Brazil's Marijuana Summer
In September 1987, fishermen and surfers in the states of Rio and São Paulo started spotting mysterious tin cans floating in the sea. Soon those tins became a talking point across the country, becaus...
1 Jan 20199min
Rebels Rout The Army In El Salvador
On December 30 1983 Marxist rebels in El Salvador attacked and occupied the El Paraiso army base in the north of the country. It was the first time an important military installation had fallen to the...
31 Dec 20189min
When Animals Go To War
In December 1943, a British charity created the Dickin Medal to honour the bravery of animals serving in war. The first medals went mainly to pigeons used in World War Two, although dogs and one cat w...
28 Dec 20188min
Trautonium: A Revolution in Electronic Music
'I like it, carry on', said Joseph Goebbels, after listening to the trautonium, invented in Berlin. It was used first in classical music in the early 1930s. Paul Hindemith composed pieces for it. For ...
27 Dec 20189min
UFO Sightings: The Rendlesham Forest Incident
At Christmas 1980 strange objects and lights were seen over a US military base in Suffolk, England, for three consecutive nights. Several military service people reported seeing them, including the d...
25 Dec 201815min
Scotland's Stone of Destiny
On Christmas Eve 1950 four young Scottish students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey. The symbolic stone had been taken from Scotland to England centuries earlier and had sat beneath...
24 Dec 20188min
Stopping The 'Shoe Bomber'
On December 22 2001 a British-born man tried to bring down American Airlines flight 63 from Paris to Miami. His plan failed when the bomb didn't go off. He was then overpowered by a group of passenger...
21 Dec 20188min
The Woman Who Wrote Mary Poppins
Writer PL Travers created a children's classic when she invented the magical English nanny. But was the character built around her own personality? Vincent Dowd has been speaking to PL Travers' grandd...
20 Dec 20189min
