France's Muslim headscarf ban

A law banning religious clothing from French state schools came into effect in 2004

• 9 mins

The slaves who defeated Napoleon

The first successful slave uprising in modern times, it prompted the abolition of slavery

• 9 mins

The V1 flying bomb

How the first of the Nazi's new "revenge weapons" terrorised Londoners in WW2

• 9 mins

The life and work of Chester Himes

The African-American crime writer Chester Himes first found widespread success in France

• 9 mins

The pioneer of 'Mountain Filming'

How a German filmmaker, Arnold Fanck, shot films high in the mountains in the 1920s

• 9 mins

Chief Albert Luthuli wins the Nobel Prize for Peace

Albert Luthuli was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

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Neanderthal cave mystery

A remarkable discovery in a cave at Bruniquel in southern France in 1990

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The return of the beaver

Why beavers were officially reintroduced to the UK 400 years after they were wiped out

• 9 mins

White Christmas

American entertainer Bing Crosby made 'White Christmas' one of the defining songs of WW2

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The birth of Bangladesh

Pakistan's first democratic elections led to the creation of a new country, Bangladesh

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British reality TV is born

The first British fly-on-the-wall documentary series aired on the BBC in 1974.

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The blockade of Gibraltar

How a Spanish blockade of the disputed British territory ended in December 1982.

• 9 mins

The GDR's Namibian children

At Christmas 1979 hundreds of Namibian children were taken to East Germany

• 9 mins

The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin's classic satirical film about Adolf Hitler was released in 1940

• 9 mins

The Sound of Music

The real story behind the heart-warming musical released in 1965

• 9 mins

Satyajit Ray - India's master of film

An actor's memories of working with the Bengali director on the classic Apu trilogy

• 9 mins

Studio Ghibli - Japan's Oscar-winning animators

The early days of the studio which brought Japanese animation to a global audience

• 9 mins

It's a Wonderful Life

A former Hollywood child star remembers filming the classic Christmas movie in 1946.

• 9 mins

UNESCO and race and tolerance

How UNESCO fought racism and advocated tolerance.

• 9 mins

The building of the Aswan Dam

One of the largest dams in the world, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed in 1970

• 9 mins

Le Corbusier and Chandigarh

The modernist architect Le Corbusier agreed to build a 'city of the future' in India

• 9 mins

Saving the Great Barrier Reef

In the 1960s the Queensland government wanted to mine and drill for oil on the reef

• 9 mins

The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas

In March 2001 the Taliban destroyed huge ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan

• 9 mins

The oldest song in the world

Deciphering the 3,500 year-old song discovered on a clay tablet in Syria

• 9 mins

Buddhists and death row

How criminals facing the death penalty in the USA found peace

• 9 mins

The 'strike' in space

How three astronauts on the Skylab space station fell out with mission control

• 9 mins

Sequencing the Ebola virus genome

When the deadly Ebola virus broke out in West Africa scientists in the USA set to work

• 9 mins

The book that warned 2020 would bring disaster

The book describing a sudden uncontrollable downturn that was ignored by governments.

• 9 mins

When Spain's parliament was stormed

Armed Civil Guards took MPs hostage in Spain's parliamentary chamber in 1981

• 9 mins

Puerto Rican attack at the US Capitol

How independence campaigners opened fire in Congress in 1954, wounding five US law-makers

• 9 mins

Cornelia Sorabji: India's first woman lawyer

She was the first to graduate from Oxford and was a pioneer for women lawyers in Britain.

• 9 mins

Landing on Titan

The remarkable mission to explore one of the moons of Saturn in 2005

• 9 mins

Estonia's singing revolution

Rock star Tõnis Mägi describes how Estonia sang its way out of the Soviet Union.

• 9 mins

The New Cross fire

How the New Cross fire in 1981 led to The Black People’s Day of Action.

• 9 mins

Hitler's beer hall putsch

Adolf Hitler made his first attempt to take power in Germany in 1923

• 9 mins

The Turner Diaries - America's manual of hatred

The white supremacist novel by William Pierce which has been blamed for inciting violence

• 9 mins

Kenya's pioneering publisher

Dr Henry Chakava made it his life's mission to publish in African languages.

• 9 mins

Fighting for justice for India's Sikhs

Anti-Sikh violence flared in India after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984

• 9 mins

Egypt's Facebook Girl

How social media was used to organise against Egypt's government before the Arab Spring

• 9 mins

Syria in the Arab Spring

The moment that hundreds of thousands of Syrians demanded change in 2011.

• 9 mins

Yemen's 2011 uprising

Inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt young Yemenis took to the streets in January 2011

• 9 mins

Libya's Arab uprising

In 2011 protests soon turned into an armed revolt seeking to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi.

• 9 mins

The anthem of the Arab Spring

How a singer in Tunisia helped inspire young protestors all over the Middle East in 2011

• 9 mins

The first Eurostar from England to France

The driver of the first train to take passengers from London to Paris remembers

• 9 mins

The Moscow State Circus

The biggest circus in Soviet Russia opened in Moscow in April 1971.

• 9 mins

The Burma uprising of 1988

People took to the streets of Burma, or Myanmar, to protest against military rule in 1988

• 9 mins

Drugs in the Vietnam War

How a heroin epidemic among US troops in Vietnam caused panic in the military

• 9 mins

General Robert E Lee: US Civil War rebel

Lee was charged with treason, so why did Congress reinstate his citizenship in 1975?

• 9 mins

DES Daughters

A medical scandal which affected millions of women around the world

• 9 mins

Francis Bacon in the archives

The painter Francis Bacon was known for his disturbing images and bohemian lifestyle

• 9 mins

The paper that helped the homeless

The 'Street News' paper was sold by homeless people in New York at a profit to earn money

• 9 mins

A Ghanaian nurse's story

Nurses from outside the UK form a vital part of the country's medical workforce

• 9 mins

How US 'smart bombs' hit an Iraqi air raid shelter in the first Gulf War

More than 400 civilians died when US bombs hit the Amiriya air raid shelter in Baghdad

• 9 mins

Britain's forgotten slave owners: Part one

How researchers in London uncovered the story of Britain's forgotten slave owners

• 9 mins

Britain's forgotten slave owners: Part two

The story of Britain's forgotten slave owners and the people they enslaved

• 9 mins

The Immortal Cells of Henrietta Lacks

The story of a woman who played a largely unsung role in countless medical breakthroughs

• 9 mins

Free breakfasts with the Black Panthers

How the revolutionary black rights organisation started serving breakfast to children

• 9 mins

Mary Wilson

The American singer died on 8th February 2021

• 9 mins

Acid rain

How the world woke up to the threat from acid rain

• 9 mins

Ireland's bank bailout

In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis Ireland had to borrow billions

• 9 mins

The fall of Kwame Nkrumah

How one of Africa's most famous independence leaders was overthrown in 1966

• 9 mins

The WW2 airman from Sierra Leone

Johnny Smythe was one of very few West Africans to fly with Britain's airforce during WW2

• 9 mins

Banning landmines

A landmark treaty banning anti-personnel landmines was agreed in 1997

• 9 mins