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France's Muslim headscarf ban

A law banning religious clothing from French state schools came into effect in 2004

• 9 mins

The slaves who defeated Napoleon

The first successful slave uprising in modern times, it prompted the abolition of slavery

• 9 mins

The V1 flying bomb

How the first of the Nazi's new "revenge weapons" terrorised Londoners in WW2

• 9 mins

The life and work of Chester Himes

The African-American crime writer Chester Himes first found widespread success in France

• 9 mins

The pioneer of 'Mountain Filming'

How a German filmmaker, Arnold Fanck, shot films high in the mountains in the 1920s

• 9 mins

Chief Albert Luthuli wins the Nobel Prize for Peace

Albert Luthuli was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

• 9 mins

Neanderthal cave mystery

A remarkable discovery in a cave at Bruniquel in southern France in 1990

• 9 mins

The return of the beaver

Why beavers were officially reintroduced to the UK 400 years after they were wiped out

• 9 mins

White Christmas

American entertainer Bing Crosby made 'White Christmas' one of the defining songs of WW2

• 9 mins

The birth of Bangladesh

Pakistan's first democratic elections led to the creation of a new country, Bangladesh

• 9 mins

British reality TV is born

The first British fly-on-the-wall documentary series aired on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ in 1974.

• 9 mins

The blockade of Gibraltar

How a Spanish blockade of the disputed British territory ended in December 1982.

• 9 mins

The GDR's Namibian children

At Christmas 1979 hundreds of Namibian children were taken to East Germany

• 9 mins

The Great Dictator

Charlie Chaplin's classic satirical film about Adolf Hitler was released in 1940

• 9 mins

The Sound of Music

The real story behind the heart-warming musical released in 1965

• 9 mins

Satyajit Ray - India's master of film

An actor's memories of working with the Bengali director on the classic Apu trilogy

• 9 mins

Studio Ghibli - Japan's Oscar-winning animators

The early days of the studio which brought Japanese animation to a global audience

• 9 mins

It's a Wonderful Life

A former Hollywood child star remembers filming the classic Christmas movie in 1946.

• 9 mins

UNESCO and race and tolerance

How UNESCO fought racism and advocated tolerance.

• 9 mins

The building of the Aswan Dam

One of the largest dams in the world, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed in 1970

• 9 mins

Le Corbusier and Chandigarh

The modernist architect Le Corbusier agreed to build a 'city of the future' in India

• 9 mins

Saving the Great Barrier Reef

In the 1960s the Queensland government wanted to mine and drill for oil on the reef

• 9 mins

The oldest song in the world

Deciphering the 3,500 year-old song discovered on a clay tablet in Syria

• 9 mins

Buddhists and death row

How criminals facing the death penalty in the USA found peace

• 9 mins

The 'strike' in space

How three astronauts on the Skylab space station fell out with mission control

• 9 mins

Sequencing the Ebola virus genome

When the deadly Ebola virus broke out in West Africa scientists in the USA set to work

• 9 mins

The book that warned 2020 would bring disaster

The book describing a sudden uncontrollable downturn that was ignored by governments.

• 9 mins

When Spain's parliament was stormed

Armed Civil Guards took MPs hostage in Spain's parliamentary chamber in 1981

• 9 mins

Puerto Rican attack at the US Capitol

How independence campaigners opened fire in Congress in 1954, wounding five US law-makers

• 9 mins

Cornelia Sorabji: India's first woman lawyer

She was the first to graduate from Oxford and was a pioneer for women lawyers in Britain.

• 9 mins