The Siege of Yarmouk

British zoologist Bob Golding turned the University of Ibadan's zoo into one of Nigeria's biggest tourist attractions in the 1970s.The zoo was famous for two gorillas he rescued from traffickers. And Bob's animal kingdom even had its own TV show.His wife, Peaches Golding, tells Ben Henderson how he did it. (Photo: Bob Golding. Credit: bobgolding.co.uk)

18 Jan 20249min

In June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest against what they considered a rigged presidential election.The hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62% of the vote. All three defeated candidates disputed the results.The protests gave rise to the 'Green Movement', named after its signature colour, which opposed Ahmadinejad.Journalist Maziar Bahari was accused of being a Western spy and spent 118 days being interrogated in Iran's Evin Prison. He tells Dan Hardoon about the torture he endured.(Photo: Maziar Bahari in 2015. Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

17 Jan 20248min

On 6 November 1975, tens of thousands of Moroccans poured into Spanish Sahara in a bid to claim it for their own.They danced, waved flags and played music as they faced off, unarmed, against gun-carrying Spanish soldiers.The so-called Green March led to a diplomatic victory for Morocco's King Hassan, but sparked a guerrilla war and decades of instability.In 2013, TV cameraman Seddik Maaninou and North Africa expert Francis Gillies told Simon Watts about that momentous protest.(Photo: Protestors on the Green March. Credit: Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma/Getty Images)

16 Jan 20249min

In Bolivia, on 25 October 1984, President Hernán Siles Zuazo announced he was going on hunger strike. He was trying to stop the booming cocaine industry in his country. It was the second time he had taken the job of president and he had been on hunger strike several times before. His daughter Marcela Siles, tells Laura Jones about her father.(Photo: President Zuazo. Credit: Getty Images)

15 Jan 20249min

For two years, José Luis Peñas risked his life making secret recordings that revealed one of Spain's biggest corruption scandals.It forced the ruling party from power and brought down Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in 2018.José Luis Peñas speaks to Ben Henderson.(Photo: Mariano Rajoy (right) moments after resigning. Credit: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Pool via Getty Images)

12 Jan 20248min

On the 11 January 1998 in Mumbai, India, the first World Laughter Day took place.It was the idea of Dr Madan Kataria, a medical doctor who wanted to test the theory that laughter is the best medicine.He tells Gill Kearsley how this unusual event started. (Photo: World Laughter Day in Mumbai in 2016. Credit: Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

11 Jan 20249min

In 1970, Natalia Makarova became the first female ballet star to defect to the West from Russia.The dancer claimed asylum during a UK tour, nine years after another Russian dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, had defected.Natalia later joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York. She wouldn’t return to her home country for almost 20 years.Jane Wilkinson has been looking through the archive to discover the reasons behind her defection.(Photo: Natalia Makarova in New York, 1980. Credit: Brownie Harris/Corbis via Getty Image

10 Jan 20249min

The fate of Louis-Charles, son of the last king of France, was for years shrouded in rumour.The little boy was said to have died in prison in 1795. But for years, rumours spread that he had been swapped with an imposter.It wasn't until a team of scientists took DNA samples from the heart of the imprisoned boy in 2000 that the mystery could be laid to rest.In 2021, Prof Jean Jacques Cassiman and historian Deborah Cadbury told Claire Bowes about the extraordinary tale.(Photo: Drawing of Louis-Charles being separated from his mother Marie Antoinette in 1793. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

9 Jan 20248min