Wole Soyinka: Imprisoned during Nigeria’s Biafra war
In 1967, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka tried to stop the country’s Biafra war, in which Nigeria’s Igbo people responded to violence by seceding from the rest of the country. They proclaimed a new Repub...
4 Dec 202510min
Escaping Nigeria's Biafra war
When the south-east region of Nigeria declared itself to be the independent state of Biafra, civil war broke out in May 1967. More than a million people died before the fighting stopped. In 2021, Patr...
3 Dec 202510min
West Africa fights back against Boko Haram
In 2015, West African countries fought against the jihadist militant group Boko Haram which controlled large areas of northeastern Nigeria. The group, whose name means 'western education is forbidden'...
1 Dec 202511min
Ravi and George
Following the Beatles final concert tour, George Harrison travelled to India in 1967 to learn sitar under the renowned musician Ravi Shankar.Fleeing Beatlemania he travelled in disguise to Mumbai and ...
28 Nov 202510min
India goes to the UN
In 1946, an Indian woman made history by leading her country’s first delegation to the United Nations.Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit described it as a moment that reshaped her life.As the sister of Jawaharlal ...
27 Nov 202510min
The Howard Hughes literary hoax
In 1971, the publishing world was rocked by one of the biggest hoaxes in literary history – a fake autobiography of the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.Hughes was an aerospace engineer, film produ...
26 Nov 202510min
Colombia's Salt Cathedral
In 1995, a cathedral was built 180m underground in the Zipaquirá Salt Mine in Colombia. The idea came from the miners building makeshift altars in the mine in the 1930s, to pray for their safety befor...
25 Nov 202510min
