liked this about Sasha, this

feeling, it's not only his duty,

it's his passion. Even Sasha's not

here, he's still part of me.

Marina Litvinenko and her son still

live in London. Remember, you can

watch Witness every month on the BBC

News Channel, or you can catch up on

all of our films, along with more

than 1000 radio programmes in our

online archive. Just go to:

We turn to 1964 when Windmill

theatre in London's Soho closed its

doors. It had become a national

institution because for a long time

it was one of the few places in

Britain it was possible to see naked

women on stage.

That particular blend of glamour,

sweat and Cologne. Something seedy

and yet touching and innocent...

It

was a national institution. There

was nowhere else like it. There

never can be.

Whatever it was, it

has a great story.

It was by

accident. I was walking along Archer

Street and I saw the sign saying

Windmill Theatre stage door. So I

walked in, I don't know why, and I

said to the man, can I have an

audition please? So I was sent

upstairs and I didn't get an

audition, but I was told, I like

you, I'm going to take a chance on

you. But he didn't know I was 14 at

half all. He signed the contracts

and then realised my age and told me

to go home and come back when I was

15 one half, and so I did. -- and a

half. I didn't realise it was

naughty and looking back on it I

realise it was! The Windmill was

non-stop reviewed. It was a review

theatre, with nudes. We did six

shows a day. Once you bought your

first ticket that was it, so the

audience could sit there all day.

The proudest years of the Windmill

were doing the best -- Second World

War. It allowed nothing to

interfere.

We were the only west and

theatre opened throughout the London

Blitz. Really brave girls who stood

there while the bombs landed all

around them.

The house manager came

onto the stage, stopped the show and

asked the audience if they wanted

the performance to continue. Almost

every time the answer was "yes".

One of the most important things and

the thing the audience would come to

see is the new posters at the back

of the stage. It was the obscenity

laws, you were not allowed to move

in the nude on a London stage or any

stage in the country. It was

censorship.

You can't be sexy if you

stand still.

So the Lord

Chamberlain's office, they would

come very happily. They were very

pleased to come to their shows and

say, mm, that's a bit too much. You

can't say that. What they always

tipped us off when they were on

their way. 1964. By then Soho had

changed a lot, with strip clubs.

Alan Little friend three streets

away, where we weren't allowed to

move, she could shake it all about

as much as she liked, so we lost a

lot of the audience. People perhaps

wanted to see more and they could go

to the clubs, whereas we were still

a theatre and we felt it was better

to close. Why we were still -- while

we were still respected, and not

even attempt to change. The girls

wouldn't have done it. So we closed

with our heads held high.

She later wrote a book about her

experiences at the Windmill.

Finally, in 1967, construction began

on a prestigious architectural

project in Lebanon. But the

international fare designed by a

legendary Brazilian architect Oscar

Niemeyer was never finished due to

the outbreak of the Lebanese civil

war. Another architect spoke to

Witness about the modernist

masterpiece.

Once finished I still

remember the dome, the experimental

theatre. We used to use the giant

slide and climb it to the top. It's

like an oasis, a concrete wasters.

We could see the resembling a womb,

with an unborn baby inside.

Its role

as a trading house in the Middle

East is a fair one.

In the middle of

the 20th century all of the

surrounding countries, like Syria

and Turkey and Iraq, all of them had

their equivalents. The Lebanese

government, Lebanon was living its

golden age, and they had the idea of

establishing this as a facility, and

Oscar Niemeyer was already famous

and working with many other

architects. He was participating in

many international competitions. At

that time he was a legend. The

construction didn't start until

1967. The time estimated for the

completion was almost like two to

three years maximum, and yet it

didn't complete until 1974. But yet

it was completed like 95%. We have

the -- the experimental theatre and

another one which was the exhibition

place, like a boomerang shape. One

museum which could function as a

helipad. All these buildings are

joined together with a big plate of

a reflective pool which should

contain water off like 50

centimetres depth. That requires the

construction of the water tank.

In

Lebanon, fierce fighting has been

going on in and around Beirut...

Unfortunately during 1975, we had

the start of the civil war in

Lebanon and that was the sign of

stopping everything and the fare was

abandoned for some time. All these

buildings, which were commissioned

and ready to operate, never had the

chance to operate for a single

event. The fair was the target for

all of the militias to be occupied

by the army and all of these groups.

Many stolen pieces were taken out,

the power generators, the windows. A

lot of stories about executing

people on the wall of this building.

The administration building. You can

still see the traces of the bullets

on the wall, but it wasn't confirmed

because no one had the accessibility

to check and see if it was a

military area. It was far from the

seaside, not more than 300 metres,

which is a very aggressive climate

conditions of a concrete. Despite

being neglected the decades during

the civil war and after the civil

War, these concrete structures

remained resilient for all of the

factors that should be affecting. It

was lucky to have this project in

the heart of the city, but it was

unlucky for being in Tripoli. What

is the future of these monuments?

What are the possibilities? If we

are waiting to decide, the monuments

won't make it.

That was from the

Oscar Niemeyer international fare

site, in Tripoli. That's all for

Witness this month, from the British

library in London. Join me again

next month when we bring you five

more accounts of extraordinary

moments in history. But, for now,

from me and from the rest of the

Witness team, bye-bye.