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In 1984, a news report on a famine in Ethiopia led to a global fundraising campaign Read more
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Ethiopia's 1984 famine
In 1984, a news report on a famine in Ethiopia led to a global fundraising campaign
Bonga Kwenda: Music banned in Angola and Portugal
Outspoken er of Angolan independence, Bonga Kwenda was forced into exile in 1972
My dad created Dungeons & Dragons
In 1974, Gary Gygax created the fantasy roleplay game.
The creation of Greenwich Mean Time
Experiments by John Flamsteed in the 17th Century led to the time zone being created
Jean Batten: New Zealand’s record breaking aviator
Jean Batten was nicknamed the Queen of the Skies for her pioneering flights of the 1930s
The Ken Burns Effect
In 2002, the 'Ken Burns effect' was created.
Brazil’s electronic voting
In 1996, an electronic voting system in Brazil was used for the first time
Siegfried and Roy tiger attack
In 2003, illusionist Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger live on stage.
Iran hostage crisis
In 1979, Barry Rosen was held hostage after the US embassy in Tehran was stormed
In exile from Iran
Former empress Farah Pahlavi and social scientist Rouhi Shafi speak about leaving Iran
The Shah of Iran's party
In 1971, the Shah of Iran, celebrated 2,500 years of the Persian Empire
The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto
Polish aid worker Irena Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto in WW2
The invention of the ‘Baby’ computer
In 1948, the first stored-program computer the ‘Baby’ was invented
The Pakistan mountain massacre
In 2013, 11 people were killed by of a militant group at Nanga Parbat base camp
How Greece got rid of their king
In a 1974 referendum, the Greek people voted two to one in favour of becoming a republic
India's capsule coal mine rescue
In November 1989, 65 miners were rescued from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India
Luana Mansilla: Changing gender aged six
In 2013, the gender of a six-year-old from Argentina was legally changed
German naturists
The naturist movement began in at the end of the 19th Century
Iran's secret Christian 'house churches'
Between 2002 and 2005, Naghmeh Panahi set up a network of 'house churches' in Iran
The Siege of Yarmouk
How the Syrian army turned one neighbourhood near Damascus into a bombed-out wasteland
Handover of Macau
In 1999, Macau was handed back to China after more than 400 years as a Portuguese colony
Lord of the Flies
It’s 70 years since William Golding’s acclaimed novel was published
Creation of the UFC
In 1993, a new sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship
Arrested for "immorality" in South Africa
Dr Zureena Desai was arrested in South Africa for breaking the Immorality Act
Strictly Come Dancing
Television extravaganza Strictly Come Dancing debuted in 2004 in the UK
Thich Quang Duc: Buddhist monk who set himself on fire
In June 1963, Thich Quang Duc set himself alight in protest against the government
The deepest man-made hole in the world
In the 1970s and 1980s, scientists in Russia managed to dig a 12,000-metre deep hole
The end of the US HIV travel ban
In 2010, a travel and immigration ban stopping people with HIV entering the US was lifted
The Iran-Contra Affair
In 1986, Oliver North was accused of orchestrating the illegal sale of weapons to Iran
Gloria Steinem: The start of Ms. Magazine
In 1972, Gloria Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine in the United States
The discovery that led to Covid vaccines
In 2005, Dr Katalin Karikó published research that eventually won her the Nobel Prize
