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The Soviet Afghan War Begins

The world held its breath in December 1979 as Soviet troops poured into Afghanistan

• 9 mins

Trautonium: A Revolution in Electronic Music

Meet the trautonium, the early electronic instrument promoted by the Nazis.

• 9 mins

When Animals Go To War

In December 1943, a British charity created gallantry medals for animals serving in war.

• 9 mins

Rebels Rout The Army In El Salvador

The storming of the El Paraiso base by Marxist rebels in December 1983.

• 9 mins

Brazil's Marijuana Summer

In 1987 thousands of tin cans full of marijuana washed up on the beaches in Rio.

• 9 mins

Barbara Cartland - Queen of Romance

The romantic fiction writer is thought to have sold hundreds of millions of books

• 9 mins

Ceausescu's 'House of the People'

The vast building that symbolised the excesses of Romania's brutal former dictator

• 9 mins

Vikings in North America

The Canadian discovery that proved Vikings had crossed the Atlantic 1000 years ago

• 9 mins

The Doomsday Seed Vault

In 2008, the first global seed vault was opened to safeguard the world's crops

• 9 mins

Fidel Castro Takes Havana

The end of the US-backed dictator and the start of communist rule in Cuba in January 1959

• 9 mins

When Stalin Rounded Up Soviet Doctors

Hundreds of Soviet doctors were imprisoned or shot in the last year of Stalin's rule.

• 9 mins

Diary of Life in a Favela

The poor black single mother who stunned Brazil with a book about her life in 1960.

• 9 mins

'Fat is a Feminist Issue'

Susie Orbach's book led people to rethink body-image from a feminist perspective

• 9 mins

Judy Garland's Final Shows

The world famous singer's final performances were in London in January 1969

• 9 mins

Mexico's Miracle Water

Thousands of people flocked to the village of Tlacote hoping to be cured by magical water

• 9 mins

Strikers In Saris

South Asian women led a strike against poor working conditions in a British factory.

• 9 mins

The Thames Whale

In January 2006, millions of Londoners were entranced by the appearance of a whale.

• 9 mins

The Case of Dr Crippen

How one of the most notorious murderers in Edwardian London was captured

• 9 mins

India's First Call Centre

In the late 1990s a businessman started a new industry in India

• 9 mins

The Carry On Films

The British comic film franchise which found fans around the world

• 9 mins

Vatican II: Reforming the Catholic Church

Pope John XXIII wanted to modernise the Catholic Church, reforms took place in the 1960s.

• 9 mins

The Beatles' Last Gig

In 1969, the Beatles played together in public for the last time, on a London rooftop.

• 9 mins

The Publisher Who Tried to Change the World

Virago Press opened as a feminist publisher in 1972 to promote women's writing

• 9 mins

Musicians of the Iranian Revolution

How Iran's state employed musicians started recording revolutionary songs.

• 9 mins

Ayatollah Khomeini Returns From Exile

In February 1979 an Islamic revolution began when Iran's exiled religious leader returned

• 9 mins

Iran Hostage Crisis

Barry Rosen was one of the Americans held hostage for 444 days in Tehran.

• 9 mins

Iran Hostage Rescue Mission

The US sent special forces to try to rescue hostages from their Embassy in Tehran in 1980

• 9 mins

Women and the Iranian Revolution

Many women supported Iran's 1979 Revolution but some later became disillusioned

• 9 mins

The Death of Hitler

A first-hand account of Hitler from one of his secretaries who was there at the very end

• 9 mins

The Capture of Che Guevara

How the Marxist revolutionary was captured and killed in Bolivia.

• 9 mins