hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. this is bbc news, i'm shaun ley. the headlines... the headlines at four... and the defrost into east anglia and the south—east in particular. a cold theresa may arrives at a summit theresa may arrives at a summit start to the day. four gradually clearing from yorkshire and in egypt with a promise that mps in egypt with a promise that mps will be able to have another say north—east england in the morning, will be able to have another say on her brexit deal by on her brexit deal by rain moving away from the north of march 12th — ruling out march 12th, ruling out mainland scotland across the a meaningful vote this week. a meaningful vote this week. northern isles. a sunny day northern we want to leave the european union we want to leave the european union on the 29th of march with a deal. ireland, plenty of sunshine across on the 29th of march with a deal. much of the uk with light winds, and that is what we are working for, we have made good progress, that is what we are working for, the temperature is bouncing back constructive discussions with the european union, after the chilly start and the warm and we will be continuing that work we have good progress, constructive spot is reaching into the high so we can leave on the 29th of march that is what we are working teens, and more of the same on and leave with a deal. for, we have had good progress, constructive tuesday. goodbye. discussions with the european union, labour's deputy leader tom watson and we will be continuing that work sasteremy corbyn must take a "personal lead" over claims so we can leave on the 29th of march and leave with a deal. of anti—semitism in the party. labour's deputy leader tom watson pope francis promises concrete warns jeremy corbyn he has to act urgently if the party action to tackle child sex abuse is to stay together. there is almost a sort of crisis at the end of a vatican for the soul of the labour party now and that means that anyone who cares summit on paedophilia. about our future, whatever venezuela's opposition leader calls tradition they represent, on the international community have to find it within themselves to work more closely together to consider "all measures" to oust president nicolas maduro and that is as big a challenge forjeremy as it is for me. after several people are killed in border clashes. leicester city part company with their manager claude puel after only sixteen months in charge.

now on bbc news, the first black woman to become a headteacher in london, and the story of the south asian women who galvanised britain's trade union movement in the 1970s. in the run up to international women s day, a special edition of witness history. you may find some of the historical images shown disturbing. hello, and welcome to witness history, with me, razia iqbal, here at the royal academy in london. today, to celebrate international women's day, we present five extraordinary moments from the recent past, as told to us by women who were there. this month, we are featuring some remarkable women. we meet carmen callil, who founded the feminist publishing house, virago press, in the 1970s. we are going back to the 60s to talk to the first female black

head teacher in britain. we will find out about joseph stalin's final purge, the so—called "doctors‘ plot", as experienced by a young girl whose parents were arrested in moscow. and we will head to south africa to speak to a judge who served on the truth and reconciliation commission, which helped south africa move on from the horrors of apartheid. but first, london and a story about the strikers in saris, a group of south asian women employed in the grunwick film processing factory. because of the terrible working conditions there, they decided to take a stand for workers‘ rights, and their action captured the imagination of many other trade unionists. archive: for asian housewife, mrs jayaben desai, her 220th day on the picket line was marked by a presentation. a presentation on behalf of the north west london usdaw shopworkers union to mrs desai, who is the treasurer of the strike committee.

thank you very much, madam, for coming along. translation: jayaben desai was a very strong woman. she had made up of mind to bring the union into the factory, because our women were treated badly. we believe that, if women have so many rights in this country, then why can't we have them too? grunwick relied upon the new influx of asians from east africa to supply its workforce. commonly thought passive and hard—working, the tables were about to turn. in the grunwick factory there was a big classroom where the manager used to sit. he would observe us

all from that room. he would keep an eye on us. if you were going to the toilet and it took too long, then he would ask why? what were you up to? there is no doubt... the unlikely leader of the grunwick strike, jayaben desai, would challenge the stereotype of the submissive asian woman. i was on the picket line from the first day. we ladies came out with mrs desai. reporter: how long will you stay here ? unless, when we finish this dispute. a year? any time. five years? ten years. unions from across england supported us. all the unions were

there with big banners. there were a lot of policemen, you could see them all over the street, and in the middle of them was jayaben. in spite of mass support, the strike committee found its power to act evermore circumscribed. two years after it had begun, the strike was called off. jayaben desai was not upset with the defeat at all. we felt that asian women in england had fought for two years for the union. and we were proud of that fact. the reason what we were fighting, we have achieved.

the treatment with the staff has already changed. it is a great victory. the wages were increased after that. don't you think it is a victory? i am so proud of myself, that we fought for our right. that we fought for our rights. laxmiben patel remembering the grunwick strike, which inspired widespread trade union support. now, at a similar time, in a different part of london a young black woman is making history by becoming the first female, black head teacher in the united kingdom but, despite the positive spin from the media at the time, yvonne connolly suffered racist abuse when her appointment was announced. archive: there is no colour problem at ring cross infants school.

mrs yvonne connolly has to be thanked for that. but there is an awful lot of love, most of it for her. she is london's first west indian head teacher and what a hit she is with the kids, all 200 of them. i'm yvonne, i'm yvonne connolly. i was one of the first black head teachers in inner london, in 1969. i had done three years of teacher training injamaica so i thought i'll come to britain. i came in august, 1963, a grey, grey day. i wondered what i had done. i had planned to be here for three years but three years led to four years. i was very aware that there were racial tensions in quite a number of schools.

i would turn up and somebody wouldjust, um, isuppose without meaning to, say, "but you are black!" of course, my reply was, "yes, i am but i'm also a teacher." so there were small, silly things, nothing changed the us but enough so there were small, silly things, nothing dangerous but enough to cause discomfort. after six years, i applied for a headship, and ijust wanted to see what interviews at this level might be and i was absolutely amazed when my name was called, you know, mrs connolly. the newspapers picked this up the next day and the school was inundated by quite a number ofjournalists who came to take photographs. archive: since she took over the headship of the school a few weeks ago, she has brought a new vitality to it. her children, from many parts of the world, mix happily, unaware of prejudice.

when i was appointed, somebody threatened to burn the school down. i had newspaper articles were actually sent to me, with crossing out my photograph with actually nasty comments. "go back to jamaica". i also had letters from, interestingly enough, members of the black community, who felt that i had "sold out" to the white establishment. and they reminded me, these letters reminded me in no mean terms that i was here only for the black children. the racism was coming, both from the white side and from the black side. i had responsibility for all the children in my school, regardless of race or religion.

in fact, the differences were less than the commonalities that we shared, and therefore one had to get on with it. happily, the parents were only interested in whether their children would get a good education, and that certainly was my focus. i felt that i had a job to do in britain, and i am happy having been here now for 56 years. the inspiring yvonne connolly. in the early 1970s, carmen callil realized that female authors were hugely underrepresented in publishing. this injustice spurred her to create virago press, to promote women's writing. launched in 1973, it would go on to publish some of the most famous writers of the modern age. she tells a story of how it all began.

i always wanted to change the world. i didn't think the world was good enough. archive: the virago press is entirely staffed by women. when it was founded, it proudly announced itself in every book as a feminist publishing house. somebody later said to me that i put women at the centre of the stage — that was the thing — instead of men being always the centre of the stage, i just looked at women's writing and saw the world through their eyes. i did not think the way women lived was good enough. the expectations for somebody like me was just to have tea parties and get married, you know. and i knew perfectly well ijust simply could not do any of that. i was also working always for men, you see. and i was very struck by how much more idle they were than i was. that was still the days when they had secretaries, you see. i can't tell you how much my bottom and my knees and everything were pinched and...

we are not fragile little things... by the end of the 60s, the women's movement had come over from america and, of course, i was very influenced by the young women who were absorbing it all and took it up and i said absolutely, so agree with that! i don't know how i came across virago but, i think i was drunk at the time. reporter: yes, the heroic woman? yes, the heroic woman and also the fact that i do think occasionally women should be loudmouthed and arrogant. i started the company and took up the name and staff in 1972, and the first book was published in 1975. it took some time to get the list together.

writers had to write the books. archive: mary chamberlain was first author to be commissioned by virago. her contemporary account of the women of a fen village was written when she was barely known. women should tell their own stories. it was the story of women's lives not men's lives. it was not the first world war and the trenches, it was raising children, and being married, and working on the land or wherever and being poor in a cambridgeshire village. archive: virago's book are meant to celebrate what women have done in the past, to illuminate the difficulties they still face, and to encourage them to get together to change society in the future. we had to change the world through our concept of how women's lives should be presented. that was my important thing. archive: this year they will be putting out 85 titles and they'll have a turnover in excess of £1 million, which is a clear indication that something was missing in the world of books

and that they supplied it. the world loves a story. you change people's lives through telling stories and, once we started publishing the novel, they started to buy the non—fiction too, because they trusted the imprint. the stories that we published were writers like antonia white, rosamond lehman, margaret atwood, and women and men scooped them up because they would talk to them about their own lives. carmen callil on the founding of the feminist publishing house virago. remember, you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on all our films along with more than a thousand radio programmes in our online archive —

just go to: that night i was alone, and then there was a very loud knock at the door. i opened the door and there was a crowd, a big crowd of men. i decided that there were burglars, that they came to take our feet, and then there was a telephone call. ——

food. 0ne then there was a telephone call. —— food. one of them grab that me, screamed at me, talk, talk, and it was too much for me. my parents came home. i did not see it because i was unconscious for several hours. they took my father away. both my parents we re took my father away. both my parents were medical scientists. it was actually the last year of stalin's life, when he became extremely paranoid. he arrested all major doctors in the kremlin hospital. they were accused of spying for england, for israel, for america. and deliberately killing high—level communist party members. major

targets were jewish communist party members. major targets werejewish doctors. you could not turn on the radio. the moment you turn it on, you hear about these jewish killer doctors, scum on earth, people that sold their soul to nato. my father was accused of spying for england. translation: rumours were spreading about the sort of punishment that would be meted out. there were threats of hangings on red square. but he refused to sign false accusations. he was kept in manacles and many, many days and nights without sleeping. if you sign the full confession, it would have been his death sentence.

march the 5th, 1953, stalin died. and the situation of the doctors in prison changed immediately. and the situation of the doctors in prison changed immediatelylj remember prison changed immediately.” remember the marvellous evening when i was suddenly cold to go downstairs. i was taken in a prison van to the lib yankee to see a general, and he told me, you are free. you have been totally rehabilitated and can go home. that was really a big celebration in our house. the time of stalin's death. it was stalin's death, and for us, it was a rebirth of my father. i think, iam it was a rebirth of my father. i think, i am sure, that the doctors'

plot accelerated stalin's death, because he did not have doctors to help him, all of them were arrested, and no one was at hand to help him. natasha on stalin's doctors plot. for the finalfilm we natasha on stalin's doctors plot. for the final film we had to south africa when apartheid was abolished in the 1990s. south africans had to find a way to confront their past without endangering the chance for peace. this person served on the amnesty committee of the truth and reconciliation committee and she worked to expose the truth about apartheid. we are charged to unearth the truth about our dark past, to lay the ghost of that past, so that they will not return to haunt us. south africans face a collective test today, and the reaction to these hearings will show whether they are able to expose the sins of apartheid yet free themselves of the

desire for revenge against those who propped up the system. the act allowed amnesty only if the perpetrator confessed to having committed the crime.” perpetrator confessed to having committed the crime. i did terrible things, idid committed the crime. i did terrible things, i did terrible things to members of the anc.” things, i did terrible things to members of the anc. i grew up in soweto. it was rampant with security police. you people, get out very quickly. the army presence built up on streets that began to look like battle grounds. it felt like hell. parents watch tear smoke from their children's eyes. being in the city required a special permit if you we re required a special permit if you were a black person. absolutely no freedom of movement. i had also suffered as an activist by being shot in the light by the police while attending the funeral of a fellow student. —— leg. it was at

the graveyard where the police again started shooting. i survived. others we re started shooting. i survived. others were killed on the spot. it is a scar which is a constant reminder of where i come from. i knew the harshness of the system first hand. yet as a member of the amnesty committee, i had to decide that these people had to be granted amnesty. not because they were apologetic, but merely because they disclose the truth. that was really difficult. did you then should that person? yes, that is correct. people would cry, just by listening to the explanation that was given of how

people were tortured, people were killed. what kind of man uses a method like this one on other human beings? there were occasions when people who applied for amnesty did say sorry. those were few and far in between, but it was extraordinarily difficult for me when people did not even ca re difficult for me when people did not even care to apologise. translation: there was no other way other than to eliminate these people. these hearings provide a forum for those who have been treated in the past as if they were rubbish. archbishop desmond tutu was the start of the truth commission. without his leadership, the commission would not

have been able to obtain its objective. —— the star. i think the process ensured that people were not vengeful, that there was proper public acknowledgement and recognition of those who had suffered. we are asking from you, please forgive us. going through a process of coming out of her grief, we are still doing that, but i wake up we are still doing that, but i wake up every morning and i am grateful that i am a south african. that is all from an all—female edition this month, to celebrate international women's day. we will be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history. for now, from me and the rest of the team, goodbye.

hello. a few days ago it was the turn of scotland to register its highest temperature it has ever recorded in the month of february, 18 degrees, and it looks like wales has done it today. this is a view from north—west wales earlier. a bit further south, we exceeded 19 sources according to the met office for the highest temperature wales has recorded in february. temperatures over the next few days will reach into the high teens in the warm spots. tonight it will be chilly after the warranty across much of england and wales. fog forming through parts of yorkshire in north—east england, dense in places going into the morning.

england and wales will see the lowest temperatures, minus for in parts of east anglia and the south—east of england in the countryside. patchy rain to the north west of ireland and this weather front will edge north as we go through monday. elsewhere, high pressure in control. cloudy skies in north—west scotland for a damp start to the day and the rainbow push north across the northern isles. the fog for north yorkshire and the north—east of england will gradually clear. do not be surprised how chilly it is elsewhere but temperatures will rebound after the chilly start, quite warm for the time of year into the afternoon. more sunshine in northern ireland compared with recent days and warm spots in the uk will be into high teens. high pressure with us into tuesday, a widespread frost is begins, not so much in the way of fog in most places will get to see sunshine. there is a weak weather front close to northern ireland in

north—west scotland that will bring cloud but hardly any rain. a chilly start to the day but it will turn into an unusually warm afternoon for the time of year. 17 degrees for hull, 18 degrees in london and 19 degrees possible in some places. plenty of sunshine for the first half of the week, some fog overnight and into the morning. my days but frosty nights and then it looks like it will turn unsettled at the end of the week, but more so into next weekend. there will be a gradual decline in temperatures, building cloud as well, wet weather at times but wetter and windier into next weekend.