Pope John Paul I’s sudden death
Cardinal Albino Luciani became Pope John Paul I on 26 August 1978. He died unexpectedly 33 days later.He was discovered in the early morning lying on his bed, a collection of sermons in his hand. He w...
8 Feb 20239min
Reforming the Catholic Church with Vatican II
In January 1959, Pope John XXIII announced a council of all the world's Catholic bishops and cardinals in Rome. It led to sweeping reforms, including allowing Mass to be said in languages other than L...
7 Feb 20239min
How a Pope is chosen
Following the death of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005. He was elected after four ballots of the papal conclave. The late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'...
6 Feb 20238min
The first black music station in Europe
In 1981, Rita Marley’s brother Leroy Anderson aka Lepke launched the Dread Broadcasting Corporation (DBC), Europe’s first dedicated black music station.Frustrated by the lack of airtime for reggae mus...
3 Feb 20239min
The assassination of Burundian President Melchior Ndadaye
In July 1993, Melchior Ndadaye became Burundi’s first democratically elected president.He was also the first president to come from the country’s Hutu majority.For decades up to that point, Burundi ha...
2 Feb 202313min
Columbia space shuttle disaster
The US space shuttle Columbia broke up on its way back to Earth on 1 February 2003. It had been in use since 1981. Iain Mackness spoke to Admiral Hal Gehman who was given the job of finding out what w...
1 Feb 20238min
Czechoslovakia's 'Velvet Divorce'
30 years ago this month, Czechoslovakia split into the separate states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It was a rare instance of a state separating without a single life being lost. Thanks to this...
31 Jan 20239min
Palestine Post bombing
Mordechai Chertoff was the foreign editor on the Palestine Post (precursor to the Jerusalem Post) when it was bombed on 1 February 1948. He tells Lucy Williamson how, despite the attack, the newspaper...
30 Jan 20238min
