The 1965 Freedom Riders of Australia
A warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners - this programme contains the names of people who have died.Nearly 60 years ago, a group of university students set out on a bus to challe...
1 Aug 20249min
Finding a home for Bulgaria's dancing bears
In 1998, brown bears were declared a protected species in Bulgaria and the ancient tradition of forcing them to dance for people's entertainment became illegal.A veterinarian called Dr Amir Khalil hel...
31 Juli 20248min
Yazidi genocide: A rescue mission on Mount Sinjar
When Islamic State (IS) militants took control of Syria and Iraq in June 2014, the entire Yazidi population in Sinjar were immediately in grave danger. The Sunni Muslims of IS believed Yazidis were in...
30 Juli 20249min
The man who smuggled punk rock across the Berlin Wall
In 1983, punk rock was strictly forbidden in East Berlin. However, that didn’t stop young music obsessive Mark Reeder, from Manchester in the UK, smuggling cassettes, and then a punk band across the B...
29 Juli 20249min
The first cold chain vaccination storage system
In 1974, Ghana pioneered a new system which would help in the roll-out of the immunisation of serious diseases across Africa and the rest of the world. The World Health Organisation chose the country ...
26 Juli 20249min
Building the Moscow Metro
More than 10,000 Russian workers built the first line of the Moscow Metro which opened in 1935 to great fanfare. The spectacular stations were designed to show the world the power and possibility of R...
25 Juli 20248min
Olympics: Zamzam Farah at London 2012
At the London 2012 Olympics, the Somali sprinter Zamzam Farah became a crowd favourite after finishing last in her 400m heat by 27 seconds. Zamzam had grown up in war-torn Mogadishu, where she had to ...
24 Juli 202410min
The first Olympic ‘mascot’
After being designed in one night, Shuss, the cartoon skier, debuted at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, France. Instead of ‘mascot’, the Olympic Organising Committee referred to it as a ‘character’...
23 Juli 20249min
