大象传媒

The men who tried to warn us about smoking

When doctors said cigarette smokers were dying prematurely the UK government did little.

• 9 mins

How science ended the search for Josef Mengele

A panel of scientists went to Brazil to identify the remains of the infamous Nazi in 1985

• 9 mins

Venezuela's oil bonanza

The boom and bust years of "Saudi" Venezuela in the 1970s

• 9 mins

Swine flu shuts down Mexico City

A highly infectious virus appeared in Mexico in 2009 and rapidly spread round the world

• 9 mins

Sucked out of a plane

Nine people died when a cargo door opened mid-flight over the Pacific in February 1989

• 9 mins

Asama Sanso: Japanese hostage crisis

Armed left-wing extremists fought off Japanese police in the mountains in February 1972

• 9 mins

Happy Beer Day!

On March 1st 1989 Icelanders were allowed to buy beer for the first time in decades

• 9 mins

Britain's first Muslim woman in government

Sayeeda Warsi was appointed to the coalition government's Cabinet in May 2010

• 9 mins

The creation of the Barbie doll

Hear from the woman who created the most famous doll in the world.

• 9 mins

Speaking out against my abuser: Daniel Ortega

How Nicaragua's president was accused of sexual abuse by his step-daughter

• 9 mins

The woman who asked Britain to return the Parthenon marbles

Melina Mercouri asked Britain to return the Parthenon marbles removed by Lord Elgin.

• 9 mins

Britain's first female black headteacher

Yvonne Conolly was appointed head of Ringcross Primary school in North London in 1969

• 9 mins

The fall of Singapore

Life under Japanese occupation in Singapore during World War Two.

• 9 mins

Lenin and the deadly mushrooms

A spoof TV show persuaded some Russians that Lenin took too many hallucinogenic mushrooms

• 9 mins

China's breakthrough malaria cure

Chinese scientists used ancient traditional medicine to find a cure for malaria.

• 9 mins

Slaughterhouse-Five

In March 1969, American author Kurt Vonnegut published his cult anti-war novel.

• 9 mins

How Little America was built in Afghanistan

In the 1950s, US engineers were sent to Afghanistan to build a dam.

• 9 mins

The millionaire Nazi war criminal

How the Dutch art collector Pieter Menten was exposed as a war criminal in the 1970s

• 9 mins

The first democratic elections in the USSR

Soviet citizens voted in democratic elections for the first time in March 1989.

• 9 mins

The discovery of the Aztec Moon Goddess

How an accidental discovery in Mexico led to the uncovering of the Aztecs麓 Great Temple.

• 9 mins

Autism and the MMR vaccine

How a British doctor misled the world by linking the MMR vaccine with autism.

• 9 mins

The rise of Viktor Orban

Viktor Orban, now the populist Hungarian Prime Minister led a democratic movement in 1988

• 9 mins

The first home pregnancy test

A female designer working for a pharmaceutical company came up with the idea in the 1960s

• 9 mins

Drama in the British parliament

Prime Minister Jim Callaghan's desperate attempts to survive a no-confidence vote in 1979

• 9 mins

Around the world in 20 days

The record-breaking balloon flight

• 9 mins

The secret Nazi past of Kurt Waldheim

How former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's secret Nazi past was exposed

• 9 mins

Mindfulness for the masses

Scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered a meditative approach to treat pain and depression.

• 9 mins

Patty Hearst the rebel heiress

In April 1974 the heiress announced she supported her kidnappers' beliefs

• 9 mins

EMDR: the eye-movement therapy

A therapy which seems to work for post-traumatic stress was developed in the late 1980s

• 9 mins

The warship lost for more than 300 years

The discovery of a 17th century Swedish warship, the Vasa, in near perfect condition

• 9 mins