Fleeing Afghanistan alone as a child

Dr Waheed Arian escaped poverty and war in Afghanistan to begin a new life in the UK

• 9 mins

Dyke and Dryden: Cosmetic kings

In 1969, Dyke and Dryden started one the most successful black British businesses

• 9 mins

Eight years trapped on the Suez Canal in Egypt

After the Six Day War in 1967, 14 ships were stuck on the Great Bitter Lake

• 9 mins

The fight to stop skin lightening in India

In 2013, Kavitha Emmanuel began campaigning to stop skin lightening in India

• 9 mins

I found the first dinosaur remains in Antarctica

In 1986, Argentinian geologist Eduardo Olivero discovered a new kind of Ankylosaurus

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Ethiopia's 1984 famine

In 1984, a news report on a famine in Ethiopia led to a global fundraising campaign

• 9 mins

Bonga Kwenda: Music banned in Angola and Portugal

Outspoken supporter of Angolan independence, Bonga Kwenda was forced into exile in 1972

• 9 mins

My dad created Dungeons & Dragons

In 1974, Gary Gygax created the fantasy roleplay game.

• 9 mins

The creation of Greenwich Mean Time

Experiments by John Flamsteed in the 17th Century led to the time zone being created

• 9 mins

Jean Batten: New Zealand’s record breaking aviator

Jean Batten was nicknamed the Queen of the Skies for her pioneering flights of the 1930s

• 9 mins

The Ken Burns Effect

In 2002, the 'Ken Burns effect' was created.

• 9 mins

Brazil’s electronic voting

In 1996, an electronic voting system in Brazil was used for the first time

• 9 mins

Siegfried and Roy tiger attack

In 2003, illusionist Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger live on stage.

• 9 mins

Iran hostage crisis

In 1979, Barry Rosen was held hostage after the US embassy in Tehran was stormed

• 9 mins

In exile from Iran

Former empress Farah Pahlavi and social scientist Rouhi Shafi speak about leaving Iran

• 9 mins

The Shah of Iran's party

In 1971, the Shah of Iran, celebrated 2,500 years of the Persian Empire

• 9 mins

The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto

Polish aid worker Irena Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto in WW2

• 9 mins

The invention of the ‘Baby’ computer

In 1948, the first stored-program computer the ‘Baby’ was invented

• 9 mins

The Pakistan mountain massacre

In 2013, 11 people were killed by members of a militant group at Nanga Parbat base camp

• 9 mins

How Greece got rid of their king

In a 1974 referendum, the Greek people voted two to one in favour of becoming a republic

• 9 mins

India's capsule coal mine rescue

In November 1989, 65 miners were rescued from the Mahabir Coal Mine, in India

• 9 mins

Luana Mansilla: Changing gender aged six

In 2013, the gender of a six-year-old from Argentina was legally changed

• 9 mins

German naturists

The naturist movement began in Germany at the end of the 19th Century

• 9 mins

Iran's secret Christian 'house churches'

Between 2002 and 2005, Naghmeh Panahi set up a network of 'house churches' in Iran

• 9 mins

The Siege of Yarmouk

How the Syrian army turned one neighbourhood near Damascus into a bombed-out wasteland

• 9 mins

Handover of Macau

In 1999, Macau was handed back to China after more than 400 years as a Portuguese colony

• 9 mins

Lord of the Flies

It’s 70 years since William Golding’s acclaimed novel was published

• 9 mins

Creation of the UFC

In 1993, a new sport was born. Its founders called it the Ultimate Fighting Championship

• 9 mins

Arrested for "immorality" in South Africa

Dr Zureena Desai was arrested in South Africa for breaking the Immorality Act

• 9 mins

Strictly Come Dancing

Television extravaganza Strictly Come Dancing debuted in 2004 in the UK

• 9 mins