麻豆约拍

The Cuban writer who defied Fidel Castro

In 1990 Reinaldo Arenas died of Aids in New York, leaving behind a powerful autobiography

• 9 mins

The battle of the Louvre pyramid

How Paris was eventually won round to the Louvre museum's great glass pyramid

• 9 mins

The IRA siege at Balcombe Street

In December 1975, the IRA took a middle-aged couple hostage in Central London.

• 9 mins

The 'Awakenings' medical experiment

In the 1960s a new drug briefly woke up patients who'd been catatonic for decades.

• 9 mins

The killing of Amadou Diallo

When New York police shot a young immigrant 41 times, thousands took to the streets

• 9 mins

El Salvador's stolen children

During El Salvador's civil war, soldiers abducted children in rebel areas

• 14 mins

The attack on India's parliament

In December 2001 armed men attacked India's parliamentary compound in broad daylight

• 9 mins

Black GIs during World War Two

How soldiers who had been relegated to support roles were asked to volunteer for combat

• 9 mins

Women and the Sabarimala temple

How Indian women fought for the right to be allowed into a Hindu holy site

• 9 mins

The Romanian revolution

In December 1989 a wave of protests finally deposed communist dictator Nicolae Ceau葯escu

• 9 mins

Bee crisis: Colony Collapse Disorder

Why the mysterious loss of honey bees in the US triggered a global panic.

• 9 mins

The creation of Abuja

Why Nigeria built a brand new capital city from scratch.

• 9 mins

Fighting cancer

Pioneering work in the 60s into combination chemotherapy to try to find a cure for cancer

• 9 mins

The invasion of Afghanistan

On 24 December 1979 Soviet troops started pouring into Afghanistan

• 9 mins

The secret history of Monopoly

The true story of one of the world's most popular board games, Monopoly.

• 9 mins

Cirque du Soleil

The ground-breaking circus was formed by a group of street performers in Quebec in 1984.

• 10 mins

Vietnam war: Surviving the 'Christmas bombing' campaign

In December 1972 the US military launched its heaviest bombardment of Hanoi.

• 9 mins

The Chippendales

The male stripper troupe was founded in Los Angeles in 1979

• 9 mins

Britain's GI babies

The story of children born to British mothers and black GIs during WW2

• 15 mins

Negotiating an end to El Salvador's civil war

The UN's top negotiator Alvaro de Soto recalls his part in bringing peace to El Salvador

• 9 mins

Chester Williams - South African rugby legend

The story of the only black player in the Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup

• 14 mins

The book that predicted an end to civilisation

The Limits to Growth was published in 1972 and suggested global decline from 2020

• 9 mins

Desmond's: A sitcom that changed Britain

Desmond's was the most successful black sitcom in British TV history

• 9 mins

The battle for the Woman in Gold

How an elderly refugee fought the Austrian government to get back a painting by Klimt

• 14 mins

East Germany's punks

How the communist secret police, the Stasi, tried to crush a youth subculture.

• 9 mins

German atrocities in Poland during WW2

The memories of a survivor of Nazi atrocities in the final months of the war in Europe

• 9 mins

The exodus of Kashmiri Hindus

In January 1990 over 100 000 Hindus fled the Kashmir valley

• 9 mins

The murder of environmentalist Chico Mendes

The killing of the man who'd become a powerful symbol of the fight to save the Amazon

• 9 mins

The Computers for Schools revolution

In 2009, Uruguay became the first country to give every schoolchild a laptop computer.

• 9 mins

The battle for Fallujah

A US Marine's account of the massive operation against Iraqi insurgents in 2004

• 9 mins