Geneva Conventions
In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers and came up with two ideas – a voluntary aid organisat...
22 Aug 202510min
The rise and fall of BlackBerry
In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.Sam Gruet speaks to former co-CEO Jim Balsillie about Bla...
21 Aug 20259min
The book that changed Norway’s view of immigrants
In 2010, a book came out in Norway that transformed the way people looked at paperless immigrants. The author, a 25-year-old Russian woman, fled North Ossetia as a child with her parents. They were ne...
20 Aug 202510min
One man’s escape from McCarthyism
In 1951, at the height of the McCarthy era, a time when the US government pursued suspected communists, Victor Grossman was drafted into the army. A committed communist since his teens, he hid his pol...
19 Aug 202510min
Spot the Dog
In 1978, British artist Eric Hill designed an interactive book about a yellow puppy for his two-year-old son, Chris.Eric had noticed Chris kept lifting up the paper he was working on to see what was u...
18 Aug 202510min
Pramoedya Ananta Toer: The banned author of Indonesia
In 1969, Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer was imprisoned without trial in the notorious labour camp on Buru Island. He spent 10 years there.He is best known for his novels about the rise of Ind...
15 Aug 202510min
Jakarta’s ban on dancing monkeys
In 2013, Jakarta's governor moved to outlaw the use of dancing monkeys on the city’s streets.The Indonesian tradition saw macaques made to perform for passers-by - often restrained by chains and dress...
14 Aug 202510min
Discovery of the 'Hobbit'
In 2003, archaeologists on the island of Flores, in Indonesia, discovered the skeleton of a new species of human - Homo floresiensis.It was nicknamed the 'Hobbit', because they were just over a metre ...
13 Aug 202510min
