Staging Othello in apartheid South Africa
In September 1987, Othello was staged at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg during the apartheid regime in South Africa. The Immorality Act, which banned sexual relationships between white people and ...
24 Apr 202510min
Coca-Cola’s ‘New Coke'
Forty years ago, on 23 April 1985, Coca-Cola decided to change the secret formula of its fizzy drink, in a bid to be market leaders. They launched a new flavour called ‘New Coke’. But, after a public ...
23 Apr 202510min
The creation of YouTube
An 18-second clip of a young man standing in front of an elephant enclosure at San Diego Zoo in California, describing their “really long trunks” was the first video to be posted onto YouTube in April...
22 Apr 202510min
Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal
In April 1944, the Allies planned Exercise Tiger to practise their landing on France's Normandy beaches ahead of D-Day. During the rehearsal, a German fleet attacked, sinking two allied ships. Around ...
21 Apr 202510min
The origin of World Book Day
In November 1995, a proposal of having an annual day focused on celebrating books was put forward at the UNESCO conference in Paris.The idea came from a long-established Spanish celebration ‘The Day o...
18 Apr 202510min
Clearing landmines in Cambodia
Fifty years after the start of the genocide that wiped out a quarter of its eight million population, Cambodia remains one of the most heavily landmined countries in the world.More than 65,000 people ...
17 Apr 20259min
The Khmer Rouge take power in Cambodia
In April 1975 the four-year rule of the brutal Khmer Rouge began in Cambodia. Up to two million people are thought to have died - many summarily executed, or starved to death in the communist regime. ...
16 Apr 202510min
The invention of the white LED lightbulb
In 1993, a literal lightbulb moment led to the invention of the first white light emitting diode (LED). These LEDs are now used to light up everything from our streets to our homes to this screen you’...
16 Apr 202510min
