The creation of the Barbie doll
The first Barbie doll was sold in 1959. Ruth Handler, one of the founders of the Mattel toy company who created Barbie, describes how it took years to convince her male colleagues that it would sell.P...
5 Mar 20199min
Britain's first Muslim woman in government
Sayeeda Warsi made history when she was appointed to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government's Cabinet in May 2010, and was also made Conservative party co-chair. The daughter of wo...
4 Mar 201912min
Happy Beer Day!
On March 1st 1989 Icelanders were allowed to buy full-strength beer for the first time in decades. Beer had been outlawed in the country since 1915. Roger Protz has been looking into the history of ...
1 Mar 201910min
Asama Sanso: Japanese hostage crisis
Armed left-wing extremists held off Japanese police for 10 days during a hostage crisis in the mountains in February 1972. Young members of the so-called United Red Army had hoped to bring about a co...
28 Feb 20198min
Sucked out of a plane
Nine passengers were sucked out of a plane when a cargo door opened mid-flight over the Pacific.United Airlines Flight 811 was flying from Hawaii to New Zealand in February 1989 when the accident happ...
27 Feb 201910min
Swine flu shuts down Mexico City
Mexico City, the world's third largest metropolis, was effectively shut down when a new and deadly virus, swine flu appeared. Soon the virus started to spread and was seen as a massive threat to globa...
26 Feb 201910min
Venezuela's oil bonanza
Rocketing oil prices in the mid 1970s fuelled massive consumer and government spending in Venezuela, earning the South American country the nickname "Saudi" Venezuela. Buoyed by the extra revenue, the...
25 Feb 201910min
How science ended the search for Josef Mengele
An international panel of experts gathered in Brazil in 1985 to identify the remains of a man thought to have been the infamous doctor from Auschwitz. 'To see that this man was finally in his grave wa...
22 Feb 20199min
