Fighting for Castro at the Bay of Pigs

A member of Cuba's communist militia recalls battling US-backed invaders in April 1961

• 9 mins

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

An industrial disaster in New York in 1911 led to huge social reforms.

• 9 mins

Shakespeare's Jubilee

How actor David Garrick organised the first national celebration of Shakespeare in 1769

• 9 mins

Yves Saint Laurent and Morocco

In 1966 the great French fashion designer went to Morocco for the first time

• 9 mins

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

In April 1986 a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine

• 9 mins

The Funeral of Charles Darwin

The great English naturalist Charles Darwin is buried at Westminster Abbey in April 1882

• 9 mins

The McCarthy Era

In spring 1950, an American academic was wrongly named as the main Soviet agent in the US

• 9 mins

The Creation of the Mini

In 1959 the British Motoring Corporation unveiled a very small new family car - the Mini

• 9 mins

The Salem Witches

In 1692 nineteen men and women were convicted of witchcraft and executed in America.

• 9 mins

U2 Spy Plane

In May 1960 Gary Powers was taken captive by the Soviets when his spy plane was shot down

• 9 mins

Ernest Hemingway in Cuba

Alberto Ramos remembers his time working for the great American novelist in Cuba.

• 9 mins

The Belfast Blitz

In 1941, Belfast in Northern Ireland was devastated by German bombing

• 9 mins

Hitler's Nuclear Programme

Nazi Germany had a nuclear programme, which could have given Hitler an atomic bomb

• 9 mins

The Imaginary War Heroes

During World War Two, Soviet propaganda promoted a heroic feat that never happened.

• 9 mins

Escape from the South Atlantic

In the spring of 1982 Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falkland Islands.

• 9 mins

Kim Philby: The Third Man

In May 1988, the death was announced in Moscow of the English spy Kim Philby.

• 9 mins

The Pope in Syria - 2001

In May 2001 Pope John Paul the Second made a historic visit to Syria

• 9 mins

Riverdance

Irish dance sensation Riverdance debuted at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin

• 9 mins

Citizen Kane

Archive interviews with Orson Welles about one of the greatest films of all time

• 9 mins

Marcus Garvey

In 1916 Marcus Garvey arrived in the US urging black people to unite in a new nation.

• 9 mins

Paris Protests of 1968

How student protests and workers' strikes threatened to bring down France's government.

• 9 mins

Dien Bien Phu

The French surrender at the siege of Dien Bien Phu ended their colonial rule of Vietnam

• 9 mins

Kia Ora: Maori Rights Breakthrough in New Zealand

Telephone operator Naida Glavish became known for saying good morning to callers in Maori

• 9 mins

The Execution of Anne Boleyn

In May 1536 the Queen of England was executed on the orders of her husband, Henry VIII

• 9 mins

Hands Across America

The day millions of Americans formed a human chain to try to end poverty and homelessness

• 9 mins

The Israeli Airlift of Ethiopian Jews

In 1991 14000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel during Operation Solomon

• 9 mins

Yeltsin And The Chechen Rebels

In 1996, a Chechen rebel delegation negotiated peace with Russia's President Yeltsin.

• 9 mins

The Thalidomide Trial

In May 1968, executives of the German company that made the drug thalidomide go on trial

• 9 mins

The Assassination of Trujillo

On May 30th 1961 Rafael Trujillo, the dictator in the Dominican Republic, was shot dead.

• 9 mins

Karakoram Highway

In 1979 the Karakoram Highway between Pakistan and China was opened to the public

• 9 mins