Longest-serving democratically elected communist government

A democratically elected communist government came to power in eastern India in 1977

• 9 mins

The National Health Service begins

The UK’s National Health Service started on 5 July 1948

• 9 mins

When tourism came to the Maldives

In February 1972 the first group of tourists arrived in the Maldives

• 9 mins

A right royal night out

Princess Diana, Kenny Everett and Freddie Mercury went on a night out in London in 1988

• 9 mins

Invention of the ballpoint pen

In 1938 a Hungarian journalist László Bíró invented the ballpoint pen

• 9 mins

Inventing Rubik’s Cube

In 1974, a Hungarian architect, Ernő Rubik invented his bestselling puzzle

• 9 mins

Aibo: The world’s first robot dog

The world's first robot dog called Aibo, sold out in just 20 minutes in 1999

• 9 mins

When disposable nappies were invented

The story of how disposable nappies were invented.

• 9 mins

Creating the first emoji

In 1999, Japanese designer Shigetaka Kurita created a global phenomena - the first emoji

• 9 mins

Tamoxifen: Breast cancer ‘wonder drug’

How the drug tamoxifen became a global success in breast cancer treatment

• 9 mins

The ‘Barricades’ of Latvia

More than 500,000 people barricaded the streets of Riga in January 1991

• 9 mins

Japan surrenders in China

The signing of the Japanese surrender documents at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1945.

• 9 mins

The birth of Barbie

Ruth Handler created the Barbie doll which was first sold in 1959

• 9 mins

The US singer who became the Soviet Union’s Red Elvis

In 1966, American Dean Reed was the first western rock star to tour the Soviet Union

• 9 mins

Escaping the Nazis in Greece

Yeti Mitrani and her family escaped deportation from Greece by the Nazis in 1943

• 9 mins

Brain: The first personal computer virus

In 1986 a computer virus was developed accidentally by two brothers in Pakistan

• 9 mins

The Pope’s controversial Nicaragua visit

Pope John Paul II angered supporters of the Sandinista government during a 1983 trip

• 9 mins

The 1960 coup against Haile Selassie

There was an attempt to overthrow the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in December 1960

• 9 mins

Mr Bigg's: The birth of Nigeria's iconic takeaway

It’s been 50 years since Mr Bigg's was first launched in Nigeria

• 9 mins

José Mujica: Prison break to president

Uruguay's former president recounts his revolutionary past as a member of the Tupamaros

• 9 mins

First dinosaur eggs identified in India

In 1982, Ashok Sahni discovered nests of dinosaur eggs for the first time in India

• 9 mins

Birth of a new language

In the early 1980s deaf children in Nicaragua invented a new sign language

• 9 mins

Treehouse on the Berlin Wall

In 1982 a Turkish worker in Germany built a treehouse against the Berlin Wall

• 9 mins

Dinosaur in court

In 2012 a dinosaur skeleton became the subject of a restraining order and a court case

• 9 mins

Brownie Wise: The creator of Tupperware parties

How Brownie Wise inspired an army of US housewives to sell Tupperware at parties

• 9 mins

The Great Train Robbery

In 1963, thieves held up a Royal Mail train on its journey from Glasgow to London

• 9 mins

Sarajevo’s haven of peace

The Jewish charity that helped people in the Bosnian war during the siege of Sarajevo

• 9 mins

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's diamonds scandal

Journalist Claude Angeli broke the story that helped topple France's President in 1981

• 9 mins

Jean-Michel Basquiat bursts onto the New York art scene

The success of graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

• 9 mins

The boy who discovered a new species of human ancestor

Matt Berger tripped over a hominid fossil whilst exploring with his dad in South Africa

• 9 mins

Iran: How the prime minister was overthrown in 1953

It's 70 years since the US-backed coup which brought the Shah of Iran to power in 1953

• 9 mins

Returning Benin Bronzes

In 2004, a chance encounter in Nigeria led to the return of two looted art treasures

• 9 mins

Judy Garland: The final shows

The last performances of Judy Garland in January 1969

• 9 mins

The Wizard of Oz: The stolen ruby slippers

Ruby slippers used in the film 'The Wizard of Oz' were stolen in 2005.

• 9 mins

Easter Rising in Ireland

In 1916, a group of Irish rebels launched an armed revolt against British rule

• 9 mins

How electricity came to rural Ireland

The Rural Electrification Scheme brought power to 300,000 homes in the Irish countryside

• 9 mins

The first Rose of Tralee

In 1959, the first Rose of Tralee festival was held in Ireland

• 9 mins

Celtic Tiger: Ireland's 'ghost estates'

How the collapse of Ireland's Celtic Tiger led to thousands of abandoned housing estates

• 9 mins

Women invade Dublin's male-only swimming spot

In 1974, women campaigned to swim at the Forty Foot in Dublin, Ireland

• 9 mins

The Bristol bus boycott

How a protest by black activists in 1963 led to the UK's first anti-racism laws

• 9 mins

North and South Korean leaders meet for the first time in decades

In June 2000, the first inter-Korean summit since the Korean War took place

• 9 mins

Egypt's Rabaa massacre

In August 2013, the army killed hundreds of protestors in Cairo

• 9 mins

Saving Guadalupe from goats

An island expedition helped save Guadalupe's wildlife from extinction...and goats

• 9 mins

Leaving China to study after the Cultural Revolution

We hear from one of the first students to study overseas after the Cultural Revolution

• 9 mins

Arctic 30: Russian arrest of Greenpeace campaigners

In 2013, campaigners were arrested for protesting against oil drilling in the Arctic

• 9 mins

Bi Kidude: Zanzibar's 'golden grandmother of music'

Bi Kidude was one of the first women from Zanzibar to sing in public without the veil

• 9 mins

Murder of Swedish politician Anna Lindh

In 2003, Swedish politician Anna Lindh was attacked and killed in Stockholm

• 9 mins

Organising Chile's 1973 military coup

On 11 September, General Augusto Pinochet deposed President Salvador Allende

• 9 mins

Victor Jara: killed in Chile's coup

The musician's widow recounts his murder at the hands of Chile's army in 1973

• 9 mins

Oslo Peace Accords: The secret talks behind Middle East deal

How a couple in Oslo brokered peace in the Middle East

• 9 mins

Camp David Summit: How Middle East peace talks failed

President Bill Clinton’s failed attempt to end the conflict in the Middle East.

• 9 mins

Ariel Sharon visits al-Aqsa

In 2000, the Israeli opposition leader visited the al-Aqsa Mosque compound

• 9 mins

The siege at the Church of the Nativity

The final days of one of the most dramatic sieges of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

• 9 mins

The Ramallah concert

In 2005, an orchestra made up of young Arab and Israeli musicians performed in Ramallah

• 9 mins

Nazi eugenics

In 1933, Adolf Hitler ordered the sterilisation of people with disabilities

• 9 mins

Fighting for legal abortion in Italy

In 1978, campaigners won their fight to legalise abortion in Italy despite the opposition

• 9 mins

The first person inside the 'Gates of Hell'

In November 2013, George Kourounis descended into the 'Gates of Hell'

• 9 mins

Kenya: Nairobi shopping mall attack

In 2013, a Somali militant group attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi

• 9 mins

The year of the vuvuzela

Freddie 'Saddam' Maake tells the story of how he became known as 'Mr Vuvuzela'

• 9 mins

Vietnam War: Stopping nuclear disaster

In 1975, physicist Wally Hendrickson prevented nuclear disaster in Vietnam

• 9 mins

Concorde's first flight

On 2 March 1969 Concorde took to the skies for the first time

• 9 mins

Kassandra: The peacekeeping telenovela in Bosnia

The Latin American soap opera Kassandra helped keep peace in Bosnia

• 9 mins

The Lampedusa shipwreck tragedy

In 2013, a ship carrying more than 500 migrants sank off the coast of Lampedusa.

• 9 mins

The first cat cafe

In 1998, the world’s first cat cafe opened in Taiwan

• 9 mins

The oil crisis of 1973

In October 1973, Arab nations slashed oil production causing prices to sky rocket

• 9 mins

The oilfield that changed Kazakhstan

In 1993 Kazakhstan partnered with Chevron and started drilling for oil

• 9 mins

Nigeria strikes oil

In 1956 commercial quantities of oil were discovered in Nigeria

• 9 mins

The Amoco Cadiz oil spill

In 1978, a crude oil tanker was shipwrecked off the coast of France

• 9 mins

Protectors of the Amazon

In 2003, the Sarayaku community began a legal battle against an oil company

• 9 mins

Yinka Shonibare: Nelson's Ship in a Bottle

On 24 May 2010, artist Yinka Shonibare unveiled his sculpture, Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle

• 9 mins

The 84-year-old primary school pupil

In 2004, Kenyan great grandfather Kimani Maruge became the oldest person to start school

• 9 mins

Theodosia Okoh: Designer of Ghana’s flag

Ghana's independence in 1957 was marked with a new flag designed by Theodosia Okoh

• 9 mins

Kwame Nkrumah: Ousted from power

In 1966, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, one of Africa's most famous leaders was ousted from power

• 9 mins

Surviving an acid attack and changing the law

In 2013, acid attack survivors in India celebrated a landmark Supreme Court ruling

• 9 mins

Cambodian peace walk

In 1992, Cambodia held its first peace walk aimed at uniting a country torn apart by war

• 9 mins

Rana Plaza building collapse

In 2013, an eight-storey building in Bangladesh collapsed killing more than 1,000 people

• 9 mins

Mexico’s murdered women

In the 1990s, hundreds of young women were murdered in a Mexican border town

• 9 mins

Launching Lagos Fashion Week

Lagos Fashion Week was launched in 2011 putting Nigerian style on the global map

• 9 mins

Osmondmania

Donny Osmond shares his memories of teen hysteria in 1973

• 9 mins

The first Bosphorus Bridge

In 1973, the first bridge connecting Europe and Asia was completed

• 9 mins

The 1980 Turkey coup

On 12 September 1980, the military took control of Turkey

• 9 mins

The 1993 MAD hijack

In 1993, a Nigerian Airways flight from Lagos to Abuja was hijacked

• 9 mins

'The streets of Harare were littered with money'

Professor Gift Mugano describes when Zimbabwe’s inflation hit 89.7 sextillion per cent

• 9 mins

Turkey: Gezi Park protests

In 2013 protests in Istanbul’s Gezi Park led to civil unrest across Turkey

• 9 mins

The billion dollar bid to stop oil drilling in the Amazon

In 2010 a $3.6billion fund began to stop oil drilling in Ecuador’s Yasuni national park

• 9 mins

The discovery of the HIV virus

In 1983, scientists at the Pasteur Institute in Paris first discovered the HIV virus

• 9 mins

Inventing the black box

In 1962 a prototype of the cockpit flight recorder was tested in Australia

• 9 mins

Che Guevara’s daughter: A Cuban doctor in Angola

In 1986 Dr Aleida Guevara travelled from Cuba to treat children in communist Angola

• 9 mins

Freddie Mercury 'marries' Jane Seymour

The actress Jane Seymour shares what it was like being rock star Freddie Mercury's bride

• 9 mins

Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire

More than 300 people died in Paraguay's capital in 2004

• 9 mins

Debbie McGee in Iran

Showbiz star, Debbie McGee describes being caught up in the Iranian revolution in 1978

• 9 mins

The Pakistani teens who became disco superstars

How Nazia and Zoheb Hassan changed South-East Asian pop with their album, Disco Deewane

• 9 mins

Destruction of Mostar Bridge

On 9 November 1993 the historic bridge was destroyed during the Bosnian War

• 9 mins

The hippo and the tortoise

In 2004, a hippo and a tortoise became friends. Their story gained worldwide fame

• 9 mins

The invention of the EpiPen

How engineer Sheldon Kaplan and his team made the EpiPen, the lifesaving allergy device

• 9 mins

Eyjafjallajökull: The volcano that stopped a continent

In 2010, a cloud of volcanic ash brought Europe’s planes back to earth

• 9 mins

Rosalind Franklin: DNA pioneer

The scientist produced an X-ray photograph in 1952, that helped show the structure of DNA

• 9 mins

The Bolivian Water War

How Bolivians in the city of Cochabamba fought against the “leasing of the rain”

• 9 mins

Discovering the ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion

In 2000 Franck Goddio made one of the greatest ever underwater discoveries

• 9 mins