India’s plague outbreak
In 1994, the pneumonic plague broke out in the city of Surat, causing mass panic. It saw the largest migration across India since independence was declared in 1947. Ashley Byrne speaks to Doctor Vibha...
18 Sep 20249min
Camouflaging Leningrad
It’s 85 years since the start of World War Two. During the conflict, the Russian city of Leningrad came under siege in 1941. To camouflage the landmarks from enemy attack, a small group of mountaineer...
17 Sep 20249min
The invention of the CT scanner
In 1971, the CT scanner was invented by South African physicist Allan Cormack and British engineer Sir Godfrey Hounsfield.It was a ground-breaking moment in modern medicine and they're now in almost e...
16 Sep 202410min
When Italy gave back Ethiopia’s stolen obelisk
In 2005, the pieces of an ancient monument were flown back to Ethiopia, having been stolen by Italy.The Obelisk of Axum, built around 1,700 years ago, was 24-metres (78 feet) high and weighed around 1...
13 Sep 20248min
Abebech Gobena: Africa's 'Mother Teresa'
In 1980, Abebech Gobena was on a pilgrimage to Wollo in Ethiopia, when she witnessed the devastating effects of a severe famine and drought, one of the worst in the country's history. Within a year sh...
12 Sep 20248min
Ardi: The oldest skeleton of a human ancestor
In 1994, a college student called Yohannes Haile Selassie unearthed a 4.4 million-year-old skeleton in Ethiopia. She was the first near-complete skeleton of a species of human ancestor called Ardipith...
11 Sep 20248min
Emperor Haile Selassie in Bath
In 1936, Haile Selassie came to Bath in the west of England to escape Mussolini and the fascists who had invaded Ethiopia.He bought a property – Fairfield House - and moved his entire family and staff...
10 Sep 20249min
Emperor Haile Selassie overthrown
Haile Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia. His dynasty ruled for centuries, supposedly descending from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In 1974 he was overthrown in a coup by a Marxist-Leninist milit...
9 Sep 20249min
