The father of Ethio-Jazz

In 1966, Ethiopian musician Mulatu Astatke recorded a new genre of music, Ethio-jazz.

• 9 mins

The 'ghost town' of Namibia

In 1908, the first Kolmanskop diamond was found. It's now abandoned, buried in the desert

• 9 mins

The invention of superglue

In 1951, Harry Coover noticed a chemical he was working with was sticking to everything

• 10 mins

The wonder woman of DC Comics

In 1976 Jenette Kahn became the first female head of DC Comics, home of the superheroes

• 10 mins

JFK’s 1963 Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech

The US President spoke at the newly constructed Berlin Wall at the height of the Cold War

• 9 mins

Resusci Anne: the world’s first life-saving resuscitation dummy

In May 1960 a Norwegian toy-maker unveiled a life-sized, life-like training manikin

• 10 mins

The UN retreat from Somalia

In 1995, a United Nations mission to restore peace in Somalia ended in disaster

• 10 mins

The Reichstag fire

In February 1933, the home to the German Parliament in Berlin was burned down

• 10 mins

Liberia’s women in white who helped end civil war

In 2003 the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace began protests calling for peace

• 9 mins

Oklahoma City bombing

On 19 April 1995, a huge truck bomb killed 168 people in a US government building

• 10 mins

Germany’s ‘Green Belt’

In December 1989, environmentalists met to secure the future of Germany’s ‘Green Belt’

• 10 mins

The Bali Nine drug smuggling case

In 2005, nine Australians were caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia

• 9 mins

The invention of the white LED lightbulb

In 1993, a lightbulb moment led to the invention of the first white light emitting diode

• 10 mins

The Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia

In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia

• 10 mins

Clearing landmines in Cambodia

Aki Ra laid hundreds of landmines for the Khmer Rouge, but began clearing them in 1992.

• 9 mins

The origin of World Book Day

23 April 1996, saw the first World Book Day. It originated from a Spanish tradition

• 10 mins

The creation of YouTube

In April 2005, the first video was posted onto YouTube

• 10 mins

Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke'

On 23 April 1985, Coca-Cola changed the secret formula of its fizzy drink

• 10 mins

Staging Othello in apartheid South Africa

Dame Janet Suzman recalls directing Shakespeare's classic in 1987

• 10 mins

The death of Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler's secretary recalls his last days in 1945

• 9 mins

Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal

In April 1944, a German fleet sank two allied ships. Around 749 US servicemen died.

• 10 mins

Doi Moi: Vietnam's economic miracle

Radical reforms introduced in 1986 lifted millions out of poverty

• 10 mins

Surviving the fall of Saigon in 1975

When South Vietnam fell, most people couldn’t escape

• 9 mins

The Cu Chi tunnels of the Vietnam War

The story of North Vietnam’s underground tunnel network in South Vietnam

• 9 mins

Ten countries join the EU in one night

On 1 May 2004, the European Union went through its biggest ever enlargement

• 10 mins

Snake: Popularising mobile gaming

In 1998, the Snake game made its debut on mobile phones.

• 10 mins