China's Barefoot Doctors
In March 1968, Chairman Mao officially launched a scheme to improve healthcare in rural China, by giving thousands of people basic medical training and sending them out to work in villages. They were known as the “barefoot doctors”.Gordon Liu is a Professor of Economics at Peking University. He tells Lucy Burns about his memories of working as a barefoot doctor.Picture: Gordon Liu
1 Mar 20188min
M*A*S*H
On the 28th of February 1983 the final episode of the iconic US TV series M*A*S*H was broadcast. It was watched by a record 125 million viewers. Set during the Korean War. M*A*S*H centred on the lives of the doctors and nurses in an army medical unit. Farhana Haider has been hearing from one of the show's writers Karen Hall about the sitcom that presented a wry take on war.Photo Cast of M*A*S*H 1980 Karen Hall far right. Credit Karen Hall
28 Feb 201810min
The Killing of Olof Palme
The Swedish Prime Minister was shot dead on a Stockholm street on February 28th 1986. But the investigation into his killing was never satisfactorily completed. Tim Mansel spoke to public prosecutor Solveig Riberdahl, and police investigator Hans Olvebro, about the case in 2012.Photo: Portrait of Olof Palme in Stockholm in the 1980s. (Credit:AFP/Getty Images)
27 Feb 20188min
The Angel of the North
A huge steel sculpture, that has become an icon for the north-east of England, was completed in February 1998. Designed by artist Antony Gormley, the Angel of the North was initially met with so much opposition that it was almost never built. Louise Hidalgo has been speaking to arts curator Anna Pepperall who was involved in the plans to build the most ambitious piece of public art that Britain had ever seen.Photo: The Angel of the North (Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
26 Feb 20189min
The Last Smallpox Outbreak
Tens of thousands of people died in India in 1974 during the world's last major smallpox epidemic. Individual cases had to be tracked down and quarantined to stop the deadly disease spreading. Ashley Byrne has spoken to Dr Mahendra Dutta and Dr Larry Brilliant who took part in the battle to eradicate smallpox once and for all.Photo: Smallpox lesions on the human body. 1973. Credit: Getty Images.
23 Feb 20189min
David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest
One of the biggest novels of the late twentieth century - both literally and figuratively - was published in February 1996. Infinite Jest by American author David Foster Wallace is nearly 1100 pages long, but the ground-breaking work of literary fiction also became a bestseller.Lucy Burns speaks to the editor of Infinite Jest, Michael Pietsch.
22 Feb 20189min
The Boy in the Bubble
David Vetter lived his whole life sealed off from the outside world in a completely sterile environment. He was born with a rare genetic disorder, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, which made him hugely susceptible to infections. He died from the disease at the age of 12 on 24 February 1984, when a bone marrow transplant failed. Rachael Gillman has been speaking to his mother Carol-Ann Demaret.(Photo: David Vetter and his mother Carol-Ann Demaret Credit: Carol-Ann Demaret)
21 Feb 20189min
Jimmy Swaggart's Fall From Grace
In February 1988 Jimmy Swaggart, one of America's most successful televangelists, was forced to make a humiliating public confession from the pulpit. He had been caught in the company of a New Orleans prostitute. Swaggart's tough no-nonsense style of preaching had won him a huge global following. He had also been fiercely critical of other evangelical preachers who had become mired in sexual scandals. Mike Lanchin hears from the Baton Rouge news reporter Edward Pratt, who followed Swaggart's rapid rise to fame and sudden fall.Photo: Jimmy Swaggart breaks down in tears on televised sermon as he confesses his relationship with a prostitute, Feb 1988 (Alamy)
20 Feb 20188min
