The 'moving' statue of Ballinspittle
In 1985, reports of a moving statue of the Virgin Mary drew thousands of people to the village of Ballinspittle in County Cork, Ireland. Helen Ledwick speaks to Ita Dungan, who travelled there as a te...
8 Sep 10min
Surviving the Long March
In 1935, tens of thousands who had followed Mao Zedong on the Long March across China struggled to survive. They were fleeing Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces during the country's civil war.Zhong ...
7 Sep 9min
Star Trek: America's first interracial TV kiss
In 1968, American television boldly went where it had never gone before, broadcasting what's claimed to be the country's first interracial kiss in a TV programme. The moment of passion was between Cap...
4 Sep 10min
The making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
In 1982, audiences around the world fell in love with a gentle alien stranded on Earth and the young boy determined to help him get home. Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became a global ...
3 Sep 10min
‘Genius’ sci-fi writer Octavia E Butler
In 1995, Octavia E Butler became the first author to receive a MacArthur “genius” award for science fiction writing.From a young age she dreamed of writing books, but faced many challenges, including ...
2 Sep 10min
Making Turkish Star Wars
When the set fell apart for an ambitious cinematic space opera that was produced on a characteristically small Turkish budget, nationally famed director Çetin İnanç had to think fast to save his film....
1 Sep 10min
How the Star Wars toys were created
In 1976, American toy designer Jim Swearingen was working at Kenner, a mid-sized company in the American Midwest.When a script for a new film called Star Wars landed on his desk, Jim was intrigued. La...
31 Aug 10min
The hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73
On the 5 September 1986, hijackers took over a Pan-American Airways flight during a stop-over at Karachi Airport in Pakistan. The armed Palestinian terrorists wanted to fly the plane to Cyprus and Is...
28 Aug 10min
