In 1992, Columbus Lighthouse opened in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It was designed to house the ashes of explorer, Christopher Columbus. The huge memorial is built in the form of a horizontal cross and has 157 searchlight beams that when turned on project a gigantic cross into the sky. The light is so powerful it can be seen from over 300km away in Puerto Rico. Tour guide and historian, Samuel Bisono tells Gill Kearsley about the struggle to get the monument built.(Photo: Columbus Lighthouse. Credit: Gill Kearsley)

Columbus Lighthouse

History as told by the people who were there.

Lake Karla supported hundreds of families in Thessaly, providing fish for all of the region and beyond. Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas grew up on the shores of the wetland and have mixed memories of the lake. They too lived off its fish, but they were also victims of its floods. The lake was drained by the Greek Government in 1962, destroying a vital ecosystem. In 2023, when torrential rain poured over Thessaly, the lake was restored – but the region was devastated.Christos and Ioanna Kotsikas speak to Maria Margaronis.(Photo: Lake Karla. Credit: Maria Margaronis)

How Lake Karla in Greece was drained

In July 2010, two bombs went off at a rugby club in Uganda's capital Kampala. It was where hundreds had gathered to watch the football World Cup final.The attack killed 74 people and injured 85 others.The militant Islamist group al-Shabab staged the attack, as revenge for Uganda's efforts to fight it in Somalia.Kuddzu Isaac, who witnessed the explosions, tells George Crafer the graphic details of what he saw.(Photo: The moment after the blasts, survivors look on in shock. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The 2010 Kampala bombings

A bonus episode from the Amazing Sport Stories podcast – The Black 14. Sport, racism and protests are about to change the lives of “the Black 14” American footballers. It’s 1969 in the United States. They’ve arrived on scholarships at the University of Wyoming to play for its Cowboys American football team. It was a predominantly white college. The team is treated like a second religion. Then, the players make a decision to take a stand against racism in a game against another university. 
 
This is episode one of a four-part season from the Amazing Sport Stories podcast. 
 
Content warning: This episode contains lived experiences which involve the use of strong racist language

Bonus: The Black 14

Sweden’s most beloved pastry is the cinnamon bun and every year on 4 October, locals celebrate the sweet, spiced snacks.The country’s first official Cinnamon Bun Day (or Kanelbullens dag in Swedish) took place in 1999.The woman behind the idea, Kaeth Gardestedt, tells Maddy Savage how the Swedish public embraced the event and turned it into a huge annual tradition.A PodLit production for BBC World Service(Photo: Traditional Swedish cinnamon buns. Credit: Natasha Breen/Getty Images)

Sweden's Cinnamon Bun Day

In the 1990s, Bluetooth was invented in a lab in Lund, Sweden. The technology is used today to wirelessly connect accessories such as mice, keyboards, speakers and headphones to desktops, laptops and mobile phones. It’s named after Harald Bluetooth, a Viking king who was said to have blue teeth.Sven Mattisson, one of the brains behind the technology, tells Gill Kearsley how the name Bluetooth came about following some drinks after a conference.(Photo: A mobile phone with the Bluetooth logo. Credit: Westend61 via Getty images)

The Bluetooth story

Fifty years ago Sweden became the first country in the world to offer paid parental leave that was gender neutral.The state granted mothers and fathers 180 days that they could divide between them however they saw fit.The pioneering policy was designed to promote gender equality, but it wasn’t an instant success.Later governments decided to increase the number of leave days available and ring-fenced some specifically for each parent.Maddy Savage went to meet Per Edlund who was one of the first fathers in his town, Katrineholm, to embrace the new benefit.A Bespoken Media production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: Per Edlund with his youngest daughter Märta Edlund. Credit: Maddy Savage)

Sweden's pioneering paternity leave

In 1958, the late Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars. It's estimated to have saved more than one million lives around the world.In 2022, Nils's stepson Gunnar Ornmark told Rachel Naylor about the inventor’s legacy.(Photo: Nils Bohlin modelling his invention. Credit: Volvo Cars Group)

The man who invented the seat belt

It's 50 years since Swedish pop group Abba won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.The victory provided a platform for the band to become one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time.Abba's current manager, Görel Hanser, has been with them every step of the way. In a rare interview, she speaks to Matt Pintus about the band's meteoric rise to stardom.She also talks about Abba's break-up, the rumour that they were offered $1 billion to get back together and whether Abba Voyage will move to a new country. (Photo: ABBA pictured in 1974. Credit: Getty Images)

Fifty years of Abba

April 1994 was the start of the Rwandan genocide, 100 days of slaughter, rape and atrocities.As part of the Tutsi ethnic group, Antoinette Mutabazi’s family were a target for the killings.So her father told her to run, leaving her family behind. She was just 11 years old.As a survivor of the genocide, she speaks publicly about reconciliation and forgiveness. She tells Rosie Blunt her story.(Photo: Antoinette as an adult. Credit: HMDT)

Surviving the Rwandan genocide

Nato - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.Its aim was to block expansion by the then Soviet Union - a group of states which included Russia.The UK’s foreign secretary at the time, Ernest Bevin, played a key role in persuading the US to join the alliance.This programme, produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, tells the story of Nato's founding using archive interviews.(Credit: Ernest Bevin signs the North Atlantic treaty. Credit: Getty Images)

The founding of Nato

In 1980, the seaside town of Brighton opened a very unusual attraction.It was the first British beach dedicated to nudists.The opening followed a passionate battle between two local politicians and caused controversy among some locals.In 2011, Madeleine Morris spoke to nudist enthusiasts and those who preferred to keep their clothes firmly on.(Photo: Deckchairs on Brighton beach. Credit: Then and Now Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

Britain's first beach for nudists

Since its adoption as a first aid method, the Heimlich Manoeuvre has saved untold numbers of lives around the world. Developed by American physician Dr Henry Heimlich as a way to save choking victims from dying, his manoeuvre would become famous just weeks after it was written about in a medical journal. But as well as his namesake manoeuvre, Heimlich was responsible for several other medical innovations throughout his life.Ashley Byrne hears from Janet Heimlich, one of Dr Heimlich's children.A Made In Manchester/Workerbee co-production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: Dr Henry Heimlich demonstrates the Heimlich manoeuvre on host Johnny Carson in 1979. Credit: Gene Arias/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

The Heimlich Manoeuvre

In 1967 a dam was built in Mirpur, Pakistan, that would spur a huge global migration. Water diverted by the dam forced around 100,000 people to leave their homes.Thousands migrated to the UK and today between 60% and 70% of Britain’s Pakistani community descend from Mirpur, approximately one million people. Riyaz Begum was one of those who left Mirpur for London. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Riyaz Begum at the Mangla Dam. Credit: Sabba Khan)

Britain's Mirpuri migration

In 1985, the British band Wham! became the first Western pop act to play in China.Around 12,000 fans packed into the Worker’s Gymnasium in Beijing to hear such hits as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Freedom.Wham!’s manager Simon Napier-Bell tells Vicky Farncombe how the strangeness of the event affected singer George Michael’s nerves.(Photo: Wham! perform in China. Credit: Getty Images)

Wham! in China

It's 50 years since a chance find by Chinese farmers led to an astonishing archaeological discovery.Thousands of clay soldiers were uncovered in the province of Shaanxi after being buried for more than 2,000 years.They were guarding the tomb of the ancient ruler Qin Shi Huang, who ruled the Qin Dynasty.In 2013, archaeologists Yuan Zhongyi and Xiuzhen Li told Rebecca Kesby about the magnitude of the dig, and how unearthing the incredible statues shaped their careers.(Photo: Terracotta soldiers stand to attention. Credit Marica van der Meer/Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Discovering the Terracotta Army

Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women and girls across Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army.Referred to as "comfort women", they were taken from countries including Korea, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia to be raped by Japanese soldiers.Today, the issue remains a source of tension between Japan and its neighbours, with continuing campaigns to compensate the few surviving victims.Dan Hardoon speaks to Chinese survivor Peng Zhuying who, along with her elder sister, was captured and taken to a "comfort station" in central China.This programme contains disturbing content.(Photo: People visit a museum dedicated to the victims, on the site of a former comfort station in China. Credit: Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG/Getty Images)

The 'comfort women' of World War Two

In 1968, Jingyu Li and her parents were among hundreds of thousands of Chinese people sent to labour camps during Mao Zedong’s so-called cultural revolution.The aim was to re-educate those not thought to be committed to Chairman’s Mao drive to preserve and purify communism in China.Jingyu’s parents – both college professors - were put to work among the rice and cattle fields, and made to study the works of Chairman Mao. Fearful for their daughter’s safety, they disguised six-year-old Jingyu as a boy. Over the next six years, the family were sent to four different camps. Not everyone could cope, as Jingyu tells Jane Wilkinson.(Photo: Reading Mao's little red book in 1968. Credit: Pictures from History/Getty Images)

Surviving re-education in China’s Cultural Revolution

In 1958, a brand new writing system was introduced in China called Pinyin. It used the Roman alphabet to help simplify Chinese characters into words. The mastermind behind Pinyin was a professor called Zhou Youguang who'd previously worked in the United States as a banker. Pinyin helped to rapidly increase literacy levels in China. When it was introduced, 80% of the population couldn't read or write. It's now only a couple of percent.Despite being responsible for such an important tool in China's development, Zhou was subjected to re-education as part of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. He was forced to work on a farm in rural China. In 2017 Zhou Youguang died aged 111. Matt Pintus has been going through archive interviews to piece together Zhou's life. This programme contains archive material from NPR and the BBC.(Photo: Zhou Youguang. Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Pinyin: The man who helped China to read and write

The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944.It was World War Two, and families in southern Italy had already lived through a German invasion, air bombardment, and surrender to the Allies. And then at 16:30 on 18 March, Vesuvius erupted. The sky filled with violent explosions of rock and ash, and burning lava flowed down the slopes, devastating villages.By the time it was over, 11 days later, 26 people had died and about 12,000 people were forced to leave their homes. Angelina Formisano, who was nine, was among those evacuated from the village of San Sebastiano. She’s been speaking to Jane Wilkinson about being in the path of an erupting volcano.(Photo: Vesuvius erupting in March 1944. Credit: Keystone/Getty Images)

The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius

Winifred Atwell was a classically-trained pianist from Trinidad who became one of the best-selling artists of the 1950s in the UK. She played pub tunes on her battered, out-of-tune piano which travelled everywhere with her. Her fans included Sir Elton John and Queen Elizabeth II. She was the first instrumentalist to go to number one in the UK. This programme, produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, tells her story using archive interviews. (Photo: Winifred Atwell. Credit: BBC)

Winifred Atwell: The honky-tonk star who was Sir Elton John’s hero

In 1992, Guarani was designated an official language in Paraguay’s new constitution, alongside Spanish.It is the only indigenous language of South America to have achieved such recognition and ended years of rejection and discrimination against Paraguay’s majority Guarani speakers.Mike Lanchin hears from the Paraguayan linguist and anthropologist David Olivera, and even tries to speak a bit of the language.A CTVC production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: A man reads a book in Guarani. Credit: Norberto Duarte/AFP/Getty Images)

Paraguay adopts its second language

In 1992 off the coast of Ireland, a Swiss geology student accidentally discovered the longest set of footprints made by the first four-legged animals to walk on earth.They pointed to a new date for the key milestone in evolution when the first amphibians left the water 385 million years ago. The salamander-type animal which was the size of a basset hound lived when County Kerry was semi-arid, long before dinosaurs, as Iwan Stössel explains to Josephine McDermott.(Picture: Artwork of a primitive tetrapod. Credit: Christian Jegou/Science Photo Library)

Finding the longest set of footprints left by the first vertebrate

A regular morning turned into a day of nightmares for Spanish commuters on 11 March 2004.In the space of minutes, 10 bombs detonated on trains around Madrid, killing nearly 200 people and injuring more than 1,800.With a general election three days away, the political fall-out was dramatic.In 2014, two politicians from opposite sides told Mike Lanchin about that terrible day – and what happened next.(Photo: The wreckage of a commuter train. Credit: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)

11M: The day Madrid was bombed

On 8 March 2014, a plane carrying 239 passengers and crew disappeared.What happened to missing flight MH370 remains one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.Ghyslain Wattrelos’ wife Laurence and teenage children Ambre and Hadrien were on the plane, which was on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.He was on a different flight at the time and only found out the plane was missing when he landed.A decade on, Ghyslain tells Vicky Farncombe how he’s no closer to knowing what happened to his family.“I am exactly at the same point that I was 10 years ago. We don't know anything at all.”(Photo: Ghyslain Wattrelos. Credit: Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

MH370: The plane that vanished

In 2002, a Catholic nun arrived in Gulu, a town in northern Uganda, to help set up a sewing school for locals. For years, the town had been the target of brutal attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army, led by the warlord Joseph Kony. The rebel group was known for kidnapping children and forcing them into becoming soldiers. As the LRA was being chased out of Uganda, those who were captured arrived at the school seeking refuge. Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe shares the shocking stories of those who escaped captivity with George Crafer.(Photo: Sister Rosemary at St Monica's. Credit: Sewing Hope Foundation)

Rehabilitating Kony's child soldiers in Uganda

25 April is Freedom Day in Portugal. Five decades ago on that date, flowers filled the streets of the capital Lisbon as a dictatorship was overthrown.Europe’s longest-surviving authoritarian regime was toppled in a day, with barely a drop of blood spilled.In 2010, Adelino Gomes told Louise Hidalgo what he witnessed of the Carnation Revolution.(Photo: A young boy hugs a soldier in the street. Credit: Jean-Claude Francolon/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

The Carnation Revolution in Portugal

In August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris.The move, part of France's 'passive defence' tactic, aimed to protect children from the threat of German bombardment.Colette Martel was just nine when she was taken from Paris to Savigny-Poil-Fol, a small town more than 300km from her home.She’s been speaking to her granddaughter, Carolyn Lamboley, about how her life changed. She particularly remembers how she struggled to fit in with her host family, and how it all changed because of a pair of clogs.(Photo: Colette (left) with her sister Solange in 1939. Credit: family photo)

French child evacuees of World War Two

Uruguay was one of the first countries in the world to introduce anti-smoking laws.But in 2010, the tobacco giant Philip Morris took the country to court claiming the measures devalued its investments.The case pitted the right of a country to introduce health policies against the commercial freedoms of a cigarette company.Uruguay’s former Public Health Minister María Julia Muñoz tells Grace Livingstone about the significance of the ban and its fallout.(Photo: An anti-tobacco installation in Montevideo, Uruguay. Credit: Pablo La Rosa/Reuters)

Uruguay v the tobacco giant

In 1984, a diplomatic dispute broke out between Canada and Denmark over the ownership of a tiny island in the Arctic.The fight for Hans Island off the coast of Greenland became known as the Whisky War. Both sides would leave a bottle of alcohol for the enemies after raising their national flag. What could be the friendliest territorial dispute in history came to an end in 2022, with the agreement held up as an example of how diplomacy should work.Janice Fryett hears from Tom Hoyem and Alan Kessel, politicians on either side of the bloodless war.A Made in Manchester Production for the BBC World Service. (Photo: Tom Hoyem with a Danish flag on Hans Island. Credit: Niels Henriksen)

The Whisky War: Denmark v Canada

In 1987, Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva received a call from the police urging him to look at ancient artefacts confiscated from looters.The seized objects were so precious that Walter decided to set up camp in Sipan, the site where they were found. There, he dug and researched what turned out to be the richest tomb found intact in the Americas: the resting place of an ancient ruler, the Lord of Sipan.Walter tells Stefania Gozzer about the challenges and threats he and his team faced to preserve the grave.The music from this programme was composed by Daniel Hernández Díaz and performed by Jarana &#38; Son.(Photo: Walter beside the discovery. Credit: Walter Alva)

The discovery of the Lord of Sipan in Peru

On 5 February 1964, an unusual delivery was made to a synagogue in London. More than 1,500 Torah scrolls, lost since the end of World War Two, were arriving from Czechoslovakia. The sacred Jewish texts had belonged to communities destroyed by the Nazis. Alex Strangwayes-Booth talks to Philippa Bernard about the emotional charge of that day.A CTVC production for the BBC Radio 4.
(Photo: Philippa beside the scrolls in Westminster Synagogue. Credit: BBC)

The lost Czech scrolls

Artek, on the shores of the Black Sea in Crimea, was a hugely popular Soviet holiday camp.Maria Kim Espeland was one of the thousands of children who visited every year.In 2014, she told Lucy Burns about life in the camp in the 1980s.(Photo: A group of children attending Artek. Credit: Irina Vlasova)

Crimea's Soviet holiday camp

In 2014, Russia annexed the strategic Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, a move seen by Kyiv and many other countries as illegal.The crisis it caused was so acute the world seemed on the brink of a new cold war.In 2022, one Crimean woman told Louise Hidalgo what it was like to live through. (Photo: A soldier outside the Crimean parliament in 2014. Credit: Getty Images)

Russia annexes Crimea

In 2003, Whistler Blackcomb won its bid to host the Winter Olympic Games for the first time. It was sixth time lucky for the Canadian ski resort which had been opened to the public in 1966. The mountain – which is named after the high-pitched whistle of the native marmot – has been through a lot of iterations and one man has been there to see nearly all of them.Hugh Smythe, known as one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Whistler, has been sharing his memories of the mountain with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Whistler mountain. Credit: Getty Images)

Whistler: Creating one of the world’s biggest ski resorts

In June 2009, transgender sex worker and activist Vicky Hernandez was murdered in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.The killers were never identified or punished, but in 2021 the Inter-American Human Rights Court found the Honduran state responsible for the crime. It ordered the government to enact new laws to prevent discrimination and violence against LGBT people.Mike Lanchin hears from Claudia Spelman, a trans activist and friend of Vicky, and the American human rights lawyer Angelita Baeyens.A CTVC production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: A protestor holds a sign saying “Late Justice is not Justice”. Credit: Wendell Escoto/AFP/Getty Images)

Trans murder in Honduras

In October 1975, 90% of women in Iceland took part in a nationwide protest over inequality.Factories and banks were forced to close and men were left holding the children as 25,000 women took to the streets.In 2015, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, later Iceland's first female president, told Kirstie Brewer about the impact of that day.(Photo: Women take to the streets. Credit: The Icelandic Women's History Archives)

Icelandic women's strike

In the 1950s, Soviet scientist Dr Vladimir Demikhov shocks the world with his two-headed dog experiments.He grafts the head and paws of one dog onto the body of another. One of his creations lives for 29 days.He wants to prove the possibilities of transplant surgery, which was a new field of medicine at the time. Consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, Igor Konstantinov, tells Vicky Farncombe about the "difficult emotions" he experiences when he looks at photos of the creatures.This programme includes a description of one of the experiments which some listeners may find upsetting.(Photo: Vladimir Demikhov. Credit: Getty Images)

The Soviet scientist who made two-headed dogs

In 1972, a food supplement used by soldiers during the Nigerian civil war was turned into a popular malt drink by a brewery in the Danish town of Faxe.It was called Supermalt and it became so popular that the Nigerian government decided to ban all imports of malt into the country. Peter Rasmussen created the drink and he has been sharing his memories with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Supermalt. Credit: Royal Unibrew Ltd)

Supermalt: The malt drink created after the Nigerian civil war

Gort in the west of Ireland is known by the nickname ‘Little Brazil’ because it’s home to so many Brazilians.They first came to Ireland in the late 1990s to work in the town’s meat factory.Lucimeire Trindade was just 24-years-old when she and three friends arrived in the town, unable to speak a word of English or Irish.Nearly 25 years later, Lucimeire considers Gort her true home.She tells Vicky Farncombe how being in Ireland changed her outlook on life.“I learned that a woman can have their own life, especially going to the pub alone without their husbands!”(Photo: Traditional Brazilian carnival dancers strut their stuff in Gort. Credit: John Kelly, Clare Champion)

The small Irish town known as ‘Little Brazil’

The Juliet Club is in Verona, Italy, a place known throughout the world as being the city of love. The club has been replying to mail addressed to Shakespeare’s tragic heroine, Juliet since the early 1990s. The story of the Juliet letters started in the 1930s when the guardian of what is known as Juliet’s tomb began gathering the first letters people left at the grave and answering them. The task was taken on by the Juliet Club which was founded by Giulio Tamassia in 1972. His daughter, Giovanna, tells Gill Kearsley that thousands of love letters from around the world are each given a personal response.(Photo: Letters to the Juliet Club. Credit: Leonello Bertolucci/Getty Images)

The Juliet letters

When wealthy newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by far-left militants in February 1974, America saw her as a victim.But two months later, she announced she had decided to join the group. Soon, she was accompanying it on an attempted bank robbery.In 2010, Louise Hidalgo spoke to Carol Pogash, a journalist who followed the story.(Photo: Patty being led to her trial. Credit: Bettmann/Getty Images)

Patty Hearst: Rebel heiress

In 1940 a daring rescue operation began to help Allied servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France.French resistance fighter Roland Lepers was among those who guided stranded Allied soldiers and airmen to neutral Spain during World War Two. The 1,000 km route became known as the Pat O’Leary Escape Line - or the Pat Line. It’s estimated 7,000 Allied personnel escaped through this route and similar escape lines, thanks to a network of people who clothed, fed and hid them. Peter Janes was one of those British servicemen.Roland’s daughter Christine and Peter’s son Keith, speak to Jane Wilkinson about their fathers’ adventures.(Photo: German-controlled checkpoint in France, 1940. Credit: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The WW2 escape line that fooled the Nazis

In 1973, a fashion show was held in France which became known as the Battle of Versailles, a duel between designs from modern America and the capital of couture, Paris. Five American designers, including Oscar de la Renta and Halston, were invited to show their work alongside five of France’s biggest names, including Yves Saint Laurent and Hubert de Givenchy. The aim was to raise money to help restore Versailles, a 17th Century palace built by King Louis XIV, but the media billed it as a competition between the two countries.By the end, the Americans were declared the winners. The show also highlighted their industry’s racial diversity on an international stage, with 10 women of colour modelling work by US designers. Bethann Hardison, one of the models, talks to Jane Wilkinson about the lasting impact of the astonishing show.(Photo: Bethann Hardison at Versailles in 1973. Credit: Jean-Luce Hure/Bridgeman Images)

The Battle of Versailles: Catwalk clash of American and French fashion

Rosa Parks was brought up in Alabama during the Jim Crow era, when state laws enforced segregation in practically all aspects of daily life.Public schools, water fountains, trains and buses all had to have separate facilities for white people and black people.As a passionate civil rights activist, Rosa was determined to change this.In December 1955, she was travelling home from the department store where she worked as a seamstress.When a white passenger boarded the bus, Rosa was told to give up her seat.Her refusal to do so and subsequent arrest sparked a bus boycott in the city of Montgomery, led by Dr Martin Luther King.Using BBC interviews with Rosa and Dr King, Vicky Farncombe tells how Rosa’s story changed civil rights history and led to the end of segregation.This programme includes outdated and offensive language.(Photo: Rosa Parks sitting on a bus. Credit: Getty Images)

How Rosa Parks took a stand against racism

Lucha Reyes was one of Peru’s greatest singers. She was born into poverty in 1936 and fought terrible health problems and racism throughout her life. But it didn’t stop her becoming a star of Peruvian Creole music - a fusion of waltzes, Andean and Afro-Peruvian styles. In the early 1970s she recorded hits including Regresa and Tu Voz. One of the few black Peruvian celebrities of her era, she was a trailblazer for black women in the country. Polo Bances played the saxophone in her band, accompanying her on many of her greatest records. He celebrates her life with Ben Henderson.(Photo: Lucha Reyes. Credit: Javier Ponce Gambirazio)

Lucha Reyes: Peruvian music star

In March 2002, a young Nigerian Muslim woman was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery and conceiving a child out of wedlock. Amina Lawal’s case attracted huge international attention and highlighted divisions between the Christian and Muslim regions in the country. Hauwa Ibrahim, one of the first female lawyers from northern Nigeria, defended Amina and helped her secure an acquittal. The case would have very personal consequences for Hauwa who went on to adopt Amina’s daughter. She tells Vicky Farncombe how the ground-breaking case also changed attitudes in Nigeria towards defendants from poor, rural communities.(Photo: Hauwa Ibrahim (left) with Amina Lawal, Credit: Getty Images)

How a young mother was saved from death by stoning

In May 1986, 16-year-old Charlotte Mensah went to work in the UK’s first luxury Afro-Caribbean hair salon, Splinters.In London’s glamorous Mayfair, Splinters had earned a world-class reputation and hosted the likes of Diana Ross.Charlotte says it looked more like a five-star hotel than a salon and that its owner, Winston Isaacs expected no less than perfection from all his staff.Now a giant of the hair care industry in her own right, Charlotte has become known as the 'Queen of the 'fro'.She tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about her roots and how training at the legendary Splinters changed her life. This programme includes an account of racial bullying. (Photo: Young Charlotte in the salon. Credit: Charlotte Mensah)

Queen of the 'fro

The first commercial internet cafe opened in London on 1 September 1994. Eva Pascoe, from Poland, is one of the founders of Cyberia. She claims that Kylie Minogue was amongst the famous visitors and learnt how to use the internet at the cafe.Eva tells Gill Kearsley the story of how cakes, computers and Kylie came together to make this new venture a success.(Photo: Surfers at the Cyberia cafe. Credit: Mathieu Polak/Sygma via Getty Images)

First internet cafe

In January 2008, seeds began arriving at the world's first global seed vault, buried deep in a mountain on an Arctic island, 1,000km north of the Norwegian coast.The vault was built to ensure the survival of the world's food supply and agricultural history in the event of a global catastrophe.In 2019, Louise Hidalgo spoke to the man whose idea it was, Dr Cary Fowler.(Photo: Journalists and cameramen outside the entrance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in 2008. Credit: Hakon Mosvold Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)

The Arctic’s doomsday seed vault

In 1980, poor rural workers set up camp on land owned by the rich at Encruzilhada Natalino in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Brazil's government sent in the army to evict them and violent clashes followed. It was a formative moment in the history of one of Latin America's biggest social movements, Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (MST). Maria Salete Campigotto was a teacher living in the camp with her husband and young son. She speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Brazil's Landless Workers Movement meeting. Credit: Patrick Siccoli/Getty Images)

Brazil's Landless Workers Movement

In September 1984, the Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff was summoned to Rome, facing accusations that his writing and teachings were "dangerous to the faith".He is a leading proponent of liberation theology, which says the Church should push for social equality. Leonardo was called to appear before the Roman Catholic Church’s highest tribunal.A year later, he was banned from writing, teaching or speaking publicly. Now in his late 80s and no longer a priest, he tells Mike Lanchin about that turbulent time. A CTVC production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Leonardo Boff preaching outside a church to followers of Liberation Theology. Credit: Bernard Bisson/Sygma/Getty Images)

Silenced by the Vatican

During the 1970s, the US and Soviet Union were engaged in the Cold War. The US, along with other Western countries, was a member of Nato, while the Soviet Union joined forces with central and eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact. After becoming frustrated with the way the Soviets controlled his country, Ryszard Kukliński, a Polish colonel, wrote to the US Embassy in Bonn, West Germany. For the next 10 years, he would feed the CIA tens of thousands of pages of classified military secrets.Aris Pappas, a CIA agent who analysed Ryszard's intel, speaks to George Crafer about his memories of this forgotten hero. (Photo: Jack Strong aka Ryszard Kukliński. Credit: AP)

Jack Strong aka Ryszard Kukliński: Cold War traitor or hero?

The Magnificent Magyars were Hungary’s golden football team of the 1950s.But behind their shine lay a dark secret.In 1951, defender Sándor Szűcs was executed for trying to defect from the communist regime.The married centre-back had wanted to leave Hungary with his lover, singer Erzsi Kovács, who was also married.The pair had been told to end their illicit relationship or face imprisonment.They were arrested near the border after being set up by a double agent.This programme has been made by Vicky Farncombe, using an interview Erzsi gave in 2011 to Hungarian journalist Endre Kadarkai on the Arckép programme, on Zuglo TV.(Photo: Sándor Szűcs. Credit: Arcanum/Nemzeti Sport)

The Hungarian footballer executed for love

In 1937, Japan invaded China committing atrocities including the Nanjing Massacre. Wang Jingwei was a Chinese national hero and second-in-command of China’s ruling Nationalist Party. He wanted to negotiate with Japan but his colleagues wouldn’t listen. So he defected, and in 1940 he agreed to lead a Japanese-controlled puppet government in Nanjing. Many Chinese have hated him ever since – his name is synonymous with the word ‘Hanjian’, a traitor to China. But Pan Chia-sheng’s memories of living under Wang Jingwei’s government tell a very different story. He speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Wang Jingwei. Credit: Wang Wenxing via Wang Jingwei Irrevocable Trust)

Wang Jingwei: China’s traitor or protector?

In 1949, Mildred Gillars – otherwise known as Axis Sally – became the first woman in American history to be convicted of treason.The former Broadway showgirl broadcast antisemitic Nazi propaganda on German State Radio during World War Two.Her weekly shows were heard by thousands of American servicemen who gave her the nickname Axis Sally. After her capture, she denied being a traitor, but a jury in Washington convicted her of treason, and she served 12 years in prison. Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the BBC archives to uncover her story.(Photo: Mildred Gillars. Credit: Bettmann, Getty Images)

Axis Sally: World War II traitor who broadcast for the Nazis

In December 1939, fascist Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling travelled to Berlin from Oslo for a secret meeting with Adolf Hitler. Quisling suggested to Hitler that the British were planning to move into Norway for their own strategic needs. Norway hadn’t been a concern for the Nazis but the meeting alarmed Hitler and within months Germany started its invasion of Norway. From that moment, Quisling was consigned into history as a traitor. So much so that in the time since, his name has become a byword for traitor in numerous languages. Matt Pintus hears from Norwegian journalist, Trude Lorentzen, who decided to study Quisling’s life after stumbling across his suitcase in an online auction. As part of her voyage of discovery, Trude interviewed Quisling’s Jewish neighbour Leif Grusd who was forced to flee to Sweden when the Nazis took over Norway. Leif Grusd's interview was translated from the NRK podcast "Quislings koffert" - Quisling's suitcase - released in 2021. It was made by production company Svarttrost for NRK. (Photo: Vidkun Quisling and Adolf Hitler. Credit: Getty Images)

Vidkun Quisling: Norway’s traitor

In the early 2000s, a woman called Jamuna Tudu set out on a mission to protect her home state of Jharkhand's forests from India's so-called timber mafia. She inspired thousands of people to care for their natural environment and established an army of women to fight back against the illegal cutting down of trees.Her conservation efforts have led to the country's media dubbing her 'Lady Tarzan', and she is now known across India for her bravery.She speaks to George Crafer about her run-ins with the mafia and her hero status.(Photo: Jamuna Tudu amongst the trees she loves. Credit: Jamuna Tudu)

Jamuna Tudu: The real life 'Lady Tarzan'

British zoologist Bob Golding turned the University of Ibadan's zoo into one of Nigeria's biggest tourist attractions in the 1970s.The zoo was famous for two gorillas he rescued from traffickers. And Bob's animal kingdom even had its own TV show.His wife, Peaches Golding, tells Ben Henderson how he did it. (Photo: Bob Golding. Credit: bobgolding.co.uk)

Ibadan Zoo

In June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest against what they considered a rigged presidential election.The hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62% of the vote. All three defeated candidates disputed the results.The protests gave rise to the 'Green Movement', named after its signature colour, which opposed Ahmadinejad.Journalist Maziar Bahari was accused of being a Western spy and spent 118 days being interrogated in Iran's Evin Prison. He tells Dan Hardoon about the torture he endured.(Photo: Maziar Bahari in 2015. Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Tortured in Iran's Evin Prison

On 6 November 1975, tens of thousands of Moroccans poured into Spanish Sahara in a bid to claim it for their own.They danced, waved flags and played music as they faced off, unarmed, against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers.The so-called Green March led to a diplomatic victory for Morocco's King Hassan, but sparked a guerrilla war and decades of instability.In 2013, TV cameraman Seddik Maaninou and North Africa expert Francis Gillies told Simon Watts about that momentous protest.(Photo: Protestors on the Green March. Credit: Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma/Getty Images)

The Green March: Moroccans take over the Sahara

In Bolivia, on 25 October 1984, President Hernán Siles Zuazo announced he was going on hunger strike. He was trying to stop the booming cocaine industry in his country. It was the second time he had taken the job of president and he had been on hunger strike several times before. His daughter Marcela Siles, tells Laura Jones about her father.(Photo: President Zuazo. Credit: Getty Images)

The hunger-striking Bolivian president

For two years, José Luis Peñas risked his life making secret recordings that revealed one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals.It forced the ruling party from power and brought down Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018.José Luis Peñas speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Mariano Rajoy (right) moments after resigning. Credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Pool via Getty Images)

Gürtel scandal: Spain's Watergate

On the 11 January 1998 in Mumbai, India, the first World Laughter Day took place.It was the idea of Dr Madan Kataria, a medical doctor who wanted to test the theory that laughter is the best medicine.He tells Gill Kearsley how this unusual event started. (Photo: World Laughter Day in Mumbai in 2016. Credit: Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

The first World Laughter Day

In 1970, Natalia Makarova became the first female ballet star to defect to the West from Russia. The dancer claimed asylum during a UK tour, nine years after another Russian dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, had defected. Natalia later joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York. She wouldn’t return to her home country for almost 20 years. Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the archive to discover the reasons behind her defection.(Photo: Natalia Makarova in New York, 1980. Credit: Brownie Harris/Corbis via Getty Images)

Russian ballerina defects to the West

The fate of Louis-Charles, son of the last king of France, was for years shrouded in rumour.The little boy was said to have died in prison in 1795. But for years, rumours spread that he had been swapped with an imposter.It wasn't until a team of scientists took DNA samples from the heart of the imprisoned boy in 2000 that the mystery could be laid to rest.In 2021, Prof Jean Jacques Cassiman and historian Deborah Cadbury told Claire Bowes about the extraordinary tale.(Photo: Drawing of Louis-Charles being separated from his mother Marie Antoinette in 1793. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

The mystery of France's lost king

On 1 April 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise gay marriage.Four couples were chosen to take part in a collective wedding at midnight which was broadcast on TV.Hélène Faasen and Anne-Marie Thus tell Dan Hardoon about the wedding they thought they'd never have. (Photo: The four happy couples cut the cake. Credit: Marcel Antonisse/ANP/AFP/Getty Images)

The world’s first lesbian couple to get married

On 13 March 1989, the Canadian province of Quebec suffered a nine-hour electricity blackout. Much of the state's infrastructure was damaged, but the power companies couldn't find any obvious cause. Physicist Aja Hruska was one of the only people in the country that knew the answer to Quebec's problem. A solar flare ejected by the sun had hit the earth's magnetic field, creating electrical havoc.And the damage could have been avoided if her warnings had been properly acknowledged. Aja shares her memories of that day with Eva Runciman.(Photo: A solar flare erupts from the sun. Credit: Photo 12/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

What the 1989 solar storm did to Quebec

The Hindenburg was the largest airship ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany.In May 1937, it flew over the Atlantic from Frankfurt, in Germany, to New Jersey, in the United States.During its mooring at Lakehurst Naval Air Station it burst into flames, killing 35 of the 97 passengers and crew.Radio reporter Herb Morrison watched the horror unfold and his eyewitness account became one of the most famous moments in journalism history.Vicky Farncombe presents this episode.(Photo: The Hindenburg airship disaster. Credit: Sam Shere/Getty Images)

The Hindenburg airship disaster

The wingsuit is the ultimate in extreme sports clothing. The aerodynamic outfit allows base jumpers and skydivers to free-fall for longer before opening a parachute.The road to creating it was littered with casualties, but in 1999 skydivers Jari Kuosma and Robert Pecnik developed the first commercial wingsuits.In 2019, Jari told Jonathan Coates how exciting, but also how dangerous they can be.(Photo: Jari in his wingsuit. Credit: BBC)

The invention of the wingsuit

In 1985, British scientists made what would turn out to be one of the most important environmental discoveries of the 20th century - finding a hole in the earth’s ozone layer.The British Antarctic Survey, based in Cambridge, had been monitoring ozone levels for more than 30 years using the Dobson Ozone Spectrophotometer.But it was only when they compared previously uncharted figures from the 1980s with the previous decade that they made the shocking finding, as Jonathan Shanklin, the man who compiled the data, told Jane Wilkinson.(Photo: Ozone hole in September 2006. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Discovery of the hole in the earth’s ozone

In February 1990, Nasa space probe Voyager took a famous photo of Earth as it left the Solar System.Seen from six billion kilometres away, our planet appears as a mere dot lit up by the sun, giving a sense of humanity's small place in the universe.In 2020, Darryl Morris spoke to Nasa planetary scientist Candice Hansen, who worked on the Voyager programme. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service.(Photo: Earth - a pale blue dot. Credit: Nasa/JPL-Caltech)

Earth: A pale blue dot in the universe

In 1982, after a two-year global search, the BBC auditioned Ken Hom to be the star of a new Chinese cookery TV series.In the show, called Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery, he introduced viewers to dishes like dim sum and spicy braised aubergine. He also gave advice on choosing and using a wok.He tells Josephine McDermott about his sudden rise to celebrity and how he brought Chinese dishes to new audiences. (Photo: Ken Hom. Credit: Chris Ridley/Radio Times/Getty Images)

Ken Hom's 'Chinese Cookery'

It’s one of the most popular dishes in South East Asian cooking and for many it’s seen as Thailand’s national dish. However, the origins of pad Thai are disputed. Some believe it was created and taken to the country centuries ago by Chinese immigrants. Others believe it was invented during the rule of military dictator, Plaek Phibunsongkhram, as a way of cementing Thai nationalism in the 1940s. Thai food writer Chawadee Nualkhair dissects all the theories with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Pad Thai. Credit: Getty Images)

The disputed history of pad Thai

In 1994, biotech company Calgene brought the world's first genetically-modified food to supermarket shelves.The Flavr Savr tomato kept fresh for 30 days and could be shipped long distances without going off.Yet the world was wary of this new food, and it took 10 years and $100m of investment to get it to market.In 2017, the firm's then-CEO Roger Salquist told Claire Bowes about his mission to revolutionise the world's food.(Photo: Roger Salquist with a crop of Flavr Savrs. Credit: Richard Gilmore)

Flavr Savr tomato: The world's first genetically-engineered food

The kiwi fruit is synonymous with New Zealand in the minds of most European and American shoppers.But the hairy fruit actually comes from China and was once known as the Chinese gooseberry. So how did New Zealand hijack a Chinese fruit and turn it into their biggest horticultural export? Former fruit exporter Don Turner tells Vicky Farncombe how his family named the kiwi fruit in the 1950s and created a global industry.

Kiwi: How New Zealand hijacked China's fruit

In 1946, Italian confectioner Pietro Ferrero set out to bring chocolate to the masses. His recipe evolved over the years to become a world-famous product.Thomas Chatenier from the manufacturer tells Uma Doraiswamy how the chocolate and hazelnut formula spread across the globe.(Photo: The famous spread. Credit: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Inventing Nutella

In the 1960s, the singer Dafydd Iwan started campaigning for the Welsh language to gain official status in Wales. For years, Dafydd received little support. In January 1969 he decided to up the pressure, defacing a police station sign written in English with paint. He ended up in prison, but soon young people across the country were picking up paint pots and taking up the cause. Today, the Welsh language is found in schools, on documents and on police station signs. Dafydd tells Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty about his activism and singing.(Photo: Dafydd after his release from Cardiff prison. Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

'The bad boy of Welsh politics'

In 2014 three journalists were sentenced to seven years in jail in Egypt.Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed became known as the Al Jazeera Three.The jail terms handed out to them led to an international outcry as protesters called for press freedom.Peter Greste tells his compelling story to Gill Kearsley.(Photo: Peter Greste inside the defendants’ cage. Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images)

Al Jazeera Three: Imprisoned in Egypt

In late 1973, Chile was in turmoil. General Augusto Pinochet had led a military coup deposing the socialist president Salvador Allende who was now dead.The army was rounding up leftists; torturing, imprisoning and killing them.In the capital Santiago, the country’s best-known poet Pablo Neruda was lying in a hospital bed. He was 69 and had cancer.As a prominent member of the Communist Party his life was in danger. He had to get out.With him was his driver and personal assistant Manuel Araya who spoke to Gideon Long.(Photo : The poet in 1963. Credit: Angelo Cozzi/Mondadori/Getty Images)

The mysterious death of Pablo Neruda

On 25 March 1975, Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal was murdered, shot by his nephew as he bent to kiss him as a greeting.The king’s oil minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani was standing beside him when the gun went off.In 2017, Ahmed’s daughter, Dr Mai Yamani, told Louise Hidalgo of her father’s pain at witnessing the death.(Photo: King Faisal in 1967. Credit: Pierre Manevy/Getty Images)

The assassination of King Faisal

On 29 September 2009, a devastating tsunami hit Samoa, killing 149 people and leaving a trail of destruction.
 
For Lumepa Hald it was a terrifying day which resulted in a tragic loss.
 
She tells her story to Gill Kearsley.(Photo: The devastation in Samoa after the tsunami in 2009. Credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Tsunami devastates Samoa

On 15 December 2013, South Africa held the funeral of Nelson Mandela who led the struggle in defeating apartheid and became the country’s first black president. His ancestral home in the village of Qunu in South Africa’s Eastern Cape hosted 60 world leaders including four United States presidents and two UN secretary generals. It was the first state funeral held by the country.Nelson Mandela’s eldest child Dr Makaziwe Mandela tells Josephine McDermott how it took eight years to plan and why it makes her proud to remember that day.(Photo: Candles are lit under a portrait of Nelson Mandela at his funeral service. Credit: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)

The funeral of Nelson Mandela

In 1983, the disappearance of a teenage girl who was a citizen of Vatican City led to a scandal.When Pope John Paul II made a public appeal to the people holding Emanuela Orlandi captive, the world took notice and her case was treated as a suspected kidnapping.Forty years on, the reason she vanished is still unclear.Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, speaks to Daniel Gordon about his life-long mission to find out what really happened to his sister.(Photo: A protester holds a photo of Emanuela. Credit: Stefano Montesi/Corbis/Getty Images)

Vatican citizen Emanuela Orlandi disappears

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova lived through some of the darkest chapters of Soviet history, but never stopped writing even though the communist regime repeatedly tried to silence her. One of Anna's most famous poems, Requiem, is about her son's arrest and the Stalinist terror.In 2022, art historian Era Korobova told Tatyana Movshevich about the poet's tumultuous relationship with her son.(Photo: Anna Akhmatova (second from right, at a Soviet writers' conference in 1965. Credit: Getty Images)

Anna Akhmatova: The poet who defied a regime

In 1998, Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin shocked the nation with a last-minute decision to speak at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, 80 years after their murder.“We must end an age of blood and violence in Russia,” he said, as he called for the country to face up to the crimes of its communist past.Lilia Dubovaya, a reporter for the state news service, told Robert Nicholson about the emotional weight of the day. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.(Image: President Yeltsin at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II. Credit: Reuters)

Yeltsin speaks at the reburial of the Romanovs

As civil war raged in Russia, on 17 July 1918, the imprisoned royal family were told they were to be taken to a place of refuge.But the move was a trick and half an hour later Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and his children lay dead, gunned down and bayonetted.In 2018, his great niece Olga Romanov told Olga Smirnova about that night, and the family’s reburial 80 years later.(Photo: The room where the Romanovs were murdered. Credit: Getty Images)

Murder of the Romanovs

In December 1993, the release of a new video game captivated gamers around the world. It was called DOOM. Set on a Martian military base overrun by zombified soldiers and demons, DOOM saw players take control of a nameless soldier called ‘The DOOM guy’ as he fights the demonic enemies to stop them taking over Earth. The game was released at a time when violence in video games was big news and a topic of discussion in the United States Senate. Kurt Brookes speaks to John Romero, one of the game’s developers, and remembers the release of what went on to become one of the most influential games ever. A Made in Manchester production for BBC World Service. (Photo: John Romero. Credit: Made in Manchester)

The release of DOOM

Between 1976 and 1983 in Argentina, the military ruled the country. Thousands of mainly young, left-wing Argentinians went missing. Known as 'the disappeared', they were taken to detention centres, such as Escuela Superior de Mecanica de la Armada, known as ESMA in the capital, Buenos Aires. Around 5,000 prisoners passed through its gates. Most were killed. As well as the murders and torture, hundreds of babies were taken from pregnant prisoners and given away to military personnel and families who supported the government. In December 1983 the Argentinian president Raul Alfonsin signed a decree putting the military junta responsible on trial. In 2010, Candice Piete spoke to one of the survivors, Miriam Lewin. (Photo: ESMA. Credit: Reuters)

‘The disappeared’ of Argentina

On 21 April 1967, a group of right-wing army officers seized power in Greece to prevent the election of a social democratic government led by veteran politician George Papandreou. The dictatorship, backed by the United States, lasted for seven years. Thousands of people were imprisoned, exiled and tortured. The grandson of that politician, also called George, was 14 at the time. He went on to be elected as Greece’s prime minister in 2009. In February 2012, George Papandreou Junior spoke to Maria Margaronis about the night when tanks rolled through Athens and soldiers came to arrest his father. Archive audio is used by permission of ERT, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.Archival audio used by permission of ERT, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation.(Photo: The younger George Papandreou in 2011. Credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

A Greek coup: The day the colonels took power

In 1945, two Danish scientists opened an institute to study mental illnesses. In the four decades until it closed, almost 10,000 brains were collected from dead psychiatric patients and stored in plastic buckets. However, they were removed during autopsies without seeking permission from relatives. Following much debate in the 1990s, it was decided they should be used for research. Now based in the University of Southern Denmark, the collection is believed to be the world’s largest brain bank. Scientists hope it can help our understanding of mental illness and brain disease. Adrienne Murray speaks to pathologist and caretaker of the brains, Martin Wirenfeldt Nielsen. 
 (Photo: Brains stored in plastic buckets at the University of Southern Denmark. Credit: BBC)

Thousands of Danish brains in plastic buckets

In 1993, film director Mathieu Kassovitz started work on what would become a cult cinema classic, La Haine.La Haine would follow three friends from a poor immigrant neighbourhood in the Paris suburbs 24 hours after a riot. The film was released in 1995 to huge critical acclaim and Mathieu won best director at the Cannes Film Festival. It was heavily critical of policing in France and it caught the attention of high profile politicians in the country, including then Prime Minister, Alain Juppé.Thirty years on, Mathieu has been sharing his memories of that time with Matt Pintus.(Photo: Vincent Cassel "Vinz" in La Haine. Credit: Studio Canal+)

La Haine: The film that shocked France

In December 1948, a family of Hungarian refugees moved into the world's first home to be heated entirely by solar power.What made the Dover Sun House, in Massachusetts, United States, even more special was that it had been created by three women at a time when men dominated the fields of science and engineering.Heiress Amelia Peabody funded it, architect Eleanor Raymond designed it and biophysicist Maria Telkes created the heating system.
 
Andrew Nemethy, who grew up in the house, tells Vicky Farncombe how it felt to live in an "elongated cheese wedge".This programme has been updated since its original broadcast. It was edited on 6 December 2023.(Photo: The Dover Sun House. Credit: Getty Images)

World's first solar-heated home

After Tanzania, then called Tanganyika, became independent from Britain in 1961, the country's leader, Julius Nyerere, made Swahili the national language to unite its people.Walter Bgoya tells Ben Henderson about his conversations with Nyerere and how the policy changed Tanzania.(Photo: Julius Nyerere. Credit: Keystone via Getty Images)

Tanzania adopts Swahili to unite the country

On 21 August 1986, hundreds of villagers in a remote part of Cameroon mysteriously died overnight, along with 3,500 livestock.In the weeks-long investigation that followed, scientists tried to work out what had happened. How had hundreds died, but hundreds of others survived?In 2011, scientists Peter Baxter and George Kling told Tim Mansel how they cracked the case.(Photo: Dead cattle by the shore of Lake Nyos, Cameroon. Credit: Eric Bouvet/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images)

Cameroon’s mysterious lake deaths

In 1969, a Peruvian farmer called Gustavo Del Solar received an unusual assignment - finding a bird called the white-winged guan that had been regarded as extinct for a century.After years of searching, he found the bird deep in Peru’s wilderness in 1977. He then made it his life’s mission to save the species, setting up a zoo in his family home.Thanks to Gustavo's discovery, the Peruvian government protected the white-winged guan and its population continued to grow. His son, Rafael Del Solar, tells Ben Henderson about his dad's love for the 'chicken-sized' birds.(Photo: Gustavo Del Solar with a white-winged guan. Credit: Rafael Del Solar/El Comercio)

The bird that defied extinction

In 1983, all hell broke loose when a new toy hit stores in the United States. Cabbage Patch Kids were so popular that people were getting injured when they tried to buy them. But Martha Nelson Thomas, whose original design she said inspired the dolls, received little credit.She watched on as sales of the toys generated hundreds of millions of dollars.Martha’s close friend, Meredith Ludwig, told Madeleine Drury the story of how the strange-looking dolls became such a sensation.This programme has been updated since it was first broadcast.(Photo: Martha Nelson Thomas with her doll babies. Credit: Guy Mendes)

Cabbage Patch Kids

On 26 November 2008, 10 gunmen from the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba carried out coordinated attacks on Mumbai's busiest hotspots including the Taj and Oberoi hotels, a train station, hospital, and Jewish community centre. One hundred and sixty-six people were murdered in the attacks, which lasted for three days. The city was locked down as police searched for the gunmen. Only one, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, was captured alive by police. He was sentenced to death and executed in 2012. Dan Hardoon speaks to Devika Rotawan and Arun Jadhav, who came face to face with the militants. (Photo: Buildings under attack. Credit:Getty Images)

The Mumbai attacks

In August 2003 Europe was hit by the hottest heatwave for hundreds of years. Tens of thousands of people died. Not built to withstand two weeks of extreme heat, Paris turned into a death trap for its most vulnerable citizens. The temperature reached 40C. Many elderly people died in their apartments alone. The government was criticised for its handling of the crisis. The head of the national health authority resigned shortly after the end of the heatwave. Emergency doctor, Patrick Pelloux, who was working at St Antoine Hospital in Paris, tells George Crafer what he encountered.(Photo: Paris looking hot. Credit: Getty Images)

The Paris heatwave

On 22 November 1963, United States President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.Lucy Williamson looks back to 8 November 1960, when Richard Nixon and JFK went toe to toe at the polls in a battle to become the next president. The narrow success made Kennedy the youngest man ever elected to the role.Close aide and speechwriter Ted Sorensen was with the politician on the night of the election. This programme was first broadcast in 2010.(Photo: US President-elect John F Kennedy shortly after his election in 1960. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)