The ‘army’ that taught Cuba to read and write
In 1961, Fidel Castro launched a nationwide campaign aimed to eradicate illiteracy in Cuba. An ‘army’ of volunteers known as brigadistas equipped with books and pencils travelled across the country t...
19 Okt 20228min
Cuban Missile Crisis: The showdown
Jo Fidgen hears what was happening in the Pentagon and the Kremlin in the final days of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev finally offered to withdraw the missiles as t...
18 Okt 202210min
Cuban Missile Crisis: The photos
In 1962, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Jo Fidgen spoke to American Intelligence officer Dino Brugioni who played a crucial role as the crisis unfolded. Dino ...
17 Okt 202210min
Cesar Chavez’s campaign for farm workers
In the 1960s, a wave of strikes and protest marches by Mexican-American farm workers inspired Latinos across the US. The movement was led by Cesar Chavez - a man now regarded by his community as a civ...
14 Okt 202210min
Torturing strikers in South Korea
Park Heongjun takes us back to May 1980, when a strike in the city of Gwangju became one of the most divisive moments in South Korea’s history and led to the imprisonment of activist Bae Ok Byoung. Sh...
12 Okt 20229min
Disney animators' strike
Walt Disney cartoonists went on strike for nine weeks in 1941. They were led by Art Babbitt, Disney’s top animator who created Goofy.The picket line was remarkable for its colourful artwork and suppor...
11 Okt 20229min
UK’s ‘Winter of Discontent’
In 1979, British public sector workers went on strike over pay. Among those taking industrial action were gravediggers. But the media, politicians and even their own families turned against them at th...
10 Okt 202210min
The beginnings of Notting Hill Carnival
On 30 January 1959, the late Trinidadian activist Claudia Jones held a Caribbean party in St Pancras Town Hall in London, planting the seeds for the famous carnival.She wanted to bring Caribbeans acro...
7 Okt 202210min
