In 1969, a cartoon about a traditional Japanese family premiered on Fuji TV.

More than 55 years later, Sazae-san still airs in its original time slot. It is set in a more patriarchal time when women stay at home and do the housework, and men go to work and like getting drunk.

Sunishi Yukimuro was one of the first writers. He tells Vicky Farncombe how young viewers watch it as a period drama and enjoy the closeness of the family.

“They get most envious when they watch the scenes where everybody gets together to have a meal,” he says. “We don’t have such scenes in current families. People eat separately these days.”

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. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Sazae-San. Credit: Hasegawa Michiko Art Museum/ AFP via Getty Images)

In 1982, Isabel Allende published her debut novel, The House of the Spirits. The characters are based on her family, and the story reflects Chile’s 20th Century history, including the 1973 military coup in which her relative, President Salvador Allende, was overthrown.

The book began as a letter to her dying grandfather, but it grew into an epic multi-generational story.

The House of the Spirits was an international bestseller and made Isabel one of the most renowned novelists in Latin America’s rich literary history. She 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. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Isabel Allende in 1986. Credit: Louis Monier/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

On 15 April 1989, there was a crowd crush at a football match in Sheffield, England, which led to the death of 97 fans.

It was the semi-final of the FA Cup between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest and the worst sporting disaster in UK history.

Rachel Naylor speaks to Jenni Hicks, whose daughters died in the disaster.

This programme contains distressing details.

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. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Tributes laid in memory of those who died at Hillsborough. Credit: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)