The trial of Soviet writers Daniel and Sinyavsky
In 1965, two writers were accused of publishing anti-Soviet material abroad.The arrest of Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky was seen as symbolic of the new era in the Soviet Union. The liberal leader N...
15 Okt 20259min
Jorge Luis Borges: 'Father' of Latin American fiction
In 1961, the Argentine poet and short story writer Jorge Luis Borges won the Formentor Prize for literature.Borges’ stories were characterised by mind-bending plots often featuring labyrinths, dreams ...
14 Okt 202510min
Wallander and the rise of Nordic Noir
Published in 1991, Faceless Killers was the first of Henning Mankell’s crime novels featuring police inspector Kurt Wallander. The series changed the world of crime writing, introducing gritty social ...
13 Okt 202510min
How BRICS got its name
In 2001, a few months after 9/11, economist Jim O’Neill was working at Goldman Sachs when he wrote a report about which countries might become big players in the world economy. That’s when he came up ...
10 Okt 20259min
Japan surrenders in Beijing
Eighty years ago, in the autumn of 1945, World War II surrender ceremonies took place across the Japanese Empire.The one in China was held at the Forbidden City in Beijing bringing an end to eight yea...
9 Okt 202510min
The remote island that was evacuated to 10,000km away
On 10 October 1961, a volcanic eruption threatened the population of Tristan da Cunha, a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic, and all 264 islanders were evacuated to the UK.Two years late...
8 Okt 202510min
'I designed the Indian rupee symbol'
In 2009, the Indian government launched a national competition to find a design for the Indian rupee.With more than 3,000 entries and five finalists, the winning design was announced on 15 July 2010.T...
7 Okt 202510min
The home video war
Before streaming and catch-up TV, owning a video recorder was one of the only ways to watch on-demand entertainment. In 1975 Sony launched Betamax with its half-inch-wide tape capable of recording 60 ...
6 Okt 202510min
