UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’

In 1979, British gravediggers went on strike over pay

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Disney animators' strike

In 1941, the animators at Walt Disney's studios went on strike for nine weeks over pay

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Torturing strikers in South Korea

A strike for better work conditions became a divisive moment in South Korea's history

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Geisha mountain top strike

In 1937, geisha from Osaka sat on a mountain for a week until their union was recognised

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Cesar Chavez’s campaign for farm workers

How the leader of a labour movement became a US civil rights hero

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Cuban Missile Crisis: The photos

The CIA expert whose job was to interpret photographs of missiles in Cuba

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Cuban Missile Crisis: The showdown

The final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis in the Pentagon and the Kremlin

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The ‘army’ that taught Cuba to read and write

In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba.

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Cuba's boxing ban

In 1962, Fidel Castro banned professional boxing in Cuba, causing some amateurs to defect

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Founder of the Cuban National Ballet

In 1959, Cuba’s most famous ballet dancer formed Cuba’s National Ballet Company

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Indonesia’s indigenous people take a stand

The first ever Congress of Indigenous People of the Archipelago of Indonesia in 1999

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The Iranian Revolution and women

We hear what life was like during, and after the Iranian Revolution in 1979

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Theatre siege in Moscow

It is 20 years since Chechen rebels took an entire theatre full of people hostage

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Arrested for wearing trousers in Sudan

In 2002, Amiera Osman Hamed was put on trial after being arrested for wearing trousers

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Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's career-defining speech in 2012

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The Little Black Book survival guide

In 1985, a guide was written for young black men in the US who were stopped by the police

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Albania’s Stalinist purges

In the 1970s, Albania’s Stalinist leader, Enver Hoxha, launched a series of purges

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Campaigning against sex-selection in India

A first-hand account of the 1980s campaign against the sex-selective abortion of girls

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Dame Carmen Callil: Feminist publisher

Dame Carmen Callil, who died in October this year, founded a feminist publisher in 1972

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Umuganda: Rwanda's community work scheme

In 1975, President Habyarimana introduced Umuganda, compulsory, weekly community work

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Polynesian Panthers

Polynesians in 1970s New Zealand fight back against dawn raids by the police

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First rape crisis centres in the US

Activist Sue Lenaerts helped start up one of the first rape crisis centres in the US

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The assassination of Pim Fortuyn

It has been 20 years since the controversial Dutch politician was murdered

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Māori protests stops South African rugby tour

Māori anti-racism activists disrupt the South African rugby tour of New Zealand in 1981

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The child evacuees of World War Two

The thousands of children moved out of UK cities away from the risk of German bombs

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Formation of the United Arab Emirates

A new country, the United Arab Emirates, was formed in 1971.

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Burj Khalifa: Designing the world’s tallest building

The tallest building in the world opened in 2010

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Inventing robot camel jockeys

In 2003, a Qatari engineer came up with the idea for a robot jockey in camel racing

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First Emirati female teacher

A young woman who became the first female teacher in the United Arab Emirates

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Qatar's first female published author

Kaltham Jaber's anthology of short stories was published in 1978

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The invention of the seat belt

In 1958, Swedish engineer Nils Bohlin invented the three-point safety belt for cars

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First women’s minister in Iran

Iran’s first ever minister for women’s affairs was appointed in 1975

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When Sweden’s roads went right

In 1967, Swedish traffic swapped to driving on the right-hand side of the road

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The corruption and sodomy trials of Anwar Ibrahim

In 1998, Anwar Ibrahim was arrested and then jailed a year later

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How cat's eyes were invented

In 1934, Percy Shaw invented cat's eyes, the reflective studs in the road

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Mombasa terror attacks

Journalist Kelly Hartog describes the moment terrorists targeted Israeli tourists in Kenya

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CrossFit: The fitness phenomenon that changed the industry

In 2000, an American personal trainer invented CrossFit

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The islands Japan and Russia can’t agree on

In 1947, thousands of Japanese people were taken from their island homes by Soviet troops

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The woman who smuggled HIV into Bulgaria in her handbag

Virologist Professor Radka Argirova was the first to test people for HIV in Bulgaria

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Miss World protest

In 1970, feminists stormed the stage at the Miss World pageant in London

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Quebec’s 1995 referendum

In 1995, the people of Quebec voted on whether to become independent from Canada

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Demolishing the Babri Masjid

Hindu extremists demolished a mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya

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The killing of Jean Charles de Menezes

In 2005, the unarmed Brazilian man was shot dead by police in London

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'The Dismissal' of Gough Whitlam

In 1975, the Prime Minister was sacked in Australia's biggest constitutional crisis

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Creating Teletubbies

The story of the inspiration behind one of the most popular kids TV shows of all time

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Mongolian revolution

In 1990, a peaceful revolution brought democracy to Mongolia

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The Nazi occupation of Jersey

A woman who risked her life to hide a Russian prisoner during World War Two

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Returning to District Six

Zahra Nordien returned to District Six decades after being expelled during apartheid

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Soviet fashionista

Slava Zaitsev was the first designer to design high fashion pieces in the Soviet Union

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Felix Baumgartner's huge leap

In 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped from space back to earth

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Una Marson and the BBC Caribbean Service

The BBC's first black producer, Una Marson, and the beginnings of the Caribbean Service

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The BBC broadcasting through the Iron Curtain

Transmitting independent broadcasts through the Iron Curtain between 1947 and 1991

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Colombia's 'false positives' killings

When Colombia's military murdered thousands of innocent civilians

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Grozny siege

In December 1994, Russian forces began the siege of Chechnya’s capital Grozny

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Chile mine rescue

In 2010, 33 miners were trapped underground for 69 days in the San José mine in Chile

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Creating ciabatta bread

In 1982, rally driver Arnaldo Cavallari created ciabatta bread in Adria, in Italy

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Inventing Chicken Manchurian

Chef Nelson Wang created Chicken Manchurian in 1975

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Malta's bread strike

In February 1977 the bakers of Malta went on an unprecedented strike

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Inventing instant noodles

In 1958 Japanese entrepreneur, Momofuku Ando, invented instant noodles

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The birth of the Slow Food Movement

In 1986, protests against McDonalds in Rome led to an anti-fast food revolution.

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One team in Tallinn

In 1996, Scotland played in a football match where the opposition hadn't turned up

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Arctic African

Tété-Michel Kpomassie, ran away from his village in Togo and went to live in Greenland.

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When America banned silicone breast implants

In 1992, the US Government suspended all procedures involving silicone breast implants

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The man Pinochet wanted dead

In 1973, Miguel Enriquez led resistance against the dictatorship in Chile

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Pussy Riot’s cathedral protest

In 2012, a punk protest took place in one of Moscow's main cathedrals

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Plastics in oceans

In 1971 Edward Carpenter discovered plastic floating about in the Atlantic Ocean

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Dutch North Sea flood

In 1953, a storm combined with high tides breached sea defences in the Netherlands

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Paul Robeson and the transatlantic phone line

In 1957, Paul Robeson used a new phone line to perform the first transatlantic concert

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Galápagos Islands’ sea cucumber dispute

A demand for sea cucumbers set off a confrontation between fishermen and conservationists

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World’s first tidal power station

French President Charles De Gaulle opened the power station in 1966.

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Miracle on the Hudson

On 15 January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson River in New York

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Europe's horse meat scandal

In 2013, horse meat was discovered in beef products across Europe

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Kosovo’s house schools

In the 1990s a generation of Albanians got their education crammed into private homes

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France's nuclear tests in Algeria

Between 1960 and 1966, France carried out 17 nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara

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Swine flu vaccine and narcolepsy

In 2009 a vaccine designed to stop swine flu appeared to trigger a sleep disorder

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When Britain tried to censor the Troubles in Northern Ireland

Paul McLoone recalls the time he was the voice of Martin McGuinness

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Japanese death row guard

Yoshikuni Noguchi was a prison guard in Japan and witnessed the hanging of a prisoner

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Smolensk air disaster

In 2010, a plane carrying the Polish president, crashed and killed everyone on board

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Albert Pierrepoint: Britain's executioner

Using archive recordings, Alex Last tells the story of Britain's most famous hangman

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Invention of the MP3

It took Karlheinz Brandenburg and his team more than a decade to perfect MP3 technology

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Palestine Post bombing

Mordechai Chertoff was the editor on the Palestine Post when it was bombed in 1948

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Czechoslovakia's 'Velvet Divorce'

Two former Prime Ministers describe how they split Czechoslovakia in two in 1993

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Columbia space shuttle disaster

The US space shuttle Columbia broke up on its way back to Earth on 1 February 2003

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The assassination of Burundian President Melchior Ndadaye

In 1993, Burundi’s first democratically elected President was murdered

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The first black music station in Europe

In 1981, Leroy Anderson launched Europe’s first dedicated black music station

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How a Pope is chosen

After the death of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI

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Reforming the Catholic Church with Vatican II

In 1959, Pope John XXIII announced a council of all the world's bishops and cardinals

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Pope John Paul I’s sudden death

Cardinal Albino Luciani became Pope John Paul I in 1978. He died 33 days later

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The Pope and Jews

In April 1986, Pope John Paul II made a historic visit to a Rome synagogue

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'I told the world Pope Benedict XVI was resigning'

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

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'Hot Autumn': When Italy’s workers revolted

In 1969, Italy erupted as thousands of workers went on strike

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First Danish queen for 600 years

In 1972, Denmark crowned its first queen in 600 years

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'I developed Pokémon'

In February 1996, gamers in Japan were first introduced to Pokémon

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Discovering Tutankhamun’s tomb

In 1923 the sealed burial chamber of Tutankhamun was opened for the first time

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First winter ascent of Everest

On 17 February 1980, the first people climbed Everest in winter

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Battle for the capital: Bonn v Berlin

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and Germany decided which city would be the new capital

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Seggae riots in Mauritius

Mauritian musician Kaya, died in police custody on 21 February 1999, sparking rioting

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The invention of Semtex

In 1958, Stanislav Brebera invented Semtex, a malleable and odourless plastic explosive

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Families interned in WW2 China

A first-hand account of being sent to a Japanese internment camp in Shanghai as a child

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