The ‘Barricades’ of Latvia
In January 1991, more than half a million people protested in Riga, the capital city of Latvia. They wanted to stop Soviet troops taking over important landmarks, so they built barricades and camped o...
18 Jul 202310min
Tamoxifen: Breast cancer ‘wonder drug’
The story of how tamoxifen went from a failed contraceptive pill, to being used to prevent and treat breast cancer around the world. It was the first ever targeted cancer drug. Laura Jones speaks to P...
17 Jul 202311min
Creating the first emoji
In 1999, Japanese software developer Shigetaka Kurita created the first emoji. The umbrella was one of 176 original images, featuring weather, transport signs, numbers and emotions.He was inspired aft...
14 Jul 20239min
When disposable nappies were invented
In 1947, after the birth of her third child, Valerie Hunter Gordon, from Surrey decided she was sick of the drudgery of cloth nappies. She came up with a solution – a reusable outer garment, initially...
13 Jul 202310min
Inventing Rubik’s Cube
In 1974, a Hungarian architect, Ernő Rubik invented his very popular puzzle. Nearly 50 years later, more than 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold worldwide. In 2015, Ernő told Dina Newman how he ...
11 Jul 202310min
Invention of the ballpoint pen
In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian journalist, invented the ballpoint pen, because he was sick of smudging the ink from his fountain pen.Inspired by the rollers of the printing press at his newspaper, ...
10 Jul 20239min
A right royal night out
The tale of an extraordinary night at a legendary British gay pub.Princess Diana, disguised as a man, along with star broadcaster Kenny Everett and Queen singer Freddie Mercury enjoyed a drink in Lond...
7 Jul 20239min
When tourism came to the Maldives
In 1972 the first tourists arrived in the Maldives.They stayed in humble lodgings in three houses, looked after by young Maldivians including Ahmed Naseem, Mohamed Umar Maniku and their friends.Perfec...
6 Jul 202310min
