The assassination of Thomas Sankara
In October 1987, one of Africa's most radical leaders, Captain Thomas Sankara, was gunned down in a coup in Burkina Faso.His overthrow was orchestrated by his old friend, Blaise Compaore. Thomas Sanka...
15 Apr 9min
Roddy Doyle: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
In 1993, the Irish writer Roddy Doyle won the prestigious Booker Prize for Fiction. His novel, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, was remarkable for the way it conveyed gritty drama through the eyes of a 10-year-...
14 Apr 9min
The creation of My Little Pony
My Little Pony first appeared in shops in the United States in 1983 and in that decade alone more than 100 million would be sold. But American toymaker Bonnie Zacharle tells Josephine McDermott how he...
13 Apr 10min
The turtle freed after 41 years in captivity
In 1984, loggerhead sea turtle Jorge became trapped in fishing nets and was moved to an aquarium in Mendoza. He was kept in captivity for more than 40 years until legal action and a campaign led to th...
10 Apr 10min
Khula Manch, the victory rally
On 9 April 1990, people gathered at Khula Manch, an open stage in Kathmandu. They were celebrating the end of Nepal’s party-less Panchayat system and the beginning of multi-party democracy.Among the c...
9 Apr 10min
Hitler's teeth
On 8 May 1945, Yelena Rzhevskaya was handed a small box covered in red satin. The box had once held perfume but now inside – so she said – were Adolf Hitler’s teeth. Yelena later claimed this marked t...
8 Apr 10min
Marcel Duchamp and the urinal that changed art
In October 1942, the great French conceptualist artist Marcel Duchamp helped put on the first major surrealist exhibition in New York. Carroll Janis's parents were friends of Duchamp.Louise Hidalgo sp...
7 Apr 10min
Straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa
On 15 December 2001, the Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened to the public after an unprecedented 11-year closure. Famous worldwide for its dramatic lean, the tower also became, during the 1990s, the most ...
6 Apr 9min
