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The CIA's Cultural War: how the CIA secretly funded the magazine Encounter

How the CIA secretly funded the hugely influential cultural magazine Encounter.

• 9 mins

Attack on the US Embassy in Islamabad

In late November 1979 a mob set fire to the US Embassy in Islamabad

• 9 mins

The DB Cooper Mystery

In November 1971 a hijacker parachuted from a US plane with a $200,000 ransom

• 9 mins

Racial Equality on the Dance Floor

A nightclub in the British city of Birmingham was forced to lift its racial restrictions

• 9 mins

Cuba's 'Special Period'

In the 1990s the Cuban economy came close to collapse after Soviet aid dried up

• 9 mins

Britain's Palestine Patrols

How the Royal Navy stopped Jewish refugee ships trying to reach Palestine in the 1940s.

• 9 mins

Surviving Ravensbruck

The story of a survivor of Ravensbruck, the Nazis' concentration camp for women

• 9 mins

Nigeria's "War Against Indiscipline"

In 1984 General Buhari's military regime launched an unusual campaign to clean up Nigeria

• 9 mins

The Bari Raid 1943

How a devastating air raid on Bari during WW2 led to the deadly release of mustard gas

• 9 mins

Surviving Pearl Harbor

How one US Navy mechanic made it through the surprise Japanese attack on his Pacific base

• 9 mins

The First Heart Transplant

On 3 December 1967, two brothers carried out the first heart transplant operation

• 9 mins

Cuban Fighters in Angola

Thousands of Cuban troops fought with Angola's Marxist government forces in the civil war

• 9 mins

Gay and lesbian support for the British miners' strike

In 1984 a group of lesbians and gay men organised to support striking coal-miners.

• 8 mins

WW1: The Siege of Kut, Iraq

Thousands of British and Indian troops spent five months trapped in Kut, Iraq in WW1

• 9 mins

The Battle of Tora Bora

After the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan in 2001 the hunt for Osama bin Laden began.

• 9 mins

The KKK and the Killing of Viola Liuzzo

In 1965, three KKK members were convicted of conspiring to kill a civil rights activist

• 9 mins

The Velvet Underground

The seminal alternative rock band play their first gig at a high school in New Jersey.

• 9 mins

The 1960 Coup Against Haile Selassie

How Ethiopia's Emperor was almost overthrown in a bloody coup

• 9 mins

A Pakistani View of the Bangladesh War of Independence

The story of a Pakistani soldier caught up in the Bangladesh liberation war.

• 9 mins

The Rubik's Cube

In 1974, Ernő Rubik invented the world's best selling puzzle: the Rubik's Cube

• 9 mins

Star Wars: C3PO's Story

The actor behind the galaxy's most famous protocol droid remembers the first Star Wars

• 9 mins

India Disability Rights

In 1995 the first disability rights legislation was passed by India's parliament.

• 9 mins

The Death of General Patton

America's legendary military commander, General George Patton, died in December 1945

• 9 mins

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita

One of the 20th Century's most scandalous books was published in 1955

• 9 mins

Michael Jackson's Thriller

In 1982 the world's best selling album was released

• 9 mins

It's a Wonderful Life

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

• 9 mins

The Beagle 2 Mission to Mars

On Christmas Day 2003, a British space craft was due to land on Mars to look for life

• 9 mins

The Donner Party

In 1846, a group of US pioneers were trapped in the mountains over the winter.

• 9 mins

Rasputin

In 1916, the infamous holy man Grigori Rasputin, was murdered by Russian aristocrats

• 9 mins

The Poster Boy for the Communist System

In 1935, Alexei Stakhanov, a coal miner, became a Soviet celebrity.

• 9 mins